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Weekend Roundup

The area of Adullam where David hid in a cave will be destroyed by oil prospectors, according to a group of concerned citizens.

If you haven’t visited the Pool of Siloam recently (or ever), you may not have seen this artist’s reconstruction of what it looked like.

USC has an article on how new photographic methods and computer technology are helping in the deciphering of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Book and the Spade radio program has a new website.

Robert Cargill notes that National Geographic TV will be airing a special entitled “Writing the Dead Sea Scrolls” on July 27. You can see a preview online. I confess that I still have a lot of trouble believing that the primary reason for the placement of the scrolls in the Qumran caves is that fleeing Jerusalemites were hiding them from the Romans. If that was the case, one would not expect to find all of them within a very small geographic area (not far from a settlement).

The Ancient World Online has updated its extensive list of open access journals. Among those that might interest readers here are Hadashot Arkheologiyot and the Bulletin of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society (1933-1967).

The May 2010 issue of BASOR is now online for subscribers. Non-subscribers can see the table of contents and abstracts.

Hershel Shanks talks a little bit about his new autobiography in front of the camera. He seems to relish his conviction as a thief. Elsewhere, William Varner reviews the book quite favorably.

What did Jesus look like? Justin Taylor revisits an article from a few years back that provides some background to the reconstruction made using “forensic anthropology.”

Logos Bible Software has a pre-publication special on the 22 volumes of the Babylonian Talmud and the 28 volumes of the Jerusalem Talmud (Neusner’s translation). Both for $160 (for a limited time).

By the way, Neusner has written or edited 900 books, which averages out to two a month for the last 37 years.

Tagged Weekend Roundup

Well Preserved Tombs Found near Saqqara

This Old Kingdom tomb with “amazing colors” may be the first in a large cemetery that served ancient Memphis. From the Jerusalem Post:

Egyptian archaeologists on Thursday unveiled a newly-unearthed double tomb with vivid wall paintings in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo, saying it could be the start for uncovering a vast cemetery in the area.
The tomb includes two false doors with colorful paintings depicting the two people buried there, a father and a son who served as heads of the royal scribes, said Abdel-Hakim Karar, a top archaeologist at Saqqara.
“The colors of the false door are fresh as if it was painted yesterday,” Karar told reporters.
Humidity had destroyed the sarcophagus of the father, Shendwas, while the tomb of the son, Khonsu, was robbed in antiquity, he said.
Also inscribed on the father’s false door was the name of Pepi II, whose 90-year reign is believed to be the longest of the pharaohs. The inscription dates the double tomb to the 6th dynasty, which marked the beginning of the decline of the Old Kingdom, also known as the age of pyramids.
Egypt’s antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, said the new finds were “the most distinguished tombs ever found from the Old Kingdom,” because of their “amazing colors.” He said the area, if excavated, could unveil the largest cemetery of ancient Egypt.

The 6th Dynasty dates to 2362-2176 BC (NEAEH 5:2127). Saqqara is 15 miles (20 km) south of the Giza pyramids (which is on the outskirts of Cairo).

The full article with photos is here.

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt

Synagogue Discovered at Horvat Kur

The Kinneret Regional Project is excavating Tel Chinnereth (Kinneret) and studying its environs on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. This season they have focused their attention on Horvat Kur, and their efforts have been rewarded with the discovery of a synagogue dated to the 4th century.

Taken all the available evidence together, it seems very likely, that KRP 2010 has discovered a part of the western wall of yet another ancient Galilean synagogue. Together with the well-known synagogues at Capernaum and Chorazin (both ca. 5th / 6th c. CE) and the recently discovered ones at Khirbet Hammam (2nd / 3rd c. CE) and Magdala (1st c. CE), the new synagogue at Horvat Kur (tentatively dated to the 4th / 5th c. CE) adds new evidence for a very tight net of synagogues in a relatively small area on the Northwestern shores of the Lake of Galilee.

You can read the full report here (and a copy here). Nothing in the article was very clear about its location, so I did a little work to locate the site and create a map using Google Earth. As you can see, the site is in close proximity to some important New Testament locations. The distance from the site to the water’s edge is about one mile.

It will be interesting to see if they discover anything from the 1st century. The report states that the site was inhabited from the Early Roman to the Early Medieval period, and Early Roman usually designates the period before Jerusalem’s destruction in AD 70.

Map of northwest shoreline of Sea of Galilee

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee

Turkish Hand Grenade Found in Wall near Damascus Gate

An Ottoman weapon was found by conservationists restoring the Old City wall of Jerusalem. Police sappers were called on to destroy the 100-year-old object. From Haaretz:

A 100-year-old Turkish hand grenade was recently discovered during conservation work being conducted near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.
A conservation team from the authority, under the direction of conservator Fuad Abu Taa, on Monday was dismantling fragments of crushed stone that needed to be replaced in the city wall, when they found a fist-size chunk of metal in the wall’s core.

The story continues here (with photo).

Turkish soldiers marching past American Colony towards Damascus Gate, circa 1900

This photo is from the Early 20th-Century History volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-06378).

In May, we posted a then and now photo of Damascus Gate.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Jerusalem

Israeli Government To Build Rival Jesus Trail

Caspari Media Review reports on this article from Haaretz:

Under the title "There’s a way but no gospel," Tali Cheruti-Sober reported on the difficulties experienced by Maoz Yinon in opening up the "Jesus Trail." Despite enlisting the support of the Government Tourist Office, erecting basic sign posts, publishing a map, and creating a web site, they have been virtually left to run the trail by themselves – with the help of international volunteers. "’We’re talking about a national site in the possession of the State which has no public sponsor to develop and market it,’ says Yinon, ‘and that’s a great pity.’" Typically, however, this is not the end of the story. Rather than investing in the already-existing trail, the Jewish National Fund has plans to implement a rival "Gospel Trail" – "a plan initiated in 2000, buried in the Intifada, and abruptly resurrected. The trail – like its name – is almost identical to the Jesus Trail. … It will be signposted by black basalt stone markers very expensive to prepare. New trails will be blazed – and the cost: three million shekels, with an option of development. The fact that two virtually identical trails will be marketed separately to the same tourist market does not put off the project’s organizer, Amir Moran: ‘We are dealing with principles according to which heritage paths are being built and for which comprehensive and organized work is necessary. … We have no opposition to a private project, but that isn’t the way of the State.’"

There must be a lot of better ways to spend that money. We’ve noted the original “Jesus Trail” before here and here and here.

Tagged Galilee, Tourism

Acacia Trees

A few months ago, Ferrell Jenkins posted a photo of an acacia tree. His photo, like the one above, shows a typical tree in southern Israel. The question I’ve always had is: how can you make the ark of the covenant, measuring about 4 by 2.25 by 2.25 feet, out of a tree with so little wood?

Here’s the answer:

I didn’t have my tape measure handy for recording the size, but the people in the photo give perspective. This tree is located in the Sinai peninsula, only a few dozen miles from Jebel Musa, the traditional location of Mount Sinai.

The observation is made in Picturesque Palestine (1882) that the acacia seyal tree is the “only timber tree of any size in the Arabian Desert” (4: 53).

Acacia tree in Wadi Feiran. Source: Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4.

Tagged Egypt