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From Jerusalem Post:

Excavators digging for a new railway station deep under the surface of central Jerusalem have discovered what geologists say is the largest underground river ever found in Israel. And while its deep canyons and waterfalls may be an impressive find for scientists, it doesn’t contain a significant amount of the precious fluids to affect the water balance in this traditionally parched city. “We found a nice but small underground river,” Professor Amos Frumkin, head of the Cave Research Unit of the Hebrew University’s Department of Geography, told The Media Line.
“In terms of Israel, it’s the longest underground stream that we have ever seen. It is a kind of a canyon that has been cut by the stream of the water over a long period of time, maybe millions of years,” Frumkin said. Frumkin and his team were called upon by Israel Railways after its engineers chanced upon the cave while excavating an 80-meter (260-foot) shaft close to the city’s main convention center and central bus station that is being drilled for a huge, underground station that will serve the high-speed Jerusalem-Tel Aviv railway.

The story continues here. Leen Ritmeyer noted the Haaretz article of this discovery last week.

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Some summer excavations in Israel have already begun, and many more will commence within the next month.  Five excavations began yesterday or today: Tel Burna, Kefar HaHoresh, Khirbet Qeiyafa, Wadi Hamam, and Tel Gezer

Three more excavations hit the field next week: Tel Hazor, Tel Kabri, and Khirbet Summeily.  Those beginning in late June or early July include: Tel Dor, Tel Megiddo East, Tell es-Safi (Gath), Tel Akko, and Hippos-Sussita.  Two teams wait until the heat of the summer before getting underway, but both are located next to the beach: Yavneh-Yam and Apollonia-Arsuf.

If you want to volunteer for a dig but cannot participate in the summer or for a lengthy duration, you might consider two year-round operations: Temple Mount Sifting Project and the Dig-for-a-Day program at Maresha (Bet Guvrin).

Last year we published a list of blogs reporting from the excavations and we may prepare another one for this year.  (Any tips on such blogs are appreciated.)

The following list is organized chronologically and based upon dates given at the Find a Dig site, published by the Biblical Archaeology Society.


2011 Excavations Already Concluded

Tamar (Mezad Hazeva): February 20 – March 8, 2011; May 9 – May 22, 2011

Tel Gezer Water System Project: May 21 – June 11, 2011

Khirbet el-Maqatir: May 21 – June 4, 2011


2011 Excavations Presently Underway

Tall Jalul (in Jordan): May 3 – June 17, 2011

Tiberias: May 22 – June 17, 2011

Bethsaida: May 22 – June 25, 2011

Ashkelon: June 5 – July 15, 2011

Tel Burna: June 12 – June 30, 2011

Kefar HaHoresh: June 12 – July 7, 2011

Khirbet Qeiyafa: June 12 – July 22, 2011

Wadi Hamam: June 13 – July 15, 2011

Tel Gezer: June 13 – July 15, 2011


2011 Excavations Not Yet Begun

Tel Hazor: June 19 – July 29, 2011

Tel Kabri: June 19 – July 28, 2011

Khirbet Summeily: June 20 – July 20, 2011

Tel Dor: June 28 – August 5, 2011

Tel Dor 2: June 28 – August 6, 2011

Tel Megiddo East: July 2 – 28, 2011

Tell es-Safi (Gath): July 3 – 29, 2011

Tel Akko: July 3 – July 29, 2011

Hippos-Sussita: July 3 – 30, 2011

Yavneh-Yam: July 18 – August 12, 2011

Apollonia-Arsuf: August 1 – September 11, 2011

Long-running excavations not in the field this year include Megiddo, Tel Rehov, and Dan.

Gezer excavations, tb062806971

Excavations at Gezer
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From Haaretz:

The Israel Antiquities Authority has had a breakthrough discovery, unearthing a public structure from the time of the Byzantine Empire in the northern Israeli city of Acre [Akko].
The structure is about 1,500 years-old and it is believed to have served as a church. The structure was uncovered during a rescue excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority following an unauthorized dig in the area that uncovered the structure.
The excavation was done approximately 100 meters west of a mound located in the eastern part of Acre, close to the area in which the future Azrieli shopping mall is being built.
Nurit Page, head of the excavations in the area under the auspices of the Israel Antiquities Authority said that the city’s bishop was known in Christian scriptures as someone who was extremely influential in the development of Christianity as a religion.
This discovery is the first concrete proof of Acre’s role in early Christianity. “This is an important discovery for the study of Acre,” Page said, adding that it is of particular significance “considering no remnants from the Byzantine Period had been found other than living quarters near the [Mediterranean] sea.”

The full story is here.  An IAA press release sent along by Joseph Lauer quotes the archaeologist as being less certain of the building’s identification: “It may possibly be a church. This is the first time that remains of a public building from this period have been uncovered in Akko.”

UPDATE (6/14): The Jerusalem Post is now reporting the discovery.

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Leen Ritmeyer explains why he disagrees with Eilat Mazar’s claim that the Second Temple is “waiting to be unearthed.” 

Shmuel Browns has a well-illustrated article on Popular Archaeology entitled “Netzer’s Legacy: The Wonders of Herodium.”

Wayne Stiles makes a connection between the feast of Shavuot (Weeks or Pentecost) and Beth Shemesh.

Al Arabiya News profiles the Nimrud ivories, and Ferrell Jenkins provides some additional commentary and photos.

Haaretz takes the occasion of the inauguration of Jerusalem’s Light Rail to reminisce about an earlier, short-lived rail project from Jerusalem to el-Bireh/Ramallah. The author describes it as an electric rail system, but the accompanying photo shows the train billowing smoke.

The Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem is almost entirely Ultra-Orthodox.

An article in the Telegraph lists the top five religious mysteries as the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy
Chalice, the True Cross, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Sudarium of Oviedo.

The New York Times celebrates the completion of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, ninety years after it was begun.

If you’re wondering what is brand new and most popular for the week, see the lists at bib-arch.org.

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If you’re on holiday in Rhodes and you don’t mind swimming a bit, you can get your diving practice from this concrete platform.

Rhodes beach with diving board, tb061906300

Paul briefly visited Rhodes as he traveled back to Jerusalem on his third missionary journey.

Acts 21:1 — After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.

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I don’t pay much attention to statistics for this blog or its related website, given limited time and a sense that it doesn’t matter much anyway.  But I noticed that Feedburner provides a list of most popular blog posts and I was surprised at what received the most views in the last 18 months (when we began using the Feedburner service).  Here are the top sixteen, with the most popular at the top:

Bible Mapper Version 4

The Sacrificial Lamb

Top Discoveries of 2009

New Discoveries Related to Temple Mount

Glo for $40

Where Did Goliath’s Head Go?

Best of 2009: Books, Software, Photo CDs

Weekend Roundup (from Feb 2010)

Locust Plague

Under the Temple Mount

How “Top 50” Lists Work

360 Degree Views in Jerusalem

The Dragnet on the Sea of Galilee

Support Sought for Tel Dor

The Star of Bethlehem

Psalm 23

I am having trouble accounting for why some of these were so popular.  I notice that none of these are less than a year old, so perhaps the results are skewed by the length of time they’ve been available to those searching for specific terms.  Perhaps I’ll check back in a year and see how the list compares.

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