Recent Archaeological Finds

[nChrist]

I think God has being doing a little here and there, and soon I think He will give one huge blow to the mind!!

I am humbled........

Amen Brother Bob!

I don't think these discoveries at this time in history are a coincidence at all. AND, the discoveries are getting bigger every day. Everything put together over a relatively short period of time represents an amazing MESSAGE, but most of the world doesn't appear to be interested. The Holy Bible IS and always has been REAL - GOD'S WORD! GOD'S WORD will endure forever - just as HE Promised that it would.

Love In Christ,
Tom

 

[Soldier4Christ]

 Archaeologists find 2,000 year-old palace in east Jerusalem

Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday they have unearthed a palace complex dating back to the first century AD in an Arab neighbourhood just outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City.
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Archaeologists discovered a structure that is "relatively big in size and subdivided into main halls," said Doron Ben-Ami, the project director, adding that coins on site dated the structure to the time of the Jews' Second Temple.

Ben-Ami said more work was necessary but that there was a "high probability" that the structure was a palace built by Queen Helena, a wealthy Iraqi aristocrat who converted to Judaism and moved to Jerusalem around 40 AD.

The structure was destroyed 30 years later, when Roman troops violently suppressing a Jewish revolt razed much of Jerusalem to the ground, including the Second Temple of which only the Western Wall remains today, he said.

The excavation is being carried out in a car park just opposite the City of David, the site of Jerusalem in ancient times and now an outdoor archaeological museum in the densely populated Palestinian suburb of Silwan.

The suburb is part of Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed soon thereafter, a move not recognised by the international community.

Palestinians, who see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, have long accused Israel of confiscating land in the Arab suburbs and of using archaeological projects to bolster Jewish claims to the area.

The site includes remains from the Islamic and Byzantine eras as well, including a large Byzantine structure built atop the ruins of the palace that incorporated some of the debris left behind from its destruction.

[Shammu]

Herod’s Quarry
Thursday, December 06, 2007

Quarry that supplied stones for Herod's renovations of the Second Temple found at a time when Moslem authorities are trying to destroy any proof of the existence of the Israelite temples.

By Netanel Doron

Israeli archaeologists believe they have found the quarry that provided the biblical King Herod with the huge stone blocks used to renovate the Second Temple compound. It was discovered in Ramat Shlomo, a relatively new suburb of Jerusalem about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) north of the Old City.

The municipality planned to build a school at the site, but archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) went in first to make sure that construction did not harm artifacts that could be buried there. In the wake of the find, Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski halted construction of the school and provided $90,000 for continuing the excavations.

The quarry covers an area of some 5,000 square meters (54,000 square feet) and consists of massive stone blocks from 9 to 24 feet (3 to 8 meters) long. This is the same size as the stones seen today on the foundations of the Temple Mount and parts of the Western Wall. The 20-ton stones were hewn out of bedrock.

Rabbi Haim Richman of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem sees this as a confirmation of the presence of God, saying the quarry was found at a time when Moslem authorities are trying to destroy any proof of the existence of two ancient Temples on the Temple Mount.

“God is sending a kiss to the Jewish people, as if He wants to say: ‘Do not fear, I did not forget you. There are those who want to give the Temple Mount away, and there are those who want to take it away from you, but I have great plans for you and the holy Temple. The Temple will be the center of the world again,’” Rabbi Richman said.

IAA archaeologist Yuval Baruch said the stone blocks were cut in steps: First, deep and narrow crevices were hewn around the projected piece of stone. Then dozens of iron stakes were driven into the bottom side of the stone block, a few inches apart, until the stone could be broken out of the bedrock. Archaeologists found one of these iron stakes, about 6 inches (15 cm.) in length, which was lodged in the stone for the past 2,000 years.

Members of the upper class at that time used this white limestone, called malcha (royal), for public buildings and palaces. But while many quarries have been found in and around Jerusalem, stones with these gigantic measurements could not have been hewn from them.

“This is the rst time stones which were used to build the Temple Mount walls were found,” Baruch said.

The quarry sits on Mount Shuafat, about 240 feet (75 meters) higher than the Temple Mount. A road was built next to it and oxen in pairs pulled the giant stones downhill to the temple area.

Archaeologists also found coins and pottery shards dating back to the time of Herod, who was the Jewish proxy ruler of the Holy Land under Roman occupation from 37 BC until his death around 4 BC. Known as the master builder, his most famous construction project was the renovation of the Second Temple, replacing a smaller structure built after the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Archaeologist Ehud Nesher said the quarry was a massive public project worked by hundreds of slaves. “This is the work of Herod,” he said. “This is a sign of him.”

Herod’s Quarry

[Soldier4Christ]

Excavations in the East Jordan Land

This year Thomas Pola, professor for theology at TU Dortmund, and his team have continued the excavations in the East Jordan Land. With their findings on the mountain Tall adh-Dhahab (West) in the Jabbok Valley the archeologists could substantiate one assumption: everything points to the fact that the building remains from the Hellenistic and Roman era, found in 2006, were part of a yet unknown monumental building of Herod the Great (73-4 BC).

This assumption is based on the floors of one of the discovered peristyle yards (yards enclosed by continuous columns) which the archeologists were able to excavate. Prof. Pola sees the parallels with the architecture of Herod’s West Jordan Alexandreion as prove that there also was a monumental building of Herod the Great on the plateau of the mountain Tall adh-Dhahab. That would mean that in addition to his reign over the West Jordan Land, the Jewish king had a security system with which he could have controlled the ancient long-distance traffic in the middle Jordan Valley and the access ways to the plateau of the East Jordan Land.

Above that, the team of Prof. Pola for the first time discovered a layer from the late Bronze Age or the Early Iron Age on a natural terrace directly underneath the plateau. The ruins of a tower from the city wall at least show three building phases. “On the level of the oldest building phase we took samples from a burnt layer. A C14-analysis carried out by Prof. Manfred Bayer (Physics at TU Dortmund) showed that the charcoal originates from the time 1300 to 1000 BC. At this location we will continue to work in 2008.”

Finally Prof. Pola’s team discovered the purpose of the monumental military facility half way up the mountain: it is a casemate wall. It is supposed to have been finished in Roman times. This is yet another argument for the identification of the mountain with the stronghold Amathous mentioned in the ancient world. The historian Josephus (37 to 100 AD) described Amathous as the biggest stronghold in the East Jordan Land.

Even reworking the campaign 2006 revealed a sensation: the carve-drawings which had been discovered by Dr. Batereau-Neumann, a sponsor of the project, at that time, were dated to the ninth or tenth century by the internationally renowned specialist for Middle East iconography, Prof. Othmar Keel (Universität Freiburg). According to him the two pictures, the head of a lioness and the fragment of a cultural scene, belong together. The sensation: they point to the existence of a temple on the mountain plateau in the New-Assyrian time.

The project is sponsored by Technische Universität Dortmund and the Gesellschaft der Freunde der TU Dortmund. For the time from the end of July until the end of August Prof. Pola is again looking for sponsors of the project as fellow travelers. “They can join the team or just enjoy the beautiful landscape”, says Prof. Pola. The requested 3,000€ include flight, transport, food and simple accommodation.

[Soldier4Christ]

Darius palace in Bolaghi Valley had ash timber ceiling

Studies have recently determined that the ceiling of the Darius palace in the Bolaghi Valley had been constructed from ash timber.

The research has been carried out by a U.S. center for archaeological studies, Mohammad-Taqi Ataii, director of the Iranian archaeological team working in the valley on the Darius palace, told the Persian service of CHN on Saturday.

The ruins of the palace were discovered during archaeological rescue excavations at the Bolaghi Valley, which were carried out as part of a project to study over 130 archaeological sites before the filling of the reservoir of the Sivand Dam in southern Iran’s Fars Province.

At present, filling of the dam reservoir has almost been completed.

“Sometime ago, during the last phase of excavations, we discovered a large piece of timber at the ruins of the palace,” Ataii said.

“The item was sent to the U.S. center, and surprisingly they reported that the wood is ash,” he added.

In the report the U.S. center remains unnamed.

According to Ataii, ash trees are indigenous to northwestern Iran and little is known about this type of tree occurring in Fars Province.

“It seems that the Achaemenids used to bring ash wood from northwestern Iran for use in the ceilings of their palaces and other building structures,” he stated.

Experts have calculated that the palace will not be submerged by the filling of the reservoir. However, they have said that moisture caused by the construction will destroy the site in the near future.

[Shammu]

First Temple seal found in Jerusalem
Etgar Lefkovits , THE JERUSALEM POST    Jan. 17, 2008

A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said Wednesday.

The 2,500-year-old black stone seal, which has the name "Temech" engraved on it, was found earlier this week amid stratified debris in the excavation under way just outside the Old City walls near the Dung Gate, said archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig.

According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple and were sent into exile to Babylon following its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.

The family was among those who later returned to Jerusalem, the Bible recounts.

The seal, which was bought in Babylon and dates to 538-445 BCE, portrays a common and popular cultic scene, Mazar said.

The 2.1 x 1.8-cm. elliptical seal is engraved with two bearded priests standing on either side of an incense altar with their hands raised forward in a position of worship.

A crescent moon, the symbol of the chief Babylonian god Sin, appears on the top of the altar.

Under this scene are three Hebrew letters spelling Temech, Mazar said.

The Bible refers to the Temech family: "These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city." [Nehemiah 7:6]... "The Nethinim [7:46]"... The children of Temech." [7:55].

The fact that this cultic scene relates to the Babylonian chief god seemed not to have disturbed the Jews who used it on their own seal, she added.

The seal of one of the members of the Temech family was discovered just dozens of meters away from the Opel area, where the servants of the Temple, or "Nethinim," lived in the time of Nehemiah, Mazar said.

"The seal of the Temech family gives us a direct connection between archeology and the biblical sources and serves as actual evidence of a family mentioned in the Bible," she said. "One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find."

The find will be announced by Mazar at the 8th annual Herzliya Conference on Sunday.

The archeologist, who rose to international prominence for her recent excavation that may have uncovered King David's palace, most recently uncovered the remnants of a wall from Nehemiah.

The dig is being sponsored by the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem research institute where Mazar serves as a senior fellow, and the City of David Foundation, which promotes Jewish settlement throughout east Jerusalem.

First Temple seal found in Jerusalem
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is another testament to nonbelievers, that the Bible speaks the truth!! God's Word is accurate in all things, down to the smallest detail!!

[nChrist]

AMEN!

There was a reason for every name mentioned in the Holy Bible. There is a growing mountain of hard evidence that the Bible is GOD'S WORD. In fact, the BEST so-called SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE has always been in GOD'S WORD. I'm just sad that much of the world doesn't pay attention to these awesome discoveries. If they did, more and more would be coming to CHRIST! However, we can be sure that GOD'S Will is being fulfilled with discoveries like this. If nothing else, Christians should be growing stronger by the day in CHRIST! One would also think that some eyes are being opened in Israel.

Brother, thanks for sharing this with us.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable GIFT, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour Forever!

[ibTina]

This is another testament to nonbelievers, that the Bible speaks the truth!! God's Word is accurate in all things, down to the smallest detail!!

AMEN!!!

[Soldier4Christ]

Archeologists claim new location for Sodom and Gomorrah in Jordan

An international excavation team of archeologists led by Dr. Steven Collins, an expert on Biblical archeology from US Trinity Southwestern University, have claimed finding new evidence proving that the Biblical sites of Sodom and Gomorrah - two cities cited in Bible as "destroyed by God for their sins"- were located in Jordan's Tall al-Hammam in north of the Dead Sea, rather than attributed location in the south of the Dead Sea.

One of the archeologists in the excavation team said, "One of the interesting things about Tall al-Hammam is what we called a MB gap, that is the period of time between the Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age, because in normal locations like this, you have occupations one right on top of the other, but here, something very unique, something very significant took place in the Middle Bronze Age.

The city was destroyed by an event that was so dramatic that it scared everybody away for seven hundred years. Here, in this square, there's the perfect example. You have Iron Age foundations that are built right into a Middle Bronze Age rampart."

Many people located Sodom and Gomorrah towards the south of the Dead Sea but the reason that they choose the north of the Dead Sea is that historically, most ancient people--even scholars of the 19th century chose the northern Dead Sea for Sodom because the Biblical text is very clear about the location.

[Shammu]

Turkish Explorer Claims To Have Found Noah's Ark Remnants
01/27/08

The is a video in the news site.  DW

A team of scientists from Hong Kong and Turkey believe they have discovered the remains of
Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey. After many years of searching,  in the summer of 2007, the fourth expedition yielded results.

Turkish mountaineering expert and explorer Mr. Ahmet Ertugrul came upon a cave at an altitude of over 4200 meters and inside  found parts of a wooden structure. Samples were sent to Hong Kong University and the results clarified the findings were part of a petrified wooden structure

In an exclusive interview with Infolive.tv, Mr. Ertugrul talks about the discovery and plans to search two other sites on the mountain where he believes there are other remains of Noah's Ark. Noah's Ark International supplied Infolive.tv with video footage.

Turkish Explorer Claims To Have Found Noah's Ark Remnants

Noah’s Ark nestled on Mount Ararat
Web posted at: 1/19/2008 5:50:44
Source ::: The Peninsula / BY SATISH KANADY

Dogubayazit (Turkey’s Iran-Armenian Border) • For the first time in the seven decade-long history of the search for the legendary Noah’s Ark, a Turkish-Hong Kong exploration team on Tuesday came out with “material evidence”, to prove that the Ark was nestled on Mount Ararat, Turkey’s highest mountain peak bordering Iran and Armenia.

A panel of experts, comprising Turkish authorities, veteran mountaineers, archaeologists, geologists and members of Hong Kong-based Noah’s Ark Ministries International, also displayed an almost one-metre-long peice of petrified wood before the media and specially invited international experts.

The experts claimed it to be a part of a long structure they had unearthed during their February-August 2007 exploration. “It is for the first time in the history of the Ark search that an exploration team is getting a material evidence and graphic documentation. This makes it not only a the significant breakthrough in the Ark-search, but one that is supported with the most substantial evidence in recent history,” the panel said.

The revelation is expected to open up a fresh chapter in the ongoing debates in the scientific community on the search for Noah’s Ark.

Narrating the genesis of their exploration on Mount Ararat, the mount which has a direct reference in Holy Quran (Mount Judi) and Bible, the panel said the search team had made several foiled attempts before unearthing the evidence at an altitude of 4,500-metres of the estimated 5,165 metre volcanic mountain.

“The structure was discovered in the interiors of an unusual cave. The 11.5m wide and 2.6m high white wooden texture was revealed after removing thick layers of volcanic ash on the cave wall,” panel members said at a press conference.

One of the underlying issues in the search for the Ark is the proper identification of its wood fragments. A petrographic examination carried out by the Applied Geoscience Centre of the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, identified the object as a petrified wooden structure, the panel said.

“Some of the big holes found on the structure indicate the locations where branches used to grow on tree. In places, original holes are partly or completely replaced by individual minerals and crystalline materials that can be found in rock materials,” said Dr Ahmet Ozbek, a panel member, who is also a faculty of Geology Engineering Kahramanmara Suctcu Imam University.

Dismissing the possibilities of the structure being wood that could appear naturally around the discovery site, Professor Oktay Belli, director, Eurasian Archaeology Institute, University of Istanbul, said researches have proved that there was no vegetation on Mount Ararat ever since 2000BC, because of the asperities of Ararat’s climate.

Talking to The Peninsula, Cemalettin Demircioglu, Dogubayazit City Governor, under whose jurisdiction the mount is located, said the civic body will invite more international experts to conduct further scientific studies on Mount Ararat.

“History has more than one times corroborated the legendary evidence that the ark was nestled on Mount Ararat. We will introduce the latest findings to the world and continue the scientific study. All interested scientists and NGOs can join our missions” he said. However, he said, those who are involved in the project must ensure the findings are not used politically, religiously, or for any vested interest.

Located in the Far Eastern Turkey, Ararat is great prize for mountain collectors. Ark sighting has often been reported from this mountain. The observation of Vessel-shaped features in aerial photograph of Ararat had caused a stir in the late 1950’s. However, this is the first time an exploration team is coming out with “material evidence”.

Noah’s Ark nestled on Mount Ararat

Pictures;

At upper left of these 2 photos, see ancient cross carved at cave entrance. Difficult to see, but each arm of cross ends with 3 curved branches said to represent the Trinity:

http://www.media.org.hk/main/images/20071002/pr_even_20071002_19.jpg
http://www.media.org.hk/main/images/20071002/pr_even_20071002_21.jpg

Photos of large petrified wooden object in cave.

http://www.media.org.hk/main/images/20071002/pr_even_20071002_16.jpg
http://www.media.org.hk/main/images/20071002/pr_even_20071002_17.jpg
http://www.media.org.hk/main/images/20071002/pr_even_20071002_20.jpg

[Soldier4Christ]

The Israel Antiquities Authority has decided to dig a tunnel under the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, close to the Temple Mount. Two weeks ago, the IAA denied such a decision had been made. The tunnel will connect those under the Temple Mount and the site of Ohel Yitzhak, some 150 meters from the Temple Mount wall. The decision to begin the dig was taken in spite the fact that no plan was filed to the planning authorities. Moreover, the Palestinians under whose homes the tunnel will pass were not consulted, even though the law grants them ownership over the territory under their property.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Unique glass mosaic unveiled after restoration in Caesarea

Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has restored a unique 1,400-year-old glass mosaic, which was discovered in 2005 during excavation of the ancient Bird Palace in Caesarea, Haaretz has learned.

Yael Gurin-Rosen, head of the IAA's glass department, said that the mosaic panel is the first of its kind to be excavated in Israel, and due to the quality of its preservation, given its age, and its gleaming, gilded craftsmanship indicating Christian origins, it is most likely the only one in the world.

"It's a unique find, a piece of art," Joseph Patrich, professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "It's in its original state," Patrich said, "because the panel fell face down, protecting its green, blue and gold facade from debris and damage."

"The mosaic is particularly important because the small colored tiles forming it feature two styles of tiling: gold glass and the more traditional multicolored, opaque glass commonly associated with mosaics," he said. The tiles depict two motifs: crosses and eight-petalled rosettes.

The owner and origin of the palace in which the panel was found is unclear - all that is known is that the residents were likely Christian, experts said.

The panel, which probably served as a glass table in the late Byzantine era, is being shown in Caesarea along with other finds from the site.

[nChrist]

THANKS BROTHERS!

I hope and pray that everyone reads this thread and looks at the evidence. For the lost, there are many things here that can't be ignored. For the saved, there are many things here that should strengthen our faith. I still think there is no coincidence on the timing of these and many other discoveries. FOR THE LOST - LOOK AGAIN! This is the most important decision of your entire life. DON'T PUT IT OFF!

The Holy Bible is GOD'S WORD and the ULTIMATE TRUTH!

GOOD NEWS!

1:  Romans 3:10 NASB  as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."

2:  Romans 3:23  NASB  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

3:  Romans 5:12  NASB  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned--

4:  Romans 6:23  NASB  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

5:  Romans 1:18  NASB  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

6:  Romans 3:20  NASB  because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

7:  Romans 3:27  NASB  Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

8:  Romans 5:8-9  NASB  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

9:  Romans 2:4  NASB  Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

10:  Romans 3:22  NASB  even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;

11:  Romans 3:28  NASB  For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

12:  Romans 10:9  NASB  that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

13:  Romans 4:21  NASB  and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

14:  Romans 4:24 NASB  but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

15:  Romans 5:1  NASB  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

16:  Romans 10:10  NASB  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

17:  Romans 10:13  NASB  for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."

Thanks be unto GOD for HIS unspeakable GIFT!, JESUS CHRIST, our Lord and Saviour forever!

[Soldier4Christ]

Archeologist revises read of ancient seal inscription

A prominent Israeli archeologist said Monday that she has revised her reading of an inscription on an ancient seal uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David after various scholars around the world critiqued her original interpretation of the name on the seal.

The 2,500 year-old black stone seal was found last month amid stratified layers of debris in the excavation under way just outside the Old City walls near the Dung Gate, said archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig.

Mazar had originally read the name on the seal as "Temech," and suggested that it belonged to the family of that name mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah.

But after the find was first reported in The Jerusalem Post, various epigraphers around the world said Mazar had erred by reading the inscription on the seal straight on (from right to left) rather than backwards (from left to right), as a result of the fact that a seal creates a mirror image when used to inscribe a piece of clay.

The critics, including the European scholar Peter van der Veen, as well as the epigrapher Ryan Byrne, co-director of the Tel Dan excavations, suggested in Internet blogs that the correct reading of the seal is actually "Shlomit," also a biblical name.

Mazar said Monday that she accepted the reading of "Shlomit" on the ancient seal, and added that she appreciated the scholarly research on the issue.

"We are involved in research, not in proving our own opinions," Mazar said.

She noted that the name Shlomit was known in the period from which the seal dated, and that other contemporary seals had been found that bore names of women who held official status in the administration.

It was not clear whether the name on the seal had any connection to the daughter of Zerubbabel, mentioned in 1 Chronicles 3:19, since the name was apparently common in the period.

The grandson of Judean King Jehoachin, Zerubbabel, led the first band of Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity, and laid the foundation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

"What we can say for sure is that this woman was an important woman in the society," Mazar said.

The seal, which portrays a common and popular cultic scene, was bought in Babylon and dates to 538-445 BCE, Mazar said.

In contrast, Byrne suggested that a date in the late seventh or early sixth century was more probable, noting that scene was typical of the Iron Age Levant and that there was no reason to surmise the seal had been made in Babylon.

The 2.1 X 1.8 cm elliptical seal is engraved with two bearded priests standing on either side of an incense alter with their hands raised in a position of worship.

A crescent moon, the symbol of the chief Babylonian god Sin, appears on the top of the altar, Mazar said.

The fact that this cultic scene relates to a Babylonian god seemed not to have disturbed the Jews that used the seal, she added.

Mazar gained international prominence for her recent excavation that may have uncovered the biblical palace of King David.

The three-year-old east Jerusalem dig is being sponsored by the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem research institute, where Mazar serves as a senior fellow, and the City of David Foundation, which promotes Jewish settlement throughout east Jerusalem.

[Soldier4Christ]

Digging Up Jerusalem's Past Is Tricky


Underneath the homes and ragged streets of the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan lie the remnants of a glorious Jewish past: coins, seals, a water tunnel hewn by a Judean king 2,700 years ago, a road that led to a biblical Temple.

But archaeology is hard-wired into the politics of modern-day Arab-Israeli strife, and new digs to unearth more of this past are cutting to the heart of the charged argument over who owns the holy city today.

Israel says it's reconnecting with its ancient heritage. Palestinians contend the archaeology is a political weapon to undermine their own links to Jerusalem.

Lying on a densely populated slope outside the walled Old City, the area is known to Israelis as the City of David, named for the legendary monarch who ruled a Jewish kingdom from this spot 3,000 years ago. It is the kernel from which Jerusalem grew.

But Silwan is in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured from Jordan in 1967 and which Palestinians claim for the capital of a future state.

Palestinians and Israelis are trying again to negotiate a peace deal, one which must include an agreement to share Jerusalem. The collision in this neighborhood - between Silwan and the City of David - encapsulates the complexities ahead.

The organization funding the digs, the Elad Foundation, is associated with the religious settlement movement and is committed to preventing Israel from ever ceding the area in a peace deal. It says it has a yearly budget of close to $10 million, nearly all of it from donations, and is buying up Palestinian homes in Silwan to accommodate Jewish families. Around 50 have moved in so far, living in houses flying Israeli flags and guarded by armed security men paid for by the Israeli government.

At the same time, the City of David digs have expanded through the neighborhood, carried out by respected Israeli government archaeologists with funding from Elad.

Fakhri Abu Diab, a neighborhood activist, said the Elad Foundation has made it clear that he and his neighbors are in the way.

"They want the land without the people," he said.

None of the finds that the archaeologists highlight for the public are from the eras of Christian or Muslim rule. "They are looking only for Jewish ruins," said Abu Diab. "It's as if we're not here."

Elad denies having any intention of driving out Silwan's Palestinians. "There will always be Jews and Arabs living together here," said Doron Spielman, Elad's international director of development. Dozens of Silwan Arabs are employed by Elad, he said, and the foundation's activities include neighborhood beautification projects which improve life for Palestinian residents.

Still, he said, "We do not deny we have a Zionist dream - to reveal the ancient city beneath the ground and create a thriving Jewish neighborhood above the ground."

More than 160 feet under Silwan on a recent afternoon, a visitor walked for half an hour in darkness and knee-deep water through Hezekiah's tunnel, the stillness disturbed only by a party of South American tourists bellowing the theme song from the "Indiana Jones" movies.

The Old Testament books of Kings and Chronicles recount the tunnel's origins: Hezekiah, king of Judea, dug it to channel water inside the city walls ahead of a siege by Assyrian armies.

Measuring 1,750 feet long - about a third of a mile - the tunnel was dug around 700 B.C. by two teams that started from each end and met in the middle, an engineering feat brought to life by their chisel marks, still visible on the walls, and recounted in an inscription they mounted on the wall.

"The City of David shows us the history and archaeology of Jerusalem since the day it was founded. Jerusalem's foundations are here," said archaeologist Eli Shukrun, standing near the entrance to another tunnel - a long, dank-smelling Roman-era sewer through which Jews fled Jerusalem as it was torched by Rome's legions in 70 A.D.

The sewer ran beneath a road that led up to the Second Temple, the center of the Jewish faith, destroyed in the same Roman assault.

Roni Reich of Haifa University, another City of David archaeologist, gives voice to the history pulsing through Jerusalem, reeling off the names of history's giants associated with the city - David, Jesus, the Roman Emperor Constantine, the Muslim ruler Saladin.

"It's hard to list another city similar to this one," he said. "And this hill is where it all started."

The dig regularly yields important and colorful finds such as 2,500-year-old pins used to hold robes closed, and seals stamped with the names of Yehochal ben Shlemiyahu and Gemaryahu ben Shafan, two figures mentioned in the biblical book of Jeremiah.

Archaeologists not connected to the City of David digs don't dispute their importance.

Amihai Mazar, a professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the site has already revealed important details of Jerusalem's history. He mentioned the discovery of massive Canaanite fortifications 3,700 years old and of thousands of fish bones indicating the diet favored in this landlocked city on the desert's edge.

"This site doesn't stop surprising us," Mazar said.

The archaeologists at the site say their work has nothing to do with politics. But others charge their colleagues with complicity in Elad's agenda of moving Jews to the Arab neighborhood.

The City of David dig "is connected by its umbilical cord to politics," said Rafi Greenberg, an Israeli archaeologist from Tel Aviv University who dug at the site in the 1970s and 1980s, before Elad was involved.

"No amount of dealing with ceramics and rocks can obscure the fact that the work is being done to establish facts in the present," he said. He rejected his colleagues' claim to academic neutrality, saying: "They are being compensated for their cooperation with findings and money."

Reich said the people paying for the dig haven't interfered in his work. "I can divide the political from the archaeological," he said. "The people from Elad have never affected our archaeological judgment."