Shiloh - Jam'a A-Sattin

Here:

See here and also here.

^

What's 3700 Years Old and Beautiful?

I saw the story tonight on Channel One TV

Archaeologists find 3,700-year-old wall in Jerusalem

Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem have uncovered a 3,700-year-old wall that is the oldest example of massive fortifications ever found in the city...The 26-foot-high wall is believed to have been part of a protected passage built by ancient Canaanites from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring that was the city's only water source and vulnerable to marauders.

The discovery marks the first time archaeologists have found such massive construction from before the time of Herod...The wall dates to the 17th century BC, when Jerusalem was a small, fortified enclave controlled by the Canaanites, one of the peoples the Bible says lived in the Holy Land before the Hebrew conquest.

Source


And a second find:

A Large, Magnificent Roman Building, c. 1,800 Years Old, was Exposed in the City of David In the Israel Antiquities Authority Excavations at the 'Givati Car Park', in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park

In Digging We Trust

This is not an ancient mosque.

Neither is it a church of antiquity.

It is the excavation site of an ancient quarry in Jerusalem which archaeologists have uncovered and believe King Herod extracted stones for the construction of the Jewish Temple 2,000 years ago.




Picture credit: Assaf Peretz

NBC reports:

...archaeologists believe the 1,000-square-foot (100-square-meter) quarry was part of a much larger network of quarries used by Herod...the size of the stones [three yards (meters) long, two yards (meters) across, and two yards (meters) high] indicates they could have been used in the construction of the Temple compound...

The two-week excavation, which was conducted before construction begins on an apartment complex at the site, also uncovered pottery, coins and what appear to be tools used in the quarry dating to the first century B.C.

"Finding a large quarry related to the largest building project ever undertaken in Jerusalem ... that's more than just another discovery," said archaeologist Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University, who was not involved in the excavation. "It's an additional block that slowly reveals the picture of construction in ancient Jerusalem.

INN adds:

...[an] estimated 10,000 laborers produced the stones by creating detachment channels with the use of a one-pound chisel. “After the channels were formed, the stones were severed from the bedrock using hammers and chisels...

Historical rights are based on historical truths which represent the reality that was and assures the Jews their future rights in and to this Land.

We just have to keep digging.

Let's Hear It For the Archeologists

Jericho after Joshua:

Ancient Holy Land quarry uncovered, team says

Israeli archaeologists said on Sunday they had discovered the largest underground quarry in the Holy Land, dating back to the time of Jesus and containing Christian symbols etched into the walls

The 4,000-square-meter (yard) cavern, buried 10 meters beneath the desert near the ancient West Bank city of Jericho, was dug about 2,000 years ago and was in use for about half a millennium, archaeologist Adam Zertal said.

The cave's main hall, about three meters tall, is supported by some 20 stone pillars and has a variety of symbols etched into the walls, including crosses dating back to about AD 350 and Roman legionary emblems.

"We saw a hole in the ground ... and went down and discovered this giant cavern, originally a quarry, built uniquely with hall after hall," Zertal told Reuters.

Just in case you're wondering, not only Jews and Judaism but Jesus and Christianity predated Arabs and Islam in this country.

Archeology Solves A Biblical Textual Difficulty

In this Shabbat's Haftara reading, Joshua 2, we read:

15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was upon the side of the wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

What does that mean? That Rahab actually lived in the wall or nearby?

Well, this picture I took at Tel Shiloh seems to provide an answer:

The wall, here 5 meters broad, was at some time emptied out of its fill and rooms were built into it. The same was probably done at Jericho.

Quite simple, actually.

They Don't Believe

The BBC's Tim Franks deals with competing narratives.

The first tour I went on was organised by al-Quds University's Centre for Jerusalem Studies. The organiser, Rasmieh Ali Tabaki...

Our Palestinian guide, Said Rabieh, cited descriptions of the Second Temple from ancient Jewish literature, but cautioned: "There is no proof of a temple here. None at all."

Pressed whether he himself believed the Second Temple was on this site, he said, "Maybe… but I don't have archaeological evidence."

Shortly after you enter the tunnel, you walk across thick glass, which has been cut into the stone floor to reveal, deep beneath you, a staircase leading to a carved space in the stone. Said told us that Jewish archaeologists were claiming this to be an ancient "mikveh" (ritual bath).

Said looked profoundly sceptical. "I don't know: you tell me what you think. I don't know how they can be so sure. It's just a space."

Last December they found a half-shekel coin. In February a royal inscription. Last November, an earing. A wall. A bulla. A stone seal. More.

Olive/Wine Press 1600 Years Old

A lot of history can be discovered at Shiloh:

Quick Visit To Shiloh Antiquities

I was at the Tel today with a very old friend.

An overview of Shiloh before we Jews returned:



And here's another overview, from 1920:



This is a steel engraving drawn by W. H. Bartlett, engraved by C. Cousen. ca 1850 of a site we refer to as Qubat A-Shakinah (Dome of the Divine Presence) or Jam'a A-Seitin ('Group of the Sixty', referring to 60 warriors in the Persian-Arab battle here in 638):



(found here)

And here you can see in the lower center of this picture, the original lintel which appears in the engraving above:



Here's a 1920 photograph (it's actually a double as it's from the old stereoscopy style where two pictures were presented just a bit different to each eye which allowed a 3-D effect. My Uncle Arthur has a whole set from "Palestine" from over 100 years ago. Here are some others. And here are others.)



a view from several decades ago:



and this is what that structure looks like today:


----------------------------

and here is another structure, closer to the Tel, Wali Yeitin (you are looking from the north towards the south-west with the Muslim building at the extreme left with the famous fig tree to its right. Under that building, we discovered a very large Byzantine basilica from about 400 CE, one of the first to be built in Eretz-Yisrael):



and this is what it looked like in 1920 from the north where the Tel is:

Dig We Must

Here's an Iron Age handle inscribed with the Hebrew name "Menachem," which was the name of an Israelite king, discovered in an excavation in Jerusalem:



The fuller story:

...The inscription also includes a partly intact letter, the Hebrew character "lamed," meaning "to." That suggests the jar was a gift to someone named Menachem, said Ron Beeri, who directed the excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority. There is no indication the inscription refers to the king himself...the Bible lists Menachem Ben Gadi as an ancient king of Israel. But this is the first time an artifact bearing the name has been unearthed in Jerusalem, Beeri said.

"It's important because it shows that they actually used the name Menachem during that period," Beeri said. "It's not just from the Bible, but it's also in the archaeological record." [yes!!!]

Based on the style of the inscription, he dated the handle to around 900 B.C., the time of the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as recounted in the Bible.

...Construction workers uncovered the archaeological site while digging the foundation for a girl's school being built in the area, Beeri said.

Excavators also uncovered storage vessels and implements from two earlier nomadic settlements, both dating to around 2,000 B.C., he said, as well as artifacts dating from the time of the Roman Empire around 2,000 years ago...

Literally, Arabs Stealing Jewish History

Palestinians busted trying to sell 2,000 year-old Hebrew scroll

Two Palestinians were arrested Tuesday for allegedly stealing a rare antique Hebrew scroll and attempting to sell it for millions of dollars...The rare historical document, handwritten in Hebrew on papyrus paper and estimated to be more than 2,000 years old, is a bill surrendering property rights. The document was written by a widow named Miryam Ben Yaakov, and hails from a period in which the people of Israel were exiled from the area and very few Jews remained.

The scroll also, unusually, clearly indicates a precise date on the first line: "Year 4 to the destruction of Israel". The intention is, presumably, either to the year 74 C.E. (the year when the Second Temple was destroyed during the Great Revolt) or to 138 A.D. (the annihilation of the Jewish settlement following the Bar Kokhva revolt).

...The document was apparently stolen from a cave within Israel's borders where antiquities raiders were digging...Police investigator Eli Cohen said Wednesday that officers was looking into how the suspects arrived at the scroll, and were they involved in other antiquities robberies.

BBC has a picture:



From AFP:

Amir Ganor, who heads the Israel Antiquities Authority's robbery prevention unit..."The document is very important from the standpoint of historical and national research. Until now almost no historic scrolls or documents from this period have been discovered in proper archaeological excavations."

"What we have here is rare historic evidence about the Jewish people in their country from 2,000 years ago," said Ganor.

'Judaizing' Jerusalem

Found here:

A press conference on Tuesday held in a protest tent that has been erected at the site centered around what many of the speakers decried as Israeli "ethnic cleansing" of east Jerusalem's Palestinians and "violations of international law."

"The Israeli government is carrying out an ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in east Jerusalem," said Mairead Maguire, a Nobel Peace Laureate from Ireland who told the crowd of around 50 journalists and Silwan residents that she was there to support the residents' struggle.

"If this was happening in any other country in the world, the international community would be up in arms...It's a Judaization of the area."

Ms. Maguire should know that 'Judaizing Jerusalem' is like bringing coals to Newcastel or, pardon the flip, bringing Irish Cream to Dublin or guns to Belfast.

No one is cleansing no one. There is more than enough room to build houses in Jerusalem, in areas zoned and properly approved.

The struggle should be to expand those areas into places where historical, cultural, religious and archeological elements are not harmed.

Just in Time for Passover for the Exodus Celebration

Israel Finkelstein is going to be angry, again.

The archeologist who denies the Biblical account, well, mostly, is not going to like this, from his arch rival:

Have the first Israelite sites built after Exodus been found?

A Haifa University archaeologist on Monday said he has unearthed structures in the shape of human feet believed to have been erected by the Israelites upon their initial entry to the Land of Canaan.

Prof. Adam Zertal said that the large compounds discovered in the Jordan Valley were "the first sites to have been built by the Israelites upon entering Canaan and manifest the biblical notion of claiming ownership of the land by setting feet on it."

Prof. Zertal's excavation team uncovered five large foot-shaped compounds that he identifies as the biblical site of Gilgal.

and this

...Zertal has also recently claimed to have found clay markings unique to early Israelites, around the time of the conquest of Canaan described in the Bible.

According to the Book of Joshua, the Israelites arrived at Gilgal after having crossed the Jordan River. Some researchers have claimed that Gilgal is named after the collection of stones at the site that were used during various rituals, but no archaeological evidence has been discovered to support that claim.

Since 1990, five sites shaped like human feet have been excavated in the Jordan Valley. All five date back to the early Iron Age (12th to 13th centuries B.C.E.), and their shapes indicate that they were used as communal gathering places.

Zertal said that the foot-shaped sites were used during ceremonies following the Israelites' entry into the Land of Canaan. He added that the concept of the Jewish pilgrimage to Jerusalem on three major holidays (known as "aliya la'regel" or ascending on foot) also originates from the foot-shaped sites in the Jordan Valley and Mount Ebal.

===========

UPDATE:

...The finding is believed to represent the first time that enclosed sites identified with the biblical sites termed in Hebrew "gilgal", which were used for assemblies, preparation for battle, and rituals, have been revealed in the Jordan valley. The Hebrew word "gilgal" (a camp or stone-structure), is mentioned thirty-nine times in the Bible. The stone enclosures were located in the Jordan valley and the hill country west of it. To this day, no archaeological site has been proposed to be identified with the gilgal.

Between the years 1990 and 2008, during the Manasseh Hill-Country Survey that covers Samaria and the Jordan Valley, five such enclosures were found and excavated, all designed in the shape of a human foot. The site are believed to date back to the outset of the Iron Age I (the 13th-12th centuries BCE). Based on their size and shape, it is clear that they were used for human assembly and not for animals.

Two of the sites (in Bedhat esh-Sha'ab and Yafit 3) were excavated in the years 2002-2005, under the directorship of Dr. Ben-Yosef and the guidance of Adam Zertal. The findings, mostly of clay vessels and animal bones, date their foundation to the end of the 13th century BCE, and one of them endured up to the 9th or 8th century BCE without architectonic adjustment.

In at least two cases, paved circuits, some two meters wide, were found around the structures. These were probably used to encircle the sites in a eremony. "Ceremonial encirclement of an area in procession is an important element in the ancient Near East," Prof. Zertal says, adding that the origins of the Hebrew term "hag" (festival) in Semitic languages is from the verb "hug", which means "encircle". Thus, this discovery can also shed new light on the religious processions and the meaning of the Hebrew word for festival, "hag". [that "h" is a guttural sound 'ch']

According to Prof. Zertal, the "foot" constructions were used for ceremonial assemblies during Iron Age I (and probably after). When the religious center was moved to Jerusalem and settled there, the command of "aliya la-regel" (pilgrimage) became associated with Jerusalem. The source of the term, however, is in the sites that have now been discovered in the Jordan valley and the Altar on Mt. Ebal. "The biblical text testifies to the antiquity of these compounds in Israel's ceremonials, and the 'foot' structures were built by an organized community that had a central leadership," Prof. Zertal stated.

Yep, Another Archeological Discovery

Arutz 7 reports:

Archaeologists Find Temple-Era Building, Inscriptions

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday that a large building containing what it called "an amazing wealth of inscriptions" dating from the eighth century BCE has been discovered in the Umm Tuba area at the southern end of Jerusalem.

The building was discovered during a salvage operation prior to construction in the area. It was destroyed during the Babylonian conquest and re-occupied resettled retaken by Jews between the Hasmonean period and the destruction of the Second Temple.

...royal seal inscriptions discovered at the site date back to the reign of King Hezekiah.

The full official Antiquities Authority report, with another picture, is here.

By the way, Umm Tubba is where Har Homa neighborhood is.

What Was, Will Be

Arabs and their supporters have several pet projects.

One is making sure Israelis and Jews can't make firm scientific claims about our past.

So, when archeological digs are to be exacavted, all hell breaks loose.

The dig at what is called the Givati Parking Lot just outside the Old City walls, east of the Dung Gate, is viewed, as usual, as an attempt to undermine structures and sneak under the Temple Mount.

The discoveries there are amazing.

But the Ir David crew made another discovery, one in the album of photographs at the American Colony Hotel.

In 1927, it seems, the British, Crawford and Fitzgerald, were digging at the site, where there were no structures at the time.

Here's the proof:



You can there in the background the southern Ottoman wall and the El Aqsa mosque to the back right.

Bust Found, An Archeological Find, That Is

What a bust:

Israeli archaeologists say they have discovered a rare 1,800-year-old figurine in a Jerusalem excavation.

Dating from the time of the Roman Empire, the five-centimeter marble bust depicts the head of a man with a short curly beard and almond-shaped eyes.

A statement Monday from the Israel Antiquities Authority said nothing similar had been found before in the country.

The archaeologists said they believed it could depict an athlete, possibly a boxer. They added that they thought it was used as a weight and might have belonged to a merchant.

It was found in the ruins of a building destroyed by an earthquake in the fourth or fifth century.

Source

And more:

According to Dr. Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets, directors of the excavation at the site on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The high level of finish on the figurine is extraordinary, while meticulously adhering to the tiniest of details. Its short curly beard, as well as the position of its head which is slightly inclined to the right, are indicative of an obviously Greek influence and show that it should be dated to the time of the emperor Hadrian or shortly thereafter (second-third centuries CE). This is one of the periods when the art of Roman sculpture reached its zenith. The pale yellow shade of the marble alludes to the eastern origin of the raw material from which the image was carved, probably from Asia Minor, although this matter still needs to be checked”.

Jerusalem of Gold Coins

Arutz 7 reporting:

Archaeologists found 250 gold coins Sunday in a dig in the City of David in Jerusalem. The dig is being carried out in what was until now a parking lot for the tourist site.

The dig is being conducted by the Archaeological Authority in conjunction with the Environmental Parks Authority. It is funded by the Elad foundation which is responsible for the City of David.

Can't find another confirmation so - stay tuned.

================

Updated

The gold coins date back to the Byzantine period and bear the image of the Emperor Heraclius, who ruled between 610 and 641 A.D. The nearly 1,400 year-old coins depict him in military dress, holding a cross in his right hand.

Picture by Ronen Zvulun

New Temple Mount Archeological Find

Haaretz reports (it must choke them to do so)

Rare first century half shekel coin found in Temple Mount dirt

A rare half shekel coin, first minted in 66 or 67 C.E., was discovered by 14 year-old Omri Ya'ari as volunteers sifted through mounds of dirt from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The coin is the first one found to originate from the Temple Mount.

For the fourth year, archaeologists and volunteers have been sifting through dirt dug by the Waqf, the Muslim authority in charge of the Temple Mount compound, in an unauthorized project in 1999. The dig caused extensive and irreversible archaeological damage to the ancient layers of the mountain.

...The half shekel coin was first minted during the Great Revolt against the Romans. The face of the coin is decorated with a branch of three pomegranates and ancient Hebrew letters reading "holy Jerusalem." On the flip side, the letters say "half shekel".

...Dr. Gabriel Barkay explained that "the half shekel coin was used to pay the temple taxes... The coins were apparently minted at Temple Mount itself by the Temple authorities."

The half shekel tax is mentioned in the book of Exodus...Dr. Barkay added that "this is the first time a coin minted at the Temple Mount itself has been found, and therein lies its immense importance...

Just in time for Chanukah, the Temple Mount Holiday.

More Archaeological Finds in Israel

King Herod’s VIP Room for Theatergoers Discovered

Hebrew University’s Archaeological Institute announced on Wednesday additional discoveries in Herod’s grave, located 9 miles south of Jerusalem. The findings include coffins of Herod’s family, a theater with a VIP room, and two coffins containing the remains of most likely Herod’s wife and the wife of Archelaus, Herod’s son. The new findings further support the idea that the grave discovered last year belongs to Herod the Great.

...The mausoleum, where Herod’s tomb was discovered last year, is almost completely restored. The two-story, 82 foot-high mausoleum is built on a podium with a concave roof. Dr. Ehud Netzer, professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, claims that Jewish fighters destroyed the mausoleum when they conquered the site during their revolt against the Romans in 66 CE. “Herod decided to create the castle and to establish a burial plot at the Herodion Mountain since this place overlooks Jerusalem and its surroundings,” Professor Netzer stated.



picture source

A theater that could hold an audience of 750 was discovered not far from the mausoleum. In front of the seating area is a large room for VIPs, from which the king and his close friends would watch the shows...

Imagine what would be found if the Temple Mount could be excavated judiciously.

More here.


P.S.

And Yesha is involved:

Also collaborating in the excavations are the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Gush Etzion Regional Council. The Israel Museum will launch in 2010 an exhibition of the findings there.

Shaul Goldstein, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, said that “the Gush Etzion Regional Council views the Herodium National Park as an important historic site worthy of great investment in order to assure its preservation. In recent years, the council has worked diligently in order to preserve and develop the site through the investment of millions of shekels, half of which has been devoted to the excavations by Prof. Netzer, and half in the development of the visitor facilities there. Additionally, the council also allocates significant sums every year in publicizing the site, along with the Nature and Parks Authority.”

Out of Jerusalem's Soil: 2000 Year Old Earring

More archeology excitement:-

2,000-year-old gold earring found in Jerusalem

A luxurious gold, pearl and emerald earring provides a new visual clue about the life of the elite in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago...found beneath a parking lot next to the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. It dates to the Roman period just after the time of Jesus, said Doron Ben-Ami, who directed the dig.

The earring was uncovered in a destroyed Byzantine structure built centuries after the piece was made, showing it was likely passed down through generations, he said.

The find is eye-catching: A large pearl inlaid in gold with two drop pieces, each with an emerald and pearl set in gold.

"It must have belonged to someone of the elite in Jerusalem," Ben-Ami said. "Such a precious item, it couldn't be one of just ordinary people."

..."It adds to the visual history of Jerusalem," Gibson added, saying it brings attention to the life of women in antiquity.

Ben-Ami the piece's placement in the destroyed building protected it from looters and kept it preserved. Its location also showed that it must be older than the house itself.

...Though Gibson dates the piece slightly later than the antiquities authority, to sometime between the second and fourth centuries A.D., he said its quality and beauty were impressive. And Ben-Ami said he expects more small, luxury items to turn up in future excavations.

History confirmed.

Two Errors in One Obit

Noah Pollack points out one error in this obit of Avraham Biran and I found another.

Before beginning his work at Tel Dan, Dr. Biran had been a diplomat and government official and had nearly died when he was working for the Palestinian government in 1938. While riding in a military convoy, Dr. Biran’s car rolled over a land mine, which killed the three passengers in the back seat. Dr. Biran, who was driving, emerged unscathed, as did a police officer next to him. They staggered from the car, only to be attacked by gunmen, who shot the police officer in the face.

Noah writes

Wow — there was a Palestinian state even before an Israeli one! (On planet reality, Biran in 1938 was working for the British Mandate government, at the behest of the Jewish Agency.)

And I add a question: exactly who was it that placed the land mine?
Who were the "gumen"?

Extremist "settler" Jews?
Radical religious Jews?
Fanatic messianic Jews?
Right-wing Jews?

Or was it Arab nationalist terrorists who were revolting against the British between 1936-1939 led by the Grand Mufti?

What they were killing Jews even before Israel was created?

You mean their terror isn't a matter of the disputed territories?