Tag: Temple Mount

Report from Jerusalem #35, 22nd September 2011

Two-Horned Altar from Tell-Es-Safi

The site of Tell es-Safi is considered to be the Philistine city of Gath and work had been going on there for many seasons, under the direction of Prof. Aren Maier of Bar-Ilan University. A recent find has been a large stone altar with two squarish horns. It was found within the ruins of a large building of the lower city that was destroyed by Hazael of Aram in the 9th century BCE. The altar is made of a single piece of stone, which is unique for its size, according to Prof. Maier. The dimensions are 50cm by 50cm by one metre high, which is equivalent to the cubit by cubit by 2 cubits high of the wooden incense altar of the Mishkan, as described in Exod. 30:1. Although one side is broken, Prof. Maier claims that the altar only had the two horns on the one side, not the usual four, and the reasons for this are obscure, though it may have been a Philistine characteristic. Another important find of the season was a jar with an inscription, which seems to have been in a Philistine version of Hebrew, but is as yet undeciphered.

Damascus Gate Restored

The most ornate of the Jerusalem Gates, the Damascus Gate or Sha’ar Shechem, has been fully cleaned and restored after four years of work on the ancient walls of the city.  The restoration work included the reconstitution of the projecting external guardbox that was cantilevered over the main arched entry, and served as a sentry box for one soldier to monitor all who entered from the north. It was destroyed during the 1967 war and was finally restored and unveiled last month. The gate is highly elaborate and was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent from the famous Islamic architect Sinan Minmar (1489-1578) of Constantinople in the mid-sixteenth century CE. Sinan was also the architect of the Sulemaniye Mosque, the second largest in Istanbul, whose huge dome rests on four massive pillars. The Damascus gate is planned with a double chicane which in plan is like the Hebrew letter Lamed, with two right angle turns. In elevation it sports 22 or more stepped finials, and it is founded on an earlier Roman gate from the time of Hadrian. According to Avi Mashiah, the architect of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) who supervised the work, this gate is the most beautiful one of the wall and therefore it has been amply recorded in drawings and photographs which enabled the restoration to be completed accurately. The work was carried out in carefully planned stages so that the many small-scale Arab merchants, who lined the walls of the gate, were able to continue trading without interruption.

Kenyon Institute: Move into Non-Archaeological Fields of Study

The Kenyon Institute, formerly the British School of Archaeology, in the Sheikh Jarrah area of East Jerusalem, has just announced a new series of lectures on Palestinian politics. The lecture for last week was entitled “The Question of Palestinian Representation in Historical Context and the State Recognition Initiative”, and was given by Dr. Abdel Razzeq Takriti of St Edmund Hall, Oxford. The Centre is also starting a series of classes in spoken Arabic, to run over the next three months.

From the point of view of the archaeological community of Jerusalem and the wider world, it would be most unfortunate if the Kenyon Institute, run by the Centre for British Research in the Levant, abandons the concern for archaeological subjects for which it was originally founded.

Continuos Occupation at Yavne-Yam

The ancient port of Yavne-Yam, that lies on the Mediterranean coast between Jaffa and Ashdod, recently gave up its latest secrets.  A complex of a fortress and a bath-house of the late Islamic period were excavated last season by a team from Tel Aviv University headed by Prof. Moshe Fischer. He pointed out that this latest find confirmed the use of the port city from the Middle Bronze Age period up to medieval times, and showed that the Islamic population continued the Roman practice of providing lavish bathing premises alongside their main public buildings. The latest finds, not yet published, indicate that the port was occupied continuously for a period of over three thousand years.

The Underground Passage from Robinson’s Arch to Siloam Pool

Work by Prof. Ronnie Reich of Haifa University and Eli Shukron of the IAA has continued on this amazing underground passageway and the sewer that ran below it, where a Roman sword and a tiny golden bell were found recently. The excavators have now been able to continue their exploration right up to the Herodian retaining wall of the Temple Mount (the Haram es-Sharif) and have uncovered the stepped foundations that underlie the massive ashlars of the wall, near to its maximum height of over 40 metres at the south-west corner, where it rises from the bedrock of the Tyropaean Valley. The discovery of the base of the wall attracted enormous interest and the site was visited by the Mayor of Jerusalem and other important dignitaries and politicians, who were reported to have been seen weeping at the wonder of the exposed foundations of the retaining wall to what is, for Jews, their holiest site. It is hoped that the site can be prepared for public viewing in the near future. It will certainly be interesting to see how Herod’s engineers coped with the problem of founding their huge walls on the naturally irregular bedrock of the mountain.

Corpus of Graffiti  Inscriptions

Over the years individual explorers have come across graffiti scratched into cave walls and other rough surfaces in many different places and languages. It is now the intention to publish all the known and readable ones that have been found in Israel over many years by several different scholars.  Prof. Jonathan Price of Tel Aviv Classics Department says the study of these casual writings has been neglected so far but their importance has now been recognised and the Corpus will be of great interest to historians.  The graffiti so far known are dated from the 4th century BCE, the early Hellenistic period, to the early Islamic age of 7th century CE and the Corpus is likely to contain 13,000 items in over ten languages. Some examples are the Greek name “Christo” found on limestone walls in the Judean hills, the Jewish family name “Sh-ph-n” (“rabbit”) found in a first century CE burial cave, and the name “Yonatan” in another burial cave. Many scrawls were found in the extended caves used by the Jewish population to hide from the Romans during the Jewish Revolts of 66 and 135 CE. some of which have still to be deciphered.

Stephen G. Rosenberg

W.F. Albright Institute, Jerusalem

 

Report from Jerusalem, #18, November 2009

Vandalism at Nabatean Avdat

Since the vandalism of the Nabatean site at Avdat, which I mentioned in the last Report, two Bedouins have been arrested. One of them was the sole guard on the site and both of the men have denied responsibility. The State has great difficulty in dealing with the Bedouins, who are often of no fixed abode and live by a culture different from that of the majority of the population. Many of them serve in the army and perform valuable services, particularly as guides and trackers in the Negev. However the damage to the archaeological site was criminal and comprehensive and will no doubt be punished accordingly.

Roman mosaic from Lod

The remarkable 1,700 year old mosaic of Lod, which was also mentioned in a previous Report, has been moved to the Israel Museum for essential preservation work. When the plaster base was uncovered, the restoration team looked for the original guide lines that outlined the placing of the tesserae. To their surprise they also found the imprint of several feet and sandals of the original artists. Jacques Neguer of the IAA Conservation Department, described them as having been made by sizes 34, 37, 42 and 44 sandals. The mosaic will be fully restored and the footprints will be removed and exhibited separately at the new Mosaic Archaeological Centre in Lod.

New exhibit at the Davidson Centre, Jerusalem

A new exhibition at the Davidson Centre by the Temple Mount in Jerusalem opened on November 11th. It is organized by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and will show the latest finds from the area, including the sarcophagus lid inscribed with the words “Ben Hacohen Hagadol” and many coins of the Roman and Jewish mints of the Great Revolt period of 66-70 CE. There will also be a model of the city during Second Temple times. Many of the exhibits come from very recent digs, by Prof. Ronnie Reich and others, but some go back to the excavations headed by Prof. Benjamin Mazar in the 1970s.

New book discusses the Temple Mount, Haram al Sharif

Although we do no want to get involved in the political scene, you will know that arguments about the Jewish presence (or non-presence) on the Haram al-Sharif or Temple Mount continue to rage. It was therefore very heartening that a new volume on the subject was recently launched at the Ecole Biblique in East Jerusalem, called “WHERE HEAVEN AND EARTH MEET: Jerusalem’s Sacred Esplanade”. It gives a detail outline of the site’s history and is the result of three years’ work and discussion by 22 scholars from the Moslem, Christian and Jewish academies and faiths, and it is a remarkable demonstration of the respect that exists between their separate worlds and literatures.

New discoveries from Acre

In a rescue dig last month in Acre, just north of the City wall, a hoard of broken marble items was uncovered. They date to the 13th century Crusader period and were found in a sealed cellar that contained 350 pieces, including a stone cross and broken tombstones. Dr. Edna Stern, who conducted the dig on behalf of the IAA, said this was a unique find for the period and demonstrated the high quality of the work being undertaken by the Crusaders in their local capital. Crusader Acre fell to the Mameluks in 1291, presumably before the hoarder of these precious fragments, some of which may have been imported, was able to use them in local building work.

Also at Acre, experts from 16 countries met this month for the second UNESCO World Heritage workshop on “Disaster Risk Reduction to Cultural Heritage Sites”. The first such meeting had been held in Olympia, Greece, in 2008. Areas of collaboration were identified, particularly between Israel and Jordan, and especially in the field of dangers from earthquakes, where the work being done by Israel at Masada can be applied to similar sites at Petra in Jordan, both being subject to such dangers in the Rift Valley around the Jordan basin. The focus of the papers was to identify the dangers and take preventative measures before disaster struck, and to pressurize governments into finding the necessary funds. An International Conservation Centre is being set up by Israel in the Old City of Acre to establish training in the conservation of these valuable Heritage sites all around the world.

Stephen G. Rosenberg
Albright Institute, 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 5th 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