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Gezer Excavations Uncover Ancient Game Board

This summer’s excavations of Tel Gezer were successful, according to a Baptist Press report written by archaeologists Steven Ortiz and Sam Wolff. Work continued this year on the tell, in the water system, and in the regional survey.

The archaeologists found evidence of the destruction by Pharaoh Shishak (2 Chr 12:4; 1 Kgs 14:25-26), including an ivory game board of a type well known from other excavations. This discovery of “The Game of 20 Squares” led the team to dub the area “Solomon’s Casino.” The report continues:

The project focused on an area west of the city gate where a casemate fortification wall was uncovered. Up against the interior of the wall was a large courtyard area with a tabun (clay cooking oven), storage jars, cooking pots, and burnt beams lying atop a plaster surface. Just to the north of this courtyard were two rooms with walls preserved to a height of more than a meter and a half. In one of these rooms the team discovered the remains of a cow jawbone. The adjoining room contained the game board.
Excavations also revealed “pre-Solomonic building remains.” Discoveries from this period (12th-11th centuries B.C.) included a perfectly preserved bronze spearhead, the head of a Philistine-type (“Ashdoda”) ceramic figurine, and the ceramic six-toed foot of a possible feline, the team reported. Largely unexcavated remains from the Late Bronze Age (14th century B.C.) lay below.

Gezer game board
Photo courtesy of Tel Gezer Excavation and Publication Project

The full report is here. The Jerusalem Post article focused more on the effect of the war on the Gezer excavation.

The excavation’s official website is here. The BiblePlaces website includes more photos and information about Gezer.

Earlier this week, Bill Schlegel, author of the Satellite Bible Atlas, released a video about Gezer’s biblical significance and archaeological discoveries. The 4-minute video below includes new aerial photos and footage.

Tagged Excavations, Shephelah

Rare Hoard of Year Four Coins Discovered along Highway

A ceramic money box filled with 114 bronze coins from “Year Four” of the First Jewish Revolt was discovered recently in excavations along the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway. From the Israel Antiquities Authority:

According to Pablo Betzer and Eyal Marco, excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The hoard, which appears to have been buried several months prior to the fall of Jerusalem, provides us with a glimpse into the lives of Jews living on the outskirts of Jerusalem at the end of the rebellion. Evidently someone here feared the end was approaching and hid his property, perhaps in the hope of collecting it later when calm was restored to the region”. All of the coins are stamped on one side with a chalice and the Hebrew inscription “To the Redemption of Zion” and on the other side with a motif that includes a bundle of lulav between two etrogs. Around this is the Hebrew inscription “Year Four”, that is, the fourth year of the Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans (69/70 CE).
The hoard was concealed in the corner of a room, perhaps inside a wall niche or buried in the floor. Two other rooms and a courtyard belonging to the same building were exposed during the course of the archaeological excavation. The structure was built in the first century BCE and was destroyed in 69 or 70 CE when the Romans were suppressing the Great Revolt. Early in the second century CE part of the building was reinhabited for a brief period, which culminated in the destruction of the Jewish settlement in Judea as a result of the Bar Kokhba rebellion. This is attested to by three complete jars that were discovered embedded in the courtyard floor.

The full story is here. The story is also reported by Arutz-7 and The Times of Israel.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Hoard of coins in situ

Pablo Betzer, IAA District Archaeologist for Judah, with a coin from the Year Four of the Great Revolt.

All photos courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Tagged Discoveries, Judah

Artifact of the Month: Siege of Lachish Wall Relief

(Posted by Michael J. Caba)

This wall relief carving depicts the siege of the Judean city of Lachish, telling the story from the Assyrian point of view. The carving was created in c. 700 BC and was discovered in the 1850s in the ancient city of Nineveh, Assyria. The full original panel measured sixty-two feet in length and was nearly nine feet tall. The events shown on the panel are also recorded in the Bible in 2 Kings 18. The relief now resides in the British Museum.

The close-up photo shown to the right is one of the panels to this long relief. It depicts the battle between the attackers, who are using a battering ram, and the defenders who are shooting arrows and throwing burning torches.
The close-up photo on the left shows Judean captives being led into exile. Other panels (not included here) show victims being impaled and flayed.

All in all, despite the rather gruesome subject matter, the relief represents one of the more magnificent treasures from antiquity. It also provides support for the historicity of the scriptural record.

For information on similar artifacts related to the Bible, see Bible and Archaeology – Online Museum.

(Photos: BiblePlaces.com. Significant resources for further study: The Context of Scripture, volume 2, page 304; Lost Treasures of the Bible, by Fant and Reddish, pages 173-177.)

Weekend Roundup

What do you do when your summer excavation site turns out to be less than 5 miles from a war zone?
The Ashkelon team had to figure matters out on the fly.

Mark Hoffman is inviting everyone to join his free, online course, “Survey of the Lands of the Bible.”

This MOOC begins in September and you can participate as much and as little as desired.

Wayne Stiles has a well-written and well-illustrated article about Ein Parath, where Jeremiah buried his loincloth.

How did archaeologists come to reject the biblical description of Joshua’s conquest? Henry Smith explains. He is interviewed briefly about the article here.

Leon Mauldin takes his readers to the Mamertine Prison in Rome.

ISIS Is About to Destroy Biblical History in Iraq.

Cleopatra’s Needle in New York City is getting a laser cleaning. “In nanoseconds, the soot particles are turned into white-hot plasma.”

The latest issue of ‘Atiqot is online and it includes several articles about an excavation in the Kidron Valley.

Göbekli Tepe excavator Klaus Schmidt died last week.

Amnon Rosenfeld—In Memoriam, by Howard R. Feldman.

HT: Charles Savelle, G. M. Grena, Craig Dunning

110724879tb Egyptian obelisk, aka Cleopatra's Needle

Cleopatra’s Needle, New York City

Tagged Excavations, Exodus-Conquest, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Judah, Lectures, Mesopotamia, Technology, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A new museum has opened at Hisham’s palace (Khirbet al-Mafjar) in Jericho.

A temple to the Urartian god Haldi has been discovered in northern Iraq.

A painting from the tomb of a priest in the Old Kingdom was discovered near the Giza pyramids.

You can read an update on the recent developments at the Temple Mount Sifting Project. The summary includes a series of photos of various sets of objects found.

The Tel Burna team ended their season by taking photos from a helicopter drone. The post shows the whole process.

Roman roads and milestones in Judaea and Palaestina are the focus of a new website produced by the Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee and the Israeli Milestone Committee.

Raphael Golb will spend two months in the slammer for his crimes of criminal impersonation and forgery.

“The Archaeology of Music” is the subject on this week’s episode of The Book and the Spade.

Biblical Archaeology Society has a summer sale, including the entire BAR Archive on DVD for $99.95.

HT: Jack Sasson, Ted Weis

Hisham’s palace gate
Photo from Samaria and the Center

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Forgery, Jerusalem, Mesopotamia, Museums, Shephelah, Technology, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

SourceFlix has posted a video taken by drone of the Old City and Temple Mount of Jerusalem.

Excavators at Jezreel discovered an amethyst scarab that likely came from Jezebel’s homeland.

Amnon Rosenfeld died in a car accident in Israel last week. Earlier this month he wrote “The Antiquities Game – Behind the Trial of the Century.” The article is long but has a number of valuable insights.

With Gaza in the news again, Ferrell Jenkins discusses its biblical significance.

The excavators at Gath had a very interesting day on Thursday.

Abram K-J has found a free digital Greek edition of Eusebius’s Onomasticon.

Rik Wadge and Steve Shermett host a series on biblical archaeology entitled Rocks, Shovels, and
Manuscripts on God’s Learning Channel. The most recent episodes focus on the seven churches of Revelation.

Caves in Israel—Manmade and God-made: Wayne Stiles explains and illustrates. He also offers a free download of a book he recently wrote for the Israel Ministry of Tourism, 100 Off-The-Beaten-Path Sites.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Forgery, Jerusalem, Philistines, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Tourism, Weekend Roundup