Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Weekend Roundup

Construction of a new parking lot underneath the Jewish Quarter was reported to require the first breach of the Old City walls of Jerusalem in more than a hundred years. Well, not quite. First, the architect clarified that he was only going under the walls and not through them. Then Leen Ritmeyer explained that the walls were not breached a hundred years ago for Kaiser Wilhelm II’s visit. The walls are safe, for now.

A program on the “New Finds in Jaffa Gate” will be held on Oct 12, 2010, 6-8 pm at Jerusalem’s Yad Ben Zvi Institute. Ofer Sion and Shahar Poni will lecture on the discoveries, including the channel leading to Hezekiah’s Pool. The lecture notice (in Hebrew) can be found here and here (pdf).

HT: Joe Lauer

A statue of Hathor disappeared from a temple at Serabit el-Khadim and was discovered in the Sinai desert five days later. Authorities are questioning the site’s security guards.

Following Friday’s report that the Syrian army has a Scud missile base near Damascus, Jay Baggett (Land of the Bible) created a flyover tour to the “hidden” base where the missiles can be easily seen on Google Earth.

Steven Lancaster and James Monson have completed the Geobasics Study Guide, an outstanding and unique work that deserves a post of its own. In the meantime, you can get a copy for yourself. The guide is in pdf format and is free. The accompanying map book is (only) $15.

Tagged Jerusalem, Lectures, Resources, Syria, Weekend Roundup

Jericho Celebrates 10,000 Years on 10-10-10

Jericho is attempting to capitalize on today’s unique date in connection with its claim to be a 10,000-year-old city. From the AP:

Visitors to ancient Jericho Sunday got a rare glimpse at what archaeologists here say is the largest carpet mosaic in the Middle East, measuring nearly 900 square meters (9,700 square feet).
The small red, blue and ochre square stones laid out in complex geometric and floral patterns cover the floor of the main bath house of an Islamic palace that was destroyed by an earthquake in the eighth century. Since being excavated in the 1930s and 1940s, the mosaic has largely remained hidden under layers of canvas and soil to protect it against sun and rain.
Starting Sunday, a small section will be laid bare for a week, as part of Jericho’s 10,000th birthday celebrations. The mosaic then will be covered up again until the money is found to build a roof that would serve as a permanent weather shield, said Palestinian archaeologist Hamdan Taha.
Biblical Jericho attracts a steady flow of pilgrims, but the small Jordan Valley oasis is making a major push these days to become a magnet for tourists, presenting itself as the oldest city on earth. Marking the 10,000th birthday Sunday is entirely random, though, with archaeologists saying they could be off by hundreds of years in dating the first human settlement in the area.

Where does the 10,000-year-old claim come from? First, the issue is not settlement, as remains of earlier sites have been found around the world. Jericho claims to be unique because of its early fortifications. Second, Kenyon identified remains of a city (with a wall and tower) from the earliest part of the Neolithic period. Some archaeologists date the beginning of the Neolithic period to 8000 BC, or 10,000 years before present.

Massive stone tower at Jericho from the Neolithic period

Over the years, various signs have welcomed visitors to the “oldest city in the world.”

Tagged Tourism

Harding Excavations at Beth Shemesh

Last night I was talking with a friend about how to choose a good summer excavation for his college students. I suggested three main criteria: (1) a site with historic significance and well-preserved remains; (2) an excavation group that fits the character of his own; (3) a program with evening lectures and weekend trips.

These three factors are all present in this report of Harding University’s successful summer excavations at Beth Shemesh. From the Christian Chronicle:

For more than a decade, Dale Manor, professor of archaeology and Bible at Harding University, has taken history buffs and aspiring archaeologists on summer excavation trips to Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel.
The groups that Manor usually takes on the four-week digs consist mostly of archaeology students and faculty from secular universities.
“I had never been on a project where the majority of the people were even religious,” Manor said.
But that changed this past summer.
All 14 participants in Manor’s most recent trip were members of Churches of Christ.
“Through the years, a number of folks had indicated interest in coming to excavate, and I pressed them into making a decision,” Manor said of his fellow Christians.
Beth-Shemesh, about 12 miles southwest of Jerusalem, is where the Philistines returned the Ark of the Covenant to Israel, as recorded in I Samuel 6. It’s also the site of some of Samson’s activities during the time of the Judges.
Manor said excavations at Beth-Shemesh since 1990 have uncovered an underground water reservoir and the largest iron workshop found in the Middle East, both dating around the 10th Century B.C.

The story continues here.

Tagged Excavations, Shephelah

Jesus at Hazor

Gordon Franz has just written a unique article entitled “Jesus at Hazor.” It’s unique because while there are many biblical stories that explicitly mention the city and area of Hazor, none of them are from the New Testament. Yet Franz has found a number of connections. He writes:

In this essay, a case will be suggested that Jesus walked past the mound on at least two occasions with His disciples. The first time they might have visited Hazor was when Jesus took His disciples on a tour of the cities and villages of Galilee. The second time might have been when Jesus and His disciples went to Tyre and Sidon. They could have viewed the site from a distance when they went to and from Caesarea Philippi.

Franz gives a careful look at the sites and routes in Galilee that Jesus probably visited and traveled upon, but which are not known by many tourists or students today. He also has written a separate article on spiritual lessons that Jesus might have taught the disciples while at Hazor.

Hazor from southwest

Tagged Galilee

Discoveries at Khirbet al-Mudayna, possible Jahaz

Excavations at Khirbet al-Mudayna (Medeiniyeh) have been slowly and steadily peeling back the history of this large site on the southern side of the Medeba Plateau in Jordan. Some have suggested that the site be identified with Jahaz, the scene of the encounter between the Israelites under Moses and Sihon the Amorite (Num 21:23; Deut 2:32; cf. Judg 11:20; Isa 15:4; Jer 48:34). From Exchange Magazine:

For two decades, Laurier archaeology professor Michèle Daviau has led international teams of scholars and students abroad to uncover the hidden lives of people who existed thousands of years ago.
During her most recent excavation in Jordan, Daviau was astounded by the discovery of a limestone statue and several high-status objects that appear to have been imported from outside the region.
The objects were made from a variety of materials: three small black ware vessels, one with an incised design of triangles, two faience cosmetic containers, two faience bottles, one calcite cosmetic vessel, two alabaster vessels, one fine-grain basalt bowl and a steatite cosmetic mortar were discovered in an ancient house dating back to about 600 BC.
The objects were in the same room as a 40-centimetres statue of a male with red paint preserved on his left leg and his hands. Such finds have no parallels in Jordan although their source may be Egypt or Phoenicia, said Daviau.
“The alabaster and faience objects suggest influence from the two superpowers in the region, Egypt and Assyria, but the dynamics whereby these objects arrived at the site are a mystery,” she said. “They may reflect a period of about 30 or 40 years when Egypt controlled this area.”
The principal sites under excavation by Daviau in the Wadi ath-Thamad area are Khirbat al-Mudayna and the Roman fortress of Zuna. The former is a walled Iron Age town (1,000 to 600 BC) situated on a hill with the Nabataean/early-Roman period settlement (100 BC to 150 AD) at the hill’s base. More than 150 sites that date from the Lower Paleolithic to the Ottoman period have been located in the dig’s 10- by 11-kilometre survey area.

The story continues here. You can read more about the site at BAS’s Find a Dig, learn more about the archaeologist on her university profile page, or check out the Facebook group.

HT: Joe Lauer

Khirbet al-Mudayna on the Wadi ath-Thamad

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jordan

Byzantine Mosaics at Shikmona

Tel Shikmona (Shiqmona) sits on the tip of Mount Carmel next to the Mediterranean Sea. Its location within the modern city of Haifa has made it very accessible to scholars over the last century, beginning with the work of Moshe Dothan in 1951. Seventeen seasons of excavation were conducted by the Haifa Municipal Museum of Ancient Art (1963-79), with strata discovered from the Late Bronze, Iron I-II, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. Recently archaeologists have uncovered beautiful mosaics from a Byzantine church building. The University of Haifa has issued a press release with photos.

Researchers at the Institute of Archaeology from the University of Haifa excavating at Tel Shikmona have exposed magnificent mosaics dating back to the Byzantine Period (sixth century C.E.), which were part of an ecclesiastic structure. The excavations are taking place as part of a project funded by the Hecht Foundation, to expand the Hecht Park in Haifa, Israel, annex it to Tel Shikmona, and transform Shikmona into a public archaeological park.

The story is also reported by the Jerusalem Post.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations