BARlines
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Dig Opportunities
Bethsaida
Is Bethsaida—the hometown of the apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip, and the site where Jesus fed the five thousand—one place or two? Volunteers can have a crack at this archaeological mystery by joining the Bethsaida dig, scheduled for this summer by the Golan Research Institute and Haifa University.
Known as the “place of the nets,” Bethsaida almost certainly lay on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee in New Testament times. But whereas John’s gospel places it in the Galilee (John 12:21), to the west of the Jordan River, other sources, including the historian Josephus, put it in the non-Jewish lands to the east of the Jordan. Because the other evangelists seem ambivalent, modern scholars resolve the confusion by postulating that there were in fact two Bethsaidas in relatively close proximity.
From June 16 through July 15, 1988, archaeologists intend to carry out a regional study of the whole Bethsaida plain to explore the two contending sites. The participation fee for volunteers, who will be accommodated in a youth hostel, will be announced shortly.
Contact: Dr. Rami Arav, Golan Research Institute, Qasrin P.O. Box 97–12900, Israel.
Tel Mevorakh
The ancient identity of Tel Mevorakh, a two-acre site on Israel’s Carmel coast, remains a mystery. However, Mevorakh’s proximity to Tel Dor, a major site to the north, indicates that it was a “daughter” settlement of the larger city. Work at Mevorakh therefore should provide an important regional context for Dor’s political and cultural history. Previous excavations at Mevorakh have linked its history to Dor from at least the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1550 B.C.) through the Hellenistic periods (332–37 B.C.). These earlier excavations uncovered a Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 B.C.) “sanctuary,” an administrative center from the time of the Israelites, and agricultural estates from the Hellenistic and Persian periods.
The coming season’s work, from July 5 through August 12, will aim at clarifying the nature of the site’s earliest period of occupation, at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age. Clues from previous work suggest that a Middle Bronze Canaanite fortress or temple complex awaits discovery.
The cost to volunteers is $1,250, which includes room and board (dormitory-style, with a swimming pool available), lectures, up to six hours of academic credit, and weekend field trips. There is also a nonrefundable application fee of $25.
Contact: David Merling, Assistant Professor of Archaeology and the History of Antiquity, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104.
Shuni
Shuni, the site of the Roman theater known as Maimas (used for water festivals), will be the object of excavation in July and August. Volunteers will camp at the site (equipped with toilets and showers), located four miles northeast of Caesarea Maritima, and receive room and board for $15 per day. The minimum stay is two weeks.
Contact: Eli Shenhav, J.N.F., 11 Zvi Shapira St., Tel Aviv, Israel.
BAR Board
McCarter and Kershaw Make News
Two members of BAR’s Editorial Advisory Board, P. Kyle McCarter, Jr. and Norma Kershaw, are making news.
Johns Hopkins University announced, in a recent newsletter, McCarter’s appointment as associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. McCarter, who has served three years as W. F. Albright Professor at the university, expects that his new responsibilities will enable him to have a major influence on Johns Hopkins’s humanities programs on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. A frequent faculty member at BAS travel-study programs, McCarter will teach for BAS this summer at Oxford University.
Norma Kershaw will deliver, on behalf of the Archaeology faculty, the second of this spring’s Hofstra University Lectures. Kershaw’s effectiveness as Lecturer at Hofstra University’s College of Continuing Education, in Hempstead, New York, won her last year’s Conger-Patterson Distinguished Teaching Award. Her forthcoming lecture, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the state of Israel, entitled “Jerusalem the Golden,” is scheduled for Monday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m., on the first floor of the Hofstra Cultural Center Library.
Chapter News
New BAS Chapter and Recent Changes
Since we last reported to you on the activities of the BAS chapters, a new chapter has formed in Houston, Texas. The Houston Metropolitan Chapter meets the second Monday of every other month. If you are interested in attending meetings, 006contact the chapter president, T. A. Pearson, 8202 Howard Drive, Houston, TX 77017, tel. 713–484-3919.
James Powell would like to hear from people wishing to help organize a new chapter in Memphis, Tennessee. An organizational meeting will be held on April 7, at 6:30 p.m., at Jeffrey’s Restaurant, in Memphis. The meeting will feature an illustrated lecture by Owen Guy on the oil lamps of the Holy Land. Interested persons should call Mr. Powell at 901–726-9171.
The Albany, New York, BAS chapter was inadvertently left off our last update. This group meets once a month, and recent activities include films, speakers, and trips to the Harvard Semitic Museum and to the Jewish Museum in New York City. For more information, contact Ms. Genevieve T. Ertelt, Treasurer, at 229 Old Miskayuna Road, Natham, NY 12110.
The Lancaster-Lebanon chapter recently changed its name to the Central Pennsylvania chapter. Michael True, the administrative director, writes that the meetings are held on the third Thursday of every other month, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Evangelical School of Theology in Myerstown. Yearly dues are $12 per person, $18 per couple. Videotaped meetings since January 1986 are available for rental. If you wish to attend these meetings or rent a tape, contact Mr. True at the Evangelical School of Theology, 121 S. College Street, Myerstown, PA 17967, tel. 717–866-5775.
We encourage BAR subscribers, armchair archaeologists and other interested parties to consider starting BAS chapters in areas where none currently exists. Smaller metropolitan areas, even rural areas, can have as many enthusiastic, amateur Biblical archaeologists as New York City and Los Angeles. Anita Hussey, secretary of the Mid-Ohio Valley BAS chapter, told us: “Although we do not have a large metropolitan area from which to draw people, there is enough interest in this area to warrant a chapter’s existence.” This past summer BAS even received a letter from a reader in Yugoslavia, who wished to start a chapter in Marusevec!
In addition to the BAS chapters noted above, the following chapters will welcome anyone who is interested in participating in their activities:
Greater Buffalo: Rev. John Fasano, P.O. Box 223, Elma, NY 14059; (716) 652–0886 (h), (716) 652–8966 (w).
Los Angeles: Lorraine Schultz, 6355 North Oak Avenue, #18, Temple City, CA 91780; (818) 287–7515.
Manhattan: Edwin Gitow, 401 Broadway, Room 805, New York, NY 10013; (212) 226–3400.
Maryland: Rev. Roy Stewart, P.O. Box 260, Oxon Hill, MD 20745; (301) 567–1918 or 567–6503.
West Virginia: Anita Hussey, Route 1, Box 297-A, Washington, WV 26181.
Western Pennsylvania: Francine K. Lefkowitz, 5514 Woodmont Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15217; (412) 521–6754.
Corrections
In “Ancient Chorazin Comes Back to Life,” BAR 13:05, by Ze’ev Yeivin, fragment no. 3 in the reconstruction is misplaced. According to the author, it “belongs to the western niche, for the Holy Scriptures, at a point that cannot be seen in the drawing, below the architrave; the decorated part of this fragment fits fragment no. 1.” In addition, the Church Father Eusebius actually died in the year 339.
In
In “The Gigantic Dimensions of the Visionary Temple in the Temple Scroll,” BAR 13:06, by Magen Broshi, the plan of the temple was accidentally rotated 90 degrees. The temple should appear as a horizontal bar in the left half of the inner court.
Dig Opportunities
Bethsaida
Is Bethsaida—the hometown of the apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip, and the site where Jesus fed the five thousand—one place or two? Volunteers can have a crack at this archaeological mystery by joining the Bethsaida dig, scheduled for this summer by the Golan Research Institute and Haifa University.
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