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Perfume Bottles Found at Magdala

There is something important to this story, but it’s not what you might think. What is exciting is that ancient Magdala is being excavated. Perhaps that will increase our knowledge of this ancient city that was home to Mary Magdalene. Perhaps it will result in the site being opened to visits by tourists. Perhaps there will be silly sensational claims made before analysis is done – oh wait, that wish has already come true. From the Telegraph, written by Nick Pisa in Rome:

Archaeologists have discovered vases of perfumed ointment which may have been used by Mary Magdalene to anoint the feet of Jesus.

This sentence should immediately clue you into the fact that this is a “made-for-TV” story, fashioned for maximum publicity without regard to truth. You know this because:

1. It is quite incredible that of all the vases in the ancient world, the first ones the archaeologists find at this city are related to this biblical event.

2. Mary was from Magdala, but since there is no record that Jesus was ever in Magdala, his feet were not anointed there. Perhaps, though, Mary carried the bottles back to her hometown.

3. Except that it’s hard to believe that Mary only poured some of the contents out and left the rest for archaeologists to find.

4. Most important to ignore in order to make this story fly is the fact that the Bible nowhere says that Mary Magdalene anointed Jesus’ feet. A different Mary anointed him the week before his crucifixion (John 12:1-8). And a sinful woman anointed him at the house of a Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50). She is never named and Mary Magdalene is introduced by Luke two verses later (Luke 8:2) with no indication that this was the same woman. Furthermore, the unnamed woman used an alabaster jar.

Did the excavators find an alabaster jar? Mary Magdalene did plan to anoint Jesus’ body one Sunday morning, but she failed in her attempt (Mark 16:1-8).

The Italian team have been digging for several months at the ancient Palestinian town of Magdala – from where Mary gets her name.

In Mary’s day, Magdala was in the district of Galilee. Today, its ruins are in the state of Israel. It was not then, and is not now, a Palestinian town, except for those who wish to see the Jewish nation replaced by an Arab one.

The archaeologists of the Franciscan academic society Studium Biblicum Franciscanum found the unopened vases dating to the first century AD conserved in mud at the bottom of a swimming pool in Magdala’s thermal complex….

Speaking of the discovery Father Stefano De Luca who is leading the dig, said: “The mud-filled condition of the site allowed us to find these truly extraordinary objects, which were intact and sealed and still contain greasy substances.

“We think these are balms and perfumes and if chemical analysis confirms this, they could be similar to those used by Mary Magdalene in the Gospels to anoint the feet of Christ.

I have a revolutionary idea. Analyze the contents, and then tell us what they are.

“The discovery of these vases is very important. We have in our hands the cosmetic products from the time of Jesus. It’s very likely that the woman who anointed Christ’s feet used these products, or ones similar in organic composition and quality.”

Frankly, this story could have been written long before the excavations. They already knew the site was inhabited in the 1st century A.D. All they needed was to find some vases, any vases, and they could say that these were related to Mary. And the reporters would come, and the donations would flow.

HT: Joe Lauer

Magdala from west

UPDATE (12/12): An article in Italian is longer and includes a photograph.

Tagged Analysis, Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee

Popular Sites in Israel for Christian Tourists

From the Caspari Center Media Review:

A column in the Calcalist (December 3) surveyed the "Most popular sites in Israel visited by Christians." In first place, rather surprisingly, came the Western (Wailing) Wall: "Despite the fact that Christians have no religious connection to the Wall, its proximity to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Via Dolorosa has made it one of the four sites everyone has to visit in Jerusalem." The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was second: "Although not all Christian denominations concur that Yeshu was buried here, this church in the heart of the Christian Quarter is of great importance . . ." Third was the Via Dolorosa, "along which Yeshu passed on his way to his crucifixion, stopping at nine places . . ." The fourth site was the Mount of Olives – "mentioned in the New Testament as the place whence Yeshu ascended to heaven and to which he will also return in the end times." In fifth place was Capernaum, where "after he left Nazareth, Yeshu transferred his activities . . . and also chose his apostles." The information was credited to the Ministry of Tourism, the statistics to the first half of 2008. Tourists visiting Kibbutz Ein Gev on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee will now be able to experience a "reconstruction" of one of Jesus’ miracles, according to a report in Israel HaYom (December 4). Having caught an enormous St. Peter’s fish (musht), the kibbutz’s veteran fisherman has decided to "preserve" it, put a gold coin in its mouth, and present it to tourists as a visual aid to Jesus’ catch of a "huge" fish, the proceeds from the sale of which he used to pay the border tax owed by his disciples.

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem

The Acoustics of Mounts Gerizim and Ebal

In 1879, J. W. McGarvey made a tour of the Holy Land. His visit to the area of Nablus (biblical Shechem) is particularly interesting because of his acoustical test. Today tourists are not able to visit this area, and if they were, the urbanization of the area has made a similar experience impossible today. This section is from Lands of the Bible, originally published in 1880, pages 506-8 (emphasis added). A limited preview is available at Google Books (some copies for sale here). Thanks to Paul Mitchell for discovering this nugget and sending it on.

“On reaching Shechem we called on Brother El Karey, the only Baptist missionary in Palestine. I had a letter of introduction to him, given me by a Baptist preacher from London whom I met at Naples.

He received us very cordially, explained to us his missionary labors, and, being a native of the place, though educated in England, he was full of the local information for which we were in search. We especially wanted to learn the best way to reach Aenon, the locality of which was definitely fixed by Lieutenant Conder, but which our dragoman had never visited. He gave us the desired information, and the next morning, leaving our tents pitched at Shechem, we made an excursion to that interesting spot.

Mt. Ebal, view north from Mt. Gerizim, July 2007

Our route took us back through the valley, and we resolved that while passing between the two mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, in the still morning air, we would try the experiment of reading the blessings and curses. It will be remembered by the reader that, in compliance with directions given before the death of Moses, Joshua assembled all the people on these two mountains, stationing six tribes on one, and six opposite to them on the other, and he stood between and read to them all the blessings and curses of the law (See Deut 27-28, Josh 8:30-35). It has been urged by some skeptics that it was impossible for Joshua to read so as to be heard by the whole multitude of Israel. It is a sufficient answer to this to show that while Joshua read, the Levites were directed to repeat the words “with a loud voice” (Deut 27:14), and that it was an easy matter to station them at such points that their repetitions, like those of officers along the line of a marching army, could carry the words to the utmost limits of the multitude. But it is interesting to know that the spot chosen by God for this reading is a vast natural amphitheatre, in which the human voice can be heard to a surprising distance. About half-way between Shechem and the mouth of the valley in which it stands there is a deep, semicircular recess in the face of Mount Ebal, and a corresponding one precisely opposite to it in Mount Gerizim. No man with his eyes open can ride along the valley without being struck with this singular formation. As soon as I saw it I recognized it as the place of Joshua’s reading. It has been asserted repeatedly by travelers that, although two men stationed on the opposite slopes of these two mountains are a mile apart, they can read so as to be heard by each other. We preferred to try the experiment in stricter accordance with Joshua’s example; so I took a position, Bible in hand, in the middle of the valley, while Brother Taylor and Frank, to represent six tribes, climbed halfway up the slope of Mount Gerizim; and Brother Earl, to represent the other six tribes, took a similar position on Mount Ebal. I read, and they were to pronounce the amen after each curse or blessing. Brother Taylor heard me distinctly, and I could hear his response. But Brother Earl, though he could hear my voice, could not distinguish the words. This was owing to the fact that some terrace-walls on the side of the mountain prevented him from ascending high enough, and the trees between me and him interrupted the passage of the sound. The experiment makes it perfectly obvious that if Joshua had a strong voice,–which I have not,–he could have been heard by his audience without the assistance of the Levites. As to the space included in the two amphitheatres, I think it ample to accommodate the six hundred thousand men with their families, though of this I cannot be certain. If more space was required, the aid of the Levites was indispensable.”

UPDATE: Biblical Studies and Technological Tools has found and posted better images of the natural amphitheater, using Google Earth, HolyLand 3D and Microsoft Virtual Earth.

Tagged Samaria, Then and Now

Temple Mount Poster in National Geographic

Leen Ritmeyer mentions that the current (December) issue of National Geographic includes a poster supplement of the Temple Mount. He includes a picture of the poster and tells a little bit about his role in its creation. He links to the NG website, but I cannot find a way to buy just a single issue. My guess is that a newstand copy would not include the poster, and that a subscription ($15/year) ordered now would not include this issue. But if you already have a subscription, don’t discard the poster insert before realizing what a resource you have.

Tagged Jerusalem, Resources, Temple Mount

Qeiyafa: An Apple Tree or a Copernican Revolution?

I have more to say about Khirbet Qeiyafa, but time is tight right now and a more careful presentation will have to wait. But there are a few developments I can note and a few comments I can respond to, all in brief fashion.

First, G. M. Grena posted on the comments here this morning that the PowerPoint presentation that excavator Y. Garfinkel gave at the ASOR meeting last week is now available in pdf format. This is a great resource for those who want to know more but couldn’t be there.

Second, if you’re interested in following the ostracon on its tour of the most expensive cameras in the world, you can do that here. Thanks again to G. M. Grena for alerting us.

Now, to an article by Bloomberg about Qeiyafa which includes two quotations from scholars. The first is from N. A. Silberman, known for his extreme views that much of the Old Testament was written very late by priestly propagandists.

“To find an apple tree in some town in the Midwest doesn’t mean the Johnny Appleseed legend is exactly correct,” said Silberman, co-writer with Israel Finkelstein of “The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts.”

This is really quite an apt analogy. Except for the fact that the site was found precisely in the exact area where the battle of David and Goliath was fought. And it dates precisely to the time period when the Bible says that David lived. Sorry, sir, you can’t wish this away so easily.

The excavator of Qeiyafa, unfortunately, doesn’t do much better.

Garfinkel, gesturing toward a nearby hill where he said the Philistine city of Gath once stood, said he believes his find brings to life the tale of David killing the Philistine giant Goliath with just two stones.
He said he would have agreed with Silberman’s views on David before the dig: “Once it was excavated, it changed the whole situation.”

So until this summer Garfinkel apparently held to the view that Silberman espouses, which is that Judah was a sparsely populated hinterland during the time of David (and for the next several hundred years). But he finds a small walled city and a potsherd with writing on it, and suddenly, everything has changed? This tells me either that he has a super-high estimation of the value of what he found, or he is ignorant of some important data. How does Qeiyafa revolutionize things when decades ago, a much more impressive fortification from the 10th century was found at Gezer (11 miles to the north)? What about Azekah about 1 mile to the west? True, it hasn’t been excavated (by someone other than Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister 100 years ago), but shouldn’t that very fact give someone (both Silberman and Garfinkel) pause before concluding that Judah was weak and impoverished in the “time of David”? Who knows what you’ll find at Azekah! Just down the road is Gath, which is proving to look quite similar to what we would expect from the biblical account.

Now, perhaps Garfinkel was speaking not of the (lack of unique) fortifications, but rather of the ostracon. Surely, this is an important discovery. Just how important we may not know until the text is recovered by photography and it is published. But, is it really accurate to say that on the basis of this one as-yet-undeciphered ostracon that “it changes the whole situation”? It’s not like we don’t have other 10th century inscriptions from the area–the Gezer Calendar has been known for 100 years, and the Tel Zayit inscription was discovered a few years ago. So we have known that ancient Judah was literate and had fortified cities in the Shephelah for a long time now. But Garfinkel (apparently) denied these realities meant anything because he would have agreed with Silberman’s views. But now, on the basis of his finds, everything has changed in his mind. This all suggests to me that some scholars come to conclusions without carefully considering all of the evidence.

Chris Heard at Higgaion has posted a few comments that I want to note. The first point is outstanding and in sharp contrast to the two quotes above:

Reports of the “low chronology’s” death may be greatly exaggerated, or premature, but Khirbet Qeiyafa must surely influence our picture of 10th-century Judah. Let us not overstate the case: what we (the interested public) know of Khirbet Qeiyafa at this point hardly “proves that David killed Goliath” or anything of that sort. However, Khirbet Qeiyafa does counterbalance the increasingly common portrayal of 10th-century Judah as a cultural backwater.

Yes, indeed. Overstatements are far too common among scholars talking to journalists. But this part I cannot agree with:

The identification of the site as Sha‘arayim seems quite likely now, completely independent of anything learned from the ostracon.

This conclusion is unwarranted on the basis of the current evidence. It seems to rely on the excavator’s word, and not the data. But I urge caution. 1) Last year the excavator said the site was Azekah. Frankly, that’s most unlikely on many accounts. It comes from the urge to have your site be something important. It demonstrates that the excavator did not properly consider the data from history and geography in making the identification. 2) Historical geography seems to have been ignored in this identification of Qeiyafa as Shaaraim as well. I have discussed this before and will be saying more about it. 3) The sole basis for identifying Qeiyafa as Shaaraim is this: Shaaraim means “two gates.” (The three reasons listed on slide 33 all argue against identifying Qeiyafa as Shaaraim, which I will demonstrate in the future.) The excavator has excavated one and eyeballed what he believes is another one from the same time period. No excavations have been done of the second gate. The meaning of the name is significant, but my question is: does it override other evidence?

Again, I simply suggest that more study occur before we decide that the identification as Shaaraim “seems quite likely now.”

If all of this is too basic for you and you’d prefer to read about some analysis about radiocarbon dating related to Qeiyafa, see this post by Abnormal Interests. John Hobbins also has some more thoughts about the site identification, to which I’ll respond in the future aforementioned post.

Update (12/5): I have removed reference to the Ephes-dammim credit line in the pdf file as that has
now been updated (see comment below).

Tagged Analysis, Shephelah

Record 3 Million Tourists in Israel in 2008

Globes is reporting a record year for tourism in Israel, surpassing the record set in 2000.

Minister of Tourism Ruhama Avraham-Balila today announced that three million tourists visited Israel in 2008, 30% more than in 2007. She made the announcement at a press conference summarizing the year in tourism. Ministry of Tourism figures show that the tourism industry generated NIS 25 billion in 2008, 9% more than in 2007. Indirect output from the tourism industry is estimated at NIS 40 billion. The increase in tourists boosted employment by the industry by 10% compared with last year, to about 90,000 people. Avraham-Balila said that she has approached her Jordanian and Palestinian counterparts to convene a regional tourism conference. "I’m aware of the bureaucratic hurdles involved in investing in Israel, which is why we’re now setting up an assistance office for investors, which will advise them from the moment they buy land or win a tender, through the inauguration of a hotel. In the coming weeks, the ministry will convene tourism industry business leaders to examine preparations for 2009. The goal is to retain the number of incoming tourists." The Ministry of Tourism said that it expects 3,000 hotel rooms to be built by 2012.