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Lecture: Lederman on Beth Shemesh

I realize that posting lecture notices only serves to make jealous a large portion of this reading audience, but in the interest of serving those who may be within driving distance, I will persist. I think that there are more lectures in the coming week from non-American archaeologists who are on their way to New Orleans for the annual meetings of ASOR and SBL.

From Pittsburgh Theological Seminary:

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary will host Zvi Lederman, a researcher in archaeology at Tel Aviv University, Sun., Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Knox Room. Lederman will present a lecture entitled “At the Border: Iron Age Beth Shemesh.”

Its location, name, and history would indicate that Beth-Shemesh was a community on the Philistine border. When the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines, it was finally returned to the people of Beth-Shemesh, but the Lords of the Philistines, stepping after the Ark, went only “up to the border of Beth-Shemesh.” Dr. Lederman will discuss recent excavations that have illuminated life at Beth-Shemesh from a series of flourishing Iron Age 1 villages (1200-950 BCE) to a fortified Iron 2 city established during the days of the early Monarchy. In the course of its history, this important biblical town became embroiled in conflicts with the neighboring Philistines as well as conflicts between Israel and Judah, Syria and Ephraim, and eventually between Judah and the Assyrians.

Lederman was a member of the Land of Ephraim Survey, and has excavated at Beer-Sheba and Shiloh. Since 1990 he has served as co-director of the Te Beth-Shemesh excavations.

A reception will follow the lecture. Additionally, the Bible Lands Museum will be open from 6:00-7:30 p.m. and after the presentation. This event is co-sponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Society of Pittsburgh.

See the website for contact information.

HT: Joe Lauer

Beth Shemesh excavations, dumps, basket women, mat03005

Excavations at Beth Shemesh, 1931

This is one of 25 photos of Beth Shemesh in the Southern Palestine volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-03005).

Tagged American Colony Photos, Judah, Lectures

Biblical Archaeology Slide-Lecture Series, Queens College, NY

Jerusalem as a Sanctuary City
Yuval Baruch

Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 7:30 pm

The lecture and slide show will focus on recent excavations, along with new trends in the archaeological study of the Second Temple Period, which reflects Jerusalem as a sanctuary city.

Gamla’s War: The Archaeology of Religious Intensity
Yoav Arbel

Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 7:30 pm

Location of lectures: LeFrak Concert Hall, Queens College, New York

Admission for reserved seating: $5.

For more information, including details of the lecturers, see the Queens College website.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Lectures

5 Volumes on Bible Backgrounds on OT

The Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary is out, according to a couple of friends who have received their 5-volume sets in the mail. The editor, John Walton, hams it up in this 1.5-minute promo video. If you prefer a more serious approach, take a look at this 2.5-minute descriptive video. I see that an electronic version will be produced for Logos, but unfortunately Zondervan’s pricing strategy on electronic volumes does not seem to include discounting. This month you can read the Judges commentary, written by Daniel I. Block, for free. I commented on this set before here, but I didn’t note that hundreds of the 2,000 photos came from the BiblePlaces.com archive.

Tagged Resources

2010 Calendar

You know that the year is drawing to a close when you see calendars for 2010 on store racks. I just received yesterday the 2010 Holy Land Calendar produced by Lamb and Lion Ministries, which exclusively features photographs from BiblePlaces.com. The calendar notes all the major American holidays, and its inclusion of the Jewish holy days makes it a great way to keep track of important events not on many American calendars. You can purchase this beautiful calendar online, and if you order 10 (for Christmas gifts), they will give you two for free.

Tagged Resources

Minoan-Style Wall Painting Remains Found on Israel’s Coast

From a press release from the University of Haifa:

The remains of a Minoan-style wall painting, characterized by a blue background, the first of its kind to be found in Israel, was discovered in the course of the recent excavation season at Tel Kabri. This fresco joins others of Aegean style that have been uncovered during earlier seasons at the Canaanite palace in Kabri. “It was, without doubt, a conscious decision made by the city’s rulers who wished to associate with Mediterranean culture and not adopt Syrian and Mesopotamian styles of art like other cities in Canaan did. The Canaanites were living in the Levant and wanted to feel European,” explains Dr. Assaf Yasur-Landau of the University of Haifa, who directed the excavations.
The remains of a Canaanite city from the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 B.C.) have been exposed at Tel Kabri, next to Kibbutz Kabri near Nahariya. A palace for the city’s rulers stands in the center of the city, which was the most important of the cities in the Western Galilee during that period. Excavations began at Tel Kabri in 1986, conducted by the late Prof. Aharon Kempinski, and were halted in 1993. Over the past years, excavations have been renewed by teams directed by Dr. Yasur-Landau of the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa and Prof. Eric Cline of The George Washington University. Tel Kabri is unique in that after the city was deserted, no other city was built over its remains. Therefore, this is the only Canaanite city that can be excavated in its entirety. The palace too, which has been measured with geophysical tools at 1 to 1.5 acres, is the only such palace of this period that can be excavated fully. “The city’s preservation enables us to get a complete picture of political and social life in the Canaanite period. We can reveal whether or not it had a central government, whether taxes were levied, what sort of agriculture there was and how politics were conducted at the time,” Dr. Yasur-Landau explains.

The full press release is here, and an Arutz-7 story is here. If you’ve been to Crete, you may be a bit disappointed with the photos.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tell Kabri, Middle Bronze palace, October 2005

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations

Weekend Roundup

Hundreds of Crusader-era marble pieces were discovered in Acco recently. You can read the press release, the JPost report or the Arutz-7 account, story here, or download high-res photos here.

The house in Luxor of Howard Carter, the man who discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamen, has been opened as a museum.

The NY Times has an interesting and humorous article on Raphael Golb, arrested for impersonation and identity theft in an attempt to stem the tide that rejected his father’s conclusions about the Dead Sea Scrolls. Golb is delighted that the articles he wrote under the name of “Charles Gadda” have been read by so many. I wonder how happy he is that so many are reading about his desperate attempts to stay out of jail.

BibleWorks has a sale for new customers now, offering $30 off the purchase of BibleWorks 8 and one module. For more, see here.

Logos Bible Software released a major new version this week. So far, everything I’ve heard is
positive. I don’t use anything with an “i” in it, but if I did, I’d be real happy about the ability to have my entire library on my phone at no extra cost.

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Resources