Temple Mount Archives - Page 37 of 57

Weekend Roundup

The archaeological site on Mount Gerizim has re-opened, 12 years after political conditions hindered tourists from visiting the area.

A new drainage system in Giza has some hydrologists concerned that the erosion of bedrock could cause the Sphinx to collapse.

A complaint has been lodged with Israeli police over the building material and scaffolding placed on the “rock” of the Dome of the Rock.

The Holyland Magazine, designed especially for North American evangelicals, is now online. Earlier editions are also available.

Several readers have asked recently about the “HT” that is often at the end of a post. Wikipedia provides a concise explanation:

In the 2000s, the term “hat tip” (often abbreviated to “HT” or “h/t”) rose to prominence in the blogosphere to acknowledge someone who has made a significant contribution toward an effort, or someone who drew attention to something new or interesting. It is considered good netiquette when sharing a link or news item to give a hat tip to the person from whom you learned of the item.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Archaeological site on Mount Gerizim, looking north

Tagged Egypt, Jerusalem, Samaria, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup

In the 1920s, archaeologists had the chance to study remains underneath Al Aqsa Mosque. The findings of a Jewish mikveh, Byzantine mosaic, and other pre-Islamic items were not made public until recently. Nadav Shragai describes their importance and connects them with the discoveries made in the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

Shragai mentions in that same article that rebar and other construction material is now laying on the Foundation Stone, the holy rock inside the Dome of the Rock. Leen Ritmeyer has photos.

“The Palestine Archaeological Databank and Information System is now accessible openly without registration.”

The Tel Burna team has aerial photos showing the great progress they have made.

“The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Friday became the first World Heritage Site to be listed under the name of Palestine.” (JPost)

Four caves in Mount Carmel with early evidence of human occupation were also designated as a World Heritage site.

The ESV Concise Bible Atlas is now available. The 64-page paperback sells for $10, and both size and price may be attractive to the weak and the poor. (See here for my comments on its big brother.)

John Monson is interviewed this week on the Book and the Spade, with attention given to his upcoming participation in the Khirbet Qeiyafa excavation and the shrines discovered there.

The widening of Highway 1 will slow down traffic from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for many years.

Matti Friedman retells the story of the discovery of the Cave of the Treasure, a cache of more than 400 copper objects more than 5,000 years old.

“An ancient Phoenician port in Beirut dating back to at least
500 B.C. was destroyed Tuesday,” said archaeologists. There’s no port there, according to the
Archaeological Assessment Report.

The Day of Archaeology 2012 was yesterday, but posts will continue to be added for another week.

HT: Charles E. Jones, Jack Sasson

Fortifications, silos, and architecture from the 9th-8th centuries at Tel Burna

Tagged Jerusalem, Judah, Lebanon, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup

Renovations on Temple Mount

A report by Jordan answers questions about the work being done on the Temple Mount. From the Jerusalem Post:

Israelis got a rare glimpse of the planned renovations on the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, in a Jordanian report given to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The report was issued ahead of a UNESCO conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, which starts on June 24.
UNESCO characterizes Jerusalem as a separate entity administered by both Israel and Jordan. The Wakf Muslim religious trust, a body under the auspices of the Jordanian government, retains administrative control over the city’s Muslim holy sites while Israel runs everything else.
Because the Temple Mount is administered by the wakf, it is difficult to discern exactly what work is being conducted. Both Jordan and Israel submitted plans and ongoing work in the Old City ahead of the St. Petersburg conference.
According to Jordanian authorities, workers are restoring the plastering and mosaics inside the Dome of the Rock, laying lead sheet over the roof of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, renovating the Al-Marwani mosque, and renovating the Khanatanyah School and library below the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The full story is here.

Lead sheets for roof of Al-Aqsa Mosque

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Lack of Shade Lamented at Western Wall

Relief from the afternoon sun is not in sight at the Western Wall prayer plaza because of a rabbinic decree that forbids anything that will overshadow the Wall. From Haaretz:

It was a beautiful, partially cloudy spring day in Jerusalem on Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 25 degrees Celsius in the shade. A perfect day for strolling around nearly any part of the city, with one truly glaring exception: the Western Wall Plaza. The glaring whiteness of the plaza pavement reflected the heat, and the complete absence of trees, buildings and pergolas ensured that there was not a speck of shade. The result is an almost unbearable experience for worshipers and tourists who congregate at Judaism’s holiest site. The situation will only become worse with the arrival of summer.
[…]
“I was at a bar mitzvah on the eve of Passover, which isn’t yet summer, and people said it was impossible to concentrate on the prayers,” recalls Ofer Cohen, chairman of an NGO, called the Lobby for Jewish Values. “Anyone who prays when it is hot has to finish the prayer quickly – it isn’t praying with a focused mind,” says Cohen, who has asked the ministers of tourism and religious affairs to try to solve the problem.
Tour guides are also irked by the harsh conditions at the plaza.
“The problem exists all year around, both in the rain and in the sun,” says Jerusalem guide Ben Lev Kadesh. “In this whole huge space there isn’t a single covered corner. Many of the tourists come from Europe and it isn’t easy for them to stand in the sun.”
[…]
Indeed all ideas for providing some kind of cover or shade in parts of the plaza have been rejected. The problem has been under discussion for decades, say officials in Rabinovitch’s office. “There have been discussions about how to deal with heat in summer and rain in winter. But most people from the areas of planning, history and archaeology have felt strongly that for the sake of the Wall’s splendor, glory, and the memory of the past, the Western Wall should be revealed without means of shading,” say the officials.

The full article is here.

Western Wall prayer plaza in afternoon sun (source)

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount, Tourism

Weekend Roundup

In excavations beginning at Abel Beth Maacah this summer, Robert Mullins expects to find a very large citadel at the northern end of the site and possibly an Assyrian siege ramp.

Now online: A lecture by Sy Gitin on “Ekron of the Philistines: From Sea Peoples to Olive Oil Industrialists.”

A 3D model of the Giza pyramids and necropolis was unveiled this week at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

An investigation into the eBay sale of stones from the Western Wall determined that the seller was offering only gravel.

A medieval “monk’s mill” near Sepphoris was vandalized last week.

Can the Dead Sea be saved? A $4 million project, financed by the EU, is being launched this weekend to draw up a plan to make the area a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

What is ORBIS? “The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World reconstructs the time cost and financial expense associated with a wide range of different types of travel in antiquity. The model is based on a simplified version of the giant network of cities, roads, rivers and sea lanes that framed movement across the Roman Empire. It broadly reflects conditions around 200 CE but also covers a few sites and roads created in late antiquity.” Very impressive.

If you like to be the very first to know, here’s your chance.

HT: Wayne Stiles, Luke Chandler, BibleX, Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Dead Sea shoreline

Tagged Dead Sea, Egypt, Excavations, Jerusalem, Lectures, Philistines, Resources, Temple Mount

Swifts Welcomed at Western Wall

From Arutz-7:

The Common Swift, a unique bird that spends most of its life on the wing, returns to Western Wall for a short vacation from Africa. Nature-lovers are planning a welcoming ceremony Monday.
The Friends of the Swifts Association, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, and Tel Aviv University are working together to save existing nesting sites of the special bird. Its arrival at the Western Wall also symbolizes the approaching spring, said the sponsors of the welcoming ceremony.
[…]
They said that a special study to map the nests was conducted in 2002 by researcher Ulrich Tigges and by the late Prof. Mendelssohn, during which 88 nests were noted. This study map served as a guideline during the work of strengthening the Western Wall, keeping the nests unblocked.

The full story is here.

Birds have been making their nests near the temple ever since the psalmist wrote, “Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, a place near your altar….Blessed are those who dwell in your house” (Psalm 84:3-4).

Pigeon perched in hollow of the Western Wall

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount