Tag: Turkey

Report from Jerusalem #65, 16th December 2014

Scroll Looters Caught Red-Handed

In the first week of December, inspectors of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) Robbery Prevention Unit arrested thieves carrying out illegal excavations in a cave using a metal detector and other tools. The culprits had been observed by the Arad Rescue Unit working at the so-called Cave of Skulls on the northern cliff of Nahal Tze’elim, about 15 km. west of the Dead Sea and 5 km. north of Arad. The cave is extremely difficult to reach, and the trespassers, young men from near Hebron, rappelled down from the top of the cliff to reach the cave. They were spotted by the Arad Rescue Unit who alerted the IAA inspectors, who came and waited for the culprits at the top of the cliff and arrested them. They were taken to the Arad police station where they were questioned and detained. According to Amir Ganor, director of the Robbery Prevention Unit, scroll robbers have been operating in the area for many years in the hope of finding scrolls, scraps of ancient texts and artifacts left in the caves from the times of the Great Revolt and the Bar-Kochba Revolt, which can be sold for large sums in the antiquity markets in Israel and abroad. He added that it was the first time in decades that the thieves had been caught in the act of looting. The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Woolley and Lawrence Museum at Carchemish

The Turkish government is planning to open a museum to the work of Leonard Woolley and T.E.Lawrence at Jerabulus, where the excavators lived from 1910 -1914, overlooking the site of Carchemish. The museum, due to open next May, is being organized by Nicolo Marchetti of Bologna University, who says they are working very close to an area of fighting between Turkey and Syrian rebels, and they will erect a very high anti-sniper wall around the museum for the safety of visitors. Archaeological work at Carchemish, on the Euphrates, resumed in 2011 and is ongoing.

Aerial Photography Simplified with High-Tech

It is often desired to photograph an archaeological site from the air, which helps to see the overall layout and also identify nearby areas that may require excavation. The difficulty has been the cost of hiring aircraft or balloons for the job and the time involved in getting the results. Now in Israel that task has been greatly simplified by two companies that can provide clear and accurate photographs taken from a camera mounted on an aerial drone. The work is done by a pilot on the ground and an expert photographer, who work together and can arrange for pictures taken from all angles. The images are directed straight to the excavator’s computer and the cost is considerably less and much faster than comparable aerial photography of the past.

Large Ancient Farmhouse in Central Israel

coin of Alexander the Great
Silver coin of Alexander bearing image of Heracles

An Iron Age farmhouse of the 8th century BCE has been unearthed at Rosh Ha’ayin, a few kms. east of Petah Tikva. It extends over a large area measuring 30m by 40m and was in fact a small settlement in itself, providing for processing the agricultural produce as well as residential quarters. There was also a number of wine presses found nearby, which suggest that wine production was the most important agricultural activity of the area. According to Amit Shadman, the dig director of the IAA, the farmhouse was built during the Assyrian Conquest, continued into the Persian period of the 6th century BCE and later into the Hellenistic period as well. This was confirmed by the finding on one floor of a rare silver coin bearing the head of Zeus on one side and that of Heracles on the other, together with the name of Alexander (the Great). The site will be preserved and conserved within the town by the IAA for the benefit of local residents and visitors.

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 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