Nir Hasson reports in Haaretz on the continuing saga of the Jehoash Inscription.

The Jehoash Tablet is a stone bearing an inscription in ancient Hebrew describing the renovation of the First Temple by the Jehoash, King of Judea. If it is authentic, it is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the last century. But for many years, in one of the most complex cases ever to come before an Israeli courts, the state has claimed that it was a fake.
The Jerusalem District Court has ruled that the state failed to prove that the tablet was a fake, paving the way for the defendant, antiquities collector Oded Golan, to be cleared of most of the charges against him. But the state has gone to the Supreme Court to seek possession of the tablet – perhaps because maybe, just maybe, it’s real after all.
[…]
Over the course of seven and a half years, the court heard testimony from 130 witnesses, including dozens of Israel’s most prominent experts in geology, chemistry, microbiology and ancient scripts. In the end, Judge Aharon Farkash ruled that the state had failed to prove its case.
The state did not challenge most of the exonerations, but as for the Jehoash Tablet – that’s another story. The state wants it.
The state still claims that the tablet is a forgery because the letters of the inscription did not have a patina that was consistent with its purported age.
But that is only one element in which the court must be persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt, Golan and his attorney, David Barhum, stated in their response. It must also be persuaded that “scratches on the tablet [which the state claims are signs of forgery] are indeed ‘fresh,’ and that the collective opinions presented to the court, that it impossible for this inscription to have been made in the past 50 years, are baseless and mistaken.”

Go to Haaretz to read the full story (registration required). Matthew Kalman reported on the story earlier this month.

HT: Jack Sasson

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On this week’s broadcast of The Book and the Spade, Gordon Govier and I talk about the recent discoveries of the Elisha inscription at Tel Rehov and the Roman Legion base at Megiddo. Listen here.

Ferrell Jenkins discusses the discovery of huge columns at Laodicea.

Luke Chandler had a fantastic day visiting sites in Samaria and recommends his tour guide to others.

An article in Haaretz explains why women in Tel Aviv have been enjoying archaeological lectures in English for 40 years now.

HT: Joseph Lauer

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(Post by Seth M. Rodriquez)

Our “Picture of the Week” focuses on the small, but significant, Kishon River. It is not a place that you would visit on a typical trip to Israel. In fact, I’ve been to Israel four times (two of which were extended stays) and I have never stopped there. Perhaps that is because the river does not look very impressive. Nevertheless, a couple of significant biblical events took place along this watercourse, and the geography surrounding and forming the river have played a crucial role throughout history.

The Kishon River drains much of the water from the Jezreel Valley and Lower Galilee. The Bible mentions this river by name a total of five times (Judg 4:7, 13; 5:21; 1 Kgs 18:40; Ps 83:9). It was here that Deborah and Barak defeated the 900 chariots of Sisera after gathering their forces at Mount Tabor, and it was here that Elijah had the prophets of Baal slain after the showdown on Mount Carmel.

In Judges 5:21, the Kishon is referred to as a “torrent,” but a visit to the site reveals that most of the time it is a rather timid river. In his book, The Geography of the Bible, Denis Baly describes the Kishon by saying:

Dry in its upper courses in summer, and only a trickle when it passes Harosheth [near its end], this famous stream is often a sad disappointment to visitors …

Yet on that fateful day in history, the river swelled with rainwater and swept away Sisera’s retreating army of chariots (Judg. 5:21).

The image above was a sketch of the river as it looked in the 1870s. At this location, the Kishon leaves the Jezreel Valley and enters the Plain of Asher through a narrow pass where the hills of Lower Galilee almost touch Mount Carmel. This choke-point is one of the reasons why the Jezreel Valley contains such rich soil. As the soil erodes into the valley from the surrounding hills, the river is not able to carry it out to sea. Instead, the river is blocked: first by a low ridge of volcanic rock that cuts across the valley in a northeast line starting near Megiddo, and then again by the foothills of Western Lower Galilee. Baly describes the outcome of these geographical features in this way:

The Kishon, small though it is, has to carry away the entire drainage from the surrounding hills, but it is twice hindered in this formidable task, once by the volcanic causeway and then again by the narrow defile through which it finds its way to the Bay of Acco. In consequence the two basins thus formed are only too easily flooded in winter, sometimes for prolonged periods, and W. M. Thomson, who knew the country well a century and a half ago, speaks of having “no little trouble with its bottomless mire and tangled grass.” In February, 1905, Gertrude Bell wrote even more feelingly of riding from Haifa to Jenin: “The road lay all across the Plain of Esdraelon … and the mud was incredible. We waded sometimes for an hour at a time knee deep in clinging mud, the mules fell down, the donkeys almost disappeared … and the horses grew wearier and wearier.” … Yet it was always “the rich valley,” for once dried out, the bottomless mud bears notable harvests.

So the Kishon River is not much to look at most of the time and until the rise of modern transportation it caused all sorts of difficulties for travelers during the rainy season when it flooded the valley. Yet for all this, it has played a key role in making the Jezreel Valley into a region of rich farmland. The fertile soil in this valley combined with the valley’s strategic location along the international trade route made the control of this area a coveted prize for many nations throughout history.

This image and 150 others (along with the entire text of Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, Vol. 3) are available in Picturesque Palestine III: Phoenicia, Philistia, and the South. This digital volume can be purchased here for $20, or you can purchase all four volumes of the work for $55. Additional images of the Jezreel Valley can be seen here on the BiblePlaces website. Excerpts were taken from Denis Baly, The Geography of the Bible, new and revised ed. (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), pp. 144, 146-147.

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An enormous refuse pit from the Byzantine period was recently excavated near Apollonia-Arsuf.

A large Crusader hospital in the Muristan of Jerusalem’s Old City has recently been revealed to the public following recent excavations and renovations. The project is covered by other new sources including the Jerusalem Post.

Grave robbers are taking advantage of Egypt’s political mayhem to loot the tombs of Saqqara, Dashur, Luxor, and Aswan.

Sean Freyne passed away on Monday.

The Kindle version of the Holman Bible Atlas is on sale for $4.74.

HT: Jack Sasson

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A group of Samaritan oil lamps found near Apollonia-Arsuf. Photograph by Pavel Shargo, courtesy of the Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University.
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From the Jerusalem Post:

Archeologists say they have found remains of the ancient Jewish village of Shikhin, located in the central Galilee, which could be instrumental in the study of Jewish life in the region and the origins of Christianity.
Dr. Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College’s Institute for Galilean Archeology and co-director of the Shikhin expedition, said on Sunday the findings so far include evidence of an ancient synagogue and remnants of pottery production.
The expedition is a joint project led by Aviam, Samford University Religion Professor James Riley Strange and Kentucky Christian University Biblical Studies Professor David Fiensy.
Aviam said the project, which has included two years of excavations thus far, would help to answer crucial historical questions surrounding the identity of the Galileans.
“Who were the Galileans?” he asked. “Where they remnants from the First Temple period? Were they people who came from Judea? Were they people who converted [to Judaism]?” Aviam noted that the village is mentioned along with neighboring city Sepphoris (modern Tzipori) by first-century historian Flavius Josephus, and in the Talmud as a village home to many potters.

The story continues to describe the record number of oil lamp molds that have been discovered at the site.

HT: Joseph Lauer

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Hershel Shanks has weighed in on the Israeli government’s astonishing about-face on the Jehoash Inscription.

Gordon Govier and I discuss the “palace of David” discovery in this week’s broadcast of The Book and the Spade (direct link here).

Luke Chandler has an exclusive scoop on recent finds from Khirbet Qeiyafa.

Ferrell Jenkins has posted a beautiful aerial photo of Gezer.

Wayne Stiles writes about 5 Christian Sites in Jerusalem You Should Know About.

My memory of whitewater rafting on the Jordan River is more thrilling than what this Haaretz writer
describes, but maybe it’s just grown with the telling.

This article about antiquities thieves in Jordan reveals that some ancient sites are guarded by
powerful genies.

The Garden of Eden is to become a national park in Iraq. (If you don’t see a guard armed with
flaming sword, it may be a swindle.)

Accordance is ending the summer with some deals sure to interest those who love Bible geography,
history, and archaeology.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

DSC_3121_cc-sanchez-bibleplaces
Walls of alleged “palace of David” at Khirbet Qeiyafa.
Photo by Steven H. Sanchez
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