Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Weekend Roundup

The Rogueclassicist finds plenty to be suspicious of in the discovery of the “Apollo of Gaza” – Part I, Ia, and Ib.

Can the Jordan River Be Saved? National Geographic asks the question in light of the increased demands caused by the Syrian civil war.

Oded Golan has another ossuary that André Lemaire considers more significant than the James Ossuary.

Japanese archaeologists have discovered a tomb in Luxor dating to 1200 BC.

The Jerusalem Post runs a travel article on Tiberias and some of the new attractions in the area.

G. M. Grena reports on a recent conference where Gabriel Barkay gave four lectures on the history and archaeology of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem’s geography can relieve your doubts – if you understand it.

Registration is now open for this year’s season at Tel Burna.

The city of Jerusalem plans to make life easier for tourists by giving English lessons to taxi drivers.

I’m on The Book and the Spade this week talking with Gordon Govier about the Iron Age water tunnel discovered near Jerusalem and some wooden temple beams that may go back to Solomon’s temple. (Direct link to mp3 here.)

HT: Charles Savelle, Jack Sasson

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Galilee, Jerusalem, Jordan Rift, Weekend Roundup

New Scrolls from the Dead Sea Area

In a presentation last week at the conference on “The History of the Caves of Qumran,” Yonatan Adler reported the discovery of a group of phylacteries (tefillin) containing nine small manuscripts.

These were discovered in Caves 4 and 5 in 1952 but only recently did Adler determine that they contained texts.

The discovery was reported in the Italian press (with a photo) and Joseph Lauer has provided a translation of the article:

***

LUGANO – The discovery of new Qumran manuscripts was announced during the International Research Seminar on “The History of the Caves of Qumran,” organized by the Institute of Culture and Archaeology of the Biblical Lands of the Faculty of Theology of Lugano (chaired by prof. Dr. George Paximadi).

Working on materials from the archaeological excavations of the ‘50s, archaeologist Yonatan Adler found some intact phylacteries (the boxes – used by religious Jews – which contain small manuscript rolls with a biblical text).

It was possible to detect the manuscripts in them thanks to special photographs (multispectral imaging) carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The phylacteries are from Qumran caves 4 and 5, excavated in 1952 by the archaeologist Roland de Vaux.

Among the material processed by the Israel Antiquities Authority’s laboratory for the conservation of the scrolls, were three packs containing nine small scrolls manuscripts.

“It does not happen every day to discover new manuscripts. It was really a great feeling,” said Yonatan Adler, Ariel University.

“I am very proud that in our laboratory, using the most advanced technologies, we can reconstruct the history of two thousand years ago,” said Pnina Shor, director of the laboratory for the conservation of the scrolls of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The seminar curated by Prof. Marcello Fidanzio, direttore del settore ambiente biblico dell’ISCAB, Facoltà di Teologia di Lugano, brought together 65 of the most important scholars of Qumran world, including Emanuel Tov (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Jodi Magness (University of North
Carolina), E. Puech (École Biblique et Archéologique Franҫaise, Jerusalem), Sidnie White Crawford (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), J. Taylor (King’s College London), Jurgen Zangenberg (Leiden University).

***

Lauer has located some related resources:
Drew Longacre’s notice of this and another discovery reported at the seminar.

Adler’s previous lecture on “The Tefillin of Qumran–Archaeology and Halacha.”

A photograph of a previously discovered phylactery.

Qumran Caves 4 and 5
Screenshot from Qumran Caves presentation in volume 4 of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Dead Sea, Discoveries

Video Footage in Palestine from 1896

This two-minute video filmed by the Lumière brothers shows footage of the Jerusalem railroad, Jaffa Gate, the Temple Mount, the Wailing Wall, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The film was recently recovered and published by Lobster Films.

HT: Ted Weis

Related resources:

The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection

Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt

Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee

Tagged Jerusalem, Photo Resources

Weekend Roundup

A jug containing silver earrings and ingots has been unearthed at Abel Beth Maacah. The find dates to about 1200 BC.

Some missing pieces of the Colossi of Memnon have been discovered.

A new discovery in Crete confirms the practice of human sacrifice in the Mycenean culture circa 1300 BC.

Israeli police have arrested two Muslim workers for illegal excavations on the Temple Mount.

The Vatican is allegedly pressuring Jerusalem officials into turning over control of the Mount Zion complex that houses the traditional Upper Room and the tomb of David.

Titus Kennedy discusses the domestication of camels on this week’s interview on The Book and the Spade (direct link here).

Gordon Franz explains how the Via Egnatia was part of the means that God enabled the spread of the gospel “in the fullness of time.”

The site of Beit Guvrin and Maresha is a candidate for the World Heritage List. The impressive bell caves and ruins of a Roman-period city are among the attractions at this site in the southern Shephelah of Judah.

A couple who spent three days hiking near the Dead Sea share their experiences in a Jerusalem Post travel article.

Aren Maeir links to the full-length version of the Orson Welles movie of David and Goliath.

HT: Charles Savelle, Jack Sasson

The bell caves of Beit Guvrin
Photo from Judah and the Dead Sea

Tagged Dead Sea, Discoveries, Galilee, Greece, Jerusalem, Mediterranean Islands, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup

Hellenistic Village Discovered Near Burma Road

A Hellenistic village from the 3rd to 1st centuries BC was recently excavated in the Shephelah of Judah a few miles south of Latrun and about 15 miles (24 km) west of Jerusalem. A press release from the Israel Antiquities Authority gives details.

The remnants of a rural settlement that was occupied for approximately two centuries during the Second Temple Period were uncovered in August 2013 – January 2014 near the ‘Burma Road’ (not far from Mitzpe Harel). The find was made during an Israel Antiquities Authority archaeological salvage excavation, before the start of work on a natural gas pipeline to Jerusalem as part of a national project directed by Israel Natural Gas Lines (INGL).
In June 2013, Israel Natural Gas Lines began construction of the 35km-long project, which runs from the coastal plain to the outskirts of Jerusalem. In light of the finds, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the INGL have agreed that engineering plans for the gas line are to be revised, bypassing the site and preserving it as an accessible archaeological site beside the Burma Road.
The excavations, which covered about 750 square meters, revealed a small rural settlement with a few stone houses and a network of narrow alleys. Each building, which probably housed a single nuclear family, consisted of several rooms and an open courtyard. According to Irina Zilberbod, excavation director on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, “The rooms generally served as residential and storage rooms, while domestic tasks were carried out in the courtyards.”

The full press release is here. The story is also reported in the Jerusalem Post.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Excavations along route of natural gas line. Photo by Skyview, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Excavations from the air. Photo by Skyview, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Coin from the reign of King Antiochus III (222–187 BC). Photo by Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Tagged Excavations, Shephelah

The Annual Camels-Disprove-the-Bible Story

Yes, I have been ignoring all of the crazy media coverage on the camel story. For one thing, the popular angle here is hardly new—scholars have tried to deny the accuracy of the Bible using camels for a long time. For another, the story is wrong. The biblical account is trustworthy, and the evidence from the recent study does not support the claims being made from it. (We didn’t find any camels being used at two copper-mining sites in the early 10th century; therefore, no camels were domesticated anywhere in the ANE before that time.)

If you are interested in learning what all of those media reports do not tell you, I would recommend some articles on evidence for the domestication of camels in the third and second millennium. Here are a few that are easy to access:

Stephen Caesar, Patriarchal Wealth and Early Domestication of the Camel, Bible and Spade, 2000.

Stephen Caesar, The Wealth and Power of the Biblical Patriarchs, Bible and Spade, 2006.

T. M. Kennedy, The Domestication of the Camel in the Ancient Near East, Bible and Spade, 2010 [updated 2014].

Randall W. Younker, Bronze Age Petroglyphs in the Wadi Nasib, Sinai, Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin 42, 1997.

These articles suggest other resources in their bibliographies.

Some other writers have posted on the subject this week. Gordon Govier considers “Abraham’s Anachronistic Camels” in a post at Christianity Today. Some of the quotes come from this week’s The Book and the Spade show in which he and I discuss the subject (direct link here). Michael Heiser shares an excerpt from the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch on his blog. Kyle Beshears suggests some additional points to consider. And yesterday I shared some observations from a journal article by Martin Heide.

Significant biblical references for the domestication of the camel are found all over the place, including Gen 12:16; 24:10; 32:7; 32:15; 37:25; Judg 6:5; 1 Sam 15:3; 30:17; 1 Kgs 10:2; 1 Chr 27:30; Job 1:3.

No camels and horses sign in Dahab, tb032606946

No Camels and Horses sign in Dahab, Sinai
Photo from Signs of the Holy Land

Tagged Analysis