I have never been to Israel. But after visiting the Explorations in Antiquity Center just an hour outside of Atlanta in LaGrange, Georgia, I have a much better idea of what it was like to live there 2,000 years ago.
The center, which opened in July 2006, is the creation of Dr. James Fleming, archaeologist and longtime teacher in Israel (full disclosure: he is also a member of BAR’s editorial advisory board). He had previously created and operated the World of the Bible Archaeological Museum and Pilgrim Center in Ein Karem near Jerusalem. In 2006, however, reduced tourism due to increasing violence in the Gaza Strip and West Bank led him to relocate the museum in the United States.
At the main entrance to the center, five different columns along the porch show the progression from a simple Minoan capital to an elaborate Corinthian one, demonstrating the development of architectural styles over time and the cross-cultural 040influences in the Mediterranean world. The porch is also home to the Houses of Worship Time Tunnel, where we walked through re-creations of different ritual spaces, starting in a Bronze Age temple, continuing through an Israelite shrine, an early synagogue and a Byzantine church.a
Inside the center, I met Fleming in a spacious classroom that boasts a pair of large three-dimensional relief maps of the ancient Near East and Jerusalem. Fleming created these maps himself (his specialty is historical geographyb). He plans to start work soon on a third, depicting the area around the Sea of Galilee. By projecting two-dimensional diagrams of Jerusalem’s growth onto the relief map of the city, the drawings of walls and structures on these flat images seemed to become 3-D on the wall.
Fleming then ushered me outside to the central feature of the complex: the Scripture Garden, where a winding path led us on a walk through numerous reconstructions and replicas. The garden is organized into three sections: the Life of the Shepherd, the Life of the Farmer and the Life of the Village.
In the Life of the Shepherd, we sat on woven camel-hair rugs in a large goat-hair tent made by modern Bedouin living on the Jordan-Iraq border. The deep well with watering troughs nearby called to mind the Biblical stories of the patriarchs and their future wives (Genesis 24:10–20, 29:1–10; Exodus 2:15–21), while the sheepfold protected by thorny branches reminded me of the many dangers that David and other young shepherds faced on a daily basis to guard their flocks (1 Samuel 17:34–37).
The Life of the Farmer is a multilevel experience located on terraces built into the hillside. Grapevines cover the upper level, and olive trees are the focus of the second terrace. On special occasions, visitors can participate in pressing grapes and olives for wine and oil on the bottom levelc, as well as threshing and wheat grinding, using the same kind of tools used by ancient farmers.
In the Life of the Village, the most substantial structure is the tower of the city gate, from which one gets an aerial view of the entire Scripture Garden. Down below, we wandered through the chambers of the gatehouse and the dark, low-ceilinged rooms of a typical Israelite four-room house.d
In the midst of the Scripture Garden is a small burial complex that contains examples of tombs from different periods. The First Temple period is represented by an exact replica of the Ketef 041Hinnom tomb in Jerusalem with its benches, headrests for the departed and bone repository beneath the benches.e Further up the hill, a rolling stone stands at the entrance to a reconstruction of a Second Temple tomb containing ossuaries (bone boxes), burial niches (loculi or kokhim) and even a linen-wrapped occupant.f Dr. Fleming explained that they were set to break ground that very week to build catacombs from the early Christian period, and I have since received word that the $100,000 reconstruction project is now completed.
As we walked through the garden, Dr. Fleming pointed to the numerous species of plant life that have been brought in to create a realistic atmosphere: cedars of Lebanon, papyrus, pomegranates and many more, including a date palm tree that has been struggling in the relative cold of Georgia winters. Fleming explained that acquiring authentic materials has proven to be the center’s greatest expense.
Many activities in the center are specifically geared for children. An activity book and a scavenger hunt guide young visitors through the garden walk. They can learn to bake bread over coals at the Bedouin tent and try their hands at piecing together sherds of broken clay pots. The center’s mascot, Pedro the rooster, can be found strutting good-naturedly around the garden and is a favorite of the children.
The Kids’ Dig Excavation Area is a highlight of the center. Four trenches are filled with rocks and sand, where young visitors can dig up finds based on actual archaeological sites in the Middle East. While I was there, I saw one group excavating “the house of St. Peter in Capernaum”g while another group uncovered the Egyptian temple of Hathor at the copper-mining site of Timnah, including 042real slag from Timnah.h After the amateur archaeologists filled their buckets with dirt, they sifted it through screens to filter out any small finds they may have missed. At the end of the afternoon, the kids announced their finds in a press conference for their parents. Dr. Fleming told me of a proud moment when a previous participant had declared the dig “more fun than PlayStation 3!”
My visit ended with a Biblical Meal held in one of the center’s two dining rooms. Each dining room features a full-scale replica of a first-century triclinium from either Pompeii or Herculaneum, where our host demonstrated the standard posture for reclining while eating.i Although some accommodations have been made for modern comfort (we ate sitting up), the absence of silverware meant we had to eat with our hands. Since I was eating with a visiting church group, we heard about the significance of the Last Supper as a Passover meal and feasted on delicious traditional foods such as charoseth (a mixture of chopped fruits, nuts and cinnamon), hard-boiled eggs, bitter herbs, lentil soup, fruit and nuts.j Although the menu itself doesn’t change from group to group, the host gears the discussion toward the interests of a particular audience.
The center is nondenominational and welcomes all groups, including those with Christian, Jewish or secular backgrounds.
Now in its third season, the impressive complex is far from finished. The center is going to add a climate-controlled room to exhibit a collection of artifacts promised as a permanent loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority. Staff members are already working on a display of an excavation balk for the Kids’ Dig area that will illustrate for the young archaeologists the appearance of strata, destruction layers, inclusions and intrusions from a real dig.
There is much to see here, much to learn, much to enjoy and even more to look forward to at the center.
Perhaps one day I will get to travel to the Holy Land and tour its many museums and archaeological sites. In the meantime, however, the Explorations in Antiquity Center is a very accessible and enriching substitute for the real thing.
All photos courtesy of James Fleming and the Explorations in Antiquity Center.
I have never been to Israel. But after visiting the Explorations in Antiquity Center just an hour outside of Atlanta in LaGrange, Georgia, I have a much better idea of what it was like to live there 2,000 years ago.
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