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Mysterious Stone Piles in Sea of Galilee

A marine scientist has discovered a series of mysterious stone patterns on the lake bed of drought-stricken Lake Kinneret.
The man-made piles of stone, which are now above water, jut out from the freshwater lake, and sit 30 meters from each other along a 3.5-kilometer stretch of the eastern shore, from the Kinneret College campus to Haon resort.
Gal Itzhaki of Kibbutz Afikim first noticed the stones while strolling along the lake’s receded shoreline. He says the patterns are a “fascinating phenomenon” and are part of an “impressive building enterprise.”
Though they have not yet been scientifically examined, there are several hypotheses as to what functions they fulfilled. One theory postulates that they were part of a boundary between the ancient lakeside towns of Hippos, also known as Sussita, and Gadara. Both towns were part of the Decapolis, a group of 10 towns that flourished in the eastern part of the Roman province of Palestina, and are mentioned in the New Testament. Others have hypothesized that the patterns were part of a string of watchtowers or small buildings, or were used to set up fishermen’s nets.

Read the rest here. The Hebrew version includes a photo.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee

DigMegiddo – Excavation Blog

Today is the first day of excavations at Megiddo, and a new blog intends to narrate the season from the perspective of archaeologist Eric Cline and 9 students. Apparently 8 of the bloggers are female, which may say something about the attitude of guys towards archaeology or perhaps the recruiting skills of Cline. You can check it out here: http://digmegiddo.wordpress.com/

Tagged Excavations

Review: Israeli-Palestinian Cultural Heritage Agreement

The subject of the “Israeli-Palestinian Cultural Heritage Agreement,” and similar subjects, has largely been ignored on this blog (for reasons of time). Joe Lauer today sent out a handy summary of the issue, which I re-post here with his permission. He also points out that there are a few additional links at Paleojudaica.

From Joe Lauer:

The recent Op-Ed by Meron Benvenisti, published in Ha’aretz, is another article or opinion piece dealing with the draft “Israeli-Palestinian Cultural Heritage Agreement” introduced by two archaeologists on April 8, 2008. The archaeologists are Ran Boytner, from UCLA, and Lynn Swartz Dodd, from USC.

As I was away from our PC from early April through mid-May, I could not share the news and opinions about the draft with those on the list, although many undoubtedly were made aware of them through their own reading or through postings on other lists.

For those who did not have access to these materials, the following mentions some of the items that appeared in early April and thereafter. I’m sure that many other article and op-eds have appeared regarding the proposal.

On April 8, 2008, UCLA issued a lengthy press release regarding the draft agreement (“Plan brokered by archaeologists would remove roadblock to Mideast peace”). This release, which has a picture of the two archaeologists, a map of the “Proposed Jerusalem Heritage Zone”, and a link to an almost eight-minute UCLA video about the draft, evidently was the basis for many of the following articles on the subject. It may be read here.

The video may be also be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkRATNj8WDo.

On April 14, 2008, ScienceDaily published the UCLA press release at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080411123057.htm. It also has a link to the UCLA video.

On April 9, 2008, The Jerusalem Post published a brief news item on the subject (“Israeli, Palestinian archaeologists draft deal to preserve historic sites”) by its staff. It may be read here or here.

On April 10, 2008, The Jerusalem Post (pg. 7) reprinted an article by Tom Tugend that first appeared on April 7 [sic], 2008 in The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles (“UCLA and USC archaeologists hope preserving the Middle East’s shared past can pave way to protecting”). It may be read here.

The Jerusalem Post article was entitled “US academics work to bridge archeological gap between Israelis, Palestinians” (and sub-captioned “Effort yields database of sites, artifacts that could be caught in legal limbo when final borders are decided”).

Unfortunately, I do not have the URLs for The Jerusalem Post article or the Letter to the Editor that responded to it from Ken Spiro, April 14, 2008, pg. 14 (“Preposterous plan”), although I have them in print form. (The letter stated: “I read with complete disbelief about a plan to return to the Palestinian Authority archaeological artifacts excavated from Judea and Samaria as part of a final peace deal (“US academics …,” April 10). If these were Muslim or Arab artifacts I could at least understand, but they’re talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls, antiquities from the First and Second Temple periods — our very history, and the physical evidence of the Jewish people’s connection to Israel! To even contemplate giving these to the PA — which continues to deny that there ever was a Jewish presence in Israel or Jerusalem — is a form of national suicide. As Israel Meir Lau, former chief rabbi of Israel and now chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, once said: ‘A nation that does not value its past has no right to dream about its future.'”)

The Jewish Journal article was also circulated by Common Ground News Service, in a slightly edited form (“Archaeologists preserve hope”), at http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=22977.

The Jewish Journal article has a picture of the two academics, a link to the “Plan” of the “Shared Heritage Project”, and a link to the UCLA video about the agreement. The Plan (including All documents (includes the cover letter, agreement, map) 5.32 MB; Agreement only 37.5 KB; High resolution Jerusalem Heritage Zone Map 2.11 MB; and Low resolution Jerusalem heritage zone map 932 KB) may also be linked to at http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/religion/arc/sh/.

Ha’aretz also had its articles and opinion pieces on the subject:

On April 11, 2008, Ha’aretz published “A separate peace”, by Meron Rapoport. It may be read at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=973870 [English; Last update – 20:38 14/04/2008]

http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=973829 [Hebrew; Last update – 15:22 12/04/08]

On April 18, 2008, Ha’aretz published “Partitioning the past”, by Neil Asher Silberman. It may be read at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=976273 [English; Last update – 07:41 18/04/2008]

Silberman’s critical piece was followed by a response (“Sharing the past by dividing it”) from Raphael Greenberg, who often speaks for the “Israeli-Palestinian Working Group on Archaeology,” including in a campaign against the IAA excavations in the City of David sponsored by Elad. His article may be read at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=977945 [English; Last update – 09:19 25/04/2008].

Earliest Church in Jordan

When a sensational but unsubstantiated archaeological discovery is reported, my inclination is to ignore it. Since the goal to gain headlines and popularity (and sometimes to stir up tourism), the best way to thwart the guilty is to not publicize their claim. As they know, all publicity is good publicity.

This doesn’t work very well when mainstream news sources carry the story and one gets multiple requests about the accuracy of the report. So I succumb.

The claim by Jordanian archaeologists that they have found the “earliest church” ever is the latest in an apparently on-going competition by archaeologists. According to everything I’ve read about it, there is no basis for this claim whatsoever. All evidence noted in the story runs counter to this claim.

Jerome Murphy-O’Connor says it well:

“Pushing the (date) back to the year 70 is very speculative. (The Jordanians) are desperate to create church sites (for tourism),” Father Murphy-O’Connor said. “I would be suspicious of this sort of hype.”

Be suspicious of archaeologists, pseudo-archaeologists, and government departments of tourism.

Tagged Analysis, Discoveries

2,000-Year-Old Palm Tree Now 4 Feet Tall

National Geographic has an update with a couple of photos. We mentioned this before here.

The oldest-sprouted seed in the world is a 2,000-year-old plant from Jerusalem, a new study confirms. “Methuselah,” a 4-foot-tall (1.2-meter-tall) ancestor of the modern date palm, is being grown at a protected laboratory in the Israeli capital. In 2005 the young plant was coaxed out of a seed recovered in 1963 from Masada, a fortress in present-day Israel where Jewish zealots killed themselves to avoid capture by the Romans in A.D. 70…. Methuselah beats out the previous oldest-seed record holder, a lotus tree grown from a 1,300-year-old seed in 1995 by Jane Shen-Miller, a botanist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues.

The Jerusalem Post has a similar story.

National Bible Museum to be built

This item came out a few weeks ago, but seems interesting enough to mention for those who might not have seen it elsewhere.

A Cornerstone [Grand Rapids, Michigan] history professor is working to create a first-of-its-kind Bible museum in Dallas, Texas, to house thousands of artifacts relating to the Bible and provide education. Scott Carroll, professor of history, has been working with donors and others in academia to create the National Bible Museum to house the largest collection of artifacts about the Bible. The goal of this museum is to become “the Smithsonian of biblical antiquities,” he said. “To get the same experience now someone would have to travel across the world.” For the past five years, Carroll, and historian, Jonathan Shipman, have been conceptualizing and raising money for the project. The museum will be funded by one family “who wants the museum to be part of their legacy,” said Carroll. Several major donors are now interested. “We are in the final stages of acquiring a 900,000-square-foot facility that sits on 22 acres in downtown Dallas,” said Carroll. The building will cost $300 million and is being paid for by a family that Carroll is working with, whose name he declined to disclose. The museum will be comprised of 20 halls, each half the size of a football field that will contain artifacts and illustrations of the preservation of the Bible during a different period of history. One donor has offered to build exact replicas of as many ancient monuments as the museum wants, Carroll said. The facility will be completed in about three years and will employ more than 200 staff and 15 faculty members with doctoral degrees. Carroll said he wants the museum to be a place where the media can go to get an authoritative Christian answer if there are questions concerning the Bible or a new discovery. Educational programs are being planned by the museum staff for public schools, universities and seminaries. Carroll will serve as chief executive officer of the museum with duties to include “making sure the museum stays true to its vision, overseeing development of the collection, continuing research and speaking and resuming an excavation in Egypt.”

Tagged Museums