Tourism Archives - Page 71 of 96

Wednesday Roundup

The discovery of an ancient olive press in Jerusalem was announced yesterday.

The “Naked Archaeologist” is suing one of its many critics in Israeli court.

Megiddo V: The 2004-2008 Seasons is now available from Eisenbrauns.

The warm springs of Sachne/Gan HaShlosha are one of the best places to swim in Israel, particularly on a school day when the crowds are absent.

The BibleMap App connects every chapter of the Bible with Google Maps.

Chris McKinny has been leading students from The Master’s College IBEX program at the Tel Burna Excavation Project for several years. His work is the subject of a new article on the college’s website.

Luke Chandler shares a 7-minute video of a recent field trip to the important site of Gezer.

Tourists will surely be affected by the massive renovation of Highway 1 between Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem.

The warm springs of Sachne/Gan HaShlosha
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Jezreel Valley, Resources, Shephelah, Technology, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Hebrew U Tours of Tel Dor, Ein Qashish, and Nahal Ein Gev

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem issued the following press release this morning:

August Archaeology Outings: Hebrew University Invites the Public to Visit Fascinating Sites Throughout the Country

Jerusalem, July 22, 2013 — Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology are inviting the public to participate in free guided tours of three diverse archaeological sites.

On August 2, 8 and 20, the archaeologists will lead tours that shed light on the rich history of some of Israel’s most fascinating ancient sites. At each of these locations they will offer a guided tour: Tel Dor (August 2), Ein Qashish (August 8), and Nahal Ein Gev (August 20).

Admission is free and there is no need to register in advance. Participants must bring hiking shoes, an adequate supply of water and a hat. Sunblock is recommended.

For more information, contact the Secretariat of the Institute of Archaeology at 02-5882404 or 02-5882403.

The tours:

Tel Dor

Host researcher: Prof. Ilan Sharon

Site visit date: Friday, August 2 at 8:30 a.m.

Meeting point: Hamizgaga Museum at Nachsholim

The site: Tel Dor is located on Israel’s Mediterranean coast, about 30 km south of Haifa. The documented history of the site begins in the Late Bronze Age and ends in the Crusader period. The port dominated the fortunes of the town throughout its 3000-odd year history. Dor was successively ruled by Canaanites, “sea peoples,” Israelites, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans.

Its primary role in all these diverse cultures was that of a commercial entrepot and a gateway between East and West.

Map (how to get there) at http://dor.huji.ac.il/

Ein Qashish

Host researcher: Prof. Erella Hovers

Site visit date: Thursday, August 8 at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Ein Qashish is an open-air Middle Paleolithic site located on the bank of the Qishon River, close to many of the major Middle Paleolithic cave sites in northern Israel, in an area where practically no open-air sites have been known before. The site was discovered in 2004 by survey teams of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Work at the site was carried out in 2005 and then again in 2009-2010 on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Map (how to get there): http://archaeology.huji.ac.il/qashish

Nahal Ein Gev

Host researchers: Prof. Anna Belfer Cohen, Prof. Ofer Bar-Yosef and Dr. Leore Grosman

Site visit date: Tuesday, August 20 at 8:30 a.m.

Meeting point: Entrance to Kibbutz Ein Gev

Nahal Ein Gev is located about 2 km east of the shores of the Kinneret. The site belongs to the Natufian period, about 11,500 years before our time, and exposes a village of the last hunter-gatherers who lived on the eve of the Agricultural Revolution, leaving complex and fascinating remains.

According to the incoming Head of the Institute of Archaeology, Prof. Erella Hovers, “A lot of the Institute of Archaeology’s activity is conducted on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, but each summer the Institute’s scholars go to work on a large number of archaeological sites from different periods and in different regions in the country, thus taking research out of the lab and into the field. This is an opportunity for us to invite the public to experience the extensive research activities of the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology as they unfold before us.”

Prof. Hovers added: “The archaeological sites are cultural treasures of the State of Israel and we are happy to reveal them directly to its people by hosting visitors our dig sites. We will gladly present how archaeological field work is done, what research questions led us to these excavation sites, and what 21st century archaeological science is all about.”

For information about the tours, contact the Secretariat of the Institute of Archaeology at 02-5882404 or 02-5882403.

Tel Dor
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jezreel Valley, Tourism

Wednesday Roundup

If you want to see more of the Herod exhibit than the Israel Museum put online, you can watch a 13-minute video tour. The audio is in German, but everyone can get a feel for the displays.

A blogger on Forbes gives some of the tax history of the first four Dead Sea Scrolls.

If you have missed Chris McKinny’s recent series Secret Places, he will be back. He has been teaching an intensive course in Israel and is now supervising excavations at Tel Burna. You can follow the results there as he and others post on the day’s finds, beginning with Day 1 and Day 2.

It’s never occurred to me that the Hinnom Valley has been redeemed, but Wayne Stiles makes a case.

Luke Chandler’s blog hosts the world premiere of a new short film titled “Khirbet Qeiyafa: A Fortified City in the Kingdom of Judah.”

Some tourists are starting to return to Greece as the rioting subsides and the prices go down.

In fact, you can now book a tour of Greece with the Associates for Biblical Research. The 12-day trip in March 2014 will be led by Gordon Franz. The cost is $3199.

A Chinese tourist who left his mark on an Egyptian temple got in trouble.

Israel Today has a 2-minute video tour of Jaffa (biblical Joppa).

HT: BibleX, Alexander Schick

Corinth plain and excavations from Acrocorinth, tb050803135

Plain of Corinth from Acrocorinth
Photo from Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Dead Sea, Egypt, Excavations, Greece, Herod's Tomb, Jerusalem, Museums, Shephelah, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Israel’s Capital City of Samaria Neglected and Vandalized

One of the most important sites from biblical times is neglected and deteriorating today. Samaria, the third and most significant capital of the kingdom of Israel, is prey to looters and vandals, as reported in yesterday in an article by the Associated Press.

“Sebastia, the archaeological site, is abandoned without any control from 2000. It’s 13 years,” said Osama Hamdan, a Palestinian architect who has coordinated the restoration works of Crusader-era buildings with [Carla] Benelli. “A lot of destruction of cultural heritage in this area has happened.”
He said statues, vases, coins and glasses have all been taken by looters.
Weeds grow freely among the archaeological ruins, sticking out from the ancient stones. Plastic bottles and food bags are littered at the bottom of the staircase that leads to a Crusader cathedral – also site of a mosque – where the tomb of John the Baptist is said to be located in the village of Sebastia. Finely decorated stone Roman tombs in the center of the village are smashed and abandoned.
At a Byzantine church dedicated to John the Baptist, located in the Israeli-controlled part, graffiti hailing the Hamas militant group is spray-painted on a column. The Islamic expression of faith – “There is no god but God” – is written in Arabic over the entrance.

The full article is here.

HT: Charles Savelle

Roman basilica of Samaria
Photo from Samaria and the Center

Tagged Samaria, Tourism

Weekend Roundup

A rare film from 1913 shows footage of Jerusalem and the train ride up from Jaffa. Footage of prayers at the Western Wall are shown at about the 4-minute mark. (The audio is in Hebrew.)

Leen Ritmeyer explains why he disagrees with the belief that the Shushan Gate had to be directly opposite the entrance to the Temple.

Wayne Stiles has an excellent post on the City of David and its significance in history. If you haven’t seen the new 3-D film shown at the City of David Visitor’s Center, you can watch it here.

An ultra-marathoner has completed the 600-mile Israel Trail in just 15 days.

Despite warnings that it will lead to a sharp drop in tourism, the Israeli government has approved adding an 18% tax (VAT) on services to non-Israelis.

Highlight Israel shares a 30-second time-lapse video of the sun setting over the Old City of Jerusalem.

Menachem Kaiser praises the Israel Museum’s exhibit of King Herod for not only representing his great buildings but for revealing the man himself.

The 2012 Bethsaida field report is now online. Figure 2 is a scarab dated to the 8th century and possibly connected with Israel’s royal house. Previous field reports are available here.

Geza Vermes died this week. Mark Goodacre reflects on his legacy.

One of the best Bible collections in the world opened Thursday evening in Dallas. The Museum of

Biblical Art houses the new Charles C. Ryrie Library with more than 100 rare Bibles, including the

Wycliffe New Testament (1430), Tyndale’s Pentateuch (1530), Bomberg’s Biblia Hebraica (1521),
the Complutensian Polyglot (1520), and the “Wicked Bible” (1631).

HT: Judi King, Mark Hoffman

Bomberg-Biblia-Hebraica-1521-Ryrie-Library-tb050911847

Biblia Hebraica, published by Daniel Bomberg in 1521, now on display in the Charles C. Ryrie Library.

Tagged Excavations, Galilee, Herod's Tomb, Jerusalem, Museums, Temple Mount, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Crusader Tzuba and Biblical Zobah

The Crusader fortress of Tzuba overlooks the route coming up to Jerusalem from the coast. Jacob Solomon gives an introduction to the site in Haaretz (free access with registration).

Fortress Tzuba is a nice little bonus that transforms the otherwise ordinary Tel Aviv-Jerusalem drive into an excursion. Find it by accident, and you’ll gasp – “Am I suddenly on the wrong side of Europe?” You won’t be completely wrong, either. Fortress Tzuba looks like a medieval Scottish Border castle that somehow missed the attention of restorers.
[…]
This fortress – which they named Belmont – controlled the key route between Jaffa and Jerusalem. As you explore, you can identify features common to citadels built during this period in Israel – and all across Europe, for that matter – such as the double walls that protect the inner keep, and the outer vaulted chambers with their herringbone ceilings. This structure is likely to have been erected toward the end of the reign of Baldwin III (1131-1174), the king of the Crusader Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, which in its heyday extended from Eilat to Beirut.
The word “explore” is the operative word here. Unlike the Crusader citadels of Monfort and Belvoir farther north, Belmont has not been restored. Entrance is free, but you’ll have to be your own guide, especially in working out which parts of the recently excavated site are from the age of the Crusaders, and which belong to the later Muslim Period. (This is part of what makes the site such a curiosity – to be sure, there are no detailed, multi-lingual signs to lead you.) As a general rule, the structures made of larger, rougher-cut stones that fit together like a 3-D puzzle are from the Crusaders. Those made of smaller, pebble-like stones held together by mortar come from the later Turkish Period, when the fortress accommodated generations of village leaders.

The article does not mention that Tzuba may preserve the name of the biblical site of Zobah, mentioned in the city lists of Judah in the Septuagint text of Joshua 15:59.

Ancient ruins of Tzuba, possibly biblical Zobah
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, volume 4

Tagged Judah, Tourism