Analysis Archives - Page 25 of 29

"But I Used the Tractor Carefully…"

The Jerusalem Post story on the on-going saga of “excavations” on the Temple Mount is here. The abbreviated version follows:

Genius #1: Shmuel Dorfman

“There was no damage to the remains of buildings or artifacts.”

Sir, can you tell me if you excavated with a tractor?

“They were under time pressure.”

It’s good to know that you can excavate with a tractor and cause “no damage” to ancient remains.

This guy wouldn’t pass Archaeology 101. Unfortunately he is the Director-General of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Genius #2: Meir Ben-Dov, retired archaeologist

“There were no archeological findings in the ground,” Meir Ben-Dov told the committee. “They dug
a total of 50 cm. [18 inches] deep and all of it was fill-in from the earlier infrastructure that had been installed.”

Somebody should have told this guy about the Iron Age remains from an undisturbed layer that were discovered in this trench. Ben-Dov is not an honest man. He just expected that the Muslims would have destroyed it all so thoroughly that no one would ever be able to prove him wrong. Fortunately somebody was watching “the excavation” between tractor scoops and not all was lost.

The good news:

“The Knesset State Control Committee on Monday decided to ask the State Comptroller’s Office to investigate procedures for allowing the Wakf Islamic trust to excavate on the Temple Mount, amid claims by archeologists that the laying of electric cables there in August endangered ancient artifacts.”

Tagged Analysis, Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Bad "Archaeology"

Eric Cline has a good op-ed on “biblical archaeologists” who are frauds. Entitled “Raiders of the faux ark,” the Boston Globe piece exposes some of the “discoveries” made by guys with no archaeological training whatsoever. It’s not only worthwhile to expose such “scholarship” for what it is (and Cline does this more thoroughly in his recent book, From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible), but he avoids making a mistake that many do – lumping all religious scholars in with the nut cases. The article in full is worth reading, but here is an important paragraph:

Religious archeologists and secular archeologists frequently work side by side in the Holy Land. Among the top ranks of researchers, there are evangelical Christians, orthodox Jews, and people of many denominations. It is not religious views that are the issue here; it is whether good science is being done. Biblical archeology is a field in which people of good will, and all religions, can join under the banner of the scientific process.

From reviews I’ve read, I think I would find more to disagree with in his book than in this article. A couple of evangelical writers are working on a book debunking some of the “amazing discoveries” made in the last few decades and I’ll mention it here when that gets closer to publication.

Tagged Analysis, Tomb of Jesus

Loan Siloam Inscription: Don't Believe It

I read this story yesterday in the Washington Times and ignored it, because I thought it was in error.

I’ve since seen it mentioned in blogs online as if the story was credible. Jay Bushinsky of the Washington Times begins his report:

An ancient inscription memorializing Jerusalem’s salvation from Assyrian invaders 2,700 years ago is to be returned to the Holy Land from Turkey for study and public display. Israel has been trying for about 20 years to recover the artifact, which marks one of the most important turning points in Hebrew history.

I think this story is bogus for the following reasons:

1. No one else is reporting this. I hardly think that the Washington Times knows something that no one else does. You can check online news sources easily by searching for “Siloam Inscription” at Google News (here is that link).

2. A story like this would be broken by the Israel Museum or a major government agency, and not only are they not mentioning it, the WT story does not cite them. The story is long, but the length is deceptive as only the first sentence mentions the return.

3. About a month ago, various news outlets reported some discussion of the matter. The essence of the story was that a Turkish official agreed to consider some sort of loan. In the Middle East, such “consideration” is a far cry from a decision. And a decision is very different than action. In other words, this isn’t “news” until the inscription is sitting in Jerusalem.

What I think happened is that this reporter read some of those stories too quickly and wrote an article based on a misunderstanding.

By the way, if you want to take a picture of the inscription, don’t wait until it comes to Jerusalem.

The Israeli authorities won’t allow it, I’m certain. You’ll do better to go visit it in Istanbul, where you can take pictures. Which is far better anyway, because there are so many great artifacts on display that won’t be coming to Jerusalem on loan. There would be a certain irony as well if the Siloam Inscription came to Jerusalem the next couple of years, as hundreds of the best archaeological finds in Israel are locked up out of sight of visitors.

Tagged Analysis, New Exhibits

Excavations in West Bank

The Jerusalem Post reports on the number of excavations that have taken place in the West Bank or Gaza Strip since 1967.

About 15 percent of the total number of archaeological excavations conducted in Israel over the past 40 years took place across the Green Line, a study released Wednesday showed.
The Tel Aviv University study reveals that approximately 1500 excavations had been carried out at some 900 different sites across the Green Line over the last four decades, which comes to about 15% of the total number of excavations conducted in Israel during that time.
The study, by Dr. Rafi Greenberg and Adi Keinan of the university’s Department of Archeology and Near Eastern studies, found that the peak of academic involvement in the excavation of east Jerusalem occurred in the first decade following the unification of the city in 1967, while the height of academic activity in the West Bank came between the rise of the Likud to power in 1977 and the first Palestinian Intifada in 1987.

A few points of interest from this brief article:

1. Many of the sites related to Israel’s ancient history are located in the West Bank, and 15% is a very small number for such an important area. There is much to be done here, and it won’t happen if Israelis do not have access because a) there are not many Palestinian archaeologists; b) the Palestinian people are largely uninterested in sites related to Jewish history.

2. The article doesn’t give the total number of excavations in Israel since 1967, but there apparently have been 10,000 (1500/.15).

3. Israeli archaeologists should be hailed for studying these sites and gaining much knowledge from them, instead of being vilified as “occupiers.” Some of the important Israeli excavations in this area include Herodium, Shiloh, Jericho (Tulul abu el-Alayiq), Mt. Gerizim, and Mamre. Sites that need more excavation include Samaria, Tirzah (Tell el-Farah North), Bethel and vicinity, Tekoa, and Jericho (Tell es-Sultan).

Tagged Analysis

Bahat: Archaeologists Politically Motivated; Wall Must Not Exist

The AFT has a follow-up to yesterday’s article on the discovery of a wall from the Second Temple.

The article is headlined “Doubts over ‘second temple remains’ in Jerusalem.” The headline is misleading. The only one casting doubts in the article is Dan Bahat, who has a record for distorting evidence related to the Temple Mount. He admits that he hasn’t seen the wall, and his reaction is but a knee-jerk response to the claims of other archaeologists who he says are “waging a politically inspired campaign, systematically for several years, to strengthen Israeli control over the esplanade.”

Even assuming that this charge is true, that doesn’t change the nature of construction that is being revealed and possibly destroyed on the Temple Mount. The fact that the police haven’t stepped in doesn’t mean anything; they didn’t step in when thousands of tons of earth were removed in the late 1990s either. I mentioned in the last post that Barkay is a trustworthy voice on the subject; I can’t say the same for Bahat. In addition to his appearances in the media, his Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem is filled with errors. I use portions of it with students, but with cautions. The maps are very helpful and generally more reliable. (I list some better books here.)

UPDATE: The Jerusalem Post now covers the story.

Tagged Analysis, Jerusalem, Temple Mount

A New Reference to a Biblical Figure

This story in The Times looks very interesting. It’s another one of those occasions when the discovery is made long after the excavators leave the field.

The British Museum yesterday hailed a discovery within a modest clay tablet in its collection as a breakthrough for biblical archaeology – dramatic proof of the accuracy of the Old Testament.
The cuneiform inscription in a tablet dating from 595BC has been deciphered for the first time – revealing a reference to an official at the court of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, that proves the historical existence of a figure mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah.
This is rare evidence in a nonbiblical source of a real person, other than kings, featured in the Bible.
The tablet names a Babylonian officer called Nebo-Sarsekim, who according to Jeremiah xxxix was present in 587BC when Nebuchadnezzar “marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it”.

The rest of the story is here. I’ve been working for some years on a list of extrabiblical references to biblical people. I’m not ready to share it, but I can tell you that it is long.

The stupid quote of the story goes to renowned scholar Geza Vermes, who said, according to the reporter, “the Biblical story is not altogether invented.” My response: there is not a fraction of evidence that it is invented at all. Many scholars have many theories, but these are possible only because of the lack of evidence. The more evidence, the less room for scholarly ideas about the invention of the Bible. This observation is not based upon the above story, but upon years of study in the land of Israel. The liberal case gets weaker the more I know.

Tagged Analysis, Discoveries