Digging for trouble - sacred and profane archaeology

Dig beneath Jerusalem's sacred stones in the name of science, and you'll incite threats and preemptive arrests. At the very least, insults and rocks will be hurled.
The recent convergence of archaeological projects in Jerusalem's oldest and most sensitive district has ignited Arab fury, prompted official Israeli denials, and sparked off an internecine row amongst archaeologists about the use of Biblical scripture in scientific analysis.

Any archaeological excavation close to the Old City walls quickly becomes a religious flashpoint and a focus for vicious politicking that can provoke Muslims, Jews and Christians around the globe. Like a baklava of multiple historic layers, strewn with jarringly anachronistic artifacts because building materials were recycled by successions of tight-fisted conquerors, these rich diggings at the heart of the Holy Land are dense, compact, and sweet with promise. Passions run high and devout Millenarianists who count down for the Rapture and Apocalypse keep tabs on the symbolism of it all, complicating matters further.

And when a pro-settler Israeli group funds the digs, while Arab residents fight to keep their homes from being bulldozed to make way for a Biblical theme park fit for tourists on futuristic segways, the tension rises. Time magazine reports the latest.

Ancient Leper's Shroud Unearthed near Old City dates from time of Jesus

A team of archaeologists and scientists say they have for the first time found pieces of a burial shroud from the time of Jesus in a tomb located in Jerusalem. The BBC's Bethany Bell reports.

The researchers, from Hebrew University and institutions in Canada and the US, said the shroud was very different from the controversial Turin Shroud. (Might it belong to Lazarus, ask some evangelical Christians?)

Some people believe the Turin Shroud to have been Christ's burial cloth, but others believe it is a fake.

The newly found cloth has a simpler weave than Turin's, the scientists say.

The body of a man wrapped in fragments of the shroud was found in a tomb dating from the time of Jesus near the Old City of Jerusalem, above the Hinnom Valley.

The tomb is part of a cemetery called the Field of Blood, where Judas Iscariot is said to have committed suicide.

Researchers believe the man was a Jewish high priest or member of the aristocracy who died of leprosy, the earliest proven case.

They say he was wrapped in a cloth made of a simple two-way weave, very different from the complex weave of the Turin Shroud.

The researchers believe that the fragments are typical of the burial cloths used at the time of Jesus.

As a result, they conclude that the Turin Shroud did not originate from 1st-Century Jerusalem.

The Turin Shroud has been the subject of much controversy.

Tests 20 years ago dated the fabric to the Middle Ages, but believers say the cloth, which bears the imprint of a man's face, is an authentic image of Christ.
Last month a Vatican researcher announced that she had found the words 'Jesus Nazarene' written on the shroud, proving it was the linen cloth which was wrapped around Christ's crucified body. It is shown at the top of this post.

Read more.

Dung Gate shoveling begins anew

Here we go again.
Can you dig it? On again, off again; and what carries more weight? Archaeo-politics or getting to grips with antiquity? These politicians are dancing with persistence and a certain flair for publicity. This excavatikon is worth watching, to see how the Arab world responds and to see what is unearthed. MOst seems to be Byzantine rubble so far, according to Izzy Bee's sources.

"If political elements want to use the IAA as an umbrella, the minister's eye is watching and he will not allow any work to be done that invites friction and disturbances during this period of diplomatic negotiations. I am glad that the prime minister supports the policy of creating understanding and tranquility in order to protect the holy places," Majadele said.

The phrase "removing any find that is not archaeological" refers to all Palestinian finds and most of those of the Ottoman period. The Turkish English-language daily Today's Zaman recently published a report stating that a team of Turkish experts who had examined the excavations at the Mughrabi walkway recommended that Israel stop work immediately.

The team's report said that Israel was attempting to disrupt Jerusalem's history by stressing the Jewish aspect of Jerusalem, and that the excavations were part of a plan to destroy cultural elements from the Islamic period in Jerusalem. The report also stated that "the large amount of soil extraction shown to our mission along the Wailing Wall give the impression that this is an intervention of great scale and depth and that this intervention goes beyond scientific purpose."

Attorney Danny Zeidman, legal counsel to the Ir Amim association, which appealed the ministerial committee's decision to the attorney general, said Sunday that an internal contradiction existed between the cabinet decision's call for "transparency" and "coordination" and decisions of an operative nature.

Archaeology Buzz: King Solomon's hives

Scientists from Hebrew U are all abuzz with evidence that Israel lived up to its Biblical moniker of the land of "milk and honey"-- well, at least the latter. Ancient beekeepers kept their hives in the middle of Tel Rehov town in the 10th century BCE, the era of Solomon's First Temple.

Their unbaked clay and straw hives resemble the stacked cylinders shown in Egyptian Pharaonic art. These were used on an industrial scale, producing up to half a ton of honey a year, according to Professor Amihai Mazar, and are the first to be unearthed anywhere in the Near East. The ritual use of honey over the ages will be examined by scholars who know their beeswax. What a sweet discovery-- in good time for the Jewish New Year, when slices of apple are dipped in honey at every Seder dinner. Check out the report in the latest Science Daily journal:

The term "honey" appears 55 times in the Bible, 16 of which as part of the image of Israel as "the land of milk and honey". It is commonly believed that the term refers to honey produced from fruits such as dates and figs. Bees' honey, on the other hand, is mentioned explicitly only twice, both related to wild bees. The first instance is how Samson culled bees' honey from inside the corpse of the lion in the Soreq Valley (Judges 14: 8-9). The second case is the story of Jonathan, King Saul's son, who dipped his hand into a honeycomb during the battle of Mikhmash (Samuel I 14:27).
While the Bible tells us nothing about beekeeping in Israel at that time, the discovery of the apiary at Tel Rehov indicates that beekeeping and the extraction of bees' honey and honeycomb was a highly developed industry as early as the First Temple period. Thus, it is possible that the term "honey" in the Bible indeed pertains to bees' honey.
Cultic objects were also found in the apiary, including a four-horned altar adorned with figures of naked fertility goddesses, as well as an elaborately painted chalice. This could be evidence of deviant cultic practices by the ancient Israelites related to the production of honey and beeswax.

NMSH

An intriguing inscription on a ceramic storage jar found near the beehives reads "To nmsh". This same name was also inscribed on another storage jar from a slightly later occupation level at Tel Rehov, dated to the time of the Omride Dynasty in the 9th century BCE. Moreover, this same name was found on a contemporary jar from nearby Tel Amal, situated in the Gan HaShelosha National Park (Sachne).
The name "Nimshi" is known in the Bible as the name of the father and in several verses the grandfather of Israelite King Jehu, the founder of the dynasty that usurped power from the Omrides (II Kings: 9-12). It is possible that the discovery of three inscriptions bearing this name in the same region and dating to the same period indicates that Jehu's family originated from the Beth Shean Valley and possibly even from the large city located at Tel Rehov. The large apiary discovered at the site might have belonged to this illustrious local clan.

Tomb with a View

After at least three decades of digging, Israeli archaeologists claim to have located the tomb of King Herod the Great in a hilltop fortress just outside Bethlehem. The sarcophagus was destroyed by rebellious Jews many years ago, and finding the site of the royal tomb in Herodium has long been a challenge for scholars and Biblical archaeologists. The Los Angeles Times recounts the search and weighs the new evidence here.
The traditional Herod family cave vault is located a few miles away in West Jerusalem, just below the King David Hotel. But this definitely was not the final resting place of the infamous ruler who was appointed by the Romans and best known for the "Slaughter of the Innocents". In fact, this well-known tourist site once housed Queen Mariamne and other victims of Herod's violent temper and persecution mania. During World War II, British officials used this tomb as an air raid shelter. International news reports enthused about the find in the West Bank. The Independent article suggested that notoriety was the legacy of Herod, the "Bible's biggest villain."