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014

Changing of the Guard in Israel

Archaeologists Welcome Election Results

Members of Israel’s archaeology community are taking a wait-and-see attitude in the wake of the recent national election, though they expressed satisfaction with Ehud Barak’s landslide victory over Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister.

Archaeologists have chafed in recent years over the increased influence of religious parties in archaeological matters. “It all will depend on what kind of government is put together,” said Moshe Kochavi, chairman of the Archaeological Council, which advises the director of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

A key factor will be who will head the Ministry of Education, which oversees the IAA. “We didn’t have problems with the education ministry, just certain factions of the ultra-religious [within it],” Kochavi said. “If they will be in a position where they can continue to attack archaeology, then the situation will be bad. But nobody knows, not even Barak.”

Kochavi noted that for archaeologists the threat came from the United Torah Judaism party, which is composed of ultra-Orthodox Jews of Eastern European ancestry and whose supporters have protested—sometimes violently—at excavations that they accuse of disturbing ancient Jewish graves.

“They are still strong, but they are a small group, so if [Barak] does not need [the religious parties to form a coalition]—and I hope he does not—the government will accede less to religious interests,” Kochavi said.

Hebrew University’s Ephraim Stern was more emphatic over the election results. “We are happy the nightmare has come to an end!” said Stern. “There will now be enlightened people coming.” Until now, Stern said, the Ministry of Education had been under the strict control of the religious parties.

The Shas party, which consists mainly of Orthodox Jews of North African and Middle Eastern descent, will be the third largest party in the new Knesset (Israel’s parliament).

“Now we hope the education ministry will be put in hands of more balanced people, who will work according to the law of the government and not according to religious law,” said Stern.

Stern said that while one or two of the rabbis recently appointed to the Archaeology Council were “inoffensive,” the other two or three “did not belong” there and had been appointed for political and religious reasons only (see “Rabbis Added to Israel’s Archaeological Council,” Strata, BAR 25:02). He said he hoped that when their terms were up in three years they would “disappear” from the council.

Hebrew University professor Amihai Mazar also expressed hope that the ultrareligious factions would have less power in the government and in archaeological matters. “The power of the religious will be less, and that will be good for archaeology,” he said.

Rabbi Israel Rosen, one of the recently appointed members of the Archaeology Council, said he hoped Barak would follow a middle path not only in the political arena but also in archaeological matters. “We have to start to work together for more understanding,” said Rosen.

Rosen expressed hope that the next minister of education would be neither ultra-Orthodox nor anti-religious. “If he is religious, then he would have veto power and it would be more difficult; he would do things by force. That would continue the war. If he is from the Barak school of speaking together, we will be able to find the middle way,” Rosen said.

Archaeologist Ronny Reich, of the IAA and the University of Haifa, noted that more than a hundred IAA staffers were laid off over the past year owing to budget cuts by the previous Ministry of Education. Reich, who is feeling optimistic, said he hoped things would improve with the new administration. For now, he said, “the past has a future.”

015

Cave Yields Treasures

5,000-Year-Old Burial Objects Provide Glimpse of Many Cultures

After three years of painstaking work, archaeologists have finished restoring hundreds of objects discovered in a Chalcolithic era (4500–3200 B.C.) burial cave.

The cave was unearthed in 1995 when a bulldozer accidentally broke through its ceiling during construction of a road in the Upper Galilee village of Peqi’in, located on the slopes of Mt. Meron, Israel’s tallest mountain. Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) discovered tens of thousands of pottery fragments strewn about the 50-foot-long cave—apparently the work of ancient grave robbers who vandalized the cave more than 5,000 years ago, not long after the final interment.

The chance discovery proved to be one of the most important finds in Israel in years. In 1996, restorers began to piece together the fragments. They have now restored 300 objects, including painted ossuaries (stone burial boxes) with three-dimensional human and animal features; incense burners, including one standing 3.3 feet tall and intricately decorated with three-dimensional human faces; and sculpted, purple-dyed jugs in the shape of human heads (for full coverage of the finds, see Zvi Gal et al., “Death in Peqi’in,” Archaeology Odyssey, Fall 1998).

The grave goods represent cultures from the Golan Heights, the Sharon Plain and even as far away as the northern Negev. Because of the damage caused by the ancient robbers, it is impossible to determine whether each regional group had a separate burial location within the cave, according to Zvi Gal, the IAA’s northern region archaeologist.

Gal noted that the finds reflect a high level of technical skill and cultural development, contrary to the opinion held by most scholars of the local cultures of the time. Despite the primitive tools and methods at their disposal, the artists were able to render human figures and facial expressions, he added.

“This is the first time we have discovered burial boxes with two- and three-dimensional sculpted heads. Every head is different and represents a different person,” Gal said. “This gives [evidence of] ancestor worship. Until now, there was no proof of this.”

The finds also seem to indicate that Chalcolithic societies were not egalitarian, as previously believed. “We see here that some people were buried in the most sophisticated of ossuaries, while others were just put to the side of the cave or in a less attractive jar. This is the thinking of a hierarchical society,” Gal said.

Researchers have yet to determine why people from the Negev desert brought their dead all the way to the Galilee for interment.

The Israel Museum has expressed interest in exhibiting the objects, and it appears that once research is completed, they will find at least a temporary home there.

The IAA hopes to turn the Peqi’in cave into a museum by the year 2000. But tourists will not be allowed to enter the narrow cave. Instead, a periscope will be set up to give the visitors a view of the interior.

Manna from Heaven

Or from Your Grocer’s Freezer

First there was Kamut Krisp cereal, profiled in BAR as “a way of getting in touch with ancient Egyptian civilization” (“Breakfast of Pharaohs,” Strata, BAR 25:02). Now comes Manna Bread, the latest foodstuff from Nature’s Path, a Canadian health-food company. The manufacturer says that “Manna Bread is made from organic sprouted grain and is based on a 2,000 year old recipe attributed to the Essenes, a mystical community which once thrived near the Dead Sea.”

Curiously, no mention is made of the daily bread granted by God to the wandering Israelites in the desert—possibly because some scholars, seeking a natural explanation for the phenomenon, have identified manna as an excretion produced by two types of scale insects. Others have proposed that it may have been a species of gum resin produced by various flowering trees, such as the tamarisk bush. While the Bible describes manna as a flakelike frost with the taste of a honey wafer (Exodus 16:14, 31; Numbers 11:9), the makers of Manna Bread describe it as “delightfully moist and rich tasting … deliciously sweet [in] flavor.” Readers will have to decide for themselves whether it is “heaven’s grain” in a box.

016

Just Dive In

Underwater Parks to Feature Antiquities

Ancient treasures, protected by the Mediterranean waters for thousands of years, have become vulnerable to curious scuba divers eager to take home a special souvenir from the Israeli shores.

To combat the problem, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has joined forces with the Israeli Scuba Diving Association to create two underwater antiquities parks. The parks will provide a unique diving experience and educate scuba divers about the importance of protecting the country’s underwater antiquities.

“In the parks there will be items that are so big they will be difficult to steal. We will also fasten them so they can’t be taken,” Ya’acov Sharvit, deputy director of the Marine Archaeology Branch of the IAA, told BAR.

The two parks will be located off the shores of Ashkelon and Haifa and will include only items native to each area, including anchors dating back to the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1550 B.C.) and finds from shipwrecks that would be damaged were they to be salvaged from the sea, Sharvit said.

The Ashkelon park will include objects not normally found underwater—marble pillars, capitals and millstones—which fell into the sea as the shore eroded following the creation of the city’s modern marina.

Ashkelon’s underwater park is expected to open first, in about a year.

An earlier attempt to create an underwater park, at Caesarea, was unsuccessful because the waters were too shallow to protect the artifacts from the elements. The parks at Ashkelon and Haifa will be in deeper waters. Sharvit explained that water is one of the best conservators of ancient objects because it provides a stable environment in terms of heat, light and humidity.

“We find things such as 8,000-year-old seeds and wood which are in fantastic condition,” he said. “Metals reach a certain level of damage due to exposure to the water and then stop.”

The entrances and exits to the parks will be marked, Sharvit said, but the IAA does not yet know how it will label items without causing corrosion or damage to the natural surroundings. It might simply issue a plastic map that divers can take with them underwater.

“The main idea is to show the objects in their natural surroundings. It’s not like seeing them in a museum,” Sharvit added. Plus, he said, the parks will have an additional advantage: “There will be no entrance tickets, and they may be the only free museums in Israel.”

Shroud to Go on View Again

Questions over Authenticity Matter Little

Few relics occasion as much controversy as the Shroud of Turin, the roll of cloth some believe bears the image of the crucified Jesus.

When the shroud went on display in spring 1998 for the first time in 20 years, BAR weighed in on the centuries-old controversy over its authenticity. We reported that although radiocarbon tests have dated the cloth to 1260–1390 A.D., the depiction of what appears to be a crucified man seemed too accurate to have been the handiwork of a medieval artist (“Remains to Be Seen,” Strata, BAR 24:04).

However, Gary Vikan, director of the Walters Art Gallery, in Baltimore, and adjunct professor of art at Johns Hopkins University, and Walter C. McCrone, director emeritus of the McCrone Research Institute in Chicago, disagreed. In our November/December 1998 issue (see “Made By Human Hands: Debunking The Shroud,” BAR 24:06), McCrone concluded that the shroud’s shadowy image was produced not by Jesus’ blood and sweat but by a 14th-century artist using paint. Noting the ubiquity of relic forgery in western Europe, Vikan found no reason to object to the scientific—and historical—evidence that points to the shroud’s medieval provenance.

Nonetheless, the shroud remains an object of veneration. From August 26 to October 26, 2000, the relic, which has been sequestered for decades at a time, will be exhibited daily for hour-long visits in the Cathedral of Turin in Italy. Certain hours will be set aside for visits by disabled and sick viewers. Admission is free, donations are welcome and reservations are recommended. Contact the Piemonte Tourist Board by calling (011) 39–11-562–7075; website

017

Israel Museum Exhibit

Putting the Lid on Caiaphas

Museum officials in Jerusalem have had to seal shut the stone burial box of Caiaphas, the high priest who interrogated Jesus and handed him over to Pontius Pilate for trial. The box, called an ossuary, has been on display for several years and will be a centerpiece of a new exhibit on early Christianity, slated to coincide with millennial celebrations in the Holy Land next year.

The ossuary was discovered by accident in 1990 when a tractor plunged into a cave near Jerusalem’s Hill of Evil Counsel, where priests gathered to plot Jesus’ death. In keeping with Jewish custom, the bones found in the ossuary, believed to belong to six individuals, were reburied after excavation.

Christian pilgrims, overwhelmed by close proximity to an artifact directly associated with Jesus, frequently pray in front of the ossuary, and some have even tried to sneak a peak inside the box, prompting museum officials to seal the ossuary. “The lid was broken several times,” said exhibit curator David Mevorah. “We have now had to fortify it with epoxy resin because people coming here … try to open it and see if the bones or the relics are still here.” (They are not.)

The burial box, adorned with floral designs hewn in its limestone exterior, is exhibited next to a dedication tablet from a structure unearthed at Caesarea that mentions Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea who condemned Jesus to death. The ossuary and the tablet will be joined later this year by a replica of the sole artifact confirming the practice of crucifixion—an ankle bone pierced by a large iron nail.

BAS Group Forms in Baltimore

From BASONOVA to BASOBALT

Do you live in or near Charm City? If you do, you will soon have a chance to meet with fellow Biblical archaeology enthusiasts in your area. Edwin L. Gitow, president of the highly successful 200-member Biblical Archaeology Society of Northern Virginia (BASONOVA), has announced the formation of a sister group in Baltimore.

The new group, to be known as BASOBALT, will be organized along the same lines as its older counterpart. Members will meet monthly in area restaurants to enjoy dinner and to hear slide lectures by leading specialists from the mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Those not interested in the dinner can attend the lecture only. Sunday brunches are also planned.

The nonsectarian group will be devoted to bringing the world of the Bible to life. BASONOVA events have included a presentation on “Battles of the Bible” by Colonel James Bartholomees, director of the Theory of War at the U.S. War College, which studies the tactics of ancient warriors, and a talk on the Dead Sea Scrolls by BAR editor Hershel Shanks.

An Egyptian falcon—rather than a Baltimore Oriole—will serve as BASOBALT’s emblem. For more information, write to BASONOVA, PO Box 22174, Alexandria, VA 22304; call 703–370-7381; fax 703–370-9637.

Mark Your Calendar

Seminars

BAS St. Olaf Summer Vacation Seminar

July 11–17, 1999

St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota

Participants will study the Bible and archaeology with Bart Ehrman, associate professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who will lecture on Jesus as apocalyptic prophet, and P. Kyle McCarter, of Johns Hopkins University, who will lecture on the history, religion and literature of ancient Israel. St. Olaf’s 350-acre wooded campus offers the quiet charm of a rural community yet lies only 35 miles from the excitement of the Twin Cities.