Report from Jerusalem #53, 12th August 2013

Syrian Civil War Damage

Due to the ongoing disturbances, it is reported that the famous 12th century Crusader castle, the Crac des Chevaliers, has suffered severe damage. The castle is located on a hill outside the city of Homs, where the rebels have been using it as a stronghold and base for their snipers. In their attempt to regain control of Homs, the castle was bombed by Government forces and suffered a direct hit which destroyed some of the internal fortifications. In the past the Crac des Chevaliers has been a great tourist attraction.

Khirbet Qeiyafa, and King David’s Palace?

On 17th July Prof. Yossi Garfinkel of Hebrew University organized a tour of the site at Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Elah Valley, south of Beth Shemesh, where he has been digging for the last five seasons.  He announced that his work here was now complete and that he would be moving his team to Lachish for the next season to re-examine its early strata. During a festive site dinner for the occasion, he also announced that he had found the remains of a luxurious mansion and large storage facility that he designated as King David’s palace on the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa, which he has identified as biblical Sha’arayim, because of its two gates. Garfinkel claims that the presence of a well-planned city with a royal palace of the time of the 10th and 11th century BCE., as dated by C-14 analysis, is evidence of state organization under a central authority and administration during the early years of the Judean monarchy. In his opinion the archaeological evidence thus underpins the Biblical account, but this is not a view accepted by other scholars. The site excavations will be preserved and the area will shortly be laid out as a national park, making it easily accessible to visitors.

Tell Es-Safi, The Philistine Gath

After seventeen years of excavation, the archaeologists of Bar-Ilan University, under the direction of Prof. Aren Maeir, demonstrated to the press the various stages of the development of Tell es-Safi, one of the cities of the Philistine pentapolis, which lies in the plain inland from Ashkelon. Evidence is now clear of its various destructions and redevelopments from the 17th to the 9th centuries BCE.  Heavy destruction occurred under Hazael of Damascus in about 830 BCE, and then the rebuilt houses show evidence of sliding off their foundations, which the archaeologists attribute to the earthquake of 760 BCE, mentioned in the Book of Amos (1:1). The mudbrick houses somehow survived and evidence of extensive burning relates to the later destruction by the Assyrian Emperor Sennacherib on his way to assault Jerusalem in 701 BCE.

The Bar-Ilan archaeologists will shortly be able to use the latest on-site equipment, as they expect to receive an X-ray Fluorescent Spectrometer (XRS) for use together with their Fourier Transform IR Spectrometer (FTIR), equipment that is usually confined to the laboratory and which will now be available for use on site. This will allow microscopic samples to be analysed on site, said Maier, which will save having to send them away for analysis, and so save valuable time and give the site the information it requires on the spot. It will allow for evidence to be gathered in the field, which previously had to wait for long periods to be processed in off-site laboratories.  The equipment has been donated by the university president, Prof. Moshe Kaveh, who had recently visited the site with his grandchildren and was impressed by their keen interest.

Ancient Oil Press in Jerusalem

In an emergency salvage dig before foundations were constructed for the dormitory of the Jerusalem College of Technology, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has uncovered an ancient olive press, consisting of a large collection vat, a stone bowl and a stone wheel, all within a karst (limestone) cave.

No date has been given but the IAA said that the existence of the ancient press, and another similar one found in the area a few years ago, is evidence of a thriving early olive-oil industry in the Bet Hakerem area of west Jerusalem. The discovery will enable the College and the IAA to retain the finds in situ to demonstrate the workings of an ancient oil press, which forms part of the history of technology.

Matching Geniza Fragments Online

Computer scientists have devised an online system to record disparate fragments from the Cairo Geniza, that are held by different museums and individuals, and enable them to be matched and put together without having to travel to the various locations where they are held. The system has been devised by Prof. Ya’acov Choueka of the Friedberg Geniza Project of Tel Aviv University, who has, with a team of programmers, digitized 360,000 fragments that are looking for a match. The images come from 60 collections all over the world and the system was recently unveiled at the 16th World Congress of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University last month. The project is still looking for another 300,000 fragments from museum libraries in Western Europe, Russia and some private collections. Individuals will be able to access the system at www.geniza.org

Village of Shikhin in Galilee

A joint expedition of the Kinneret College, Samford University and Kentucky Christian University, co-directed by Dr. Motty Aviam of Kinneret, has recently uncovered the village of Shikhin in the Galilee near to Tzippori (Sepphoris), the latter was the capital of the Galilee at one time. The village is mentioned by Josephus Flavius and in the Talmud as a village of many potters in the first century CE. The site has evidence of the remains of an early synagogue and considerable pottery works, including moulds for oil lamps, which are rare in a village. The excavation is important, according to Aviam, as it fills in a gap in the history of the Galilee between the First Temple and the Hasmonean periods, when there has been little evidence of its inhabitants. The proximity of the village to the former capital is also important as it will demonstrate how the local population lived in the rural areas in relation to the centre, and the expedition is keen to uncover more of the material culture that will demonstrate how the rural population lived.

Crusader Period Hospital in Jerusalem

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced that they had discovered part of the original hospital that stood in the Christian Quarter of the Old City, called the Muristan, which is a Persian word meaning hospital. The area was named for the Knights of St. John Hospitallers who occupied it after they were evacuated from the El Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, and now the site of the hospital has been found. The original building covered an area of 1.5 hectares (nearly 4 acres) but only one section remains on a site owned by the Wakf (Islamic Religious Authority) and to be developed as a restaurant by the Grand Bazaar Company of East Jerusalem. The exposed section is characterized by large pillars and gothic vaults spanning six metres (20 ft) and would have been surrounded by smaller halls. The IAA team, led by Amit Re’em and Renee Forestany, said that they identified the large hall from work done by Conrad Schick before 1900, who had mapped out its ruins from documents of the period in Latin and French. Re’em claimed that the hospital had been divided into several departments and could have accommodated up to two thousand patients in an emergency.

The Crusader staff had worked with Arab colleagues, whose knowledge of medical matters was far in advance of that of their Christian colleagues at this time. Saladin, who defeated the Crusaders in 1291, had renovated the hospital and allowed several Crusader monks and nuns to remain there to serve the local people. The existing hall is not open to visitors, but will now be renovated as part of the new restaurant, whose clients will be able to appreciate and absorb its medieval atmosphere together with its gastronomic delights.

Samaritan Byzantine Occupation by Appolonia

In advance of the northern development of Herzliya, archaeologists from Tel Aviv University, led by Prof. Oren Tal, and the IAA, led by Moshe Ajami, are examining a number of refuse pits that were the town dumps of an extensive Samaritan settlement, just south of ancient coastal Apollonia-Arsuf, of the late Byzantine period. The main pit so far excavated has thrown up 400 Byzantine coins, 200 Samaritan lamps, and gold and silver jewelry that includes an octagonal ring, inscribed with the Hebrew name of God on the outside of each of the eight sides. Some of the lamps were still sealed and unused and the excavators are intrigued by the fact that much of the refuse had been dumped before use. They speculate that there may have been some cultic reason for the Samaritans to discard unused material. They said that the community was a large one and that the octagonal ring was evidence of a high level of religious observance during the period of the sixth century. Investigation of the material continues and it is the intention of the IAA to clear all the findings from the site so that development of the area can proceed. [Evidence that the occupation was substantially Samaritan has not yet been made clear, but should be forthcoming when the coins are examined further, ed.].

 Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg,

W.F.Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem

Report from Jerusalem, #21, March 2010

The Samaritans, Death and Birth

Eleazar ben Tzedaka ben Yitzhaq, the Spiritual leader of the Samaritan Community was laid to rest on February 4th 2010 in the small cemetery south of Nablus. He was 83 years old and it was claimed that he was the 131st holder of the position of High Priest since Aaron. The Samaritans claim to have lived near Nablus, formerly Shechem. since before the Babylonian Exile, and some would say even before the fall of Samaria to the Assyrians in 722 BCE. They have preserved their version of the Torah in an archaic script similar to Paleo-Hebrew.

The present community of 730 persons is concentrated at Kiryat Luza, a small hill town above Nablus, near to Mount Gerizim, which they view as the site of their former temple, which was destroyed by the Maccabean king John Hyrcanus. Both the Palestinian Governor of the Nablus Region and the Israeli officer heading the Civil Administration gave eulogies in Arabic in praise of the deceased High Priest and described his role, in providing a bridge between the Palestinian community and the Israeli Defence Forces, in glowing terms.

An offshoot of the Community lives in Neveh Pinchas, a neighbourhood of Holon, south of Tel Aviv and, at the beginning of March, a circumcision ceremony was held there for the latest male addition to the tiny community, Shahar Yehoshua. It was a rare event, attended by nearly half of the whole community and by six of their priests in long robes and red fezzes, marking the important addition of this new member to the small Samaritan community.

Byzantine Main Road into Jerusalem

Excavations at the west entry to the Old City, leading to David Street, the start of the Arab Shuk, have revealed the original pavings of the Byzantine period, far below the present surface. Thanks to work by the Jerusalem Development Authority in renewing the present underground infrastructure, the Israel Antiquities Authority was able, under director Dr. Ofer Sion, to excavate this very busy part of the Old City.
At a depth of 4.5 m below the present level, the IAA uncovered metre-long paving flagstones of a street that corresponded to a main thoroughfare from the west shown on the famous Byzantine mosaic map of the sixth century CE in St. George’s Church at Madaba, Jordan.

Arabic Inscription of 910 CE found in Jerusalem

During renovation work at a private house in the Jewish Quarter, a small stone fragment, about 10 x 10cm. was found inscribed in Arabic. It has been dated to the Abbasid period and the rule of the Caliph al-Muqtadir. It appears to express the thanks of an army veteran to the “Emir of the Faithful” for the gift of a tract of land in the area. It may signify the way the Caliph rewarded his troops and established a core of faithful supporters in Jerusalem while he ruled from faraway Baghdad. The find was made by Annette Nagar of the IAA and the fragment was read and dated by Prof. Moshe Sharon of the Hebrew University.

Large Byzantine Wine Press found near Kibbutz Hafetz Haim

A massive industrial-size wine press has been found in the Nahal Sorek area, famous for its vineyards. The site is not far from Ashkelon and the wine may have been processed for export to Egypt, or even Italy, according to Uzi Ad of the IAA, in charge of the excavation.
The installation is a sophisticated one, including an octagonal mosaic-paved treading floor leading to two holding vats and then, via stone strainer grids, to two collection vats. The whole system covers an area of more than 15m. square. The region is designated as agricultural land for settlers evacuated from the Gaza Strip in 2005, and it is hoped to preserve the remains within the new farmland.

City Wall in Jerusalem of the Solomonic period?

A massive wall, 70m. long and 6m. high was recently uncovered in the area between the City of David and the southern wall of the Temple precinct by Dr. Elath Mazar, working with the IAA and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. The remains of the wall include an inner gatehouse, a corner tower and portions of another major structure. Mazar claims that the remains are of the 10th century BCE and testify to a ruling monarch who was able to organize such major construction, her reference to the elusive king Solomon. The gatehouse is of the standard four-chambered type. The adjacent structure is dated by pottery to the 10th century BCE and contained a number of large storage jars, one of them inscribed to a court official. There was also found a number of “lemelekh” jar handles, which suggests that some of the work may belong to the later period of the seventh or eighth century BCE. This is a most important discovery but confirmation of dating must await further excavation and evaluation.

National Heritage Plan 2010

At the end of February the Israeli Government issued a list of one hundred and fifty sites of national historical importance which will receive funding to help preserve and maintain their important status and facilitate public access without damage to the remains. The sites include the “trans-Israel footpath” that extends from Metulla to Elath, but is mainly concentrated on archaeological locations such as Masada and modern historical sites like Tel Hai. Although the Heritage Plan is largely non-controversial, and has been welcomed by all the usual site preservation agencies, as allocating Government funds to their upkeep, two sites have raised criticism from the Palestinian Authority. They are the Cave of the Patriarchs (Qever haMakhpelah) in Hebron and the Tomb of Rachel near Bethlehem. Both sites are in the area that may become part of the future Palestinian State and opposition to the designation has been strongly voiced by the Palestinian Authority, though the Plan is one for preservation only of the national heritage sites and there is no question of annexation.

Stephen Rosenberg,
W.F.Albright Institute, Jerusalem