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The most dramatic discovery from the first season of excavations at Khirbet Summeily is a unique sculpted animal head. Archaeologists are not sure if the head is of a sheep or a lion, but they say that it is the first of this type they have seen.

Excavations of the site this summer also uncovered an Egyptian scarab, stone figurines, a collection of loomweights, as well as the remains of several buildings. Khirbet Summeily is located near the border of ancient Israel and Philistia, 3 miles (4 km) west of Tell el-Hesi and about 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Qiryat Gat.

Tim Frank has posted the full press release and photograph from Mississippi State University. You may want to check out Frank’s blog “Archaeology and the Bible” while you’re at it, including a recent series of posts on “Life in the Holy Land,” surveying the remarkable work of Gustav Dalman (until now available only in German and Hebrew).

Blog readers may recall Daughter of Lachish, a captivating work of historical fiction written by Frank and published earlier this year by Wipf and Stock (now available from Amazon).

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Ancient Israel: Highlights from the Collections of the Oriental Institute University of Chicago is a new 127-page publication written by Gabrielle Vera Novacek and illustrated with 66 beautiful photographs and diagrams. The book is available for pre-order from Amazon or as a free download (pdf).

Six lectures in Hebrew are now online from the 12th Studies of Ancient Jerusalem conference held in September in the City of David. The speakers included Israel Finkelstein, Ronny Reich, Gabriel Barkay, Asher Grossberg, Eli Shukron, and Yosef Garfinkel.

“Libya’s famed ancient Roman sites, including the sprawling seaside ruins of Leptis Magna, were spared damage by NATO during the recent airstrikes, says a London-based Libyan archaeologist.”

Muslims continue to bury their dead next to the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, according to the Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Temple Mount Antiquities.

The head of the Supreme Committee of the Grand Egyptian Museum was fired this week.

“Ultra-Orthodox young men curse and spit at Christian clergymen in the streets of Jerusalem’s Old City as a matter of routine.” Last week a judge ruled in favor of an Armenian seminary student who fought back.

HT: Daniel Wright, Jack Sasson, ANE-2, AWOL

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An AP news story summarizes an article by Rami Arav in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

A newly proposed solution to an ancient enigma is reviving debate about the nature of a mysterious prehistoric site that some call the Holy Land’s answer to Stonehenge.
Some scholars believe the structure of concentric stone circles known as Rujm al-Hiri was an astrological temple or observatory, others a burial complex. The new theory proposed by archaeologist Rami Arav of the University of Nebraska links the structure to an ancient method of disposing of the dead.
[…]
Most scholars have identified Rujm al-Hiri as some kind of ritual center, with some believing it connected to astronomical calculations. Archaeologist Yonathan Mizrahi, one of the first to excavate there, found that to someone standing in the very center of the circles on the morning of the summer solstice in 3000 B.C., “the first gleam of sunrise would appear at the center of the northeast entryway in the outer wall.”
Just like England’s Stonehenge — thought to date to around 3000 B.C. at the earliest — Rujm al-Hiri has also provided fodder for ideas of a less scientific sort. One posits the site is the tomb of the Biblical giant known as Og, king of the Bashan. There is indeed a tomb in the center of the site, but scholars tend to agree it was added a millennia or two after the circles were erected.

Arav theorizes that the site was used for excarnation or sky burial. A corpse was exposed so that vultures could pick the bones clean before secondary burial in an ossuary.

If Arav’s theory is correct, the biblical narrative written millennia later might offer hints that sky burial remained in the memory of the local population. No longer practiced, it was instead considered an appalling fate wished on one’s worst enemies.
In one example, from the Book of Samuel [1 Sam 17:46], the shepherd David tells the Philistine warrior Goliath that he would soon cut off his head. Then David says: “I will give the carcasses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.”

This is an interesting article, but I’m not so sure it’s necessary to have excarnation in the background in order to understand David’s threat.

Access to the original BAR article is available with a subscription.

UPDATE: Shmuel Browns has posted some of his thoughts on the proposal in BAR.

Rogem Hiri from south, tb111700218

Rogem Hiri from the south
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From Haaretz:

Springs in the Judean Hills that were the basis for agriculture as far back as the Second Temple era are drying up due to successive drought years and have become polluted, according to a study carried out this year.
The study, conducted this spring by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority under the direction of the Water Authority, was the first of its kind in 30 years. It included 67 of the almost 90 springs in an area from Jerusalem in the east westward almost to Beit Shemesh.
Water quality and quantity, as well as the area surrounding each spring, were examined. The survey included the Sataf, Ein Hindak and Ein Lavan springs, all popular hiking spots, as well as the spring in the center of Abu Gosh.
The surveyors found water in only two-thirds of the springs. Of the springs with water, the flow rates were lower than in previous years and in one out of three springs the water quality was poor or fair.
The surveyors pointed to several consecutive low-rainfall years as the main reason for the low water levels.
Six of the past eight years met the criteria for drought years. Last winter, for example, saw only 60 percent of the average annual rainfall in the region.

The article also describes the impact of human activities on the springs and reports that last year the terraced fields of the Judean hills were recommended as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ein Handak, tb121302804

Ein Handak in the Judean Hills
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Joseph Patrich provides a great survey of what we know about Caesarea Maritima from archaeological excavations.

Ferrell Jenkins has written a couple of illustrated posts on Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula.

The IAA has more information about the Byzantine prayer box discovered in the City of David (aka
“Walls around Jerusalem” National Park).

The West Semitic Research Project has made three RTI images available to BAR readers to view without requiring registration. (Background here.)

Wayne Stiles transports his readers to the Mount of Beatitudes in the spring.

You can now register for the 2012 season at Gath. This is one of the most popular excavations in the world.

The ancient mikveh discovered near Zorah is the subject of a 1.5 minute video at the Jerusalem Post.

A bill submitted to Israel’s parliament “aims to preserve the Dead Sea and its internationally treasured natural resources, maintain the salty waters for the benefit of the next generation, curb the plunging water levels of the northern basin and determine new terms of management for the region, which will provide for continued reasonable extraction of minerals while protecting the ecosystems and biodiversity.”

Israel’s Knesset has refused to declassify the Temple Mount Report. “Shin Bet officials argued the report should remain confidential on the grounds its contents were sensitive and its publication could result in confrontations and geopolitical changes at the site.”

A scholar claims that the number of ancient stone wheels visible only from the sky may number more than a million. Google Earth is now being used to identify these throughout Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

Iraq has budgeted $8.5 million to develop the infrastructure at the ancient city of Babylon.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

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Simcha Jacobovici is in Jerusalem this week working and filming in the area of the “tomb of Jesus” in the Talpiot neighborhood. Jacobovici previously claimed that he had discovered the actual tomb of Jesus and he is currently producing a new documentary with compelling new “proof.”

One possible strategy is that Jacobovici will take patina samples from the “tomb of Jesus” and claim that they match those from the James ossuary. Since this ossuary is inscribed “James son of Joseph brother of Jesus,” Jacobovici can argue that this was the family tomb of Jesus.

Much of this has been discussed at great length in past years, and with the exception of his partner James Tabor (who benefits financially from Jacobovici’s work), I don’t know of any scholars who accept this claim. Simon & Schuster’s website promotes their forthcoming book and promises a “primetime Discovery television commentary” and press conference.

A few basic points may be recalled:

1. The tomb of Jesus’ family was likely located in his hometown of Nazareth.

2. The economic status of Jesus’ family makes it unlikely that they could afford an expensive rock-hewn tomb.

3. The names Jesus, James (Jacob), and Joseph were very common in the first century.

4. Jacobovici is attempting to do what no one in the first century could do: prove that Jesus is still in the tomb.

5. Jacobovici has made it clear in interviews that his primary interest is entertainment, not truth.

Tabor appears ready to chase after anything that will undermine the historic Christian faith.

6. As long as people will buy, Jacobovici will keep selling his sensational stories, especially before major Christian holidays.

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