Recent Archaeological Finds

[Soldier4Christ]

Amen! Much more is being found that supports the validity of the Bible. Here is more on this find that sister Tina posted about along with some information of other items found nearby that one.

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Ancient First Temple Artifacts Uncovered in Jerusalem

Archaeologists from Israel’s Antiquities Authority (IAA) have revealed two important artifacts recently discovered in Jerusalem, both dating from the First Temple Period (8-7 BCE).

The first, a bone seal engraved with the name “Shaul” was found in an excavation being conducted under the auspices of the IAA, in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park, located in the City of David.

The dig, which is underwritten by the “Ir David Foundation” (City of David) is being carried out under the direction of Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the IAA.

The seal, which is made of bone, was found broken and is missing a piece from its upper right side. Two parallel lines divide the surface of the seal into two registers in which Hebrew letters are engraved. A period followed by a floral image or a tiny fruit appear at the end of the bottom name.

The name of the seal’s owner was completely preserved and it is written in the shortened form of the name, Shaul, which is known from both the Bible (Genesis 36:37; 1 Samuel 9:2; 1 Chronicles 4:24 and 6:9) and from other Hebrew seals.

Another Hebrew seal and three Hebrew bullae (pieces of clay stamped with seal impressions) were previously discovered nearby.

The second artifact, an ancient jar handle bearing the Hebrew name “Menachem” was uncovered in the neighborhood of Ras el ‘Amud during an excavation prior to construction of a girls’ school by the Jerusalem municipality.

The jar handle, inscribed with the name "Menachem" carved in Hebrew, was found among settlement remains dating to different phases of the Middle Canaanite period (2200 – 1900 BCE), and the last years of the First Temple period (8-7 BCE) that were recently uncovered during the excavation.

The name Menachem Ben Gadi is noted in the Bible as that of a king of Israel who reigned for 10 years in Samaria, as one of the last kings of the Kingdom of Israel. According to Kings II, Menachem Ben Gadi ascended the throne in the 39th year of Uzziah, King of Judah (Judea).

The names Menachem and Yinachem both are expressions of condolence, noted excavation director Dr. Ron Be’eri, who speculated they might be related to the death of family members. The archaeologist added that such names already appeared earlier in the Canaanite period, on Egyptian pottery sherds and a document about an Egyptian governor on the Lebanese coast.

This is the first time that a handle with the name “Menachem” has been found in Jerusalem.

[nChrist]

I just have a few words:

WOW!

THANKS!

FASCINATING!

AMEN!

[Shammu]

Intact 4,000 year old ancient tomb uncovered in Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Workers renovating a house in the traditional town of Jesus' birth accidentally discovered an untouched ancient tomb containing clay pots, plates, beads and the bones of two humans, a Palestinian antiquities official said Tuesday.

The 4,000-year-old tomb provides a glimpse of the burial customs of the area's inhabitants during the Canaanite period, said Mohammed Ghayyada, director of the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Workers in a house near the Church of the Nativity uncovered a hole leading to the grave, which was about one yard below ground, he said. They contacted antiquities officials, who photographed the grave intact before removing its contents.

They dated the grave to the Early Bronze Age, between 1,900 B.C. and 2,200 B.C.

Jerusalem-based archaeologist and historian Stephen Pfann called the find "an important reference to the life of the Canaanites," adding that it could give a glimpse into life in the area before the time when the Biblical patriarchs are said to have lived.

While many artifacts exist from this period, intact graves are rare, mainly because of looting, he said.

Intact graves are more useful to scholars because they show how items were arranged.

"Every time a new tomb is found, it adds to the picture," Pfann said.

The findings will be housed in the Bethlehem Peace Center, a cultural center not far from where the tomb was discovered.

Intact 4,000 year old ancient tomb uncovered in Bethlehem

[Shammu]

Ancient handle with Hebrew text found in Jerusalem
Posted 5/20/2009

By Joseph Marks, Associated Press
JERUSALEM — Archaeologists digging on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives have discovered a nearly 3,000-year-old jar handle bearing ancient Hebrew script, a find significantly older than most inscribed artifacts unearthed in the ancient city, an archaeologist said. The Iron Age handle is inscribed with the Hebrew name Menachem, which was the name of an Israelite king and is still common among Jews.

The inscription also includes a partly intact letter, the Hebrew character "lamed," meaning "to." That suggests the jar was a gift to someone named Menachem, said Ron Beeri, who directed the excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority. There is no indication the inscription refers to the king himself.

The name and similar variants have been found on Egyptian pottery dating back 3,500 years, and the Bible lists Menachem Ben Gadi as an ancient king of Israel. But this is the first time an artifact bearing the name has been unearthed in Jerusalem, Beeri said.

"It's important because it shows that they actually used the name Menachem during that period," Beeri said. "It's not just from the Bible, but it's also in the archaeological record."

Based on the style of the inscription, he dated the handle to around 900 B.C., the time of the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as recounted in the Bible.

Ancient handle with Hebrew text found in Jerusalem

[Soldier4Christ]

World's oldest bible published in full online

The oldest bible in the world was displayed in its entirety for the first time in 150 years today after researchers digitised its four sections kept in cities thousands of miles apart and placed the reunited text in cyberspace.

The Codex Sinaiticus, which was written some 1,600 years ago on more than 800 pages of animal skin parchment, is available on a free website following a collaboration between four institutions in Germany, Russia, Egypt and Britain, which have held different parts of the ancient book after it was bought on behalf of the Russian Tsar in the mid-19th century.

The British Library, which has led the project, has held the largest chunk the bible- some 600 pages - since it bought most of the book from the Soviet Union in 1933 for £100,000 raised by public subscription amid fears that the Communist regime would discard it.

The four-year project to scan bible, considered by scholars to be one of the most important early examples of Christianity’s holy book, will allow viewers to not only scan the Greek text but also view close ups of the parchment which are so detailed that scar tissue can be from some of the estimated 360 animals slaughtered to provide the raw material.

The arrival of the 4th century bible, painstakingly handwritten by a team of scribes, on the internet in the latest twist in the volume’s extraordinary history. Coveted by scholars and rulers throughout the centuries, it is thought it is the only surviving example of 50 bibles ordered by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great and was kept for much of its existence at the remote Monastery of St Catherine in Sinai. The newly digitised bible includes 24 pages which were found in 1975 in a blocked off room beneath a chapel in the monastery.

Dr Scot McKendrick, head of western manuscripts at the British Library, said: “The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world’s greatest written treasures. This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and first-hand evidence of how the text of the bible was transmitted from generation to generation.”

The existence of the ancient bible first became known in the West in late 18th century when an Italian visitor to the Sinai wrote of a “beautiful Greek text written in gold” inside the monastery.

In 1859, a German archaeologist, Constantin von Tischendorf, who had been employed to search for early Christian manuscripts by Russia’s Tsar Alexander II, arrived at the monastery and managed to persuade the monks to let him initially borrow the bible so it could be copied in St Petersburg.

The transaction remains disputed with authorities at the monastery claiming that the codex was effectively stolen despite the recent publication of a deed of gift to Tischendorf signed by the archbishop of Sinai.

Whatever the legitimacy of the deal, the bible ended up split between the monastery, the British Library, Leipzig University and the National Library of Russia and the whole work was only available for scrutiny by trekking thousands of miles to its different locations.

The website - www.codexsinaiticus.org - will allow academics to study the Greek text, which contains phrases and variations not found in the modern bible, as well as the minutiae of its production. By analysing the handwriting, the researchers have already found that it was written by four scribes rather than the previously thought three.

Dr McKendrick said: “The availability of the virtual manuscript for study around the world creates opportunities for collaborative research that would not have been possible just a few years ago.”

[nChrist]

The Codex Sinaiticus, which was written some 1,600 years ago on more than 800 pages of animal skin parchment, is available on a free website following a collaboration between four institutions in Germany, Russia, Egypt and Britain, which have held different parts of the ancient book after it was bought on behalf of the Russian Tsar in the mid-19th century.

Absolutely FASCINATING! Thanks for sharing this article. I'm not an ancient language scholar, but I would love to do a word study on this Bible. I'm at least going to look at the web site and see what average people might have access to. This is yet another example of just how REAL the Holy Bible is. I realize we have many older examples, but this one is complete and in one piece. The descriptions given in the article imply that all of it can be read and translated, instead of just bits and pieces from various sources. Having one complete Bible of this age is wonderful. I personally believe there are more very old Bibles that are guarded and kept secret.

The one thing I disagree with is making things like this available only to experts and scholars. I certainly believe in protecting the original, but many copies could be made that even average people could have access. Obviously, the original would have to be under heavy lock and key to protect and preserve it. I'm so fascinated by this that I have to go and find out now what average people can see and do. Thanks again Brother!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Hebrews 7:23-28 ASV  23  And they indeed have been made priests many in number, because that by death they are hindered from continuing:  24  but he, because he abideth for ever, hath his priesthood unchangeable.  25  Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.  26  For such a high priest became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;  27  who needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people: for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself.  28  For the law appointeth men high priests, having infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was after the law, appointeth a Son, perfected for evermore.

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

I just came from this site, and average people can view portions of the manuscript. You just have to feel your way around a little bit, and you want to look at the original language. They don't have an English translation on the site yet, but most people will want to do their own. Just pick out a portion of the Bible you want to spend some time with and copy the original language at your leisure.

I'll help some folks out. I know that the first concern is that you might not have the right font, and that might be true. Times New Roman can be a very versatile font, and it worked perfectly in Open Office 3.10. As far as I know, I just got the copy of 3 Verses in Genesis in the ancient language. I'm very slow with Hebrew and Greek, but I look forward to the work. For those who read German, they do have a German translation on the site, but I wanted the original language.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Acts 15:8-11 ASV  8  And God, who knoweth the heart, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us;  9  and he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.  10  Now therefore why make ye trial of God, that ye should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?  11  But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in like manner as they.

[Soldier4Christ]

Israeli archaeologists find ancient fortification

 Israeli archaeologists say they have uncovered the oldest example of massive fortifications ever found in Jerusalem.

Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem have uncovered a 3,700-year-old wall that is the oldest example of massive fortifications ever found in the city, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday.

The 26-foot-high wall is believed to have been part of a protected passage built by ancient Canaanites from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring that was the city's only water source and vulnerable to marauders.

The discovery marks the first time archaeologists have found such massive construction from before the time of Herod, the ruler behind numerous monumental projects in the city 2,000 years ago, and shows that Jerusalem of the Middle Bronze Age had a powerful population capable of complex building projects, said Ronny Reich, director of the excavation and an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa.

The wall dates to the 17th century B.C., when Jerusalem was a small, fortified enclave controlled by the Canaanites, one of the peoples the Bible says lived in the Holy Land before the Hebrew conquest. The kingdom thought to have been ruled from Jerusalem by the biblical King David is usually dated to at least seven centuries later.

A small section of the wall was first discovered in 1909, but diggers have now exposed a 79-foot portion, and Reich believes it stretches much further. Reich said budget constraints related to the global financial crisis put an end to the excavation, at least for now.

"The wall is enormous, and that it survived 3,700 years — this is, even for us, a long time," Reich said. It was remarkable that a fortification of this kind was not dismantled for later building projects, he said.

"When you just stand there and see it, it is amazing," he said.

The wall and other archaeological finds at the site will be opened to the public beginning Thursday, the Antiquities Authority said.

Archaeological research at the site known as the City of David, just outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, is caught up in the struggle for control over the city.

The archaeological site, one of the richest in a country full of ancient remains, is in the midst of a Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem.

The City of David digs are funded by Elad, a Jewish settler organization that also buys Palestinian homes and brings Jewish families into the neighborhood. Palestinian and Israeli critics have charged that the archaeology is being used as a political tool to cement Jewish control over parts of Jerusalem that Palestinians want for the capital of a future state.

Israel captured the Arab section of Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Unlike other areas it captured, Israel quickly annexed east Jerusalem and declared the whole city as its capital. In some rounds of failed peace talks, Israel has indicated willingness to cede Arab sections to a Palestinian state, but no agreement was reached.

The current Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken such offers off the table, and no peace negotiations are in progress now.

The wall will open to the public Thursday.

[nChrist]

If I remember correctly, Benjamin Netanyahu is a conservative and won't be making many stupid offers for rockets in return. In terms of politics, he might be forced to do some things he doesn't want to do.

The amazing discoveries in the Bible Lands are getting more frequent - much like a reminder from God that the Bible is ABSOLUTELY TRUE. As Christians, we should know that every square inch of the Promised Land belongs to God, and He will take it at His Appointed Time. That land is not man's to give, buy, or sell. Jesus Christ will rule and reign over the earth from the Throne of David in Jerusalem, and no combination of powers will be able to stop Him.

[Soldier4Christ]

Fragment from world's oldest Bible found hidden in Egyptian monastery

Academic stumbles upon previously unseen section of Codex Sinaiticus dating back to 4th century

A British-based academic has uncovered a fragment of the world's oldest Bible hiding underneath the binding of an 18th-century book.

Nikolas Sarris spotted a previously unseen section of the Codex Sinaiticus, which dates from about AD350, as he was trawling through photographs of manuscripts in the library of St Catherine's Monastery in Egypt.

The Codex, handwritten in Greek on animal skin, is the earliest known version of the Bible. Leaves from the priceless tome are divided between four institutions, including St Catherine's Monastery and the British Library, which has held the largest section of the ancient Bible since the Soviet Union sold its collection to Britain in 1933.

Academics from Britain, America, Egypt and Russia collaborated to put the entire Codex online this year but new fragments of the book are occasionally rediscovered.

Mr Sarris, 30, chanced upon the fragment as he inspected photographs of a series of book bindings that had been compiled by two monks at the monastery during the 18th century.

Over the centuries, antique parchment was often re-used by St Catherine's monks in book bindings because of its strength and the relative difficulty of finding fresh parchment in such a remote corner of the world.

A Greek student conservator who is studying for his PhD in Britain, Mr Sarris had been involved in the British Library's project to digitise the Codex and quickly recognised the distinct Greek lettering when he saw it poking through a section of the book binding. Speaking from the Greek island of Patmos yesterday, Mr Sarris said: "It was a really exciting moment. Although it is not my area of expertise, I had helped with the online project so the Codex had been heavily imprinted in my memory. I began checking the height of the letters and the columns and quickly realised we were looking at an unseen part of the Codex."

Mr Sarris later emailed Father Justin, the monastery's librarian, to suggest he take a closer look at the book binding. "Even if there is a one-in-a-million possibility that it could be a Sinaiticus fragment that has escaped our attention, I thought it would be best to say it rather than dismiss it."

Only a quarter of the fragment is visible through the book binding but after closer inspection, Father Justin was able to confirm that a previously unseen section of the Codex had indeed been found. The fragment is believed to be the beginning of Joshua, Chapter 1, Verse 10, in which Joshua admonishes the children of Israel as they enter the promised land.

Speaking to The Art Newspaper, Father Justin said the monastery would use scanners to look more closely at how much of the fragment existed under the newer book binding. "Modern technology should allow us to examine the binding in a non-invasive manner," he said.

Mr Sarris said his find was particularly significant because there were at least 18 other book bindings in the monastery's library that were compiled by the same two monks that had re-used the Codex. "We don't know whether we will find more of the Codex in those books but it would definitely be worth looking," he said.

The library in St Catherine's does not have the laboratory conditions needed to carefully peel away the binding without damaging the parchment underneath but the library is undergoing renovations that might lead to the construction of a lab with the correct equipment to do so.

[Soldier4Christ]

More information verifying the validity of the Bible.



Egyptian paper: Coins found bearing name of Joseph
Biblical patriarch ID'd in hieroglyphs, depiction of cow linked to pharoah's dream

Egyptian coins carrying the name of Joseph, the biblical patriarch whose arrival in Egypt as a slave eventually provided salvation for his family during decades of drought across the Middle East, have been discovered in a cache of antique items shelved in boxes in a museum, according to a new report.

The report from the Middle East Media Research Institute said the coins with Joseph's name and image were found in a pile of unsorted artifacts that had been stored at the Museum of Egypt.

MEMRI, which monitors and translates reports from Middle East publications and broadcasters, said the original report was in Egypt's Al Ahram newspaper in Cairo.

The newspaper said the discovery countered claims by some historians that coins were not used for trade in Egypt at the time the Bible records Joseph and the Jews migrated there.

Those historians have argued that trade was done by barter.

But researchers told the newspaper the minting dates of the coins in the cache have been matched to the period in which Joseph was recorded to be in Egypt.

"A thorough examination revealed that the coins bore the year in which they were minted and their value, or effigies of the pharaohs [who ruled] at the time of their minting. Some of the coins are from the time when Joseph lived in Egypt, and bear his name and portrait," said the newspaper report.

The report carried an explanation of the discovery by a team involving researcher Sa'id Muhammad Thabet:

"Studies by Dr. Thabet's team have revealed that what most archeologists took for a kind of charm, and others took for an ornament or adornment, is actually a coin. Several [facts led them to this conclusion]: first, [the fact that] many such coins have been found at various [archeological sites], and also [the fact that] they are round or oval in shape, and have two faces: one with an inscription, called the inscribed face, and one with an image, called the engraved face – just like the coins we use today," said the report.

The newspaper called the find "unprecedented" and said, "The researchers discovered the coins when they sifted through thousands of small archeological artifacts stored in [the vaults of] the Museum of Egypt."

The report continued, "Research team head Dr. Sa'id Muhammad Thabet said that during his archeological research on the Prophet Joseph, he had discovered in the vaults of the [Egyptian] Antiquities Authority and of the National Museum many charms from various eras before and after the period of Joseph, including one that bore his effigy as the minister of the treasury in the Egyptian pharaoh's court…"

The report continued, "According to Dr. Thabet, his studies are based on publications about the Third Dynasty, one of which states that the Egyptian coin of the time was called a deben and was worth one-fourth of a gram of gold. This coin is mentioned in a letter by a man named Thot-Nehet, a royal inspector of the Nile bridges. In letters to his son, he mentioned leasing lands in return for deben-coins and agricultural produce."

The report explained that other texts from the Third, Sixth and Twelfth Dynasties also talk about coins.

"The archeological finding is also based on the fact that the inscribed face bore the name of Egypt, a date, and a value, while the engraved face bore the name and image of one of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs or gods, or else a symbol connected with these. Another telling fact is that the coins come in different sizes and are made of different materials, including ivory, precious stones, copper, silver, gold, etc." the newspaper reported.

The museum research uncovered 500 of the coins "carelessly" stored in boxes.

One even had the image of a cow "symbolizing Pharaoh's dream about the seven fat cows and seven lean cows, and the seven green stalks of grain and seven dry talks of grain," the report said.

"Joseph's name appears twice on this coin, written in hieroglyphs: once the original name, Joseph, and once his Egyptian name, Saba Sabani, which was given to him by Pharaoh when he became treasurer. There is also an image of Joseph, who was part of the Egyptian administration at the time," the report said.

[HisDaughter]

That is very cool.  I would love to see something like that!

[nChrist]

This is an example of why I'm convinced there's a good reason for every detail in God's Word (i.e. genealogies, geographic locations Bible history, etc., etc.). I would also love to see a picture of this coin.

[Soldier4Christ]

I would really like to see one of them also. I looked to see if anyone had an image of them and found that so far none has been released.

[Soldier4Christ]

Digital map reveals Israeli archaeology

A searchable map detailing 40 years of Israeli archaeological work in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, developed for the USC Digital Library, has won the 2009 Open Archaeology Prize from the American Schools of Oriental Research.

A nonprofit organization founded in 1900 and located at Boston University, the American Schools of Oriental Research support the study and public understanding of peoples and cultures of the Near East. The prize, to be presented today at a professional meeting in New Orleans, recognizes “the best open-access, open-licensed, digital contribution to Near Eastern archaeology by an ASOR member.”

Project leaders Lynn Swartz Dodd of USC and Rafi Greenberg of Tel Aviv University are expected to accept the award on behalf of an international team composed of Americans, Israelis and Palestinians.

The digital map apparently won the approval of jurors because it offers a body of information previously unavailable to the public about sites surveyed or excavated since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

USC’s website is part of an effort to establish a framework for the disposition of the region's cultural heritage in the event of a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. Interactive satellite maps on the website show about 7,000 archaeological locales, including Shiloh, where the original tabernacle of the Hebrews is thought to have been located, and the Qumran caves, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.

The public can access the West Bank and East Jerusalem Archaeology Database at http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/wbarc. Users must have Google Earth to get full use of the information.