Recent Archaeological Finds

[Soldier4Christ]

RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN ISRAEL PERTAIN TO KING DAVID, JESUS

Aug 17, 05 | 4:55 pm


Working a short distance from each other near Jerusalem's Old City, archaeologists have made two major discoveries in recent months, one pertaining to King David and the other to Jesus.

Israeli archaeologist Eilat Mazor has uncovered what may be the 3,000-year-old foundation walls of the palace of the biblical King David in the area known as the City of David.

The foundations for the monumental building are large boulders. Its walls are more than six feet thick and extend at least 98 feet. Also found at the site were a governmental seal of an official named Jehucal or Jucal, who is mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah, and numerous shards of Iron Age II pottery dating from the 10th to 9th centuries, corresponding to the time of David and Solomon.

The find has sparked a lively debate among archaeologists about whether the structure is actually the palace of the fabled Jewish king. If true, it "could turn out to be the archaeological find of the century," according to the Jerusalem Post. But in any case, all agree that it is a rare and important major public building from a period that has been under-represented in the archaeological record.
"This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom [Jewish] is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, an archaeologist from Israel's Bar-Ilan University. "This is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century."

Just down the hill from that excavation, near the Old City walls, workers repairing a sewage line last summer unearthed what appeared to be two steps. Three short stairways were eventually uncovered, leading down to a pool that may have been at least 225 feet wide.

Archaeologists using metal detectors found coins in the plaster that helped them date the pool to the Second Temple period between roughly 100 BCE and 70 CE. They hypothesize the structure is the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed a man blind from birth, as told in the gospel of John.

In John 9, Jesus was asked whether the man or his parents were to blame for his blindness and he replied that the fault belonged to neither. He then spit on the ground, rubbed the mud on the man's eyes and told him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. The man did so and was healed.

Another pool in Jerusalem, built in the Byzantine era, had been identified as the Pool of Siloam because it was assumed to occupy the site of the original pool used in Jesus's day. It seems now that assumption was incorrect.

As the Holy City yields more of its secrets, it seems to become ever more sacred for many of its residents and visitors.

ENORMOUS TRENCH UNCOVERED OUTSIDE ANCIENT PHILISTINE CITY

An enormous stone trench surrounded by towers was recently found at a dig on Israel's southern coastal plain near the ancient town of Gat, the largest and most important of five local Philistine cities in Biblical times.

The find reinforces the Biblical account of the fall of Gat as told in Kings II (12:18). In the Biblical story, the Aramean King Hazael conquered Gat and surrounded the Philistine city with an enormous stone moat flanked by guard towers to prevent besieged residents from escaping.
The moat is five meters deep, four meters wide, and stretches for 2.5 kilometers around the walls of the city at a radius of 300 meters.

Gat was Goliath's birthplace and had a population of 10,000 at its peak. Within the ancient city, ruins of houses and many Philistine artifacts, including writing implements, have been found.
The Philistines inhabited the coastal plain for almost 600 years and their battles with the ancient Israelites are related in the Biblical stories of Samson, Samuel, King Saul, and David and Goliath.

Although they have vanished from history, they left behind their name, which the Romans adapted as "Palestina," the Roman name for the Land of Israel.

[Bronzesnake]

Great stuff my brother!

The non believers will have an explanation as to why the Bible is historically correct when ever a find such as this one and loads of others are uncovered.

Here's how it will go..."well, the writers of the bible wrote a historically acurate fiction story" It won't matter to them that such a piece of work was not in existance until at least 1,500 years after the Bible was written.

PS- it was really good to hear your voice my brother.
I am a serious fan of yours - a serviceman of the highest order, having served aboard the famous A.C.C. Enterprise!!!
as well as all your other tours of duty!

You and Tom, who served as a police officer for many years are my heroes.

God bless you boys and thank you for your service.

John

[Soldier4Christ]

A.C.C. ??

 

[Bronzesnake]

A.C.C. ??

 

Air-Craft-Carrier

I made it up myself...

[Soldier4Christ]

A.C.C. ??

 

Air-Craft-Carrier

I made it up myself...

I should have figured that now it's me thats  

[Soldier4Christ]

Down under the city of Jerusalem
In honor of Jerusalem Day, which celebrates the reunification of Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty, new excavations began on the western edge of the Tyropean Valley, just opposite the Shiloah pool (Pool of Siloam where Jesus healed the blind man).

Architectural structures sculpted into the rock were found in several rooms on different floors, as well as on the walls of the mikveh (ritual immersion bath). The excavations dated to Second Temple times. Archaeologists also found a silver coin from the Second Jewish Revolt, led by Simon Bar-Kochba, as well as clay vessels from both the First and Second Temple periods.

Excavation director Tsvika Greenhut, of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), said that in spite of the less-than-ideal preservation of the structures uncovered at this site, it was obvious that the people who lived here were well off—members of the local population’s upper echelon. Researchers were able to glean more insight into what life may have been like in such a neighborhood in the lower areas of Jerusalem.

[Soldier4Christ]

King David's Palace Is Found, Archaeologist Says

By STEVEN ERLANGER

 JERUSALEM, Aug. 4 - An Israeli archaeologist says she has uncovered in East Jerusalem what may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by a conservative Israeli research institute and financed by an American Jewish investment banker who would like to prove that Jerusalem was indeed the capital of the Jewish kingdom described in the Bible.

Other scholars are skeptical that the foundation walls discovered by the archaeologist, Eilat Mazar, are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important: a major public building from around the 10th century B.C., with pottery shards that date to the time of David and Solomon and a government seal of an official mentioned in the book of Jeremiah.

The discovery is likely to be a new salvo in a major dispute in biblical archaeology: whether the kingdom of David was of some historical magnitude, or whether the kings were more like small tribal chieftains, reigning over another dusty hilltop.

The find will also be used in the broad political battle over Jerusalem - whether the Jews have their origins here and thus have some special hold on the place, or whether, as many Palestinians have said, including the late Yasir Arafat, the idea of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is a myth used to justify conquest and occupation.

Hani Nur el-Din, a Palestinian professor of archaeology at Al Quds University, said he and his colleagues considered biblical archaeology an effort by Israelis "to fit historical evidence into a biblical context." He added: "The link between the historical evidence and the biblical narration, written much later, is largely missing. There's a kind of fiction about the 10th century. They try to link whatever they find to the biblical narration. They have a button, and they want to make a suit out of it."

Even Israeli archaeologists are not so sure that Ms. Mazar has found the palace - the house that Hiram, king of Tyre, built for the victorious king, at least as Samuel 2:5 describes it. It may also be the Fortress of Zion that David conquered from the Jebusites, who ruled Jerusalem before him, or some other structure about which the Bible is silent.

Either way, they are impressed by its likely importance. "This is a very significant discovery, given that Jerusalem as the capital of the united kingdom is very much unknown," said Gabriel Barkay, an archaeologist from Bar-Ilan University. "This is one of the first greetings we have from the Jerusalem of David and Solomon, a period which has played a kind of hide-and-seek with archaeologists for the last century."

Based on the Bible and a century of archaeology in this spot, Ms. Mazar, 48, speculated that a famous stepped-stone structure excavated previously was part of the fortress David conquered, and that his palace would have been built just outside the original walls of the cramped city, on the way to what his son, Solomon, built as the Temple Mount.

"When the Philistines came to fight, the Bible said that David went down from his house to the fortress," she said, her eyes bright. "I wondered, down from where? Presumably from where he lived, his palace."

"So I said, maybe there's something here," she added, referring to East Jerusalem.

David's palace was the topic of a last conversation Ms. Mazar had with her grandfather, Benjamin Mazar, a famous archaeologist who helped to train her and who died 10 years ago. Five months ago, with money and permission from the Ir David Foundation, which controls the site (and supports Jews moving into East Jerusalem), she finally began to dig.

Amihai Mazar, a professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, calls the find "something of a miracle." He says he believes that the building may be the Fortress of Zion that David is said to have conquered, which he renamed the City of David. "What she found is fascinating, whatever it is," he said.

Mr. Mazar is Ms. Mazar's second cousin, but he has his own reputation to protect.

Archaeologists debate "to what extent Jerusalem was an important city or even a city in the time of David and Samuel," he said. "Some believe it was tiny and the kingdom unimportant." The site of ancient Jerusalem, stuck between two valleys on a ridge south of the Temple Mount, is very small, less than 10 acres.

Israel Finkelstein, another renowned archaeologist, has suggested that without significant evidence, Jerusalem in this period was "perhaps not more than a typical hill-country village."

In his book, "The Bible Unearthed," Mr. Finkelstein writes with Neil Silberman, "Not only was any sign of monumental architecture missing, but so were even simple pottery shards."

Ms. Mazar believes she has found a riposte: a large public building, with at least some pottery of the time, and a bulla, or governmental seal, of an official - Jehucal (or Jucal), son of Shelemiah, son of Shevi - who is mentioned at least twice in the Book of Jeremiah.

The building can be reasonably dated by the pottery found above and below it. Ms. Mazar found on the bedrock a large floor of crushed limestone, indicating a large public space. The floor and fill above it contain pottery from Iron Age I of the 12th to 11th centuries B.C., just before David conquered Jerusalem.

Above that, Ms. Mazar found the foundations for this monumental building, with large boulders for walls that are about 2 yards thick and extend at least 30 yards. In one corner was pottery of Iron Age II, the 10th to 9th centuries, roughly the time of the united kingdom.

Unfortunately, Mr. Mazar said, she found no floor. It is clear the building was constructed after the pottery underneath it, but less clear exactly how much later.

The archaeological debate is also partly a debate over the roots of Zionism and the effort to find Jewish origins deep in the land. Ms. Mazar's latest dig, which has cost about $500,000, has been sponsored by Roger Hertog, a New York financier who is vice chairman of Alliance Capital Management. Mr. Hertog, who owns a piece of The New York Sun and The New Republic, is also chairman of the board of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, where Ms. Mazar is a senior fellow.

The Shalem Center was founded as Israel's first "neoconservative think-tank," said William Kristol, who is also on the board, in an effort to give the Israeli right a better foundation in history, economics, archaeology and other topics.

Mr. Hertog calls his investment in Ms. Mazar "venture philanthropy - you have the opportunity for intellectual speculation, to fund something that is a work of great consequence." He said he hoped to show "that the Bible reflects Jewish history."

Ms. Mazar continues to dig, but right now, three families are living in houses where she would most like to explore. One family is Muslim, one Christian and one Jewish.

[Soldier4Christ]

‘Ateret Cohanim’ Digging 80 Meters Away from Al-Aqsa

Palestinian Fatma: That Is Exactly How It Started with Al-Buraq Tunnel

24/09/2005

Palestine Media Center – PMC

Through the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the ultra-fundamentalist Jewish “Ateret Cohanim” organization “is at the moment conducting a dig” at a depth of 12 meters beneath a building, which is 80 meters away from the walls of Islam’s third holiest site of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem, with excavations that “have already advanced 20 meters eastward,” Israeli daily Haartez reported on Friday.

“Members of the organization are not satisfied with digging deep down, in one of the most sensitive places in the world. They are also digging along width-wise, to the east, in the direction of the (Al-Aqsa Mosque) Temple Mount, beneath the houses of Palestinian residents,” Meron Rapoport wrote in Haaretz.

“The excavators have already advanced 20 meters eastward, while ‘clearing away earth’ from subterranean spaces. Only 60 meters separate now them from the walls of the (Al-Aqsa) mount,” Jon Seligman, the IAA Jerusalem district director, who is supervising the dig, told Haaretz.

Haaretz quoted Seligman, which it described as “a cautious man, perhaps because of his British extraction,” as saying that “there is a ‘small chance’ that they (the Ateret Cohanim) will continue the dig and reach the actual (the Al-Aqsa) Temple Mount compound beneath what is known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary, or the Dome of the Rock.”

Seligman said he cannot guarantee that they won't do it.

However Seligman said that the members of Ateret Cohanim cannot reach the Muslim compound at the present depth of the excavation, because that would necessitate passing through houses of the Muslim Waqf (the Muslim Trust).

Seligman estimates that in order to reach the “mother rock,” his people will have to dig down an additional 3 to 6 meters, so that ultimately, the excavation will reach a depth of about 18 meters. That is quite deep, by any criterion.

But Palestinian Fatma Asala, whose bedroom is above the dig, and who hears the noises, but cannot go down to see what is going on under her house said: “That is exactly how it started with the (Al-Buraq) Western Wall tunnel. That's what I'm afraid of that they'll reach the Western Wall.”

Israeli Archaeologist Meir Ben Dov, who is known as a mortal enemy of the IAA, says that digging to a depth of 15 meters inside a densely populated area like the heart of the Old City is very dangerous.

“The building under which the dig began is a 19th-century Ottoman structure on Hagai Street in the Muslim Quarter. Opposite it are two adjacent restaurants: Hakeshatot, operated by Ateret Cohanim, and Al-Buraq, operated by the Muslim Waqf. The average Israeli visitor is probably more familiar with Hummus Abu-Shukri, which is 100 meters north of there. The Western Wall compound is dozens of meters southeast, the walls of the Temple Mount 80 meters as the crow flies, to the east. The distance to the Dome of the Rock, or the Mosque of Omar, is 150 meters. It would be hard to find a more sensitive place,” Meron Rapoport indicated.

In the more distant past, a Mameluke bathhouse stood on the spot, afterward another building was constructed on top of it and Jews bought it and established the Ohel Yitzhak synagogue there, Rapoport added.

Ateret Cohanim is the most prominent and active Jewish group in the Israeli-occupied Old City of Jerusalem.

The head of the organization, Matti Dan, is a man with connections: The doors of the mayors of Jerusalem, of ministers and even of the president are open to him. Dan has also spent many hours with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has a house in the Old City. He has never actually lived in the building, which is still guarded to this very day and belongs to Ateret Cohanim, Haaretz said.

The Klugman Committee, which was established in 1992 to examine the way in which Jewish organizations took over property in the Old City and in Silwan, exposed the direct link between Matti Dan and the housing minister at the time and the incumbent prime minister: Ariel Sharon.

At least until the disengagement, Dan is considered to be the closest to Sharon of all the Jewish settlers in Jerusalem.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Israel to Open New Archaeological Site
Staff and agencies
27 September, 2005



Tue Sep 27,11:03 AM ET

JERUSALEM - Israel unveiled an underground archaeological site near a disputed Jerusalem holy shrine on Tuesday, nearly a decade after the opening of an exhibit in the same area sparked widespread Palestinian rioting.

The new tourist center snakes underground, adjacent to the path of the Western Wall, the last remaining retaining wall of the Jewish Temple. When the center is opened in a few weeks, visitors will be presented with a sound and light show of Jewish biblical history, highlighting recent discoveries of artifacts and infrastructure dating back thousands of years, including one of the world‘s oldest aqueducts.

Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the site is considered so holy that many observant Jews won‘t go to the site for fear of defiling it. Known to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, the site is now home to the Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques and is revered as the place where the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.

In 1996, Israel opened an archaeological tunnel alongside the compound, triggering Palestinian riots in which 80 people were killed.

In September 2000, then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the mosque compound. The next day, violence erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip , evolving into a nearly five-year Palestinian uprising that killed more than 3,500 people on the Palestinian side and more than 1,000 people on the Israeli side.

"Anything they do in the place means deepening their attacks on the Islamic Waqf," Husseini said.

Jewish religious decrees forbid digging in the compound, for fear archaeologists would inadvertently enter the "holiest of holies," the most sacred site in the temple, he said.

"Any discovery brings great excitement," he said. "It‘s part of our Jewish heritage."

[Soldier4Christ]

First Temple-era seal discovered
Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST    Sep. 27, 2005

A First-Temple period seal has been discovered amidst piles of rubble from Jerusalem's Temple Mount, an Israeli archaeologist said Tuesday, in what could prove to be an historic find.

The small - less than 1 cm - seal impression, or bulla, discovered Tuesday by Bar-Ilan University archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkay amidst piles of rubble from the Temple Mount would mark the first time that an written artifact was found from the Temple Mount dating back to the First Temple period.

The 2,600 year old artifact, with three lines in ancient Hebrew, was discovered amidst piles of rubble discarded by the Islamic Wakf that Barkay and a team of young archaeologists and volunteers are sifting
through on the grounds of a Jerusalem national park.

The seal, which predates the destruction of the First Jewish temple in 586 BCE, was presented Tuesday night to the press at an archaeological conference at the City of David sponsored by the right-wing Elad organization.

Barkay said that the find was the first of its kind from the time of King David.

He has not yet determined what the writing is on the seal, although three Hebrew letters -- thought to be the name of its owner -- are visible on one of its line.

The seal was found amidst thousands of tons of rubble discarded by Wakf officials at city garbage dumps six years ago, following the Islamic Trust's unilateral construction of an mosque at an underground compound of the Temple Mount known as the Solomon's
Stables.

After the Antiquities Authority voiced disinterest in thoroughly sifting through the rubble discarded by the Wakf, Barkay applied -- and eventually received –a license from the Antiquities Authority to sort through the piles of earth thrown into the garbage dump in search of antiquities, and has since found scores of history-rich artifacts, from the First Temple Period until today amidst the rubble, including a large amount of pottery dating from the Bronze Ages through modern times, a large segment of a marble pillar's shaft, and over 100 ancient coins, among them several from the Hasmonean Dynasty.

While inexact, the ongoing sifting project, which is now being sponsored by Elad, has being called virtually unprecedented since archaeological excavation has never been permitted on the Temple Mount itself.

Meanwhile, in a separate major archaeological development in Jerusalem, a Jewish ritual bath, or mikva, dating back to the Second Temple period, and a First Temple Wall have been found in an underground chamber adjacent to the Western Wall tunnels, the Antiquities Authority's Jerusalem regional archaeologist Jon Seligman said during a tour.

The site is part of a new state-of-the-art tourist center at the Western Wall tunnels, which will be open to the public in two months' time.

The impressive site, which incorporates ancient and modern Jewish history in an attempt to reach out to Israeli youth, includes an elaborate audiovisual show, and nine magnificent glass sculptures, which serve to highlight both recent discoveries of artifacts and infrastructure dating back thousands of years, including one of the world's oldest aqueducts, as well as modern day Jewish history, such as the Holocaust and Israel's fallen soldiers.

[Soldier4Christ]

Sixty years later, working to bring the boys home
Team recovers lost U.S. WWII-era bomber in Germany

By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
Scene, Sunday, October 2, 2005



At the time, news accounts called it the most ferocious air battle ever fought over the German capital.

“The assault on Berlin was perhaps unequaled by any previous daylight blow of the war,” the Montgomery Advertiser reported in its April 30, 1944, edition, the day after the massive bombardment.

From Berlin to Bordeaux, the Allies had been hammering Adolf Hitler’s forces for weeks in what was a prelude to the D-Day landings in Normandy, France. On this day, U.S. bombers were joined by hundreds of fighter aircraft, friendly as well as foe.

“Roaring more than 500 miles across Europe through a gauntlet of German fighters and anti-aircraft bursts,” the Advertiser continued, “about 1,000 American Flying Fortresses and Liberators converged on the Nazi capital at the noon hour, bringing to Berliners once more the real and terrible preliminaries to invasion.”

With so many flying machines in the air, there were bound to be losses. That’s just how things were back then.

Piloting one of the 63 bombers that failed to return to England that afternoon was 2nd Lt. Robert R. Bishop of El Reno, Okla.

Now, after more than six decades, a team of Americans believes it has recovered the remains of that ill-fated, 10-member crew.

“Every little piece is important,” Army Staff Sgt. Rick Thomas said as he stood at the crash site. “It doesn’t matter how small or how burnt. Our job is to bring back all the remains we can of our fallen comrades.”

As members of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, Thomas and his comrades say they have one of the noblest jobs in the U.S. military. That job is the recovery and repatriation of remains of servicemembers who took their last breath on foreign soil fighting for their country.

No other nation devotes more money and effort to this task than the United States. From preliminary site investigation to interment, the cost of just one dig could be as much as $1 million or more, depending on the location and conditions. Some JPAC teams will climb a mountain, traipse through a jungle or forge a stream, often multiple times, just to reach a potential crash site.

The spot where Bishop’s B-24J Liberator went down is more accessible than most. Located in a pastoral setting just north of Hanover, the crew’s next-to-last resting place is a family farm where crops grow and horses graze.

The site at the village of Mellendorf is one of five that JPAC worked during a 45-day mission to Europe in August and September. The others were in eastern Germany, central Hungary, Normandy and the French island of Corsica.

It’s hard, tedious and humbling work. It’s also a validation of sorts.

“The POW/MIA symbol now means something when I look at it,” said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Linda Miller, a still photographer and regular site hand. “I have a part in bringing some of them home.”

Added Marine Sgt. Thaddeus Land: “If I’m on foreign soil and get killed, I know my brothers will come back someday to get me.”

But for many of the surviving relatives of the 78,000 servicemembers still missing from World War II, the wait — now entering its seventh decade — will almost certainly pass to the next generation.

That’s because JPAC and its forerunner — the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii — has focused much of its time and resources on those missing in action from the Vietnam War.

Additionally, the majority of MIAs from World War II will never be recovered because they were lost at sea. Dr. Gregory Fox, the chief anthropologist at the Hanover site, estimates that only between 20,000 and 30,000 servicemembers from the war are recoverable.

The challenge is time and money and getting firm leads on possible sites.

“We would agree there is a sense of urgency” with respect to MIAs from World War II because many of the witnesses and first-person accounts are getting old and soon will no longer be available, said Army Maj. Rumi Nielson-Green, a JPAC spokeswoman in Hawaii.

As with a lot of digs, the Hanover site was brought to JPAC’s attention by a relic hunter. The U.S. military no longer has any legal claim to the remains of these World War II aircraft, and so for years enthusiasts (some would call them vultures) have been scouring files and fields for clues as to their whereabouts.

Anthropologists such as Fox determine where to dig and for how long. While backhoes are sometimes brought in, much of work is done by hand, using shovels, wheelbarrows and screen sieves, or sifters.

Music and occasional schoolyard antics help enliven the atmosphere, but the work remains monotonous, backbreaking, and yet incredibly rewarding.

“There’s no better feeling than walking off a plane holding a flag-draped casket and knowing that you brought home one of our missing comrades,” Thomas said. “It’s just a great feeling.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Jerusalem ruins point to biblical palace

 

Eilat Mazar has found ruins of what may be palace built by David and used by Judean kings for more than four centuries. If she is right, it would deal deathblow to revisionist camp, whose theory is predicated on absence of evidence in Jerusalem from this period. But is she right?
David Hazony

The field of biblical archeology has been rocked, so to speak, by dramatic new finds in the heart of ancient Jerusalem.

 

For the last few years, a number of respected archaeologists have posited that the biblical accounts of Jerusalem as the seat of a powerful, unified monarchy under the rule of David and Solomon are essentially false.

 

The most prominent of these is Israel Finkelstein, chairman of Tel Aviv University’s archeology department, whose 2001 book, "The Bible Unearthed," written together with Neal Asher Silberman, became an international best seller. The lynchpin of his argument was the absence of clear evidence from the archeological excavations carried out in Jerusalem over the last century.

 

“Not only was any sign of monumental architecture missing,” he wrote, “but so were even simple pottery shards.” If David and Solomon existed at all, he concluded, they were no more than “hill-country chieftains,” and Jerusalem, as he told The New York Times, was “no more than a poor village at the time.”

 

But now comes word of a most unusual find: The remains of a massive structure, in the heart of biblical Jerusalem, dating to the time of King David.

 

Eilat Mazar, the archeologist leading the expedition, suggests it may be none other than the palace built by David and used by the Judaean kings for more than four centuries. If she is right, this would mean a reconsideration of the archeological record with regard to the early First Temple period. It would also deal a deathblow to the revisionist camp, whose entire theory is predicated on the absence of evidence in Jerusalem from this period. But is she right?
 David's Palace? New archeological find raises big questions

 David's Palace? New archeological find raises big questions
According to the book of Samuel, when David conquered the Jebusite city of Jerusalem around the year 1000 B.C.E., he did not destroy it, but instead left it standing, including its great citadel to defend the city along its northern approach.
 

In this city, today known as the City of David, a neighborhood just to the south of Jerusalem’s Old City, he added a few things as well - most notably a palace built by master craftsmen sent by the Phoenician king Hiram of Tyre, who had concluded an alliance with David against their mutual enemy, the Philistines.

 

According to archeological evidence, Jerusalem was already an ancient city, founded some 2,000 years before David arrived, and fortified with walls as much as 1,000 years before. Because of its unique topography - a high hill nestled between two deep valleys that converge at its southern point, graced with abundant water from the Gihon spring, and exposed to attack only along a ridge from the north - the location was ideal for the capital of David’s kingdom.

 

Based on this evidence, coupled with textual clues as to the topography - as described in the book of II Samuel (5:17), when the Philistines mustered in Emek Refaim, David “descended to the citadel,” implying that the palace was higher up on the mountain than the citadel itself - Mazar formulated her proposal as to the location of the palace in a 1997 article in Biblical Archaeology Review .

 

“If some regard as too speculative the hypothesis I shall put forth in this article,” she wrote, “my reply is simply this: Let us put it to the test in the way archeologists always try to test their theories - by excavation.”

 

Few living archeologists were better suited for this mission, as Mazar has extensive experience both in excavations at the City of David and at the Phoenician town of Achziv along the coast north of Haifa.

 

Indicators for the palace would include monumental structures dating to the late-11th or early-10th centuries B.C.E.; distinctive Phoenician-style building, which would have been out of place in the Judean mountains; and a new building created just to the north of the borders of the older Jebusite city, resting on new land, rather than on destruction layers.

 

Remarkable evidence

 

Of course, any additional archeological markers, such as inscriptions, pottery shards, or interior architecture, would further confirm such a find. In early 2005, after securing the necessary permits and the support of the Jerusalem-based Shalem Center (which also publishes Azure), the Hebrew University, and the City of David Foundation, Mazar began digging.

 cont'd on page two

[Soldier4Christ]

page two

Evidence fits well with other archeological finds from the site. In new excavation, Mazar has discovered clay signet impression bearing name of Yehuchal Ben Shelemiah, noble of Judea from time of King Zedekiah mentioned by name in Jeremiah, evidence that four centuries after David, site was still important seat of Judean royalty
David Hazony

The evidence she found is remarkable. It includes a section of massive wall running about 100 feet (30 meters) from west to east along the length of the excavation, and ending with a right-angle corner that turns south and implies a very large building.

 

Within the dirt fill between the stones of the great wall were found pottery shards dating to the 11th Century B.C.E.; this is the earliest
possible date for the walls� construction.

 

Two additional walls, also large, running perpendicular to the first, contain pottery dating to the 10th Century B.C.E. - meaning that further additions were made after the time of David and Solomon or during their reign, suggesting that the building continued to be used and improved over a period of centuries.

 

The structure is built directly on bedrock along the city�s northern edge, with no archeological layers beneath it - a sign that this structure, built two millennia after the city�s founding, constituted a new, northward expansion of the city�s northern limit. And it is located at what was then the very summit of the mountain - a reasonable place indeed for the palace from which David �descended.�

 

This immediate evidence fits well with other archeological finds from the site, as well. In 1963, the renowned archeologist Kathleen Kenyon reported finding a Phoenician �proto-Aeolic capital,� or decorative stone column head dating to the same period, at the bottom of the cliff atop which the new excavation has taken place.

 

Kenyon wrote that this capital, along with other cut stones she found there, were �typical of the best period of Israelite building, during which the use of Phoenician craftsman was responsible for an exotic flowering of Palestinian architecture. It would seem, therefore, that during the period of monarchic Jerusalem, a building of some considerable pretensions stood on top of the scarp.�

 

Clay signet

 

In the early 1980s, Hebrew University�s Yigael Shiloh uncovered the enormous �stepped-stone� support structure which now appears to be part of the same complex of buildings.

 

And in the new excavation, Mazar has discovered a remarkable clay bulla, or signet impression, bearing the name of Yehuchal Ben Shelemiah, a noble of Judea from the time of King Zedekiah who is mentioned by name in Jeremiah 37:3, evidence suggesting that four centuries after David, the site was still an important seat of Judean royalty.

 

This matches the biblical account according to which the palace was in more or less continuous use from its construction until the destruction of Judea by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.

 

So, is it David�s palace? It is extremely difficult to say with certainty; indeed, no plaque has been found that says on it, �David�s Palace�; nor is it likely that such definitive evidence will ever be found.

 

And yet, the evidence seems to fit surprisingly well with the claim, and there are no finds that suggest the contrary, such as the idolatrous statuettes or ritual crematoria found in contemporary Phoenician settlements.

 

The location, size, style, and dating are all right, and it appears in a part of the ancient world where such constructions were extremely rare and represented the greatest sort of public works.

 

Could it be something else? Of course. Has a better explanation been offered to match the data - data which includes not only archeological finds, but the text itself? No.

 

There will be no shortage of well-meaning skeptics, including serious archeologists, who, having been trained in a scholarly world weary of exuberant romantics and religious enthusiasts prone to making sensational, irresponsible claims about having found Noah�s Ark, will be extremely reluctant to identify any new archeological find with particulars found in the Bible.

 

Others, driven by a concatenation of interests, ideologies, or political agendas, will seize on any shred of uncertainty in the building�s identification to distract attention from the momentousness of the find. Both groups will invoke professionalism and objectivity to pooh-pooh the proposition that this is David�s palace.

 

Don't be swayed

 

They will raise the bar of what kind of proofs are required to say what it was to a standard that no archeological find could ever meet. Or they will simply dismiss it all as wishful thinking in the service of religious or Zionist motives.

 

There are two good reasons not to be swayed by such claims. The first is that even if this is not in fact David�s palace, there is no doubt that we are still talking about an archeological find of enormous moment. Whether it is a citadel, someone else�s palace, or a temple, it is the first-ever discovery of a major construction from the early Israelite period in Jerusalem to date.

 

This alone is enough to overturn the hypothesis of Finkelstein and others that Jerusalem at the time of David was a �poor village� incapable of being the capital of an Israelite kingdom.

 

No longer is it reasonable to claim, as did Tel Aviv University�s Ze�ev Herzog writing in Haaretz in 1999, basing his claim entirely on the absence of just this kind of evidence, that �the great unified monarchy was an imaginary historiosophic creation, invented at the end of the Judean period, at the very earliest.�

 

On the contrary: Now we have a major Israelite compound dating to the time of the unified monarchy, firmly establishing Jerusalem as a major city of its time.

 

For this reason, important voices in the archeological world have already begun declaring the find to be of great importance, even as they reserve judgment as to its identification as David�s palace.

 

�Due to all the possible historical implications, we need to look carefully at the pottery and to further excavate the area,� Seymour Gitin, director of archeology of W.F. Albright Institute in Jerusalem, told a nespaper. Yet he adds, �this is an extremely impressive find, and the first of its kind which can be associated with the 10th Century (B.C.E.).�

 

The normally reserved Amihai Mazar of Hebrew University, one of the most esteemed scholars in the field of biblical archaeology and author of the standard textbook, "Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000�586 B.C.E., has described the discovery as �something of a miracle.�

 

Yet beyond this, there also are good reasons to identify this building, at least provisionally, as the very palace described in the book of Samuel. This is methodologically sound, so long as we are willing to admit that future evidence could emerge, or a better theory be proposed, that might prompt a different conclusion.

 

Burden of proof

 

Right now we have before us two things: We have a biblical text describing in detail the creation of a Phoenician-style palace by David high up on a particular mountain, around the end of the 11th or beginning of the 10 Century B.C.E. And we have a grand structure of the Phoenician style dating from the same time, on the summit of that very mountain, located with assistance from the text and previous archeological discoveries.

 

This was not stumbled upon, moreover, but carefully hypothesized, and the current dig was proposed as the test. The likelihood of this happening by chance is extremely small.

 

Is this absolute proof? No. But it is enough to shift the burden of proof.

 

�You can never be sure about this sort of thing,� Mazar says. �But it seems that the theory that suggests this to be the very palace described in the book of Samuel as having been built by David is thus far the best explanation for the data. Anyone who wants to say otherwise ought to come up with a better theory.�

 

This is neither wishful thinking nor an imagined past, but good science.

[nChrist]

Pastor Roger,

THANKS!! This thread is absolutely fascinating. There is a growing number of discoveries that prove the Holy Bible to be the most accurate history book in existence.

In short, the Holy Bible proves itself over and over from cover to cover. NOW, a massive number of external sources are also proving the Holy Bible to be accurate. AND, to the amazement of many, quite a few of those external sources are scientific!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Ephesians 1:11-14 NASB  also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

[Soldier4Christ]

Raiders of the Lost Pool
New finds bolster the historicity of John's Gospel.
by Gordon Govier | posted 10/26/2005 09:00 a.m.

The Pool of Siloam, considered a metaphor in John's Gospel by some New Testament scholars, was in fact a huge basin at the lowest point in the city of Jerusalem. Recent excavations have uncovered two corners and one side of the pool that stretched for half the length of a football field.

"It's very exciting," James Charlesworth, a professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, told CT. "It's very important for the study of the New Testament."

Some Johannine experts have suggested the story in John 9 of the blind man whom Jesus healed and told to wash in the Pool of Siloam wasn't much more than a metaphor.

"To dismiss John as not historically important is absurd," Charlesworth said. "Now it becomes clear that the Gospel of John does have reliable historical information. We have found there is such a pool, precisely as John describes it."

Tradition has always located the Pool of Siloam near the end of Hezekiah's water tunnel, which dates to the eighth century B.C. The pool under excavation is just a few yards from a much smaller Byzantine-era pool that visitors to the area had been calling the Pool of Siloam.

Several digs have been going on in the City of David area, the oldest part of Jerusalem. The narrow 10-acre ridge of land stretches from the Temple Mount down to the junction of the Kidron and Hinnom valleys.

Elsewhere in Jerusalem, Israeli archaeologist Eilat Mazar has discovered large foundation stones of a monumental building in an excavation that began earlier this year. Pottery shards found in one room date to the Iron Age II period, the 10th-9th century B.C., the time of David and Solomon. Underneath the building she found Iron Age I pottery, dating to just before the time of David.

Mazar believes she has uncovered David's palace in what The Jerusalem Post calls "the archaeological find of the century," if true.

One archaeologist calls Mazar's tentative conclusion about her discovery "wishful thinking." But others have called it "an extremely impressive find," "something of a miracle," and "a very significant discovery," even though there's no consensus yet that this could be the palace that was used by David and Solomon and possibly their Judahite monarchy descendants all the way to King Zedekiah.

Among the pottery shards and other finds, Mazar's team uncovered a bulla, or seal impression, with the name Jehudi, a palace officer. Jeremiah 36 reports that Jehudi read the scroll of Jeremiah's warnings to King Jehoiakim. The king, to show his contempt for the prophet, cut off the columns of the scroll with a knife as Jehudi read them and tossed them into the fire.

The excavation is currently off limits to visitors, even though it's located at what had been the visitor's center of the Ir David Foundation. Ir David is a conservative group that has been buying up land in the mostly Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood known as Silwan.

Last summer the Jerusalem City Council announced plans to raze 88 Arab homes in Silwan (from Siloam), in order to pursue plans for an archaeological park in the area. Officials claimed the homes were built illegally.