8 Jewish Archaeological Discoveries

Over at NBC News:

It’s been decades since the first pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the caves of the Judean desert, but yet another piece of parchment bearing 2,000-year-old scriptures – verses from the Book of Leviticus – was found just recently. Such finds demonstrate that the Holy Land can still produce ancient treasures, thousands of years after the events described in the Bible…

Check them out here.

HT:  PaleoJudaica

Ancient Mosaic Floor Found Near Kibbutz Bet Qamain, Israel

It’s Byzantine and it’s spectacular:

A magnificent 1,500-year-old mosaic floor has been uncovered by archeologists  near Kibbutz Beit Kama in the south, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced  Sunday.

The mosaic was the most outstanding find in a Byzantine-era village unearthed  in the Negev during a survey conducted prior to construction of a highway.

The village, which thrived from the 4th through 6th centuries C.E.,  encompassed about six dunams – or an acre and a half – and was discovered under  the fields of the kibbutz. Among the finds was a public building measuring 12  meters by 8.5 meters (about 40 feet by 26 feet) containing the mosaic floor.  Archaeologists assume the building was a public one due to its size and relative  opulence.

The colorful mosaic includes geometric motifs and features amphorae – wine  containers— in the corners, as well as a pair of peacocks and a pair of doves  pecking at grapes on grapevines. The combination of so many motifs in one mosaic  is unusual, say Israel Antiquities Authority officials.

The building also features a system of water channels, pipes and water pools.

The site, situated on an ancient road that led north from Be’er Sheva, apparently included a large estate with a church, residential buildings, storerooms, a large water cistern, a public building and agricultural fields equipped with irrigation pools. One building appears to have served as a hostel for travelers passing through the area, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority…

The official IAA press release with more photos is here.

 

You Can Trust the Bible

A message from ABR:

 

Archaeology at the BBC

This is really great. The BBC is releasing videos from the archive:

A collection of programmes charting the BBC’s first ventures into archaeology programming, dating back to the 1950s, available online to watch in full.

There are hours of free video available if - like me - you are into things archaeological. Moreover, there is plenty on the Biblical discipline, with Sir Mortimer Wheeler featuring prominently.

Watch online here.

I’m off to make a cup of coffee…

 

The Gabriel Stone Goes on Display in Jerusalem

Also called Gabriel’s Revelation. The Huffington Post reports in typical sensational fashion:

An ancient stone with mysterious Hebrew writing and featuring the archangel Gabriel is going on display in Jerusalem as scholars debate the inscription’s meaning.

The so-called Gabriel Stone, said to have been found 13 years ago in Jordan, features an unknown prophetic text from the time of the Second Jewish Temple.

The tablet made a splash in 2008 when an Israeli scholar theorized the inscription would revolutionize the understanding of early Christianity, claiming it referenced a messianic resurrection pre-dating Jesus.

Curators at the Israel Museum said on Tuesday that it’s the most important inscription found in the area since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Israel Museum exhibit, opening Wednesday, also features ancient New Testament and Quran texts referencing the archangel Gabriel.

Wikipedia has more on the unprovenanced tablet here.

 

Archaeology after the Arab Spring

The transformative political events in the Middle East over the past two years have had, among many other unexpected outcomes, profound effects on the direction of research in Near Eastern archaeology.  War and civil unrest act as both a carrot and a stick, forcing the cessation of fieldwork in some areas, while promoting new investigations in places that might otherwise have gone unexplored. The geopolitics of the post-Arab Spring world are changing where we are able work, and by consequence they will shape the research questions we investigate, as well as the regions where future generations of scholars will likely specialize.  But the present moment of realignment is far from unique—our discipline has been shaped from the beginning by the tumultuous political history of the Middle East…

Worth a read over at The ASOR Blog.

 

Using Inscriptions from the Antiquities Market: Polarized Positions and Pragmatic Proposals

Dr Christopher Rollston writes:

Archaeological sites in the Middle East have been ransacked, pillaged, and plundered for many decades. The motivations of the actual pillaging are normally economic: the pursuit of marketable artifacts. That is, the pillagers wish to find objects that can be sold to collectors. Of course, the motivations of the collectors who purchase these pillaged antiquities range from the desire to possess a piece of ancient history to having putative proof for a cherished belief. Among the artifacts most prized by collectors are ancient inscriptions.

Think briefly about scientific archaeological excavations. Complete pots and potsherds are carefully collected, catalogued, documented, and analyzed, while broken pots are often restored. Organic materials are meticulously bagged and tagged and sent to be carbon dated. Animal bones and seeds are studied to learn about animal husbandry, agriculture, and ancient diets. Grinding stones, needles, and pins are photographed and studied carefully to shed light on aspects of daily life. Metal objects are sent to laboratories for scientific analyses. Stone tools such as arrowheads are sent to specialists for analysis. And inscriptions are sent to epigraphers to be read and analyzed. The result is that knowledge is gained about ancient languages and dialects, and about ancient social structures, and religious practices and ideas. The final result is that scientific excavations yield an enormous amount of information about the ebb and flow of ancient lives.

In contrast, those pillaging sites for marketable objects do not have the resources, time, desire, or the training to do any of these things. This is despite the fact many looters have experience working on excavations, sometimes as skilled laborers. Rather, looters rifle through sites and collect nothing except the most marketable of objects. The rest are disturbed, broken, and ignored. After all, the primary goal of the pillager is finding something that will sell, something that will satisfy the appetite of the black market in pillaged antiquities. What then about inscriptions found by looters?

Read on at the ASOR Blog.

 

Archaeologists Uncovered Ancient ‘Gates to Hell’

The Herald Sun:

Archaeologists have opened the ancient ‘Gates to Hell’ in Turkey – and found it’s still a killer.

A group of Italian archaeologists have announced they have found the legendary “Pluto’s Gate”, a portal filled with foul-smelling noxious fumes which inflicted a quick death on any person or beast that was driven into its embrace.

The temple complex in Hierapolis, now the volcanic-spring restort town of Pamukkale, featured in many ancient legends and historical texts.

“This space is full of a vapour so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death,” the Greek historian Strabo wrote in 24AD.”I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell.”

The archaeologists uncovered the ruins of a circular temple near a cave entrance, surrounded by Ionic columns. One of them held a dedication to the gods of the underworld – Pluto and Kore.

The excavated site of the Plutonium at the ancient city of Hierapolis, Turkey. Picture: Francesco D’Andria.

Discovery News reports the excavations have also revealed evidence of a nearby thermal pool and courtyard which was a gathering-place for priests and visitors seeking prophetic visions or to speak with dead loved ones.

A staired terrace overlooking the temple and pool would have held onlookers and initiates as eunuchs led bulls into the cave – and dragged them out, dead.

Francesco D’Andria of the University of Salento said the “visions” were probably hallucinations caused by breathing diluted fumes wafting up from the Gate to Hell.

And the portal is still a killer, he said.

“We could see the cave’s lethal properties during the excavation,” D’Andria told Discovery News.

A picture showing dead birds at the entrance to “Hell’s Gate”, an ancient volcanic cave. Picture: Francesco D’Andria.

“Several birds died as they tried to get close to the warm opening, instantly killed by the carbon dioxide fumes.”

The site had been damaged by Christians in the 6th Century and the destruction was completed by later earthquakes.

“We found the Plutonium (Pluto’s Gate) by reconstructing the route of a thermal spring,” D’Andria said.

Rest here with video, maps and more pics.

 

What Happens to the Archaeological Finds After They are Excavated

HT

 

Passion Week Archaeology

Via Source Flix:

This weekend brings us to the time of pondering and celebrating the two most important events in the course of human history – the death and resurrection of Christ.  Today’s video shows some of my favorite archaeological discoveries that help to solidify the historical context behind those events.

Praise be to Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God and Risen Savior!!!