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Chariot Linchpin from Sisera’s Hometown

In the period of the judges,

the Lord sold [the Israelites] into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help (Judges 4:2-3).

Archaeologist Adam Zertal believes he has identified Sisera’s hometown of Harosheth Haggoyim at the site of el-Ahwat not far from the Jezreel Valley. A bronze tablet discovered in the excavation was a linchpin of a chariot wheel. Enemies were sometimes carved on these linchpins as a sign of disrespect, not unlike depictions of a king putting his foot on the necks of his enemies. The woman depicted on the linchpin may be a Hittite goddess. Zertal connects this artifact to the story of Sisera’s defeat by Deborah and Barak:

This identification enhances the historical and archaeological value of the site and proves that chariots belonging to high-ranking individuals were found there. It provides support for the possibility, which has not yet been definitively established, that this was Sisera’s city of residence and that it was from there that the chariots set out on their way to the battle against the Israelite tribes, located between the ancient sites of Taanach and Megiddo.

Zertal further identifies Sisera as one of the Sea Peoples. The Philistines are the most well known, but another group were the Shardanu who originated from Sardinia.

More details are given in the press release of the University of Haifa (with good illustrations). The Jerusalem Post story has additional information apparently based on Zertal’s new book, Sisera’s Secret, A Journey following the Sea-Peoples and the Song of Deborah.

Anson Rainey argues at length that Harosheth Haggoyim is not a city but a region, and the name should be translated as “district of the foreigners.” He locates it in the plain east of Megiddo, and thus equivalent to “at Taanach on the waters of Megiddo” in Judges 5:19. For his analysis, see The Sacred Bridge, pp. 137-38, 150-51.

Photo by Moshe Einav/University of Haifa

Tagged Discoveries

Archaeological Display in Tel Aviv

How many archaeological sites do you suppose there are in Tel Aviv?

From Haaretz:

The Tel Aviv municipality may soon launch a broad initiative to restore and display archaeological artifacts across the city, deputy-mayor Meital Lehavi told Haaretz.
The plan, to be done in close cooperation with the Antiquities Authority, intends for large local artifacts to be presented in parks, squares and other public areas. The pilot for the program will be launched in 10 parks around the city already located close to archaeological sites.
While the plan has not been finalized and has yet to be confirmed by the municipal administration, Lehavi said a delegation from the municipality will visit the state archaeological storehouses in two months to select exhibits for display.
“When people hear ‘archaeology’ they automatically think of cities like Jerusalem, Megiddo or Akko,” Yossi Levi, the central district archaeologist for the Antiquities Authority said. “But Tel Aviv-Jaffo alone has about 128 archaeological sites, which is a lot. Fifty of them are even visible to the naked eye. As these are sites people travel through anyway, the idea is that they can be turned into public exhibits at a minimal cost.

For more details, see the article in Haaretz.

Tel Gerisa (aka Napoleon’s Hill), with buildings of Tel Aviv in distance

Tagged New Exhibits

New Paleo-Hebrew and Greek Fonts

Kris Udd has designed more than a dozen new fonts and is graciously making them available to the public via the BiblePlaces.com website.

The ten Greek fonts released today:

Archaic Greek (8th c. BC)
Rosetta Stone (196 BC)
Nahal Hever A (c. 50 BC)
Nahal Hever B (c. 50 BC)
Greek Coin (1st c. AD)
Theodotus (AD 60)
Papyrus P66 (AD 200)
Papyrus P75 (AD 250)
Sinaiticus (AD 350)
Washingtonensis (AD 400)

The paleo-Hebrew fonts collection has been expanded with five new ones to bring the total to 22, ranging from 15th-century BC proto-Sinaitic to 13th-century AD Samaritan script. The five fonts released today:

Paleo-Hebrew
Izbet Sartah (13th c.)
Samaria Ostraca (8th c.)
Hebrew seals (7th c.)
Ivory Pomegranate (6th c.)

Even if you don’t have a need (or desire) to type in ancient scripts, the comparison charts (Hebrew, Greek) are quite a valuable resource.

All the Greek fonts and details are available here. For the Hebrew, see this page. Thanks to Kris for his excellent work and for sharing these tools so generously!

Tagged Resources

Crusader Fresco from Gethsemane Restored

This large 12th-century fresco discovered ten years ago near the Garden of Gethsemane goes on display next month in the Israel Museum. From the Israel Antiquities Authority:

An enormous impressive wall painting (fresco) that was discovered in excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the Monastery of Miriam in the Gethsemane courtyard in Jerusalem will be displayed for the first time when the renewed Israel Museum opens its doors to the public on July 26, 2010.
[…]
According to Seligman, the subject of this wall painting – only the bottom part of which survived and which originally rose to a height of about nine meters – is apparently a scene of deésis (meaning supplication in Greek). This is a known iconographic formula whereby Mary and John the Baptist beseech Jesus for forgiveness, for the sake of humanity. Only the bottom parts of the figures are visible in the main picture: Jesus sitting in the center, with Mary to his right and John the Baptist to his left. Two other pairs of legs, probably those of angels, can be seen next to Mary and John. In the middle of the painting are colorful floral tendrils on either side of which is a Latin inscription of a saying by Saint Augustine: “Who injures the name of an absent friend, may not at this table as guest attend.” We can conclude from this that the painting adorned the wall of a dining room – the refectorium – in the monastery. The prohibition to gossip is surprising since the monks there were Benedictines who refrained from unnecessary conversation. According to the researchers, the maxim was apparently intended for visitors who arrived at the monastery and were invited to dine there.
According to Nagar, “This is one of the most important paintings that have been preserved from the Crusader period in Israel. The painting is the largest to come out of an archaeological excavation in the country and the treatment the painting underwent in the laboratories of the Israel Antiquities Authority was, from a conservation standpoint, among the most complicated ever done here. This wall painting is special because of its size and quality. It measures 9 meters long and 2.7 m high, and is extremely rare because very few wall paintings have survived from the Crusader churches that were built in Jerusalem during the Crusader period. The excellent quality of the painting was in all likelihood the workmanship of master artists and the vibrant colors reflect the importance of the abbey in the twelfth century, which was under the patronage of the Crusader queen Melisende.”

Five high-resolution images are available here (zip file).

UPDATE (6/30): The Jerusalem Post has the story.

Tagged Jerusalem, Museums

Western Wall Museum Controversy

Haaretz reported on this meeting yesterday, but as of now I haven’t seen an update on the ruling.

Jerusalem’s district planning council was on Sunday set to rule on a controversial museum project that archaeologists claim would destroy valuable ancient structures beneath the Old City.
The new museum is planned for the concourse beside the Western Wall of the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site.
But a group of archaeologists who have petitioned the council says the new building, designed by architect Ada Karmi, would damage an ancient Roman road, flanked by rare and elaborate columns, that runs beneath the planned construction.
They say that if Jewish relics were under threat, the project would never have been allowed.
“It is impossible to exaggerate the cultural damage and the harm to antiquities that would result if the road is encased by the new building’s foundation pillars,” the archaeologists wrote in a petition to the planning council.

Whenever someone says “it is impossible to exaggerate,” it’s a dead give-away that they are exaggerating. Unfortunately the article does not provide the names of any of the archaeologists who signed the petition.

The full story is here.

Excavations on the west side of the Western Wall prayer plaza, site of planned museum

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem, Museums

Israel Imported Honeybees from Turkey

Several years ago, excavators at Tel Rehov (near Beth Shean) discovered a series of beehives.

Scholars have now concluded that bees were imported from Turkey because they were less aggressive and more productive than Syrian bees. From the Jerusalem Post:

Although Turkey is currently in the dog house for many Israelis because of its involvement in the violent Mavi Marmara flotilla incident, during biblical times the Israelites imported bees from Turkey for the industrial production of honey in the Beit She’an Valley, according to a new archeological discovery by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The team, headed by HU archeology Prof. Amihai Mazar, found a total of 30 intact hives in the ruins of the city of Tel Rehov, dating back to 900 BCE, as well as evidence that there had been 100-200 hives made of straw and unbaked clay.
Three millennia ago, the joint Israelite-Canaanite settlement had 2,000 residents.
The hives, lined up in an orderly way, may be the earliest complete beehives ever discovered and offer a glimpse of ancient beekeeping during biblical times.
The team of archeologists and biologists was surprised that bee remnants had been found in an urban setting.
[…]
Syrian bees are aggressive and irascible, said Bloch.
Thus, it would have been difficult to keep them within a dense urban area. The Anatalyan bee, which produces five to eight times more honey, is less aggressive, making it possible to raise them in an urban setting.
The Beit She’an Valley digs also showed evidence of widespread commerce with lands in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as techniques for transferring bees in large pottery vases or portable hives. An Assyrian stamp from the 8th century BCE provided evidence that the bees had been brought 400 km. south from the Taurus Mountains in southern Turkey – a distance that was just slightly shorter than that between Taurus and Tel Rehov. Thus, the import of “docile” bees apparently was a solution for the beekeepers of the Land of Israel.

The full article is here.

Tagged Excavations, Turkey