menorah Archives

Report from Jerusalem #66, 20th January 2015

Earliest Evidence of Olive Oil Found

At a salvage dig conducted at Tzippori in the lower Galilee last year by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and directed by Dr. Ianir Milevski and Nimrod Getzov, and reported in the Israel Journal of Plant Sciences, pottery was found with a residue of olive oil dating back some eight thousand years. The directors researched fragments of the pottery with scientist Dr. Dvory Namdar of Hebrew University and found by chemical means that the jars had absorbed organic remains containing olive oil, that could be traced back to the Early Chalcolithic period. Of the twenty shards that were examined two samples of the pottery were found to be particularly ancient and could be dated back to 5800 BCE.

Remains of an olive oil industry of this period were found some years ago at Kfar Samir near Haifa, but the find at Tzippori is the earliest evidence of its use in domestic vessels in Israel and perhaps in the Middle East as a whole. Together with evidence of field crops such as grain and legumes, it indicates that the composition of the basic Mediterranean diet existed at the earliest periods, much as it remains today.

Fragment Showing Menorah of Second Temple Period

A rescue dig in the Carmel National Park near Yokne’am, 20 km. south-east of Haifa, being dug before the construction of a water reservoir for the town, exposed an industrial area of the late Roman and early Byzantine period with a number of refuse pits. In one of the pits one of which the directors for the IAA, Limor Talmi and Dan Kirzne, found the small fragment of a glass bracelet, about 25 x 12 cm. decorated with the symbol of a seven-branched Menorah (candelabra) like the one known from the Second Temple. The bracelet was of turquoise-coloured glass and was found with many other pieces and fragments of glass vessels, jewellery, and even small window panes, which suggested that the area had included a glass manufactory that served the surrounding residential population, who were clearly living in relative affluence.

Damage to Ancient Sites in Syria

The United Nations, through UNITAR, has reported that more than 290 historic and cultural sites have been damaged by the civil war in Syria, according to evidence from satellite images. The sites included Raqqa and the oasis city of Palmyra, the ancient city of Bosra and early settlements in the north of Syria. In addition, the head of Syria’s antiquities and museums agency is reported as saying that thousands of museum artifacts have been moved recently to secure warehouses to avoid the danger of looting.

Looters of Ancient Cave Arrested

Last December two Arabs were caught red-handed digging a large hole into an ancient cave near the West Bank in search of buried gold objects. They had been hired to carry out the work by two Israelis from Hefer, who were also arrested.

The illegal excavators were equipped with drills, lighting units, shovels, buckets and a generator. They were discovered by the Robbery-prevention unit of the IAA and taken to the police station at Tayiba for questioning. Unauthorised excavation is a criminal offence and punishable by up to five years in prison.

Ancient Looted Coins Found in Private Home

A man was initially arrested at an antiquities site in the Bet Shemesh area where he was discovered using a metal detector. The police found that he was carrying digging tools and later searched his home where they found 800 ancient bronze coins of the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, as well as other ancient objects and jewellery. Dr. Klein, deputy director of the Robbery-prevention unit of the IAA said that unauthorized searching for ancient coins is a criminal offence. Ancient coins are most important to archaeologists and historians and, if found in situ, can provide dates, names of rulers and the place of production.

Temple Outer Wall Destruction Reassessed

The large stones that lie at the foot of the southern end of the western outer wall of the Temple Mount have always been considered to be the result of toppling by the Roman forces, when they destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE. However, Prof. Shimon Gibson, who is digging nearby near the Zion Gate, has now re-examined them and claims that they fell as a result of a major earthquake that occurred in 363 BCE, one that has been well documented as damaging several monuments in the Jerusalem area and the adjoining Rift valley.

‘‘By The Rivers Of Babylon”

A new exhibition at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem sets out to describe the life of the Jews exiled from Jerusalem in the years 597 and 586 BCE. It is based on an archive of Babylonian cuneiform documents that describe life in the town of Al-Yahuda (literally, the City of Judah) where the exiles were at first located. The exhibition includes the texts, some models and small sculptures, and remains open until mid January 2016.

Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg

W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem

Report from Jerusalem #39, 14th February 2012

‘Geniza’ Find in Afghanistan

Details of this discovery are still very sketchy but Prof. Shaul Shaked of the Hebrew University has given more information recently. He is skeptical of the many stories of the discovery that are surfacing, as they all revolve around a shepherd who is looking for his flock in a distant cave, fails to find them but sees pieces of parchment scattered over the ground. These stories are clearly based on the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and so are dismissed as fiction. But, like the Scrolls, there is the hope that further caches will be uncovered as to date only about 150 pieces has come to light.

Prof. Shaked, an expert in ancient Persian languages, has no doubt the finds are authentic and has said that they include a medieval copy of the Book of Jeremiah, previously unknown works by Rabbi Sa’adiah Gaon of the 10^th century CE, as well as the private financial diary of a Jewish merchant. The documents are in Judeo-Persian and Judeo-Arabic and can be precisely dated to the medieval period. Many are damaged and decayed and the number is small, but Prof. Shaked hopes that search will now be made for others. He is of the opinion that the cache may include the records of a Karaite community, although it is known that Sa’adiah Gaon was fiercely opposed to this Jewish sect.

Prof. Robert Eisenman has said that he hopes the records may shed light on another sect called the Rhadanites, early medieval Jewish merchants who had set up an extensive trade network connecting Europe and Asia. He raises the suspicion that these Jews may have been descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes, but that is a claim made for all outlandish sects and usually with little justification.

Bread Seal Found at Uza, near Acre

A rescue dig is being conducted at Uza, a Byzantine village east of Acre, prior to the laying of a railway track between Acre and Carmiel. In the course of the dig, headed by Gilad Jaffe and Danny Syon of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), a diminutive clay stamp incised with the reverse of a seven-branched menorah was uncovered. The excavators point this out as a bread seal of the type used in the early medieval period and they date it to the 6^th century CE. Bread seals of the period are common but mostly carry a figure of a cross and denote Christian ownership. The Menorah, which clearly marks Jewish ownership, is rare, and probably indicates that there was a Jewish bakery at Uza supplying bread to the Jewish community of Acre, which was mainly a Christian town in the Byzantine period. The short handle of the stamp carries some Greek lettering, read by Dr. Leah di Segni of the Hebrew University as “Launtius”, a common Jewish name of the period.

Prehistoric Evaporation of the Dead Sea

Last year researchers from the Geological Survey of Israel, the Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University conducted drilling at the centre of the Dead Sea, at a depth of 300m, and offshore near Ein Gedi, and they found that the Dead Sea had nearly dried up 125,000 years ago due to climate change. At a depth of 250m below the floor of the lake they found levels of pebbles above substantial salt layers and concluded that these demonstrated a period when the lake had nearly dried up, due to little inflow of water. From sediment cores, the scientists discovered a layer of 45m of salt below nearby pebbles, which indicated a shoreline close by. The condition was attributed to a change in climate that occurred thousands of years ago and was ultimately remedied by increased rainfall and flow into the Dead Sea from the river Jordan. The researchers indicated that such a condition of excessive fall could occur again at the present time and the remedy of replenishment did not exist as so much of the waters of the Jordan was being syphoned off by the adjoining countries. They warned that the previous ancient fall had been due to climate change whereas the present drop was a man-made disaster.

Archaeological Survey of Lifta, west of Jerusalem

Since 1948 the Arab village of Lifta, standing outside the western approach to Jerusalem, has stood in ruin and virtually unpopulated except for a few Yemenite families. The area contains dozens of stone-built houses that stand derelict on a piece of prime real estate, and two years ago tenders were issued to private developers to build 212 luxury houses on the former village, on condition that the contractor would conduct a full survey of the existing properties before work could begin. The site contains mainly 19^th century houses but there are also some Crusader structures and First Temple remains, all in an advanced state of disrepair.

A recent court ruling has annulled the previous tenders and has now stipulated that the area must first be surveyed in depth by an independent multi-disciplinary university team and the IAA, whose interests will be purely scientific and historical and not guided by development opportunities. However it has been agreed that in the long run it is not desirable to leave the area unbuilt and undeveloped as that would continue the neglect and decay that has taken toll of the site over the last sixty years. It is stipulated therefore that there must be in the long run a plan for both development and preservation of the historical core, with convenient access for the public to the sections of historical interest, so as to provide for example an area that would illustrate the physical form of a typical Arab village of the 19^th century. It is hoped that the involvement of many university departments and the IAA will bring positive results and not delay the restoration works unduly.

Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg

W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem

Report from Jerusalem, #17, October 2009

A 3rd century synagogue discovered at Myra, Turkey

The hot news is that Turkish archaeologists have, in September, uncovered the remains of an ancient synagogue at the former port of Myra, today the village of Demre, near Antalya in southern Turkey. It indicates that there was an active Jewish population at the port and that by the third century CE (the estimated date of the synagogue) they were established enough to build their own prayer house The remains include a marble tablet with a menorah, shofar (ram’s horn) and trumpet on one side and a palm and citrus tree on the other. The prayer hall was about 7m. by 5m. and had two entrances, to the west and to the north. No evidence has yet been found of the place for the ark.

According to the excavators, led by Dr. Nevzat Cevik of Akdeniz University, Jews were allowed to become Roman citizens in the province of Lycia by a law of 212 CE and that led to permission to build a synagogue, though the date of the structure may well be later than the third century. The inscriptions found have not yet been fully deciphered but the words “Amen” and “Israel” are evident, as well as the names of two donors, Procles and Romanus.

Trial for forgery continues…

Shuki Dorfman, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), recently gave the sensational testimony that two highly respected epigraphers were suspected of having been involved in recent forgeries. This came out in the ongoing trial of Oded Golan and others (the James’s Ossuary and the Yehoash Tablet trial) when Dorfman stated that Professor Andre Lemaire, of the Sorbonne, and Ada Yardeni of the Hebrew University had been suspected by the IAA of having been involved in the so-called forgeries. On the other hand Dorfman also claimed that the chief prosecution witness, Shlomo Moussaieff had not been telling the truth in his testimony at the start of the trial. The proceedings, which started in 2005, drag on in the Jerusalem District Court.

Nabatean site of Avdat Vandalized

An important public archaeological site has recently been shockingly vandalized. It is the UNESCO World heritage site of Avdat, the Nabatean town in the Negev, on the ancient trade route from Elath to the port of Gaza. On the morning of October 5^th local tour guides were shocked to find that many walls and pillars had been demolished and parts of the structures, including the churches, had been daubed in black paint and oil. The chief suspects are local Bedouin villagers, some of whose illegal structures had been removed by the authorities in the previous days. Local farms had also been attacked and crops uprooted, probably in revenge. This is the first time that a public archaeological site has been vandalized and the police have vowed to bring the suspects to justice. The archaeologists estimate that it will take at least six months to repair the damage.

An early synagogue discovered at Migdal, near Tiberias

In September, the IAA made the surprise find of a very early synagogue, this time at Migdal, on the shores of Lake Kinneret. The surprise is that it dates from the time when the Second Temple still stood, and so joins a small band of four or five synagogues from that period. Work is in progress and the finds include a stone inscribed with a seven-branched menorah. The dig’s director, Dina Avshalom-Gornic, believes that the sculptor may well have been to Jerusalem and “seen the Temple menorah with his own eyes”.

Roman Coin hoard from Betar

A large hoard of coins has been found in a deep cave in the Jerusalem area, dating to the time of the Bar-Kochba revolt of 132 CE. 120 coins of gold, silver and copper were found in good condition in the cave which is 20m. deep and contained metal weapons, storage jars, oil lamps, an earring and a glass bottle. The site, whose location has not been revealed, is being investigated by Boaz Zissu and Hanan Eshel of Bar Ilan University and Amos Frumkin and Boaz Langford of Hebrew University. Based on the rich findings and the location of the cave near to Betar (where Bar-Kochba made his last stand), the team speculate that the cave was the last hiding place of an important nucleus of rebels.

Mikvah (ritual bath) discovery

One of the largest miqvaoth (ritual baths) ever found in Jerusalem has been discovered within the chambers of the Western Wall tunnels, within what looks like a large mansion of the Second Temple period, and not 20m. from the western wall of the Temple complex. The miqveh is lined with ashlars of the highest quality, similar to stonework by Herod on the Temple Mount itself. This suggests that it belonged to a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest Court, which met in the “Room of Hewn Stones” within the Temple complex. Alternatively, judging by the large size, it has been suggested by the site’s excavator, Alexander On, that it may have catered for VIP’s among the pilgrims coming to the Temple during the three seasonal festivals.

Stephen Rosenberg,
W.F.Albright Institute, Jerusalem