Category: Archaeological Report from Israel, August 2019

King Herod’s Winery at Herodium

Archaeological excavations conducted at the Herodium National Park over the past year by the Ehud Netzer Expedition of the Institute of Archeology at the Hebrew University, headed by archaeologists Roi Porat, Yakov Kalman and Rachel Chachy, have revealed King Herod’s winery. In the structure that surrounds the circular palace/fortress they discovered dozens of huge jugs packed into a storage area, as well as ten pits that likely functioned as fermentation tanks. In addition, dozens of amphorae were unearthed which bear inscriptions and seals revealing that they were once produced in Italy and then shipped by sea to Iudaea. These discoveries shed light on the drinking habits of the royal family.

The earliest remains of Homo Sapiens outside of Africa found at Mt. Carmel

A fossil of an upper jawbone and stone tools were found in Misliya cave, located on Mount Carmel, during a prehistoric excavation headed by Dr. Mina Weinstein-Evron from Haifa University and by Prof. Israel Hershkovitz from Tel Aviv University. The researchers determined that the jawbone is from Homo Sapiens. The Misiliya fossil was dated back to 170,000-190,000 years ago by several different techniques, including uranium isotope analysis. The discovery hints that the trek of Homo Sapiens out of Africa should be pushed back by more than 40,000 years from the time suspected until now.

High-quality Roman Mosaic revealed at Caesarea

A multicoloured Roman mosaic from the 2nd–3rd centuries CE, bearing an inscription in ancient Greek, has been uncovered at the Caesarea National Park during an excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority headed by Dr. Peter Gendelman and Dr. Uzi Ad. The excavation revealed a large building from the Byzantine Period that was part of a commercial area. Under the Byzantine-era structure they found a Roman-era building paved with a mosaic. According to the directors of the excavation, the colorful mosaic, measuring more than 3.5 x 8 meters, is of a rare high quality. It features three figures, multicolored geometric patterns and a long inscription in Greek, which were damaged by the Byzantine building constructed on top of it. The figures, all males, wear togas and apparently belong to the upper class. The mosaic was executed at a very high artistic level, of a type that can be found in places like Antioch in Turkey. The images were depicted using small tesserae, with about 12,000 stones per square meter.

Byzantine Monastery Discovered at Ramat Beit Shemesh  

Well-preserved remains of a Byzantine monastery and church were unearthed in Ramat Beit Shemesh, close to Khirbet Beit Battif, during an excavation of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The expedition uncovered a massive structure built of large hewn stones, as well as a number of architectural elements, such as an imported marble pillar base decorated with crosses. One room of the monastery was paved with colourful mosaic decorated with birds, leafs, and pomegranates. The structure was abandoned during the 7th century CE. According to Benyamin Storchan, the director of the excavation, the artifacts found in the large building may indicate that the site was important and perhaps a center for ancient pilgrims in the Judean foothills region.

An Idumean Temple/Palace Unearthed In Southern Judean Foothills

A massive structure from the Hellenistic Period (3-2 Centuries BCE), built from masonry stones, was excavated at Horvat ‘Amuda, some 3.5 Kilometers south-east of Tel Maresha. The excavation was held by Dr. Oren Gutfeld of the Hebrew University and Pablo Betzer and Michal Haber of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Evidence of the structure’s existence was documented during a drone survey conducted by the expedition in the area between Tel Maresha and Moshav Amazia.

In one of the rooms excavated at the site, two stone incense altars were uncovered. One of the altars was found adorned by a crouching bull set inside the entrance of a temple’s façade adorned with decorated columns. The directors of the excavation suggest that this may have symbolized a deity worshipped by the Idumeans. Additional findings include painted bowls, juglets and oil lamps from the Hellenistic Period. It appears that the Idumean structure was intentionally dismantled, perhaps during the Hasmonean conquests of the region.

Dr Eitan Klein is a Deputy Director of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Looting in the Israel Antiquities Authority, an Archaeologist of the classical periods and a Lecturer at the Land of Israel Department at Ashqelon Academic College

More Bullae From the City of David Excavation

During the excavations of the Israel Antiquities Authority directed by Dr. Joe Uziel and Ortal Chalaf at the City of David in Jerusalem dozens of ancient seals (bullae) dating to the Iron Age period were unearthed.

The bullae are small pieces of clay which in ancient times served to seal letters. Usually they bear a stamp with the name or sign of the clerk or administrator who sent the letter. One of the seals mentions a man by the name of “Achiav ben Menachem”. Other bullae mention the name “Pinchas”. According to the directors of the excavation “Through these findings, we learn not only about the developed administrative systems in the city, but also about the residents and those who served in the civil service of the Kingdom of Judea”.

A Multilayer Ancient Site Excavated Near Beit El

Archaeologists from the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria Archaeology division revealed a multilayer ancient site underneath the marching ground of the IDF training base close to Bet El. The excavation results point out that the settlement existed during the First Temple Period.

The site was rebuilt during the Persian Period, and was inhabited by a Jewish population during the Hellenistic and Hasmonean period. The settlement remained in Jewish hands all the way up to the Roman Period and was probably abandoned after the Great Revolt against the Roman or the failure of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt. The site was inhabited again during the Byzantine Period by Christians as attested from the remains of a church and a bath-house that were found during the excavations. Eventually, the site was destroyed in the great earthquake of 748 CE and never restored again. According to Yevgeni Aharonovich, the director of the excavation on behalf of the civil administration, “the findings were amazing. Most of them were exquisitely preserved. We found keys to doors to housing units and work implements used by the Jews who lived there, attesting to the period during which the town existed”.

Roman Theatre-Like Structure Discovered Below Wilson’s Arch and Opposite the Western Wall

A sensational discovery was revealed during the Archaeological excavation conducted by Dr. Joe Uziel and Tehillah Lieberman from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Dr. Avi Solomon from the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. During the excavation, which took place exactly below Wilson’s Arch, eight completely preserved stone courses from the Western Wall were unearthed under a layer of earth about eight meters thick. Below this layer the remains of a semicircular theater-like structure apparently dating to the second century C.E. were found. This public building contained approximately 200 seats. The fact that the structure’s measurements are relatively small, in addition to the structure’s location under a roofed space (Wilson’s Arch), led the directors of the excavation to believe that this is either an odeon— used, in most cases, for acoustic performances, or a bouleuterion—the building where a city council met, in this case presumably the council of the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina. Several findings at the site, such as a staircase that was never completely hewn, led the excavators to note that the building was not complete in its construction. They speculate that the structure could date to the building activities that were conducted right after the foundation of Aelia Capitolina. It could be that the beginning of the Bar- Kokhba revolt forced the Romans stationed in the colony to abandon all construction activities.

Galilean Stone Vessel Workshop from the Roman Period Revealed

A Roman-era chalkstone quarry used to produce tableware and storage vessels was excavated by a joint expedition from the Ariel University and the Israel Antiquities Authority at Reineh, a village located close to Nazareth in the Lower Galilee. During the excavation thousands of stone cores, the ancient industrial waste from stone mugs and bowls produced on a lathe were found.

According to Dr. Yonatan Adler from the Ariel University and a director of the excavation, the ancient Jewish ritual laws state that vessels made of pottery are easily made impure and must be broken. Stone, on the other hand, was thought to be a material which can never become ritually impure.

He adds that “Until today only two other similar sites have been excavated, and both of these were in the area of Jerusalem. Our excavation is highlighting the pivotal role of ritual purity observance not only in Jerusalem but in far-off Galilee as well”.

Byzantine Greek Inscription Uncovered during an Excavation at Jerusalem

A Greek inscription was found during a salvage excavation close to the Old City’s Damascus Gate headed by David Gellman on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The inscription mentions the 6th-century Roman Emperor Justinian, as well as a certain Constantine—who served as abbot of a church. This is a translation of the inscription: “The most pious Roman Emperor Flavius Justinian and the most God-loving priest and abbot, Constantine, erected the building in which (this mosaic) sits during the 14th indiction”. This suggests that the mosaic should be dated to the year 550/551 A.D. Researchers believe that the building of which the mosaic was once part was used as a monastery and hostel for pilgrims.

Emperor Justinian and Constantine the priest were also mentioned in the inscription that was found during Nahman Avigad’s excavation at the Nea church. These two inscriptions emphasize the large scale constriction activities that took place in Jerusalem during Justinian reign in the middle of the sixth century C.E.

Dr Eitan Klein is the Deputy Director of the Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Looting in the Israel Antiquities Authority, an Archaeologist of the classical periods and a Lecturer at the Land of Israel Department at Ashqelon Academic College

This report was sent to the AIAS by Erez Ben-Yosef

The Timna Valley in southern Israel is one of the best-preserved ancient copper ore districts in the world. More than six millennia of copper mining and smelting are represented in the archaeology of the valley, which fortuitously was only little damaged by modern exploitation. Located deep within the southern Levantine deserts and far from any permanent water sources, the region presented serious challenges to the societies interested in exploiting its rich copper ore in all periods.

Notwithstanding these challenges, the valley witnessed several periods of substantial copper production, the most intense of which occurred in the early Iron Age (ca. 1200 – 900 BCE). The archaeological remains from this period have been the focus of the ongoing Central Timna Valley (CTV) Project of Tel Aviv University, which explores the technological and social aspects of the industry by excavations, surveys, and the application of advanced analytic and micro-archaeological methods. The latter include the integration of several dating techniques (radiocarbon, archaeomagnetism and luminescence), aimed at establishing a robust, high-resolution timeframe for the industrial remains; in turn, this chronological skeleton enables a detailed diachronic study of technological developments and social processes, including the formation of the Edomite Kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, Egyptian and Assyrian sources. This kingdom, centered around the lucrative copper mines of the region, was able to flourish after the major geopolitical powers of the Ancient Near East collapsed at the end of the Late Bronze Age.

The project’s excavations uncovered a wide array of materials, from production waste (slag, tuyeres and furnace fragments) to pottery and ground stones, including a unique collection of textiles and other rarely preserved organic remains. The latter have helped to better understand the life of the Iron Age metalworkers by illuminating aspects that are usually inaccessible in common archaeological research, such as clothing and the maintenance of draft animals.

Various analytic studies have been used to extract further insights on the industry and the society behind it, including archaeobotanical and archaeozoological investigations, pollen analysis, chemical and mineralogical studies of slag and other smelting waste, petrographic studies of pottery, and more. One of the most intriguing observations so far indicates close connections between the copper mines and the Mediterranean region, raising once again the question of “King Solomon’s Mines,” and the possibility that the Timna copper was the source of wealth of Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE.

Results of the CTV Project were featured in the international media including the New York Times, National Geographic Society, Huffington Post and the Jerusalem Post.

This report comes to members of AIAS from Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg, W.F Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem Israel

Gold Coin Of Roman Emperor Nero

During a recent excavation on Mount Zion, a gold coin with the image of the Roman Emperor Nero was found by archaeologists from the University of North Carolina in the ruins of a large mansion in the Upper City of Jerualem that may have belonged to one of the priestly families that served in the Temple. The excavation was directed by Dr.Shimon Gibson, who worked with Dr. James Tabor and Dr. Rafael Lewis. The coin reads “NERO CAESAR AUG IMP” and on the reverse was an oak wreath with the letters EX S C. Dr. David Jacobson of London has dated the coin to 56/57 CE. The coin was found in one of the large mansions belonging to the priestly families and may have been hidden to save it from the Roman troops that ransacked the properties when they destroyed the Temple in 70 CE.

Norwegian Embassy Driver Smuggles Antiquities

The Norwegian Embassy car was stopped at the Allenby Bridge to Jordan and the police uncovered 10 kilograms of ancient coins and small figurines. The driver of the diplomatic car was arrested but no details of the origin of the antiquities has yet been released.

Ancient Egyptian Amulet

Over three hundred students were excavating in Tzipori in the Galilee, under the direction of the Israel Antiquities Authority, where a three thousand year old Egyptian ring-shaped amulet was uncovered. No suggestions as to why it was found here have been offered.

Ancient Olive Pits Found In Jordan Valley

Archaeologists from the University of Haifa have found seven thousand year old olive pits west of the Jordanian border. The find made by the University’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology suggest that the pits are the result of artificial irrigation. Prof. Daniel Rosenberg said the find would require a change in the perception of ancient agricultural procedures and a re-evaluation of their sophistication in agriculture.

Temple Weight In Jerusalem

An inscribed stone weight found in 2013 has recently been deciphered said the excavator Dr. Oren Gutfeld. It belonged to a synagogue that had been bombed by the Jordanian Arab Legion in 1948. When it was being cleared a building from the Mameluke period was found beneath it and below that a massive Byzantine structure with tiled floors and walls and a storage area with pottery, animal bones and coins. It also contained a stone weight with a two line inscription, which the excavator Oren Gutfeld finally deciphered as the name of the priestly family Katros in Hebrew and ancient Persian, This family is mentioned in the Mishna as being corrupt and buying into the priesthood; the weight may have been used in some way for this purpose.

Ancient Kiln and Pottery Shop  

During an excavation at Shlomi in the Western Galilee an unusual kiln was discovered as part of a pottery manufacturing site. Instead of the usual form of kiln built above ground in stone and mudbrick, this kiln, said to be 1,600 years old, was hewn out of the bedrock, according to Joppe Gosker of the Israel Antiquities Authority who also noted that the site included a system for storing water and compartments for the pottery, The work was uncovered in a chalk sub-base where a new housing was being built. The kiln and surrounding finds will be opened to the new residents and to the public at a later date.

These notes have been gathered as a service to the Society, who take no responsibility for its content.