Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Pier Discovered from Ancient Acco

The Israel Antiquities Authority has announced the discovery of a pier in the harbor of the city known as Acco/Akko, Ptolemais, and Acre.

Remains of a unique and impressive floor were discovered at a depth of one meter underwater in Akko harbor. The remains constitute the first evidence of a low sea level during the Hellenistic period in Akko. The floor remains were discovered during archaeological excavations and inspections that the Israel Antiquities Authority Marine Archaeology Unit is carrying out within the framework of rehabilitating Akko’s southern seawall. The project is being implemented by conservators on behalf of the Old Acre Development Company, Ltd., and is underwritten by the Israel Lands Administration. The scope of the funding that the latter is providing totals several million shekels. As part of the project, a temporary rampart that serves as both a road and dam was built in the sea. The pool of water that formed between the rampart and the seawall was pumped out so as to create dry conditions for rehabilitating the seawall.
The part of the floor that has been revealed so far extends for a distance of 15 meters and is 4 meters wide (the full dimensions of the floor have not yet been exposed). The floor was built of rectangular, smoothly dressed kurkar stones that were placed atop a foundation course of roughly hewn kurkar stones arranged next to each other as “headers”. In probes that were conducted beneath the floor, numerous fragments of ceramic jars of Aegean provenance (from Rhodes, Kos and elsewhere) were found that were used to transport wine, as well as tableware and cooking vessels. Among the other artifacts recovered were a Greek style bronze arrowhead and bronze coins that are covered with marine encrustations. A preliminary identification of the finds shows that the floor was constructed in the Hellenistic period (end of the third century until the middle of the second century BCE) as part of a national project.

This press release continues here. High-resolution photos of the discovery and its vicinity are available here (zip). For more photos and information about the ancient Acco, see this BiblePlaces page.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations

Aren Maeir on the 35th Annual Archaeological Conference

Today the 35th Annual Archaeological Conference was held in Jerusalem, and fortunately for us, Aren Maeir was there and has commented on some of the interesting presentations that were given.

You can read his blog for the full report, but here are the three of most interest to this blog author:

1) Haggai Misgav spoke about the Kh. Qeiyafa inscription, which still is for the most part undeciphered, but he showed some good slides of the 5 lines, 50 letters, and showed nicely the reading of, e.g., eved (slave), melek (king), al t’as (don’t do in biblical hebrew), etc. Inter alia, the so-called “Goliath inscription” from Tell es-Safi/Gath was mentioned….
4) Erez Ben-Yosef et al, who discussed some interesting results of Tom Levi’s project in the Edom lowlands, including details on some new sites at which there is evidence for early Iron Age and Iron IIA smelting activities.
5) Norma Franklin who discussed the so-called “Proto-Aeolic capitals” of the Iron Age, claiming, very logically, that none of them were actually capitals!”

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Shephelah

James Ossuary Trial Drags On

Matthew Kalman, writing for the Jerusalem Post:

One of Israel’s best-known antiquities dealers said this week he was the innocent victim of a “witch-hunt” initiated by the Antiquities Authority aimed at destroying his career and reputation.
Robert Deutsch, 58, has been on trial at the Jerusalem District Court since September 2005 on six charges of faking and selling priceless antiquities. He is the owner of the Archeological Center, with shops in Tel Aviv and Jaffa, and runs twice-yearly antiquities auctions that attract the world’s top collectors of ancient Judaica.
Deutsch’s co-defendant, leading antiquities collector Oded Golan, is charged with faking the burial box of Jesus’s brother and an inscribed stone attributed to King Jehoash that once adorned the First Temple, plus dozens of smaller items.
As Deutsch took the stand this week for the first time after more than three years in court, 120 witnesses and 8,000 pages of testimony, he said the charges against him were “lies and hallucinations.”

The story continues here, and the author does a good job of presenting both sides of the story.

Kalman has a blog dedicated to the trial.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Forgery

New Items in the BiblePlaces.com Store

A rush shipment of a series of fantastic new products has just arrived at the BiblePlaces.com International Distribution Center. All of these items are available for immediate shipment.

Bag of Rocks: Authentic specimens from a hill in Israel. You can plant these in your garden, and before you know it, your garden will be full of them.

Basket of Authentic Potsherds: Unwashed, unsorted. May include EB through Ottoman period artifacts. Your basket might contain an ostracon!

Biblical Archaeologist Swimsuit Calendar: Featuring 12 of the world’s most renowned excavators on exotic tells that they dig.

Packet of Mud: Wet soil possibly washed off by the blind man at the Pool of Siloam.

Ossuary: Inscriptions of famous biblical people added for an extra charge.

Private Lecture: A dramatic presentation for you and your friends by Charles Gadda on the true origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls and expert techniques on how to convince the world that you’re right.

“I Deny” T-Shirts: You fill-in-the-blank. Popular options include: the existence of the Jews in the Holy Land before 1948, David and Solomon, maximalism, minimalism, antiquities sales, the James Ossuary, Bible thumpers, Q, Ai, the “BAR crowd”, biblioblogs.

Archaeologist Trading Cards: Watch the value of these go up when one of their discoveries is sensationalized.

Tour Pass: Good for a one-day tour of the archaeological sites of the Gaza Strip, personally hosted by Khaled Mashaal and his friends.

The Truth About Archaeology DVD: Dozens of volunteers explain the realities of excavation, including stories of grime, sunstroke, hospitalization, and slavery-like conditions that they paid for.

Fibers from the rope around the high priest’s ankle.

Ashes from the destroyed city of Sodom. Well-preserved. From the Sodom of your choice.

Television Special, 60 Minutes (DVD): Breaking report that reveals how a Jewish temple never existed in Jerusalem. Features extensive research and interviews with ~~two~~ three smart locals.

Postcards of Jerusalem: Only one dollah. The top one looks nice.

Payment may be made in darics, denarii, drachmas, or dileptons. All orders must be received not
later than 11:59 p.m., April 1st.

Tagged April Fool's Joke

PBS Special: Jerusalem: Center of the World

The 2-hour movie narrates the history of the city. Beginning at 9pm Eastern/Pacific, the documentary is narrated by Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Susan Wunderink of Christianity Today reviews the film:

The film starts with Abraham leaving Ur at a time when Jerusalem was already settled by Canaanite tribes. The documentary embellishes biblical history, adding in traditions that say, for example, that Jerusalem is also where God created Adam. Suarez goes into the details of the destruction and rebuildings of the Jewish Temple. Jesus’ short life is given about 15 minutes of the two-hour run time. For viewers who know what happens up to 70 A.D.—and then nothing—it will fill in some big gaps. The second half of the film explains how the city came to look as it does today, if you can keep up. Toward the end, the pace picks up as Suarez lists how “the world’s most contested piece of real estate” changes hands among multiple Christian and Muslim rulers. Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others fought, came, and went, sometimes leaving Jerusalem little more than a tourist trap. Mark Twain found it an unappealing, sleepy place when he visited. The Romans, after nearly wiping out the Jewish population, expelled the rest; Saladin’s Muslims let them re-settle.

The full review is here. The producer’s website includes a trailer.

Tagged Jerusalem, Resources, Temple Mount

Western Wall Prayer Notes Removed

From Arutz-7:

The ancient crevices of the Western Wall, filled with prayer notes tearfully tucked inside by tens of thousands of worshippers during the course of the year, underwent their twice-yearly cleaning-out on Sunday, under the watchful eye of the Rabbi of the Holy Sites, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich.
The notes are emptied out of the Wall just before Passover and just before Rosh HaShanah. The purpose is to make room so that people can “insert their prayer notes at the Wall without fear that the notes will fall out and be trampled upon,” Rabbi Rabinovich explained.
The notes, many of which contain the full names of family members, as well as requests for health, sustenance, a spouse, solutions for personal problems, and more, are treated with great respect by the workers. The workers even immerse themselves in a mikveh (ritual bath) before beginning the holy work of removing the notes.
The notes are removed without the use of metal bars or utensils – which stand for warfare and the taking of life (see Exodus 20,22) – but rather with wooden rods. Following their removal, the notes are taken to the nearby ancient Mt. of Olives cemetery for burial.

Removing prayer notes from Western Wall

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount