Recent Archaeological Finds

[Shammu]

2,400-year-old golden mask unearthed

Mon Jul 16, 1:05 PM ET

SOFIA, Bulgaria - A 2,400-year-old golden mask that once belonged to a Thracian king was unearthed in a timber-lined tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, archaeologists said Monday.

The mask, discovered over the weekend, was found in the tomb along with a solid gold ring engraved with a Greek inscription and the portrait of a bearded man.

"These finds confirm the assumption that they are part of the lavish burial of a Thracian king," said Margarita Tacheva, a professor who was on the dig near the village of Topolchane, 180 miles east of the capital, Sofia.

Georgi Kitov, the team leader, said that they also found a silver rhyton, silver and bronze vessels, pottery and funerary gifts.

"The artifacts belonged to a Thracian ruler from the end of the 4th century B.C. who was buried here," Kitov added.

According to Kitov, the Thracian civilization was at least equal in terms of development to the ancient Greek one.

The Thracians lived in what is now Bulgaria and parts of modern Greece, Romania, Macedonia, and Turkey between 4,000 B.C. and the 8th century A.D., when they were assimilated by the invading Slavs.

In 2004, another 2,400-year-old golden mask was unearthed from a Thracian tomb in the same area.

Dozens of Thracian mounds are spread throughout central Bulgaria, which archaeologists have dubbed "the Bulgarian valley of kings" in reference to the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt, home to the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs.

2,400-year-old golden mask unearthed

[Soldier4Christ]

Iraq to renovate biblical prophet's tomb
Purported burial site for Nahum to be restored


The national Antiquities Department in Iraq has announced plans for the renovation and restoration of an ancient synagogue in al-Qoush, a short drive north of Mosul and the location of the purported tomb of the biblical prophet Nahum.

"The Antiquities Department has added the tomb of the Prophet Nahum, peace be on him, to its 2008 preservation plan," Abbas al-Hussaini, the department's chief, told the Iraqi newspaper Azzaman.

Archaeologists have said the work on the synagogue and the tomb is urgent, with some scientists fearing the structure already may have been irreparably damaged.

However, the agency has delayed the work because it lacked the expertise and resources to refurbish and reconstruct the historic structures, officials said. Hussaini confirmed his administrative team is seeking foreign help for the work.

Nahum, one of the Bible's minor prophets, is venerated by all faiths and sects in Iraq, including Muslim Shiites and Sunnis, according to the government agency.

"The tomb is not important to Iraqis only. It is of an international character and can turn into a tourist attraction," Hussaini told the newspaper.

Azzaman speculated that the beginning of work "is bound to attract considerable media interest and perhaps reveal more information about the prophet of whom the Bible says very little beyond the fact that a reference to the town of al-Qoush from which he hailed."

Among the questions expected to be addressed is the age of the tomb, as well as the age of the synagogue itself, which is believed to be more than 400 years old.

Al-Qoush is a major Christian center in northern Iraq, but it held a large Jewish population before the Jewish return to the new nation of Israel in 1948.

According to the recommendations of an organization called Tomb of Nahum, "it is advisable that the repairs to the site be undertaken hand-in-hand with an archaeological team, which may also provide the opportunity to examine the interior of the tomb (presently sealed) itself."

The organization noted that a structural survey already completed by an American civil engineer suggested the renovation likely will cost around $400,000.

"The cost … does include renovation of all the buildings and the perimeter wall," the organization said.

Officials also said such work cannot be launched without permission of the Kurdish Regional Government's Ministry of Religious Affairs, which also has authority to allow examination of the tomb's interior.

"[Officials with] the Ministry of Religious Affairs have previously stated their position that they will not countenance restoration of the synagogue without the written permission of the Jewish Council. Whether by this statement they mean the Chief Rabbi in Iraq or a body in Israel is unclear. As Iraq does not recognize the state of Israel, the permission of the Baghdad rabbi or the national board of Jewish deputies of the UK or the U.S. will probably be sufficient," the group said.

"The renovation of al-Qoush synagogue is a matter of great urgency if what is believed to be the tomb of a biblical prophet is not to be irreparably damaged or destroyed," the group said.

Officials note al-Qoush is one of three places that claim to house the tomb of Nahum, who prophesied in 655 B.C. the downfall of Nineveh, which happened in 612 B.C.

His writings are the 27th book of the Old Testament and the Talmud.

Historically, it is believed the Assyrian king Shelmanassar II brought thousands of Hebrews to northern Iraq about 727 B.C., and some settled in al-Qoush, where a population of pagans already existed. Christianity arrived later.

In recent history, the Jews in al-Qoush, like the rest of Iraq, were subjected to increasingly oppressive laws starting about in 1930. In 1948, the last of the Jews left, with the rabbi handing the keys of the synagogue to a neighbor.

Some parts of the Jewish quarter are estimated at more than 2,000 years old, and in the center of the synagogue is a simple plaster tomb topped by a green silk coverlet, the purported tomb of Nahum himself.

Part of the roof of the synagogue has collapse, and other portions are described as in a "sorry state of repair."

The region also includes a monastery, Raban Hormus, which dates to the 3rd century. It sits on the slope of the mountain overlooking al-Qoush.

In a statement on the weblog Gateway Pundit, Haider Ajina, an Iraqi-American, noted the plan "shows us what a budding democracy and rule of law can do, even under tough conditions."

"This also shows that Muslims who no longer fear their militant leaders and are free of their leader's venomous rhetoric can and will do. This sparks tremendous hope," he said.

[Shammu]

Book of Jeremiah Confirmed
Scholars link biblical and Assyrian records.

Austrian Assyriologist Michael Jursa recently discovered the financial record of a donation made a Babylonian chief official, Nebo-Sarsekim. The find may lend new credibility to the Book of Jeremiah, which cites Nebo-Sarsekim as a participant in the siege of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

The tablet is dated to 595 B.C., which was during the reign of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II. Coming to the throne in 604 B.C., he marched to Egypt shortly thereafter, and initiated an epoch of fighting between the two nations. During the ongoing struggle, Jerusalem was captured in 597, and again in 587-6 B.C. It was at this second siege that Nebo-Sarsekim made his appearance.

He ordered Nebo-Sarsekim to look after Jeremiah: "Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee." (Jeremiah 39.12)

As the biblical story goes, the victorious Babylonian king departed the city with numerous Jewish captives. Desiring to spare the prophet Jeremiah, he ordered Nebo-Sarsekim to look after him: "Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee." (Jeremiah 39.12). Nebo-Sarsekim obeyed these orders by taking Jeremiah out of the Babylonian court of the prison, and ensuring he was escorted home to Jerusalem to live among his people.

Aside from serving in the military, Nebo-Sarsekim evidently also fulfilled religious duties. Jursa was studying Babylonian tablets at the British Museum when he came across Nebo-Sarsekim's name. According to Jursa, the tablet contained the record of a donation to a Babylonian temple, and his interpretation was later verified by curators at the British Museum. However, one can't infer too much about Nebo-Sarsekim's life from this transaction. Museum spokesperson Hannah Boulton states that it would have been quite common for a high-ranking official to contribute religious donations. It is not necessarily the case, therefore, that Nebo-Sarsekim was particularly pious or religious.

The tablet may not reveal information about Nebo-Sarsekim's lifestyle or personal beliefs, but it does lend credibility to the Book of Jeremiah. It is important because it shows that a biblical character did actually exist. Jursa states, "Finding something like this tablet, where we see a person mentioned in the Bible making an everyday payment to the temple in Babylon and quoting the exact date is quite extraordinary." Boulton proposes an even deeper significance, suggesting that the finding may confer credibility to the rest of the Bible. "I think that it's important in the sense that if [his name] is right, then...presumably a great deal of other info in [the Book of Jeremiah], but also generally in the Bible, is also correct."

The tablet is important because it shows that a biblical character did actually exist.

On the other hand, the tablet also exposes the danger of multiple translations. The Greek Septuagint (LXX) and the Hebrew Masoretic text (MT) contain the two main versions of the Book of Jeremiah surviving from antiquity. Scholars agree that the name was translated incorrectly in both of these texts. Vowels and entire syllables were sometimes omitted, transforming the proper Babylonian rendering, "Nabu-sharussu-ukin," into the traditional spelling, "Nebo-Sarsekim," as well as a few variants. Remarkably, Juris showed that the different spellings referred to the same person by using contextual information from the tablet, including the title of occupation and date of transaction.

Spelling variations may seem like a minor problem, but they highlight a greater issue, namely the inconsistency between archaeological evidence and biblical text. One notorious discrepancy involves the 701 B.C. Babylonian campaign against Jerusalem. According to the Bible, Sennacherib, the Babylonian king who reigned from 701-681 B.C., was unsuccessful in his attempt to sack the city of Jerusalem. The Old Testament states that an angel came during the night to kill 185,000 soldiers, forcing Sennacherib and his weakened army to retreat (II Kings 18-19).

King Sennacherib, however, left a conflicting report on an artifact now known as the Prism of Sennacherib. Standing 38 cm high, the hexagonal clay prism contains 500 lines of writing on six columns. In direct opposition to the Bible, it states that Sennacherib captured settlements belonging to the King of Judah, took the king's daughters and enforced a heavy tribute. Both historical accounts cannot be completely correct, but in the absence of further archaeological evidence, historians can only speculate about what actually occurred.

The British Museum's collection of Babylonian tablets could hold answers to this question, as well as other lingering historical mysteries. There are currently more than 100,000 undeciphered tablets housed at the British Museum, containing letters, recipes, receipts, and scholastic works. Scholars have already extracted information about the Old Testament flood story, observations of Halley's Comet, and rules for the world's oldest board game. It is likely that future researchers will come across further information about the biblical era.

Cuneiform experts worry that their unique window to the past is being irreversibly closed by violence in Iraq.

Even so, cuneiform experts worry that their unique window to the past is being irreversibly closed by violence in Iraq, including the current situation and the Gulf War. With countless other cuneiform scripts scattered throughout the Middle East, the British Museum's collection is just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, the tablets are easily smashed and broken, making it likely that only fragments of larger scripts will be recovered. Looting is also common, so they may be separated from the archaeological site and artifacts to which they refer. It is difficult to know what exactly has been lost so far, Boulton admits: "I mean we just have no idea really, but the prospect [that something important was lost] is certainly there; and that's why it's such a tragedy that these tablets are being lost all over Iraq at the moment because who can say what might be written on them."

[Soldier4Christ]

New Genesis Text from the Judaean Desert

Today James Charlesworth presented an image of a fragment (in two parts) that he acquired on 25 October 2006. He said it had been in Zurich since the 50’s and reportedly came from Kando.

There is currently very little information on this recent find. It was said however that it is not a part of the Qumran finds and is believed to be older than any of them and of a differnt style of writing. This is just a fragment of Genesis 32:3-7a.

[nChrist]

FASCINATING! - THANKS!

I think that much will depend on the perspective of those making the discoveries and then those who are evaluating the artifacts. This is just one reason why I hope and pray that these items are protected for many to evaluate them. I would hope that everything would be recorded in great detail so we don't just get limited opinions.

The point that many artifacts might be lost because of the political climate in this part of the world is troubling. I'm just hoping that many other items of great value will be discovered soon and get into hands that will properly handle the evidence for sharing with a lost and dying world.

Love In Christ,
Tom

[Shammu]

Archaeologists discover sixth-century mosaic floor near Palmahim
By Ofri Ilani
August 07 2007

A floor mosaic dating back to the sixth century, depicting trees and fruit baskets, was uncovered this week at the Yavneh-Yam archaeological site near Kibbutz Palmahim.

The floor, discovered during excavations by Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology, decorated the dining room of a Byzantine villa, containing unbroken pottery.

The Yavneh-Yam site, 15 kilometers south of Jaffa, served as a seaport from the middle of the second millennium B.C.E. until the ancient Islamic period. The numerous artifacts uncovered at the site point to extensive cultural and trade ties with Egypt, Lebanon, Cyprus and the Greek Isles.

At the end of the fifth century, it was home to a monk known as Peter the Iberian - a charismatic bishop of Georgian origin who gathered around him a circle of intellectuals. His biography, "The Life of Peter the Iberian," provides a glimpse into the nature of the community.

The excavation, directed by Prof. Moshe Fischer and Itamar Taxel, was intended, among other things, to examine life in the community vis-a-vis the text. So far it has yielded magnificent finds: In the eastern part of the area examined, the remains of warehouses were uncovered, containing storage jars that were hidden inside the floors and large storage rooms with numerous utensils that were destroyed toward the end of the ancient era.

Fischer warns: "A few years from now, there won't be a trace of the ancient remains at the site."

The Yavneh-Yam archaeological site is located within the confines of a national park, but it is not protected by a security system.

"The Yavneh-Yam Archaeological Project is trying to salvage some of the antiquities, but also to warn of the danger looming over this site," Fischer said.

Archaeologists discover sixth-century mosaic floor near Palmahim

[nChrist]

Brother Bob,

I will be praying that many of these ancient sites will be preserved so that the discoveries can continue. Many of them are presenting scientific proof of the Holy Bible, so I'm sure that many people in the world don't like this at all. It's also true that many of the discoveries are directly related to ancient claims by Jews and Arabs that are hotly contested. I would imagine this will be the greatest motivation to destroy and/or close these sites to further discoveries. The TRUTH is there, and many won't like it at all. I'll just say that this history is important to the entire world, and it might serve as another reminder from GOD that HIS WORD is completely TRUE.

[Soldier4Christ]

Ancient Byzantine Church Discovered In Tiberias

Impressive Byzantine church discovered in excavations in Tiberias

In excavations carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority in Tiberias impressive and unique finds were uncovered that shed light on the history of the ancient city.

The excavations were conducted over the course of the last three months at the request of Mekorot, as part of a project that involves the installation of a sewage pipeline and the transfer of the waste water treatment facility from Tiberias to the southern part of the Sea of Galilee.

The finds that were exposed date from the founding of Tiberias in the first century CE until the eleventh century, when the city was abandoned due to an earthquake, wars and dire economic and security conditions. In the lower part of the city, a Byzantine church (from the fourth-fifth centuries CE) was exposed that is paved with magnificent polychrome mosaics decorated with geometric patterns and crosses.

Three dedicatory inscriptions written in ancient Greek are incorporated in the mosaics. In one of the inscriptions, which were deciphered by Dr. Leah Di Signi of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is the line: "Our Lord, protect the soul of your servant..." [Our Lord=Jesus]

One of the mosaics is adorned with a medallion in which there is a large cross flanked by the letters alpha and omega, which are one of the monograms for Jesus (alpha to omega meaning from A to Z in Greek).

The church's remains were discovered adjacent to ancient public buildings among them a basilica, bathhouse, streets and shops that were exposed at the site in the past. Dr. Moshe Hartal and Edna Amos, the directors of the excavation on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, stated that this is the most ancient church to be uncovered in Tiberias and the only one that has been found in the center of the city.

According to Dr. Hartal, from the year 427 CE the Church issued a decree prohibiting the placement of crosses in mosaic floors in order to prevent them from being stepped on. "The presence of so many crosses in the floors of the church that was exposed here thus confirms the church dates to the period prior to the ban," he said.

In addition, the remains of a Jewish neighborhood that dates to the tenth-eleventh centuries were discovered in the excavations. These remains extend up to the foot of the cliff in the high part of the city, in an area that was probably residential in nature.

"The discovery of the remains of the church in the middle of the ancient city, like that of the Jewish neighborhood and the magnificent city that existed in Tiberias more than one thousand years ago, greatly contributes to our understanding of the town planning, its scope and it structures," archaeologists on behalf of the Antiquities Authority said.

The discovery of the church in the heart of the Jewish quarter disproves the theory that the Jews prevented the Christians from establishing prayer halls in the middle of the city," they added.

In the Holiday Inn hotel's parking lot, in the southern part of the excavation, buildings were uncovered that were replete with a wealth of impressive ceramic vessels that date to the Early Islamic period (8th-11th centuries CE) and installations for the manufacture of glass and pottery vessels.

These finds show that in this period the settlement of Hammat was included within the domain of the city of Tiberias, which had grown and expanded beyond the Byzantine city walls that had previously separated it from Hammat.

In addition a settlement was discovered that dates to the Early Bronze Age (from 5,000 years ago) thereby attesting to the fact that the region of Tiberias was inhabited in periods earlier than those mentioned in the historical sources.

[Shammu]

Ancient Tablet Vouches for Biblical King

Aug. 16, 2007 — Non-biblical evidence for individuals named in the Bible is rare, particularly for people who were not royals. But an ancient Babylonian tablet provides further proof that a king and his servant — both named in the Book of Jeremiah — existed in the 6th century B.C.

According to an announcement by Assyriologist Michael Jursa and the British Museum, the small clay tablet from the museum's collections bears the name of Babylonian officer Nebo-Sarsekim. In chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah, this individual is described as being with King Nebuchadnezzar II at the siege of Jerusalem in the year 587 B.C.

Jursa, a visiting associate professor from the University of Vienna, discovered the find while analyzing the tablet's cuneiform script, which was produced by pressing a wedge-shaped instrument — probably a cut reed — into moist clay. The tablet turns out to be a 595 B.C. bill of receipt acknowledging Nebo-Sarsekim's payment of over 1.6 pounds of gold to a Babylonian temple.

Jursa said that "finding something like this tablet, where we see a person mentioned in the Bible making an everyday payment to the temple in Babylon and quoting the exact date is quite extraordinary."

Both Nebo-Sarsekim and Nebuchadnezzar were players in key historical events with repercussions still felt today. Prior to the 587 Jerusalem siege, the Babylonians had allied themselves with Iranian warriors.

After Nebuchadnezzar's 604 B.C. coronation, he campaigned in Syria for five months. In 601 B.C., he and his troops marched to the Egyptian frontier, where the Babylonians and Egyptians battled for many years.

During the course of this struggle, Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem. Zedekiah, a Babylonian-appointed king of Judah, later rebelled, which led to yet another Jerusalem siege in 587-586 B.C., during which a large segment of the population was deported. Arab-Israeli tensions in the region have continued until the present day.

In fact, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein made links between himself and King Nebuchadnezzar in speeches and by use of billboards that showed Hussein shaking hands with a drawing of the ancient king, according to Aaron Brody, assistant professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion and director of the Badè Museum.

"Nebuchadnezzar vanquished surrounding nations, so Hussein wanted to draw parallels with his own reign and that of the former Mesopotamian leader," Brody told Discovery News.

Brody thinks the tablet represents "further verification that certain historical elements within the Book of Jeremiah are valid."

He said this time period in the Bible, around the 6th century, is among the least disputed among Biblical scholars. The Old Testament's 9th century Assyrian texts are also believed to contain historically accurate information. Other parts of the Bible, however, such as those that describe earlier events from the 10th century, are still hotly debated.

The British Museum tablet even suggests that some Biblical translations were adjusted to fit altered moral standards. Nebo-Sarsekim is described on the tablet as being Nebuchadnezzar's "chief eunuch." Eunuchs were castrated in order that they might supervise harems, sing at a higher pitch, or perform certain civic, social or religious functions without posing much of a threat to leaders.

More modern versions of the Bible had listed Nebo-Sarsekim as being a "chief officer," but it is now believed that "chief eunuch" was indeed the correct, original title given by Jeremiah.

Irving Finkel, assistant keeper in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum, agrees that the tablet is important.

"Cuneiform tablets might all look the same, but sometimes they contain a treasure," Finkel said. "Here a mundane commercial transaction takes its place as a primary witness to one of the turning points in Old Testament history."

Finkel added, "This is a tablet that deserves to be famous."

Ancient Tablet Vouches for Biblical King

[Shammu]

The Bible keeps proving it's reliability and Truth...........

[nChrist]

The Bible keeps proving it's reliability and Truth...........

AMEN BROTHER!

This was fascinating! THANKS!

[Soldier4Christ]

Archeologists make urgent appeal to rescue Biblical relics pulverized by tractors on Temple Mount, Jerusalem

The Waqf Muslim authority, using heavy tractors, has so far excavated a trench 120 -meters long, 1.5 meters deep, crushing fragments of monumental building, pottery and glazed tiles in their path. The trench runs through the northern and eastern parts of the 2,000-year old Upper Platform of Temple Mount, where the outer courts of the Jewish Temple were situated, including the Women’s Court, until the Roman destruction of 70 C.E. Today, the Muslim Dome of the Rock stands there. (See picture)

Dr. Gabriel Barkai of Bar Ilan University is leading the protest against the wildcat, unauthorized Waqf project to improve the mosques’ infrastructure and demanding that the contents of the trench be scientifically excavated and documented before they are lost.

“This issue transcends politics,” he told DEBKAfile. “It is a tragic loss for world culture, as much as or more than the effigies of Buddha destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. It affects the foundations of Judeo-Christian civilization – as well as Muslim history in Jerusalem – by ravaging one of the most important sites for the history of mankind.”

DEBKAfile’s sources add: The Temple Mount Plaza, paved over by the Muslim rulers of Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, has never been scientifically explored.

All attempts to unearth and study the relics beneath the pavement have elicited a ferment of Muslim threats accusing Israel of attempting to destroy the mosques built over the ruins of the Jewish First and Second Temples. Even cautious shafts at a distance from the mosques are greeted with rage.

Yet, in 1999 and again now, in 2007, the Muslim authorities themselves excavated deep below the surface to expand their mosques and improve their facilities. Then as now, they destroyed precious Jewish, Christian and Muslim artifacts with heavy tractors and dumped them helter skelter as unwanted debris.

[Soldier4Christ]

 At Galilee site, solving a mystery from the time of Solomon

A wooden sign stands at the entrance to the dirt road leading to the Segev Forest in the Western Galilee, inscribed with the symbol of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Beneath it in fading green letters is the name "Rosh Zayit Ruin." Without perusing the entrance to the dirt road carefully, you might not see the weed-covered sign, and not realize that this is the entrance to a very special archaeological site.

Only an all-terrain vehicle can reach the place because the road is so bad. Before you reach the site, consisting of ruins from the 10th century BCE, you will notice how poorly the area is kept up. The communities in the Misgav region, where the ruin is located, are to begin restoration and development work during the holidays in the hope of upgrading their foundering tourism profile.

The site itself is on a hill with a spectacular view. To the west, you can see the entire Acre Valley and Haifa Bay, and to the north and east are the Western and Upper Galilee mountains. Many archaeologists have found in the site the solution to a historical mystery going back to the time of King Solomon.

"The excavations Dr. Zvi Gal carried out at the beginning of the 1990s solved a very complex puzzle about King Solomon and Hiram, king of Phoenicia," says Mordechai Aviam, director of the Galilee Archaeological Institute.

"A site of a Phoenician nature was built here, a kind of administrative and military center constructed on top of private dwellings from the 11th century. The Phoenician nature of the site bears out the story of King Solomon giving King Hiram portions of the country in exchange for the cedars of Lebanon, with which he built the Temple," Aviam says, smiling in consideration of the implications the story has for the present-day debate over dividing the land.

Not far from here, on the slope of the hill, Aviam has worked with archaeology students at a site known as the Beza Ruin. Remains were found here of an olive oil press and a private home from Second Temple times and the period of the Mishnah, the first and second centuries CE. "The place is beautifully preserved, and we know there are many archaeological finds underground," Aviam says. Gidi Aharoni, head of the Teradyon Industrial Zone (named after a martyr in the rebellion against Rome, a name to be changed to the Misgav Industrial Zone) is listening in. Aharoni is also director general of the Misgav economic corporation, and by his own admission is a lover of archaeology and the environment. For Aharoni, the two sites, beyond their historical importance, can leverage tourism in the region. "We have an amazing place that people hardly know. In Misgav tourism has been almost totally neglected for years." For Aharoni, changing the Segev Forest into a protected park with bicycle and hiking trails that will help people get to know its history and archaeological remains is a dream come true. "If you don't dream, you'll never get there," he says. "This is one of my declared goals, to bring people back to this place. We are talking about archaeological tourism and ecology, landscape, riding and hiking in the fresh air and the heart of nature, along with visits to incredible sites that tell the story of this land."

Aharoni and Aviam believe it will not be particularly costly to develop the site. "Cleaning, fencing and signage can make the site quite attractive to visitors. It can also be developed with additional excavation because we know how much is still underground," Aviam says.

[Soldier4Christ]

The Jesus Boat
Ancient Galilee boat believed to be 2,000 years old

As the birthplace of civilization, archaeologists have spent years in Israel uncovering stone and earthen remnants of biblically significant treasures.

Sometimes, the finds come from the most unlikely sources.

Considered one of the most remarkable archeological finds in the world, an ancient wooden boat was discovered in 1986 that has been dated back to the first century.

During a severe drought that had lowered the Sea of Galilee to record levels, two brothers, exploring its muddy shoreline for ancient artifacts, found a piece of wood jutting out of the now-exposed seabed. The vessel had been buried in, and protected by, the seabed’s sediments.

Assisted by experts from around the world, the Israel Antiquities Authority rescued the boat during an 11-day-and-night excavation. The weak and waterlogged hull required tedious care, as it was subject to crumbling after being exposed to light and air. Although the wood looked strong, it was soft and shattered upon touch.

Much of the excavation was done by volunteers working while lying face down in the cold mud to remove the wet sand and clay by hand in order to preserve the fragile wood.

After workers carefully packaged the vessel in a cocoon of fiberglass and polyurethane, they floated it to the nearby Yigal Allon Centre, where it underwent an extensive 11-year conservation process in a specially built pool.

To conserve it, the boat was submerged in a solution of heated polyethylene glycol. This synthetic wax replaced the water in the wood cells. Allowed to dry slowly, the hull was then cleaned of excess wax, allowing it to be exhibited in an atmosphere-controlled museum environment.

After 14 years, in the year 2000, the boat was moved to its current location in a newly designed wing of the Yigal Allon Centre, a museum dedicated to Galilean history.

The boat is preserved to a length of 26.9 feet, a width of 7.5 feet, and a height of 3.9 feet. It is built in the typical ancient Mediterranean shell-based construction, employing pegged mortise-and-tenon joints to edge-join the planking. Iron nails—some crooked, suggesting multiple use—hold the frame to the hull.

Numerous repairs, the reuse of timbers and a variety of wood types (12 in all), seem to indicate the vessel had a long work life and an owner of meager means.

Archeological evidence suggests the boat was used by local villagers for fishing and transport and is firmly dated to the first century. It is likely this is the type of boat referred to in the Gospels as used by the disciples of Jesus, thus referred to by many as “The Jesus Boat.”

Other items provided clues to the boat’s origins. A cooking pot was found outside the boat and dated to the first centuries B.C. and A.D. An oil lamp located inside the boat was dated to the first century B.C.


Coincidental or providential?
While not suggesting that the boat discovery has any religious significance, officials admit that if the boat had been unearthed more than a few years earlier, the technology would not have been available to rescue and preserve the fragile vessel.

But what does Yuval Lufan, one of the two brothers who discovered the boat, think?

“I say what I am feeling,” Lufan said in a June interview with a group of Christian journalists from the United States. “I feel Jesus touched this boat, and because He touched this boat, it stayed. It is not gone after 2,000 years. This is what I feel. It is a sign.”
Lufan admitted that, being raised in a kibbutz, he had not believed in God, but “after I (found) it, everything changed. (It) changed my life.”

[Soldier4Christ]

A rare find

An archaeological dig led by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has turned up collapsed mud-brick walls burned centuries ago at a fortification built by King Solomon in Gezer, Israel.

The dig by more than 80 volunteers also turned up a cylinder seal into which was carved a king, his outstretched bow in hand, riding on a beast; and a silver coin dating to the reign of Ptolemy IV during 207-205 B.C., said Steven Ortiz, an associate professor of archaeology and biblical studies at Southwestern. The coin is only the third of its kind excavated in Israel, he said.

The Bible, in 1 Kings 9:15-17, says that Solomon fortified Gezer, as well as Jerusalem, Hazor and Megiddo, Ortiz said.The mud-brick walls were burned, perhaps during an attack by the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C., Ortiz said.

"We were quite surprised at the preservation of the Assyrian destruction," he said. "Although this represents a tragedy in the history of Gezer, it means that the results of next season will be very promising."

This is the second season of the dig, with students and staff from several seminaries, colleges and a museum taking part in June and July. The excavation of more than 30 feet of wall was led by Ortiz and Sam Wolff of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The dig is expected to last another decade.

Digs in the early 1900s, 1960s and 1970s uncovered a 52-foot-wide tower, an underground water system and a huge gate.