Excavations Archives - Page 48 of 93

DigSight Summer 2013

The latest issue of the SAU Institute of Archaeology DigSight is now available online in pdf format.

Contents include:

Excavating Lachish 2013
Qeiyafa Final Celebration
New Museum Coordinator
Battle Over David in South Africa
Institute of Archaeology at ASI
Director’s Letter
Recent Sightings
Upcoming Events

The first article reports on the initial season of excavations at Lachish. The team hopes to find answers for the following questions:

When was Lachish inhabited for the first time in the Iron Age?
When was Lachish first fortified in the Iron Age?
How did the economy, administration, international connections, writing, cult, and art develop in the first 200 years of the Kingdom of Judah?
Was there a fortified city in Lachish relating to 2 Chronicles 11:5–12, which recounts Rehoboam’s rebuilding of the city?

The archaeologists are focusing their work on the northeast quarter of the site and they have already exposed part of the fortification system near the well.

Information about upcoming lectures is provided on the last page of the newsletter, including these events:

October 22, 2013, 7 p.m.

“Excavating Nebuchadnezzar’s Destruction at Lachish” Michael G. Hasel, PhD (Southern Adventist University)

February 11, 2014, 7 p.m.

“Tell Jalul: A Levitical City of Refuge in Jordan?” Randall W. Younker, PhD (Andrews University)

March 11, 2014, 7 p.m.

“Ossuaries and the Burials of Jesus and James” Jodi Magness, PhD (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

Lachish from the south

Tagged Excavations, Lectures, Shephelah

Excavations on Mount Zion this summer revealed a Early Roman period mansion that archaeologists suggest belonged to the family of a priest in the first century. The story is also reported by livescience.

A summary of this year’s excavations of Tel Yafo (Jaffa) is now online. The work focused on the only Egyptian gate known in Israel.

There’s another article on the alleged discovery of Dalmanutha.

Why was Samaria made the capital of the Kingdom of Israel? Norma Franklin argues from her archaeological research that it was the city’s economic potential.

The University of Pennsylvania is celebrating a century since it received the Sphinx.

Logos Bible Software is looking for a Bible Map Designer.

“Explorations in Antiquity in LaGrange will soon open its Biblical Life Artifacts Gallery.”

Philologos explains why Sukkot is a harvest holiday, even though there’s little to harvest. For those beginning the joyous celebration of Sukkot tonight, we say hag sameah!

HT: Mark Hoffman, Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Sphinx, red granite, 19th Dynasty, from Memphis, tb072311783

The Sphinx of the University of Pennsylvania

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Galilee, Holidays, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Museums, Opportunities, Samaria, Weekend Roundup

First Season of Excavations at Abel Beth Maacah

The excavators of Abel Beth Maacah provide a summary of their first season of digging at the ASOR Blog. After an introduction, they explain what they are looking for.

For one thing, there is Abel’s Aramean connection. References to a political entity called “Aram Maacah” (1 Chronicles 19:6) and to the “king of Maacah” (2 Samuel 10:6, 8) evoke possibilities of Aramean presence at the site, allowing us to examine such an entity in relation to other presumed Aramean sites like Bethsaida, Tel Hadar, and En Gev. Even though the Arameans are specifically mentioned in ancient records, we know very little about them “on the ground,” especially within the borders of modern Israel. Can they be defined in terms of a distinct material culture? The location of Abel Beth Maacah on the northern borders of Israel (then and now) makes this site a viable candidate for the study of Aramean cultural and political influences.
Passages in the Hebrew Bible suggest that Abel Beth Maacah became an Israelite town during David’s reign, and it apparently remained so until its destruction by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III in 733 BCE. In the story of the Wise Woman of Abel Beth Maacah (2 Samuel 20:14-22), the city is enigmatically referred to as “a mother in Israel.” Her power and influence is apparent in that she directly negotiates the surrender of the Benjaminite rebel Sheba ben Bichri with Joab, David’s military commander.
The Abel Beth Maacah project is also intent on pursuing Phoenician connections in Iron Age II. The city’s location on a branch road of the International Highway leading north to Ijon (Tell ed-Dibbin) in Lebanon’s Marj Ayyun Valley, and roads leading west to Tyre and Sidon, will enable us to study cross-cultural ties with coastal Lebanon during the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

The report continues with some suggestions as to why the site has never been excavated before along with a description of this season’s prize find. I’m hoping they find another copy of the Tel Dan Inscription. Intact, of course.

We’ve written about Abel Beth Maacah previously here and here.

The Huleh valley with Abel Beth Maacah and Mount Hermon.
Photo by A.D. Riddle.

Tagged Excavations, Galilee

Weekend Roundup

This week’s edition of The Book and the Spade features Matthew Adams in a discussion of new excavations east of Megiddo (direct link here).

BibleX provides links to a new resource called ASORtv.

Ferrell Jenkins provides a new illustration for the story of the serpents in the wilderness.

Derbe is one of the last sites on Paul’s itinerary to remain unexcavated. That has now changed with a new project by Selçuk University.

A preliminary report of the 2013 excavation season at Tel Kabri is now available.

L. Y. Rahmani and Robert J. Bull died this week.

HT: Jack Sasson

Derbe from the west
Photo from Eastern and Central Turkey

Tagged Excavations, Negev, Resources, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Leen Thobias has some impressive 360-degree images of Israel and Jordan here.

It must be a bit discouraging when you find in your sealed excavation locus a beer bottle cap. (Photos here.)

Theories about the identity of Khirbet Qeiyafa are discussed in this Haaretz article. The most helpful section is what everyone agrees on.

A Tel Aviv professor wants to know if a mound of stones in the Sea of Galilee marks the place where Jesus walked on water.

If you’ve been waiting to see the new Samson mosaic found last summer at the Huqoq synagogue, you should check out Jodi Magness’s new article in Biblical Archaeology Review, currently online for free.

The anarchy in Egypt has not been good for archaeological sites and museums.

Archaeologists have found evidence that cinnamon was produced on the northern coast of Israel in ancient times.

Fifteen foreign archaeological teams are preparing to begin fifteen projects in Saudi Arabia.

Foundation Stone shares a 7-minute video showing some results from this summer’s excavations at Azekah.

Leen Ritmeyer has created some new reconstruction drawings of Jerusalem throughout its history.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Tagged 10th Century, Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Museums, Resources, Shephelah, Weekend Roundup

Private Museum Reopens in the Old City of Jerusalem

Ynetnews reports on the recently reopened Siebenberg House.

Miriam Siebenberg lives in a very unusual house – unusual because of the fact that her home was built on top of another home, one that existed over 2,000 years ago.
Within the ancient walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, Miriam and her husband Theo purchased a house after the Six-Day War, eventually discovering that it contained a treasure trove of history buried deep underground.
In the Siebenberg’s house, a collection of archaeological artifacts discovered after years of digging in the basement, appear on display. Arrowheads, ink-wells, coins, ancient pottery, a glass cup and pieces of jewelry including a bronze key ring, likely used in the Second Temple era by a woman to unlock her jewelry box, can all be seen in the display.
But even more intriguing is what lies beneath their home. One can see the remains of an ancient Jewish residence and a way of life that dates back to the days of King Solomon and the Second Temple period.
“The further we dug, the more history we uncovered,” Seibenberg told Tazpit News Agency in an exclusive interview.
[…]
During more than 18 years of unearthing, the Siebenbergs discovered a ritual bath, known as a mikveh used by Jews during the Second Temple era, an aqueduct, a Byzantine water cistern, and even empty burial chambers believed to have been used by Jewish royalty in the 10th century B.C. during King Solomon’s reign.
Eventually, the remnants of the base wall of what is believed to be a Jewish home that stood 2,000 years ago, were also uncovered as were ancient Hasmonean stones, including one with a menorah engraving. Evidence of the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. was also discovered – a line of ash sealed into sedimentary rock was sent to a special lab in South Africa for testing, which found that the ashes were indeed from that time.

The full story is here and includes photos.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem

DigSight Summer 2013

Wednesday Roundup

First Season of Excavations at Abel Beth Maacah

Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Private Museum Reopens in the Old City of Jerusalem