1994 Excavation Opportunities
Summer in the Sand
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Childhood memories: summers by the sea, splashing in the waves, digging castles in the sand with elaborate moats and tall walls of sand and seaweed. You found countless buried treasures. Every seashell or shiny pebble—a clam shell was good, a scallop better—seemed a tiny miracle.
Opportunities to play in the sand come along less frequently as an adult. But when they do, and when the sand is that of an archaeological site in the Near East, the game becomes more thrilling than ever. As a volunteer on a dig, searching for pottery sherds and coins rather than jingle shells and jellyfish, you help uncover the riches of ancient worlds and clues to the lives of the pilgrims and princes, queens and crusaders, and others who left behind traces of their lives.
Volunteers wishing to pick up their trowels and head to the Near East face few requirements. From college students to retirees, diggers of almost any age and background are welcome as long as they are willing and able to work hard at several jobs—sweeping away dirt, sifting earth, washing sherds or digging under what can be rough outdoor conditions. The living arrangements at digs vary from hotels to crowded tents (the choice is yours), while the food tends toward simple fare—often spiced with sand.
Short histories of the sites and summaries of their Biblical references begin below. So make your choice, don your sun hat, pack up your tools and come play—seriously—in the sand!
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Abila
One of the cities of the Decapolis—a federation of ten cities in eastern Palestine (Matthew 4:25; Mark 5:20, Mark 7:31)—Abila appears in the works of several ancient writers such as Polybius, Pliny the Elder and the geographer Ptolemy. It is located about nine miles from Irbid, in northern Jordan.
Seven seasons of survey and excavation have revealed evidence of human habitation during every period from the Neolithic (8300–4500 B.C.) onward. The site’s highlights include an inscription with the name of the city, five churches—two of them large Byzantine (324–640 A.D.) basilicas—an extensive Roman-Byzantine cemetery and three long subterranean aqueducts.
In the coming season, dig director W. Harold Mare (Covenant Theological Seminary) will continue excavating four churches, the bath ruins, the aqueduct system and more of the tombs.
The site is open to visitors all year. Guided tours are available during the excavation season.
El-Ahwat
Located nine miles east of Caesarea, El-Ahwat is the site of the northwestern-most Israelite settlement in the region of Manasseh. The first season of excavation revealed a large fortified village of Iron I period (1200–1000 B.C.) and uncovered two Egyptian scarabs, many bronzes and pottery. Dig director Adam Zertal (Haifa Univ.) expects to uncover more of this fortified Israelite village in the coming season.
The site is open to visitors by appointment during excavations. Guided tours are available.
Ashkelon
Ashkelon was a major seaport of the Canaanites and Philistines from 3000 to 604 B.C. The Bible frequently mentions the Philistine city at the site. Samson went there in a rage and killed 30 men (Judges 14:19); David lamented, “Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,” when he learned of the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, slain by the Philistines at the Battle of Gilboa (2 Samuel 1:20); and the prophet Jeremiah, in his oracle against the Philistines, declared that “Ashkelon has perished” and that “the 054sword of the Lord,” in the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar and his army, was drawn “against Ashkelon and against the seashore” (Jeremiah 47:5–7).
Previous work at this large seaside site located in a national park uncovered a vast array of remains: the world’s oldest arched gateway, featured on the cover of the
In 1994, director Lawrence E. Stager (Harvard Univ.) will continue excavation of the Canaanite arched gateway and ramparts and of the Philistine cities in the days of Samson, Goliath and David (1150–1000 B.C.). He will also search for the city’s ancient harbor installation.
The site is open to visitors only by appointment through the excavation office at the Shulamit Gardens Hotel.
(See the following 1991 BAR articles by Lawrence E. Stager: “When Canaanites and Philistines Ruled Ashkelon,” BAR 17:02; “Why Were Hundreds of Dogs Buried at Ashkelon?” BAR 17:03; “Eroticism and Infanticide at Ashkelon,” BAR 17:04.)
Banias
Lying at the foot of Mount Hermon, Banias overlooks the Jordan Valley’s fertile northern end, an area of lush vegetation and abundant opportunities to walk and swim. A large, nearby spring gushes from the mouth of the famous Cave of Pan, mentioned by many ancient writers. As the Greek historian Polybius tells, Antiochus the Great defeated Egypt in an important battle at Banias in about 200 B.C. Jesus visited the area (Matthew 16:13; Mark 8:27), and many important Roman buildings were erected here. Josephus, the first-century A.D. Jewish historian, records that Herod the Great built a temple to Augustus at Banias and that Herod’s son Philip enlarged and beautified the city, which he renamed Caesarea Philippi.
Two separate excavations are working at Banias, one at the site of the ancient city and the other at the Hellenistic-Roman cult site in the grotto of Pan. The excavation of the city, now in its sixth season under the direction of Vassilios Tzaferis (Israel Antiquities Authority), has brought to light the remains of a monumental first-century A.D. Roman city (including an early Roman basilica) and building remains from later periods as well. In the coming season, Tzaferis plans to continue excavation of a large Roman building (possibly a theater) that came to light last season and to continue work on other previously exposed remains.
The excavation of the religious sanctuary in the grotto of Pan, directed by Zvi Ma‘oz (Israel Antiquities Authority), has uncovered the temple to Augustus that Herod built, as well as other temples and shrines; lifesize marble heads of Athena, Zeus and Aphrodite; decorated altars; architectural sculptures; and Greek and Latin inscriptions. This year, Ma‘oz will dig the grotto in search of the sacred well and excavate the remains of Herod’s temple to Augustus.
Both excavations are open to visitors all year, and guided tours are available (by appointment at the sanctuary, call 972-6-961-876).
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Beit Gan
A large site in the eastern lower Galilee, Beit Gan stands adjacent to the road that formerly served as the border between the tribes of Naphtali and Issachar. Occupation of the site spanned nearly three millennia, from the Canaanite period (c. 1200 B.C.) to the Mameluke period (1250–1517 A.D.).
Directed by Harold Liebowitz (Univ. of Texas at Austin), the excavation has so far found the remains of a possible second-century A.D. synagogue; a small cross, indicating a Christian population, in the late Byzantine layer (end of the sixth century A.D.); and an important Mameluke settlement from the 13th century.
Next season, archaeologists will excavate the Mameluke and late Byzantine layers on the crest and western slope of the mound.
The site is open to visitors by appointment on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Guided tours are available by appointment.
Tel Beth-Shean
After Saul and his sons were slain on Mount Gilboa, the Philistines displayed Saul’s body on the city wall of Beth-Shean (1 Samuel 31:8–10). The site of Beth-Shean marks one of the longest, essentially unbroken occupations in Palestine, stretching from the fifth millennium B.C. to the Byzantine period (324–640 A.D.). The city served as an Egyptian stronghold during Egypt’s domination of the region in the Late Bronze Age, and it resisted Israelite attack during the Canaanite occupation. King David eventually conquered the city when he expanded his kingdom northward (1 Kings 4:12).
The site is especially noted for its Canaanite temples and for the abundance of cult objects unearthed by previous expeditions. In its first five seasons, this new expedition led by Amihai Mazar (Hebrew Univ.) discovered a 15th-century B.C. Canaanite temple and an Egyptian residence from the 12th century B.C. In the coming season, work will continue on the Bronze Age and Iron Age occupation levels.
The site is open to visitors all year.
Tel Beth-Shemesh
Once a major Canaanite city-state and later an Israelite royal administrative center, Beth-Shemesh has several significant Biblical associations. Located in the Shephelah about 16 miles west of Jerusalem, it stood close to Judah’s border with Philistia. When the Philistines gave back the Ark of the Covenant, which had plagued them during the seven months since their capture of it at the battle of Ebenezer (1 Samuel 4), they returned it to the Israelites at Beth-Shemesh (1 Samuel 6:1–16). The city also hosted the battle (2 Kings 14:11–14) in which King Jehoash of Israel (800–784 B.C.) defeated and captured the over-ambitious King Amaziah of Judah (798–769 B.C.). The last Biblical reference to Beth-Shemesh (2 Chronicles 28:18) tells us that the Philistines seized the city during the reign of King Ahaz (733–727 B.C.). Sennacherib, the Assyrian emperor, destroyed Beth-Shemesh during his campaign of 701 B.C.
Excavations have revealed massive fortification systems and domestic and public structures from the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 B.C.) and Iron Ages (1200–586 B.C.). The site includes one of the earliest known olive-oil production centers and many metal artifacts, pieces of jewelry, and seals and tablets with Ugaritic and paleo-Hebrew writing. In 1994, directors Zvi Lederman (Harvard Univ.) and Shlomo Bunimovitz (Bar-Ilan Univ.) will uncover the final destruction of the Canaanite city, expose parts of the fortification system and city gate from the early Biblical period and reveal a large water system from the time of King Hezekiah (727–698 B.C.).
Bethsaida
The Gospels mention Bethsaida more often than any other town except Jerusalem and Capernaum. The birthplace of the Apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip, Bethsaida was where Jesus restored a blind man’s sight (Mark 8:22–26) and fed the multitude (Luke 9:10–17). In addition, Josephus led forces that clashed with the Romans here during the First Jewish Revolt (66–70 A.D.).
Located on the east side of the Jordan River, slightly north of the Sea of Galilee, Bethsaida has yielded a residential quarter from the time of Jesus, an Iron Age II (1000–586 B.C.) temple and palace and a city wall. Director Rami Arav (Univ. of Haifa) will excavate the residential quarter, city wall, temple and palace in 1994.
The site is open to vistors all year.
Caesarea Maritima
A marvel of ancient engineering, Caesarea’s harbor could hold an entire Roman fleet. Herod the Great built the city and harbor between 22 and 10 B.C. on the site of an earlier Phoenician and Hellenistic trading station known as Strato’s Tower. A major port for over 1,000 years, Caesarea reached its zenith during the Byzantine period (324–640 A.D.), when it was the largest city in Palestine. Pontius Pilate resided in the city, and an inscription bearing his name has been found here. Peter’s conversion of Cornelius, a Roman centurion (Acts 10:1–48), and Paul’s brief imprisonment (Acts 23–25) also occurred in Caesarea.
The site has an early Christian church, well-preserved ancient aqueducts, a Roman theater in use once again for summer music and dance performances, imposing fortifications from Crusader times and the remains of many other ancient buildings. One of the largest and richest sites in Israel, Caesarea has yielded a vast assortment of statuary, inscriptions, coins, mosaics, ceramics and other finds. The most spectacular finds last year were a hoard of 99 gold coins and a well preserved mosaic with figures.
In 1994, directors Kenneth G. Holum (Univ. of Maryland), Avner Raban (Univ. of Haifa) and Joseph Patrich (Univ. of Haifa) plan to continue excavating King Herod’s temple and a Roman “shopping mall.” Underwater work, for certified divers only, will continue in the harbor.
The site is open to visitors daily, and guided tours are available.
(See the following BAR articles: Barbara Burrell, Kathryn Gleason and Ehud Netzer, “Uncovering Herod’s Seaside Palace,” BAR 19:03; Kenneth G. Holum, “From the Director’s Chair: Starting a New Dig,” BAR 17:01; Lindley Vann, “Herod’s Harbor Construction Recovered Underwater,” BAR 09:03; Robert L. Hohlfelder, “Caesarea Beneath the Sea,” BAR 08:03; Robert J. Bull, “Caesarea Maritima—The Search for Herod’s City,” BAR 08:03.)
Tel Dor
A major Mediterranean port from the Bronze Age through the Roman period, Dor was one of the Canaanite cities defeated by Joshua (Joshua 12:23). Today Tel Dor is the site of one of Israel’s largest excavations. Founded by the Canaanites as early as 1900 B.C., Dor fell to the Sikils—a Sea People tribe—in 1200 B.C. The Phoenicians conquered the city in 1050 B.C. and dominated its culture for the next 800 years, even though Dor soon came under Israelite control. As the capital of one of Solomon’s administrative districts, Dor played an important role in ancient Israel’s economy. After its conquest by Tiglath-pileser III in 732 B.C., it served as an Assyrian administrative center. Dor became a major fortress in the Hellenistic Age. In 137 B.C., the Syrian king Trypho took refuge here and withstood a siege by Antiochus VII before managing to escape (1 Maccabees 15:10–14, 25, 37–39). The excavations have uncovered slingstones from that siege. Dor continued to thrive in the Roman period, and a Crusader fortress in the 13th century was the last occupation of the site.
Excavations led by Ephraim Stern (Hebrew Univ.) at this beautiful site have revealed the main street, forum, sanctuaries, 056stoa, basilica and aqueduct of the Roman city and gates and fortifications from the Hellenistic, Persian and Iron Age cities. Archaeologists have also found two Iron I destruction levels with Philistine pottery, early Phoenician artifacts and a skeleton crushed beneath a fallen wall. The upcoming season will bring further work on the Iron Age fortifications and destruction layers and on excavations in the Roman city, concentrating on public buildings including a possible public bath.
The site is open to visitors all year, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Guided tours are available by appointment.
(See Ephraim Stern’s three-part BAR article, “The Many Masters of Dor,” BAR 19:01, “The Many Masters of Dor, Part 2: How Bad Was Ahab?” BAR 19:02, “The Many Masters of Dor, Part 3: The Persistence of Phoenician Culture,” BAR 19:03.)
Tel Gerisa
A major Canaanite harbor city at the mouth of the Yarkon River, a few miles from Tel Aviv, Tel Gerisa was founded in the Early Bronze Age (3150–2200 B.C.) and occupied until the ninth century B.C. In the Late Bronze Age to Iron I period (1550–1000 B.C.), it was a Philistine village.
Discoveries in past seasons include a large palace and dwellings from the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 B.C.); Middle Bronze (2200–1550 B.C.) fortifications and storerooms; a water system hewn in rock; Philistine pillared houses and cult room; and Canaanite and Philistine figurines, seals and tools.
Director Ze’ev Herzog (Tel Aviv Univ.) hopes to expand the excavation area of the Late Bronze Age palace and to investigate its neighboring structures in 1994. He also plans more excavation of the water system.
The site is open to visitors all year.
Har Karkom
Boasting 40,000 petroglyphs—the largest concentration of rock art in the Negev—and 892 archaeological sites, the 75-square-mile survey in the vicinity of Har Karkom provides a rich field for exploration. Subject of a heated debate in BAR, Har Karkom is identified by archaeologist and dig director Emmanuel Anati (Centro Camuno Di Studi Preistorici) as a holy site from the time of the Exodus, perhaps even Mt. Sinai, but in the view of archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, it was simply a popular gathering place for nomads over the millennia. Whoever is right, the site has abundant pottery, altars, standing stones, campsites and tumulus gravesites dating from about 3000 to 2000 B.C.
In 1992, the expedition found a site believed to be a sanctuary from the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, about 30,000 years ago. This site included about 40 large flint boulders with quasi-anthropomorphic shapes, numerous flint implements from the Near Eastern Aurignacian culture, 220 anthropomorphic-shaped pebbles bearing evidence of human modification, and drawings formed by arrangements of pebbles on the ground (perfectly preserved, most likely by a sand dune that once covered them). The discovery of this Paleolithic site suggests that Har Karkom had acquired its sacred quality far earlier than previously believed, perhaps as early as the first appearance of Homo sapiens.
In 1994, Anati will continue to survey the area, excavate selected sites and record the rock art, as well as undertake some cave exploration.
The site is open to visitors by appointment during the excavation season. Guided tours are available.
(See the following BAR articles: “30,000-Year-Old Sanctuary Found at Har Karkom,” BAR 19:01; Emmanuel Anati, “Has Mt. Sinai Been Found?” BAR 11:04; and Israel Finkelstein, “Raider of the Lost Mountain,” BAR 14:04.)
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Hazor
Located in northern Galilee, Hazor was the site of an important dig and the subject of a popular book by the late Yigael Yadin, one of Israel’s most famous archaeologists. For its “enormous size and peculiar features,” Yadin said, “Hazor is unparalleled by any other site in the country.” Yadin also noted that the wide geographical and temporal range of the numerous references to the city found in extra-Biblical sources make Hazor “almost unique among Palestinian cities.”
Hazor played an important role in Joshua’s conquests. Its king, Jabin, gathered together a league of kings to oppose Joshua. Consequently, when Joshua defeated them, he singled out Hazor and burned it (Joshua 11:1–13). Jabin also appears in the prose story of the battle between Deborah and Sisera (Judges 4). Solomon apparently rebuilt the city (1 Kings 9:15), which finally disappears from the Biblical record after its conquest by the Assyrian ruler Tiglath-pileser III in 732 B.C. (2 Kings 15:29). Extra-Biblical references to Hazor include the Egyptian Execration Texts (c. 19th–18th centuries B.C.), which curse Hazor as an enemy of Egypt; and tablets from the royal archive at the Mesopotamian city of Mari, one of which notes that Hammurabi, the king of Babylon (1792–1750 B.C.), had ambassadors residing in Hazor.
The site contains a wide variety of Canaanite and Israelite structures, including temples, fortifications and a water system. In 1994, director Amnon Ben-Tor (Hebrew Univ.) plans to expand the new excavation, now in its fifth year, into the center of the upper city in order to expose extensive remains from the Israelite period (tenth-eighth centuries B.C.) as well as the underlying remnants of a Canaanite temple and palace.
The site, located in a national park, is open to visitors daily, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
(See the following BAR articles: Hershel Shanks, “Ben-Tor, Long Married, Will Return to Hazor,” BAR 16:01;
Horvat Karkur
A Byzantine church complex from the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. stands on Horvat Karkur, a small tell in the Negev, about four miles north of Beer-Sheva. Excavations at the church have uncovered inscriptions, tombs, a baptistery in a mosaic-paved side-chapel and large storage jars in an annex room. Director Pau Figueras (Ben-Gurion Univ.) plans to complete the whole excavation in the coming, final season.
The site is open to visitors all year.
Tell Jalul
Occupied as far back as the Early Bronze Age (3150–2200 B.C.), this Jordanian site lies six miles south of Tell el-‘Umeiri, a major Ammonite administrative center. With only one season of excavation completed, the city’s ancient name and historical background remain unknown.
In the first season, the dig uncovered abundant ash deposits indicating a massive destruction during Iron Age I (1200–1000 B.C.); two superimposed pavements from Iron II (1000–586 B.C.), which apparently lead to a gateway; and scores of later burials. In 1994, director Randall W. Younker (Andrews Univ.) will continue to excavate a possible gateway, access routes and the city’s defenses.
The deadline for submission of security forms is March 15.
The site is open to visitors on weekdays during the season, but an appointment is preferred. Guided tours are available.
(See Larry G. Herr, “What Ever Happened to the Ammonites?” BAR 19:06, and “The Search for Biblical Heshbon,” BAR 19:06.)
Tell Jawa
Located six miles south of Amman, Jordan, Tell Jawa was part of the Ammonite kingdom during the time of the Biblical monarchy. The ceramic finds show evidence for occupation from the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1550 B.C.) to the early Abbasid period (750–1258 A.D.). A casemate wall system, visible on the surface for its full length, strongly fortified the site during the Iron Age (1200–586 B.C.). In the Iron Age buildings, excavators have discovered part of a cult stand, a ram’s head figure, a bull rhyton, a male deity figure and the full range of domestic pottery. A Byzantine building has yielded oil lamps, coins and a mosaic floor.
In 1994, director P. M. Michèle Daviau (Wilfrid Laurier Univ.) will continue to expose the Iron Age buildings inside the casemate wall; to examine further the drain through the outer wall and the Iron Age cistern; and to uncover additional rooms in the Byzantine building.
The site is open to visitors, Sunday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to noon; an appointment is preferred. Guided tours are available.
(See Larry G. Herr, “What Ever Happened to the Ammonites?” BAR 19:06, and “The Search for Biblical Heshbon,” BAR 19:06.)
Tel Jezreel
Either King Omri (882–871 B.C.) or King Ahab (871–852 B.C.) and his wife Jezebel built Jezreel as a second capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. Standing on a spur of Mount Gilboa, at the edge of Jezreel Valley, it served primarily as a winter residence for the royal family. This is the place where Naboth was framed by Jezebel and executed so that Ahab could take possession of Naboth’s vineyard; as a result, Elijah cursed Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 21). Later, during his coup d’etat in 842 B.C., Jehu 058took over Jezreel and there killed Jezebel and King Jehoram, Ahab’s son.
During the first four seasons of work at the site, dig directors David Ussishkin (Tel Aviv Univ.) and John Woodhead (British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem) completely excavated the eastern tower of the enclosure, reached the bottom of the moat, located the city gate and exposed a Crusader church. In 1994, they will investigate the city’s interior, excavate a Byzantine church that lies below the Crusader church, and begin work on an Early Bronze site.
The site is open to visitors all year.
Kinneret
An important site on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Kinneret has a long history beginning in the Early Bronze Age. Joshua 19:35 mentions it as a fortified city of the tribe of Naphtali.
Excavations at this site have uncovered a city from the time of King David (tenth century B.C.) and a lion bowl in the Assyrian style of the eighth century B.C. Dig director Volkmar Fritz (German Institute, Jerusalem) plans to spend the coming season exposing the Iron Age city and an Early Iron Age settlement. He will also search for the Early Bronze Age city.
The site is open to visitors.
(For a photo of the lion bowl, see Philip J. King,
Tel Malhata
The Biblical name of this important site in the Negev remains a mystery despite the discovery of Iron Age city walls, buildings and related artifacts. Past suggestions have included Moladah, Hormah and even Arad. The site was occupied from the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1550 B.C.) through the Roman period (37 B.C.–324 A.D.).
In the coming season, directors Bruce Cresson (Baylor Univ.) and Itzhaq Beit Arieh (Tel Aviv Univ.) hope to establish a more complete stratigraphic profile of the site.
The site is closed to visitors.
Megiddo
Surrounded by mighty fortifications, equipped with sophisticated water installations and adorned with impressive palaces and temples, Megiddo features some of the most elaborate archaeological remains found from the ancient Near East. In 1994, dig directors Israel Finkelstein and David Ussishkin (both of Tel Aviv Univ.) will begin a major new excavation of the site.
The site is open daily to visitors. Guided tours must be prearranged. For more details, see “Back to Megiddo” and “King Solomon’s Stables—Still at Megiddo?” in this issue.
Tel Miqne-Ekron
One of the largest Iron Age sites in Israel, Tel Miqne is identified with Biblical Ekron, one of the five capital cities of the Philistines. When the Philistines captured the Ark, they carried it to a number of their cities, including Ekron (1 Samuel 5:10). A powerful, independent city-state, Ekron threatened the indigenous Canaanites and the newly settled Israelites in the early 12th century B.C. For most of the ensuing 600 years, Ekron was a major Philistine political and commercial center. It came under the shadow of the kingdom of Judah in the tenth century B.C., however, and had become a vassal city-state of the Neo-Assyrian empire by the seventh century B.C. In 603 B.C., the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Ekron and with it the last vestiges of Philistine culture.
Excavations under the direction of Trude Dothan (Hebrew Univ.) and Seymour Gitin (Albright Institute) have shed new light on 059four dramatic chapters in Ekron’s history. The first is the Canaanite settlement of the second millennium B.C.; the second, a large fortified city founded by the Sea Peoples/Philistines in the 12th and 11th centuries B.C., which contained metal and other industries, a large palace and a hearth sanctuary with Aegean affinities. The third occurred in the tenth through eighth centuries B.C., when the city was reduced in size and conquered by the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II in 712 B.C. The fourth took place when the city expanded and became one of the most important olive-oil production centers in the ancient Near East. Excavations have also yielded more than 1,000 restorable vessels, a unique assemblage of four-horned altars, inscriptions to the goddess Asherah and five caches of jewelry and silver ingots.
The 1994 season will focus on investigating the urbanization process in the Iron Age and the factors that determined Ekron’s growth and decline as a major border city in the Iron Age.
(See Trude Dothan and Seymour Gitin, “Ekron of the Philistines, Part I,” BAR 16:01, and “Ekron of the Philistines, Part II,” BAR 16:02.)
Petra
First identified by J. L. Burckhardt in 1812 and used as a locale in the third Indiana Jones movie, Petra, in Jordan, is the most famous Nabatean site. It features spectacular temples and tombs sculpted from red sandstone cliffs by the Nabateans, who occupied the site from about the fifth century B.C. to 551 A.D. Less well known are the remains of the Iron Age Edomite stronghold and of the Roman and Crusader occupations. Artifacts found at the site include tools, inscriptions, coins, pottery and cultic objects. Director Philip C. Hammond (Univ. of Utah) will excavate and reconstruct a temple in 1994.
The site is open to visitors all year, and guided tours are available.
(See the following BAR articles: Avraham Negev, “Understanding the Nabateans,” BAR 14:06; Philip C. Hammond, “New Light on the Nabataeans,” BAR 07:02.)
Sepphoris
The traditional birthplace of Mary, mother of Jesus, Sepphoris has been continuously occupied from the Iron Age to the present. During the Roman period, Sepphoris was rebuilt in grand style by Herod Antipas. In the first century A.D., Josephus testified to its beauty, calling it “the ornament of all Galilee.” After the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome (132–135 A.D.), Sepphoris became, for a time, the seat of the Sanhedrin, the central legal and spiritual council of the Jewish people. In about 200 A.D., Sepphoris resident Rabbi Judah Hanasi (Judah the Prince) compiled the Mishnah, the first and most important collection of rabbinical legal rules that form the core of the Talmud. The city continued to serve as a major regional capital until the invasion of the Arabs in 640 A.D.
Finds at Sepphoris include a Roman villa, a large Roman reservoir and aqueduct, a Roman theater, a ritual bath for the Jewish inhabitants (dating from the first to fourth centuries A.D.) and a peristyle building with beautiful mosaics (also from the first to fourth centuries A.D.). In 1994, director James F. Strange (Univ. of South Florida) will finish digging the peristyle building and its bath and glassmaking installation.
A national park, the site is open to visitors for a fee from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Guides are available at the park.
(See the following BAR articles: Ehud Netzer and Zeev Weiss, “New Mosaic Art from Sepphoris,” BAR 18:06; Richard A. Batey, “Sepphoris—An Urban Portrait of Jesus,” BAR 18:03; and “Mosaic Masterpiece Dazzles Sepphoris Volunteers,” BAR 14:04.)
Tel Tamar
Tel Tamar marked the southern boundary of Solomon’s kingdom, according to Dr. Rudolph Cohen of the Israel Antiquities Authority, director of the excavation at the site. Located about 40 miles south of the Dead Sea, the city served as a major fortress guarding the border and as a tax station for caravans traveling from the east to the Mediterranean. The Bible’s first mention of the city occurs in Genesis, which speaks of “the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar” (14:7). It also appears on the list of cities in which King Solomon carried out construction (1 Kings 9:18) and as the southern boundary of the post-Exilic Israel that Ezekiel prophesied (Ezekiel 47:18–19, Ezekiel 48:28).
The city’s Solomonic gates are among the best preserved in Israel, and the city walls are the most massive of any city in Israel except Jerusalem. Other discoveries in past seasons include pottery from the time of King Josiah (seventh century B.C.), ovens, Roman baths and, most important, the seal of the southern kingdom of Judah.
The Israel Antiquities Authority has decided to completely uncover this city and then reconstruct it as a national park.
The site is open to visitors from Sunday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Tell el-‘Umeiri
When Jephthah subdued the Ammonites, “he smote them … as far as Abel-keramim” (Judges 11:33), whose ruins today constitute Tell el-‘Umeiri, a site in Jordan, seven miles south of Amman and about 37 miles east of Jerusalem. Occupied from about 3000 B.C. to nearly 500 B.C., the site has been linked with the Ammonite king Baalis (Jeremiah 40:14) and with Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 B.C.). During the Biblical period, the Ammonites used the city as an administrative center near their southern border with the Moabites.
In past seasons, excavators have found a seal impression bearing Baalis’s name, dating from the end of the seventh century B.C.; a jar handle stamped with the cartouche of Thutmose III; a Late Iron Age acropolis and citadel; and an 11th-century B.C. casemate defense system with a moat. Next season, director Larry G. Herr (Atlantic Union College) will continue excavating the Iron Age defenses and adjacent buildings inside the city wall.
The deadline for submission of security forms is March 15.
The site is open to visitors on weekdays during the season, but an appointment is preferred. Guided tours are available.
(See Larry G. Herr, “What Ever Happened to the Ammonites?” BAR 19:06, and “The Search for Biblical Heshbon,” BAR 19:06.)
Yavneh-Yam
The site of ancient Jamnia, Yavneh-Yam lies on the Mediterranean coast, nine miles south of Tel Aviv. This maritime stronghold of Hellenized Phoenicians played a significant role in the second-century B.C. Maccabean Revolt, the Jewish struggle to free themselves from their Greek rulers. The Jewish leader Judas Maccabaeus pursued the army of Gorgias to the plain of Jamnia (1 Maccabees 4:15) and burned the harbor of Jamnia and the fleet that was in it (2 Maccabees 12:8–9). In other incidents, Gorgias defeated a Jewish army that was marching on Jamnia (1 Maccabees 5:58–61), and Apollonius, governor of Coele-Syria, assembled in Jamnia the army that would be defeated by Jonathan at Azotus (1 Maccabees 10:69). The Book of Judith (2:28) also mentions the city as one of several terrorized by Nebuchadnezzar’s general, Holofernes.
Two seasons of excavation have revealed remains from the Hellenistic and Persian periods. Among the finds were sherds of Greek red-figure pottery and a statuette of a girl playing a string instrument. In 1994, director Moshe Fischer (Tel Aviv Univ.) will excavate a Byzantine bath house and buildings from the Hellenistic and Persian periods.
The site is open to visitors, and guided tours are available.
Childhood memories: summers by the sea, splashing in the waves, digging castles in the sand with elaborate moats and tall walls of sand and seaweed. You found countless buried treasures. Every seashell or shiny pebble—a clam shell was good, a scallop better—seemed a tiny miracle.
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