Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg, W.F Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem
Conference on Work of the P.E.F. in Palestine/Israel
A conference was recently held in Haifa to mark the 150th anniversary of the start of the work of the Palestine Exploration Fund in the country. Prof. David Jacobson reported, “The founders agreed that the new organisation would conduct its activities on scientific principles, abstain from any political controversies and not operate as a religious society.” That is what enabled a unique collaboration between people of different fields, such as Arthur Stanley, Dean of Westminster, George Grove, author of the Grove Dictionary of Music, and Captain Charles Wilson of the Royal Engineers to exist. Biblical Archaeology was then considered a branch of theology, vague and descriptive. Early scholars who came to the Holy Land were not experts in drawing maps or in documenting ancient architecture. The PEF introduced the accuracy of military cartography into this discipline and thus established many standards that we use in modern Archaeology today.”
Funerary Inscriptions in Galilee
Two funeral inscriptions have been found at Tzipori in the Galilee bearing the names of two individuals described as Rabbis, written in Aramaic and Greek, according to Dr. Moti Aviam of the Kinneret College of Galilean Archaeology. The find has been reported by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The names have not yet been deciphered but judging by the calligraphy, they date to the late Roman era of 1700 years ago. Tzipori was the town in which the famous Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi lived, compiled and edited the Mishnah, the comprehensive record of Jewish law and practice. The use of the term Rabbi indicates that the position was recognised and respected by the general population at this early time.
Central Israel Ancient Diet Revealed
Researchers from Tel Aviv University have discovered the diet of ancient hunters living at the Qesem Cave site, a few kilometers outside Tel Aviv. Prof. Avi Gopher said that they had evidence of tortoise bones from fire-pits that were between 200,000 and 400,000 years old. The evidence is that the hunters ate the turtles in several ways and prepared them in different ways. Tortoises had for long been part of man’s diet but this is the first time that evidence of fire had been found. In some cases the tortoises were roasted whole in their shells, in others the shells had been cracked and the animals dismembered and cooked in several different ways. Due to the slow speed of the animals it was possible for children and the elderly to catch the tortoises and thus eating them was more common than was to be expected, According to Prof. Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University, the sophisticated preparation and cooking of the tortoises. “represents an extraordinary level of biological and cultural evolution in early man.”
Egyptian Beetle Seal Found in Galilee
Amit Haklai, a resident of Tiberias, was hiking on the Karnei Hattin plains west of Tiberias with his children, when he spotted a very small white object in a beetle shape and with carvings on it. He suspected it to be an Egyptian seal and handed it over to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) who identified it as an Egyptian scarab seal of the second millenium BCE. Dr. Daphna Ben-Tor of the Israel Museum identified it as a seal of Thutmose III (1481-1425 BCE) sitting on his throne, with his name in heiroglyphics. This Pharaoh set up administrative control in Canaan and fought several local battles including that of Megiddo. This is the first time that such a seal has been found on the ground in this area, it may have risen to the surface after a rainstorm. In the Bronze Age a fortified citadel stood in this area, the Horns of Hattin and the scarab can apparently be linked to the period when the citadel existed, according to Yardena Alexander of the IAA.
Chalcolithic Period Homes in Northern Jerusalem
The IAA recently announced the finding of a residential compound at Shuafat neighbourhood in northern Jerusalem, when road building was being undertaken. Remains of the Copper Age, of seven thousand years ago, are extremely rare in the Judean Hills, according to Dr. Omri Barlzilai, “and now for the first time we have discovered in this area significant remains of seven thousand years ago,” he added. The excavation exposes two houses complete with floors, pottery vessels, flints and a basalt bowl, all typical of the period. There were also a few animal bones that allow us to recreate the eating habits of the people, according to Ronit Lupo, who directed the excavations, and who said that “the finds show that there was a thriving settlement here in Jerusalem in ancient times.”