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Weekend Roundup

Daily Mail has a report and photos of the stunning model of Herod’s Temple Mount being constructed by Alec Garrard. At 30 years and counting, Garrard has worked longer on his model than Herod did on the original (at the time of his death).

Sunday’s Zaman has a review of the “Top 10 Museums” in Turkey. Most, but not all, of the museums are related to the ancient world. HT: Explorator.

Dr. Platypus (Darrell Pursiful) has posted the Biblical Studies Carnival XXXIX. As always, the carnival is a great way to see what is going on in the wider blogosphere.

John Walton posts on what the Bible means in its description of “the land flowing with milk and honey.”

Arabia meets America in the Wild Wadi Water Park.

Tagged Museums, Temple Mount

1967 Archaeology Movie with Pritchard

In 1967 the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania filmed a 27-minute movie about archaeological work in Jordan and the West Bank. “The Book and the Spade” gives a general introduction to the value and discipline of archaeology, which includes footage of important biblical sites that are not usually on the itinerary of visitors today, including Hebron, Shechem, and Samaria.

The film naturally focuses more on the excavations sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, Gibeon and Tell es-Saidiyeh. The latter site is the subject of the second half, and the one who is patient is rewarded with shots of the on-going excavations and an interview with the archaeologist James B. Pritchard. Pritchard is probably best known today for his three editions of Ancient Near Eastern Texts, but he made significant contributions in his excavations of Gibeon (1956-62) and Tell es-Saidiyeh (1964-67). The film also documents the construction of a mudbrick house. Though the movie was slow-moving by today’s standards, I enjoyed seeing many sites the way they were 40 years ago. You can see the contrast of the excavations in the film with a recent photo below.

Excavation area of Tell es-Saidiyeh, 2003

Other University of Pennsylvania films that may be of interest to readers of this blog include:
Athens (1939)

Ancient Earth: Making History Everlasting (1940)

Iran (1963)

Windows on the Past (1967)

Turkey (1967)

Jordan (1969)

Cyprus (1969)

And more…

HT: Ferrell Jenkins and Gordon Govier

Tagged Excavations, Resources

Conference: The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is hosting a conference on “The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins” on March 12-14, 2009.

A tentative schedule (pdf) gives the lectures:

“A Dialogue on the Gospel of Thomas,” Craig A. Evans, Acadia Divinity College; Stephen J. Patterson, Eden Theological Seminary

“The Scrolls and the Hebrew Bible,” Peter W. Flint, Trinity Western University

“The Scrolls and the New Testament,” Craig A. Evans, Acadia Divinity College

“The Scrolls and the Dead Sea Community,” John J. Collins, Yale University

“The Scrolls and Interpretation of Scripture,” George J. Brooke, University of Manchester

“The Scrolls and the Scribes,” Terry L. Wilder, B&H Academic Publishers

“The Scrolls and the Messiah,” William M. Schniedewind, University of California, Los Angeles

“‘Dark Secrets’ of the DSS?,” R. Philip Roberts, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

You can also download a poster (pdf) promoting the conference.

Tagged Lectures

Excavations to Resume at Kh. el-Maqatir (Ai?)

Excavations are set to resume at Khirbet el-Maqatir, a small site about half a mile (1 km) west of et-Tell, the scholarly choice for biblical Ai. Bryant Wood led excavations at Maqatir from 1995 to 2000, when the second Intifada interrupted the work. Wood has published in Israel Exploration Journal his view that Maqatir is the best candidate for the Late Bronze city of Ai. More information about the excavation, including a solicitation for volunteers, is online at the website of the Associates for Biblical Research.

I wrote an article about ten years ago (Bible and Spade 12/3 [1999], p. 91ff) in which I showed that local tradition located Ai at Maqatir, not et-Tell. Unfortunately Calloway (and every other scholar
I’ve read) ignored this rather important piece of data reported by Edward Robinson (1841). No kidding.

Tagged Excavations

Wealth of Inscriptions Found South of Jerusalem

Recent excavations have uncovered six inscriptions from the Iron Age and one from the Hasmonean period. The site has been identified with biblical Netofa (2 Sam 23:28-29). From the Israel Antiquities Authority:

Royal seal impressions were discovered in excavations of the Israel Antiquities Authority at Umm Tuba, in the southern hills of Jerusalem.
A large building that dates to the time of the First and Second Temples, in which there was an amazing wealth of inscriptions, was discovered in a salvage excavation conducted by Zubair Adawi, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in the village of Umm Tuba in southern Jerusalem (between Zur Bahar and the Har Homa quarter), prior to construction work by a private contractor.
Considering the limited area of the excavation and the rural nature of the structure that was revealed, the excavators were surprised to discover in it so many royal seal impressions that date to the reign of Hezekiah, King of Judah (end of the eighth century BCE). Four “LMLK” type impressions were discovered on handles of large jars that were used to store wine and oil in royal administrative centers. These were found together with the seal impressions of two high ranking officials named Ahimelekh ben Amadyahu and Yehokhil ben Shahar, who served in the kingdom’s government. The Yehokhil seal was stamped on one of the LMLK impressions before the jar was fired in a kiln and this is a very rare instance in which two such impressions appear together on a single handle.

The full press release is here. A link to 7 photographs is given only on a non-permanent posting of the release. The story is reported by Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post. Umm Tuba is located near Tsur Baher, south of Talpiot and north of Har Homa. You can see a map here. You can read more about LMLK seals here.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Discoveries

Proposal to Relocate Inhabitants of City of David

Excavations in the earliest part of Jerusalem have long been hindered by the presence of modern buildings. Many of the houses in the “City of David” were allegedly built without government permits, and the municipality has threatened to destroy them. This would allow for much more extensive excavation of the area. Recently, the city offered to transfer the affected families to another part of town. Naturally, the Arab residents are not enthusiastic about the plan. The article does not mention another reality: any Arab who gives up land to the Jews faces a death sentence. Haaretz reports:

The Jerusalem municipality may offer to voluntarily relocate some 1,500 Palestinian residents of the city’s Silwan neighborhood – currently living on top of an archaeological site – to alternative lots in East Jerusalem, residents say.
The option was brought up by city council and East Jerusalem portfolio holder Yakir Segev, in meetings with the residents.
The 88 houses at issue were constructed without permits in the Al-Bustan area of Silwan and are slated for demolition. They stand in an area known as the King’s Garden, defined as being of great archaeological importance by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
According to attorney Ziad Qa’awar, the last meeting took place early February and saw Segev proposing two alternative locations, one on a different hill in Silwan, and the other in the neighborhood of Beit Hanina, in the northeast of the city.
The proposition was unanimously rejected by the residents.
“We told him that these were lands we inherited from our parents, and we were not going to give them up,” said Fathi Abu Diab, a member of the residents’ committee. “We were born here, and our children were born here too.”

The story continues here.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Jerusalem