Recent Archaeological Finds

[nChrist]

AMEN Pastor Roger!

Brother, thanks for sharing this with us. All I can say is WOW! - AMEN!

More and more proof is being offered by the day that the events, places, and people of the HOLY BIBLE are all completely REAL.

As Christians, most of us know that JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF will rule and reign over the earth from the Throne of David in Jerusalem for 1,000 years. HE'S already the KING OF KINGS and has a Heavenly Kingdom, but GOD has also promised an earthly Kingdom. That time hasn't come yet, but it most certainly will. Mentioning recent discoveries about King David brings this Bible Prophecy to mind pretty quickly.

For the lost and those who don't study Bible Prophecy, JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF will fight in many battles against evil on this earth at the end of the Seven Year Tribulation Period. JESUS CHRIST will obviously win, and all those surviving on the earth will be under HIS Subjection as absolute KING and RULER! Israel will be restored. Here's a big secret - JESUS CHRIST is and always has been the anointed KING of Israel. They mocked HIM on the CROSS as the KING of the JEWS, and they just didn't know that HE is the KING of the Jews. JESUS CHRIST will claim HIS earthly Throne, but not before great hosts taste HIS TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD. HE will come in great wrath, the HOLY WRATH of GOD who gave HIS Creation every reasonable opportunity and time to accept HIM as LORD. The patience of our Loving LORD who died for us on the CROSS will end one day, and that day might be soon.

Love In Christ,
Tom

1 Thessalonians 5:8-10 NASB  But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.

[Soldier4Christ]

Amen! What a great day that will be.

[Soldier4Christ]

Historically Important Greek Stele Inscriptions Unveiled

The Israel Museum unveiled a unique 2,200-year-old stele (inscribed stone block) on May 3 that provides new insight into the dramatic story of Heliodorus and the Temple in Jerusalem, as related in the Second Book of Maccabees.

"The Heliodorus stele is one of the most important and revealing Hellenistic inscriptions from Israel," said James S. Snyder, Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum.

"It contextualizes the Second Book of Maccabees and provides an independent and authentic source for an important episode in the history leading up to the Maccabean Revolt, whose victorious conclusion is celebrated each year during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah."

Heliodorus Stele Suggests New Perspectives on Israeli History

The newly deciphered stele presents new information about Heliodorus, who, according to the Second Book of Maccabees, received orders to seize the treasure in the Temple in Jerusalem, but was driven from the sanctuary by the miraculous appearance of a fearsome horseman accompanied by two mighty youths.

This presentation marks the first public display of the Heliodorus stele, which is on extended loan to the Museum from Michael and Judy Steinhardt of New York. The stele documents a correspondence in ancient Greek between Heliodorus and King Seleucus IV, ruler of the Seleucid Empire from 187 to 175 BCE, who was succeeded by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (best known from the story of Hanukkah). In his letter, King Seleucus announces the appointment of an administrator to oversee the sanctuaries within the province that included the Land of Israel.

The appointment of an overseer of the sanctuaries - including the Temple in Jerusalem—was intended to bring the province into line with the rest of the Seleucid Empire. This position included authority over the sanctuaries' revenues and, above all, taxes due to the king. It is likely, however, that the Jews regarded this appointment as an infringement of Jewish religious autonomy.

This episode may have foreshadowed events yet to come. Less than ten years later (169/8 BCE), a new Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and his armies would enter Jerusalem, massacre its inhabitants, rob the Temple treasury, and desecrate the Holy of Holies. Thus the new appointment, recorded on the stele, appears to mark the beginning of Greek/Seleucid interference in Jewish religious affairs, which eventually led to the outbreak of the Maccabean revolt in 167 BCE.

Israel Museum Opens Historical Stele Display

The Heliodorus stele is part of a special display, curated by David Mevorah, Curator of Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Archaeology, entitled "Royal Correspondence on Stone—The Overseer of the Sanctuaries." On view through June 2007, this presentation also includes another Hellenistic stele from the royal administration of the Seleucid Empire—the Hefzibah stele—part of the Museum's permanent archaeological holdings.

The writings on the Heliodorus stele have been deciphered and interpreted by Professor Hannah Cotton-Paltiel of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Professor Michael Woerrle of the Commission for Ancient History and Epigraphy at the German Archaeological Institute in Munich. Analysis of the stone's patina by Professor Yuvel Goren of Tel Aviv University suggests that the stele most likely came from the lowlands between the Judaean hills and the Mediterranean coast.

New Research on Historical Significance of the Heliodorus Stele

The Heliodorus stele preserves three missives from the royal administration of King Seleucus IV (187-175 BCE). The earliest and most significant of the three letters is from King Seleucus IV to Heliodorus, of which only the preamble remains.

In it, the King announces the appointment of an administrator to oversee the sanctuaries within the Seleucid province of Koile-Syria and Phoinike, including the Land of Israel. The other two, dating from the late summer 178 BCE, are shorter notes transmitting the directives of the King from Heliodorus to his subordinates.

By this appointment, the King intended to bring the province of Koile-Syria and Phoinike into line with the other regions in the empire. The appointment of a new overseer would help ensure royal control over the sanctuaries and their revenues. The opportunity for this new appointment was necessitated by the death or dismissal of a former governor, who had also served as chief priest in the province and presumably controlled the revenues of its sanctuaries.

Correspondence between the previous governor and Antiochus III, the father of King Seleucus IV, is preserved on the Hefzibah stele, also included in the current installation, which went on display in the Israel Museum following its discovery in northern Israel in the 1960s.

[Soldier4Christ]

Archaeologist finds tomb of King Herod 
Ancient builder of Jerusalem was in office when Jesus was born

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced Monday night that it has uncovered the grave and tomb of King Herod, who ruled Judea for the Roman empire from circa 37 BCE.

According to a press release from the Hebrew University, the news of the archeological find at Herodium was to be announced Tuesday morning at a special news conference, and was to be kept secret until then, but the discovery by Haaretz of the story had led to the premature announcement.

The tomb was discovered by Hebrew University Professor Ehud Netzer, who is considered one of the leading experts on King Herod. Netzer has conducted archeological digs at Herodium since 1972 in an attempt to locate the grave and tomb.

The discovery solves one of Israel's greatest archeological mysteries. Additional details will be made available at the Tuesday press conference.

The majority of researchers had believed that Herod was in fact buried at Herodium, based on the writings of the ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, but multiple excavations at the site failed to locate the grave.

Netzer's successful dig focused on a different part of the site than previous excavations, between the upper part of Herodium and the site's two palaces.

Herodium, a fortified palace built by Herod some 12 kilometers south of Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Romans in 71 CE.

Herod, whose father and grandfather converted to Judaism, was appointed governor of Galilee at the age of 25 and was made "King of the Jews" by the Roman senate in approximately 40 BCE. He remained king for around 34 years.

Herod, also known as Herod the Great, is credited with expanding the Second Temple and building Caesarea, Masada, and many other monumental construction projects. He died in the year 4 BCE in Jericho after a long illness.

Herod decided to construct his tomb at Herodium because the site played a role in two dramatic events in his life. In the year 43 BCE, when Herod was still governor of the Galilee, he was forced to flee Jerusalem along with his family after his enemies the Parthians laid siege to the city.

His mother's chariot flipped over near Herodium, and Herod became hysterical until he realized she was only lightly wounded. A short while later, the Parthians caught up to Herod and his entourage, although Herod and his men emerged victorious in the ensuing battle.

At Herodium, Herod built one of the largest monarchical complexes in the Roman Empire, which served as a residential palace, a sanctuary, an administrative center and a mausoleum. Herod first built an artificial cone-shaped hill that could be seen from Jerusalem, on which he constructed a fortified palace surrounded by watchtowers that he used solely in wartime.

At the base of the hill, he built an additional palace, which was the size of a small town and known as "Lower Herodium." The palace included many buildings, fancy gardens, pools, stables, and storage areas.

Herod spared no expense in an attempt to turn the site into a regional gem, bringing water from Solomon's Pools and special soil to allow his gardens to blossom in the heart of the desert.

Following Herod's death, his son and heir Archilaus continued to reside and Herodium. After Judea became a Roman province, the site served as a center for Roman prefects.

With the outbreak of the Great Revolt, Herodium was seized by the rebels, but then handed over without resistance to the Romans following the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE.

Fifty years later, Herodium was also used by the rebels during the Bar Kokhva revolt, but was abandoned thereafter.

In the 5th century CE, the site was settled by Byzantine monks, and then served as a leper colony before being finally abandoned in the 7th century CE.

The first archeological dig at the site, between the years 1956 and 1962, was conducted by a Franciscan monk and revealed most of the currently-known remains. Israel began excavations at the site in 1972, several years after its capture during the Six-Day War.

[Soldier4Christ]

I started this thread to be primarily for archaeological finds that have to do with supporting the stories in the Bible. I want to post some articles though on the founding of the U.S. though as it does have a lot to do with the Christian foundation of this nation.


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Excavation of 400-Year-Old Jamestown Fort Yields More Than 1 Million Artifacts

A church tower built in 1639 is all that remains above ground of 17th century Jamestown. But everyday, archaeologists unearth hundreds of objects from the early 17th century, all within the foundations of the 1607 fort.

Until William Kelso came along, no one believed it was still there, buried under layers of dirt. "The conventional wisdom was that the 1607 fort - that which is 400 years old this year -- couldn't be found because river erosion had taken it and destroyed it," Kelso says.

But in 1994, Kelso, the Director of Archaeology at Historic Jamestowne, proved them wrong. "We've found almost the entire fort itself was not only -- not -- washed away, but it is all here on land, the buried remains of the walls and the buildings and the artifacts that were there," he says. "Over a million objects have been found that date to this early 17th century time period."

Kelso's crew is currently scraping away layers of dirt within an old well to uncover buried artifacts. "A well is an absolute time capsule," Kelso says. "People begin to lose things, drop things. It begins to fill in and then once there is no more water, you fill in the hole with garbage and trash."

What was trash is now treasure, carefully cleaned on the banks of the James River. Then, in the laboratory, everything from the excavation is examined, cataloged and analyzed by Bly Straube, senior curator at Historic Jamestowne. It's her job to determine what role each artifact may have had in the lives of the people who lived here 400 years ago.

Every object, every shard of pottery reveals something, says Straube. "If you know how to read the material, if you can put it all into context," she says, "they can talk to you just like a document can."

Archaeologists have found a wealth of objects, including surgical tools, body armor, fine Chinese porcelain, and a trumpet mouthpiece. That mouthpiece, says Straube, "has caused so much excitement among musical historians, because traditionally the trumpet was brought to America by Germans in the 18th century, and here we have earlier evidence."

Together, all of the artifacts reveal a rich and varied life in Jamestown for the colonists. Archaeologist William Kelso says they also show a commitment on the part of the immigrants, a commitment that wasn't made clear in some of the writings we have about the earliest years in the colony. "The documentary evidence, which was very scanty, has been looked over for at least 100 or more years," he says. "That story has always been incomplete and a bit like a myth, that Jamestown wasn't a serious commitment of the Europeans to settle and it failed. What we are finding is hard, concrete evidence that it endured."

Captain John Smith, who was an early leader of the colony, anticipated that Jamestown would become a great city. Instead, the settlement picked up and moved up river in 1699 to what is now Williamsburg. Bly Straube is thankful that Jamestown didn't become a metropolis. "Because if it had," she says, "we would not have the wealth of material we have found today. It would all have been destroyed or buried."

For many centuries it was buried. But now, as Americans mark the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, they are getting a fresh perspective on the life of the colonists by examining some of what they left behind.

[nChrist]

Hello Pastor Roger,

Thanks Brother! They are going to find that American History is Christian. They will add to the already existing tons of evidence that Christians settled this country for Christians, and that's how this nation was born - long before the Revolution.

This was a hobby of mine for many years, so I have directories on my computer full of various documents about early America. They are absolutely fascinating, and nothing can be done to deny their existence. I even have photographs of many of the original documents that are still on display at the Library of Congress. The ACLU and groups like them would get sick upon entering HUGE repositories of just about every kind of artifact you can think of that this was a Christian nation and it was intended to be kept that way. I think that the ACLU would really enjoy much of our original law that was quoted Chapter and Verse from the Holy Bible. All of the most serious offenses listed Scripture from the BIBLE as the authority for the Law.

I highly recommend an online trip to the Library of Congress for every American. I've put a couple of beginning links below for those who are curious. I must add that the Library of Congress has excellent search engines installed, and masses of new documents are being added to what's available online every day. In short, the Library of Congress is outstanding and a national treasure.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06-2.html

http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/religion.html

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 4:20-21 NASB  yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

[Soldier4Christ]

The Library of Congress is a treasure trove of information. I have used it quite extensively myself. There is even a section that can be reached from the links that you gave that are designed especially for children. It is especially helpful for those that are homeschooling in order to obtain the requirements that some states have for 8th graders to achieve before graduating on to 9th grade.

[Soldier4Christ]

Artifacts from time of Kings David, Solomon revealed
Some seals bear names of royal advisors mentioned in various Biblical accounts

In honor of Jerusalem Day, which begins Tuesday night, archaeologists revealed a number of seals from the time of the Biblical Kings David and Solomon. The seals, along with other recently uncovered artifacts, were displayed for the first time on Monday, at a conference marking 40 years since the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem by the modern State of Israel.

The Bible-period artifacts were unearthed during archaeological excavations underway in Ir David, the City of David, below Jerusalem’s Old City to the east. The specific artifacts on display on Monday were found at the Beit HaMaayan (well-house) dig, overseen by Haifa University's Archaeology Department Director, Professor Ronny Reich.

The greatest scientific and public interest was focused on more than 100 seals and signet rings, used as a means of authentication for written papyrus documents, from the time of the reigns of Kings David and Solomon. The seals bear various markings that, when deciphered, indicate the sender of the document and his or her location. The large number of such seals, archaeologists explained, indicate that the City of David area was a commercial and trading center.

Several hundred leaders of Israel's industry and the economy took part in the Jerusalem gathering at which the artifacts were displayed.

Similar seals and signets have been found at various excavation sites around Jerusalem over the past decade. Some of those seals bear names of royal advisors and servants mentioned in various Biblical accounts of the reigns of Jewish monarchs.

In 2005, a Hebrew University archaeologist and a leading authority on ancient Jerusalem, Dr. Eilat Mazar uncovered a clay seal in what she claimed served as the residential palace of Jewish kings from King David until the destruction of the First Temple, for a period of 450 years. That seal, dated from about 580 BCE, bears the name Yehuchal Ben-Sheleimiya, who is identified as a royal envoy and court minister sent by King Zedekiah to the prophet Jeremiah (in chapters 37 and 38 of the Bible's Book of Jeremiah).

Several years earlier, another circa-580 BCE royal seal was found at the same site. It had the name of Gemaryahu, son of Shafan, who is also mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah, and who was a top official in the court of King Zedekiah's predecessor, King Yehoyachim. Another seal found among dozens of others bears the name of Azaryahu Ben-Hilkiyahu, a member of a priestly family, who served in the Temple before Jerusalem's destruction (according to I Chronicles, 9:10).

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More wonderful findings that support Biblical accounts. This article makes me wonder though just what other things that may have been found that they have not told the public about.

[Shammu]

More wonderful findings that support Biblical accounts.

AMEN brother

[nChrist]

ANOTHER AMEN!

I loved this article and thank you sincerely for sharing it with us. This is just tons of more evidence that the HOLY BIBLE isn't JUST the greatest history book ever written - it's the TRUTH AND GOD'S WORD!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Psalms 18:46 NASB  The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of my salvation,

[Shammu]

Though this isn't from the Bible I found it intersting.
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2,100-year-old melon found in Japan

TOKYO, June 1 (UPI) -- Japanese scientists say the inside of an ancient melon has been found in the Shimonogo ruins in Moriyama.

The Shimonogo Municipal Board of Education said the fruit dates back about 2,100 years.

The melon segment was kept from contact with the atmosphere and was able to preserve its inner fruit, the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported Friday.

The age of the fruit was determined using radiocarbon dating.

2,100-year-old melon found in Japan

[Soldier4Christ]

The age of the fruit was determined using radiocarbon dating.

This is the part that makes the entire thing very questionable. Radio carbon dating has been found to be very inaccurate.

[Shammu]

This is the part that makes the entire thing very questionable. Radio carbon dating has been found to be very inaccurate.

True but, I still think it is intersting.  I know radiocarbon dating said a cat fossil was over 2 hundred years old, when it cat died the year before.

[Soldier4Christ]

And many more where the dates were even further off than that.

[Soldier4Christ]

How did fish reach Jerusalem?

Jerusalem's ancient water system, which excavations over the past decade are gradually uncovering, included a large pool hewn into rock. The pool, next to the Gihon Spring in the City of David, ceased to be used and dried up in the late eighth century B.C.E., after King Hezekiah of Judah built a new water project in the city, the Siloam tunnel. But according to Prof. Roni Reich, of the University of Haifa's Archaeology Department, and Eli Shukrun of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), who are overseeing the excavations at the site, the pool hewn into the rock did not remain desolate for long: Toward the end of the eighth century B.C.E., a Jerusalem resident decided to build himself a house inside it, thus sparing himself a lot of work, since the pool's four hewn walls served as a base for the external walls of his home.

Apparently, the new homeowners did not want to live in the depths of the pool and preferred to raise the lower level of their home by about three meters. In order to bring the house to the desired level, they poured stones and earth into the bottom of the pool, and its upper reaches abutted the floor of the house.

The excavation, being managed by the IAA with the assistance of the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (INNPPA), the Elad Association and the Gihon Company, has uncovered in the attached earthen floor of the house clay vessels dating to the end of the eighth century B.C.E., but the more surprising findings were in the stratum beneath. Reich and Shukrun decided to sift through all of it in the hope of uncovering artifacts that would help date the structure.

The first sifting did not yield any dramatic discoveries. Mostly the earth yielded clay vessels typical of Jerusalem in the First Temple period, and the bones of animals that were part of the standard diet of residents of the city, mainly cattle and sheep. But Reich and Shukrun suspected that other findings were hiding there and therefore decided to sift through it all, around 250 cubic meters, once again. This time, the earth was rinsed with water and what remained in the sifter after the rinsing was carefully inspected in a process that lasted around a year and a half. The findings justified the effort.

Pottery sherds that differed in nature from those found so far in the City of David were uncovered and the researchers date them to the second half of the ninth century or the beginning of the eighth century B.C.E. approximately, a range that covers the reign of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, to the reign of Joash, son of Ahaziah, a period when Jerusalem was subject to the influence of its northern neighbors, the Kingdom of Israel and Phoenicia. (Reich is nonetheless cautious and says that the precise date has yet to be determined.)

In addition to the sherds, an abundance of small seals, about a centimeter in diameter, that were used to seal documents and goods were found. All the seals were broken - they had been removed from the letters or goods they sealed. In this respect, they differ from seals found in the past in the City of David, which were all unbroken, and apparently were used to seal documents preserved in the local archive of the City of David.

The seals uncovered by Reich and Shukrun differ from those uncovered by Shilo also in their graphic characteristics. Approximately 170 of the broken seals bore stamps or part of one and some had signs of Egyptian writing, unlike those uncovered by Shiloh, where the names appeared in Semitic writing. A review by experts found these were not meaningful signs, but a copy of Egyptian script familiar to residents of the ancient Near East. Such seals were uncovered in the past in excavations in Samaria, the capital of the kingdom of Israel.

The seals also bore other graphic symbols, such as sphinxes, images of winged persons and an image of the sun with wings. Others contained etchings of proto-aeolian capitals, an architectural motif typical of structures from the ninth and 10th centuries B.C.E. in Israel and Judea. This motif appears often in Phoenician ivory bas-reliefs.

A grouper surprise

Another surprise was the impressive amount of fish bones found in the earth. After the second sifting, it turned out that the fill beneath the house concealed close to 10,000 fish bones.

They were sent for careful analysis by Prof. Omri Landau, a retired surgeon, who now devotes himself to his hobby of researching fish bones uncovered in excavations. Landau has yet to complete his analysis, but at this stage it is clear that the lion's share of the bones are from fish found in the Mediterranean Sea, primarily bass and grouper. Like the seals, this is also not the first time fish bones were uncovered in Jerusalem. However, Reich stresses that such a large quantity of them in one site is not an ordinary occurrence. The large accumulation attests to the importance of fish in the diet of Jerusalem residents then, as they were willing to invest considerable effort in bringing fish from the Mediterranean coast to the city.

Phoenician ties

The high concentration of seals, the graphic motifs on them, which are not typical of Jerusalem of the First Temple era, in addition to the impressive amount of fish bones, are likely to provide evidence of the Phoenician or Israelite presence in Jerusalem during the second half of the ninth century, B.C.E. Reich notes that the dynasty of the house of Omri, the ruler of the Kingdom of Israel in the early ninth century, had family ties to the Phoenicians. These ties reached the Kingdom of Judah when King Jehoram, the son of Jehosaphat, who controlled Judah during the second half of the ninth century, B.C.E., married Athaliah, the daughter of Omri or of his successor, Ahab, who was of Phoenician origin. Athaliah forcibly assumed power and ruled Judah for a number of years until being deposed (II Kings 11).

It is possible that the high concentration of fish bones and seals with graphic images typical of the Phoenicians - one seal depicted a Phoenician ship, another an image of a fish - indicates that before the house was built in the pool, an administrative center of the rulers who were close to the Phoenicians operated nearby. Reich and Shukrun note that apart from Athaliah, also her predecessor, Jehoram and her successor, Ahaziah, were likely to maintain close ties with the capital of the Kingdom of Israel and with Phoenician cities, such as Sidon.

The hypothesis regarding ties between Jerusalem and Phoenicia in the late eight and ninth centuries, B.C.E. is reinforced by other findings, including a pomegranate made of ivory that was found in the earth. The Phoenicians, who were talented sailors, builders and merchants served as cultural intermediaries in the Mediterranean basin, where they sailed. Among other things, they engraved ivory, a craft they learned in Egypt, where they found raw and etched ivory to bring back to Assyria. They also brought artistic motifs from one place to another, such as Egyptian symbols that appeared on the seals. As seafarers, it is likely that the Phoenicians did not want to give up the fish they were so fond of, even when they were far away from the coast, and took the trouble to bring the fish from the coastal cities to Jerusalem.