My friends Randy and Joy in Hezekiah's Tunnel

My Alaska friends Randy and Joy Thompson in Hezekiah's Tunnel.  One last trip through before I return home on Tuesday.

Walk to Bethlehem

Got up early one morning this week and decided to walk to Bethlehem.  It's not all that far, about 10-12K from where I'm staying. I didn't go through the checkpoint, just turned around at the Wall. I was back at the Mamilla Mall having coffee and danish by 9:45.

Sukkot in Jerusalem

The festival of Sukkot commemorates the time when the Exodus generation lived in the desert; a time when they had no permanent homes to live in. The Bible calls it the Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of the Ingathering, the Feast at the Turn of the Year, or just "The Feast." This festival lasts seven days and immediately follows Yom Kippur, a day of repentance and reflection. Later, this feast became associated with the giving of the Law to Moses and even with Solomon's consecration of the temple.

One of the customs is to build a sukkah (booth) on your roof, balcony, or porch. Basically a sukkah has to have at least three sides made of nearly anything. The roof, I surmise, has to be made of something organic. There has to be more shade than space open to the sun, but the roof has to be open to the sky. This sukkah is to be decorated. It's customary to eat and sleep in the sukkah during the festival.  If it is cold and rainy, you can go indoors. The point is not to make life miserable but to remember one's roots.

I took a walk through a nearby neighborhood of Jerusalem to get a few photos of Sukkah's.  I saw sukkas made of plywood, shower doors, tarps...you name it.

The last day of the feast is Simchat Torah, which celebrates Moses' receiving of the Law. It also ends the prior year's cycle of Torah reading and begins a new one. The photo above is a pile of lulavs that are waved toward the east, south, west, and north, above and below.  I went to the western wall plaza to see what was going on and saw lots of people carrying mattresses around for their first night's sleep. Virtually no one was at the Western Wall as you can see. I tried to be considerate, as you are not supposed to take pics on the plaza during high holy days.

One last picture of an apartment building with various kinds of sukkas on the porches.

Who Would have Known?

Full page ad in the paper. Who would have known that the Messiah is in Tel Aviv?

Early morning Anderson hike

Went on an early morning Anderson hike today. For some reason no one would go with me. I found a few friends that followed me up the wadi.  If you squint you can see the Old City and the Dome of the Rock in the background. This is a sight you can only get in East Jerusalem. Nice contrasts.

Sunrise and Moon sets

The days are getting shorter here, but not much cooler. Here is a pic of the sunrise over the Mt. of Olives and the moon ducking behind the Eastern Wall of the Old City.

Religious Demographic Changes in Jerusalem

When I first came to Israel in 1997 my impression was that the country was predominantly secular. At that time four out of every five immigrants were from Russia and these immigrants had little interest in religion. So in my classes, I've given the impression that things haven't changed all that much.  I was wrong. I realize Jerusalem is its own unique case, but I've been reading a lot here about the profound changes in religious demographics.  There are about 800,000 people in Jerusalem. About 35% are Muslim Palestinians, 31% secular Jews, 31% ultra-orthodox Jews, and 3% Christians and other affiliations. But the fastest-growing segment of the population is the ultra-orthodox Jews. About 65% of the school kids in Jerusalem now are from ultra orthodox families. You know the 18th century Eastern European black suits with the big black hats,  hair side locks for the men and the scarves/wigs for the women . . . and lots of 21st century double-wide baby strollers! This is creating some tensions as secular Israelis are leaving Jerusalem, to the tune of about 20,000 in the last seven years, to go to other parts of the country.  I've been following the politics a little in Haaretz and Time Magazine where the recent government coalition fell apart over the draft. In Israel today, all men serve 3 years and women serve 2 years in the military. The ultra-orthodox are exempt from having to serve and are even subsidized by the state to study Torah. That was my biggest surprise. Unemployment among orthodox men is well over 50% as they receive financial incentives from  the state to study at the Yeshivas. So this summer, there were several proposals requiring some kind of government service, but all of them blew apart. There's also pressure on businesses to close on the Sabbath, to take women's pictures off public billboards, and even to have separate seats in the back of the bus for women, as well as separate rail cars in the above ground rail. Some secular Jews are up in arms over the issue, so much so that some of the tensions between the Jews and Arabs have been moved to the back burner. So to my students, when I said that Israel was much more secular than they typically imagine, at least for Jerusalem, that is no longer the case.

Excavation Progress over 3 Months

Since I am just doing archaeological work at Givati one week a month, it is possible to see the progress of the excavation over time in the area where I am working. While I'm playing hookey the rest of the team continues with the excavation. So here are four pictures. The picture above was from the second week of June. You can just barely see the Roman wall vertically up from the bottom of the picture. Also a cistern from the Ummayad period in the foreground and a pit toward the right. A pit in the middle filled with buckets. Any of the pictures can be enlarged by clicking them.

The picture here is one month later, the second week of July. Notice a few things. You can see that the wall  that is just barely exposed in the first picture now is more pronounced, plus there's another wall perpendicular to it.  One of the last things we did was to remove all the stones in the lower left portion of the second picture so we could excavate below them. They were just sitting on fill and not part of any structure.

 Take a look at the bottom picture first.  Both are from August 6. It shows progress and the walls are more pronounced. The picture above is from the other direction and shows several Roman walls and the completed excavation of the Abbasid cistern. It is plastered and has a drain going into it from the top.  As you can see these are pretty massive walls, but it doesn't appear to be a public building.

Now I'm posting another pic from my September week of digging. In addition to the Roman wall, you can now see a wall of huge stones going across the pic that the Roman Wall was built over. We're not sure yet but think this is from the Second Temple Period. In fact, there are several walls emerging that need sorting out.

This place is way too religious!

Ok, this place is way too religious!  My boss told me to get some aerobic exercise so I trucked up the Mt. of Olives today. Since all the food shops are closed in East Jerusalem because of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, my goal was to make a big circle to the Old City over to the Jewish quarter and get a nice big shwarma. (He never said I couldn't mix exercise and food).  So, up hill and down dale, I finally get to the Jewish quarter, and everything is closed! Big fast commemorating the destruction of the temple. (No, it's not because Romney is here). Not to be discouraged, I went over to the Christian quarter, and...you guessed it...its Sunday and everything is closed!

"I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today..."

My Sabbatical Project

Since, it has been so blasted hot, I've been spending a lot of time at several libraries. My favorite is the

École Biblique et Archéologique Française just around the corner. The École is a world class theological library.  I'm working on an Old Testament Theology project, and have been making great progress.  Since I'm by myself, I have lots of pockets of time to chip away a piece at a time. Looks like it will have 13 chapters and I hope to have a draft done by the end of August.

I'm basically tracing the theme of blessings and curses through major seams in the Old Testament's story.

200,000 attend Ramadan Prayers

About a week ago the month-long Muslim sacred fast of Ramadan began. Ramadan is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and celebrates the giving of the Qur'an to Muhammed. During Ramadan, devout Muslims don't eat from sunrise to sunset. Like so much of Islam, there is a "system" for working this out. About 2:15 in the morning drummers walk through the neighborhood to wake people up who want to eat before sunrise. Then about 4:30 a very loud cannon goes off about two blocks from the Albright, where I am staying. This is loud enough to wake you up (believe me, I know) and it lets people know the fast has begun. No food, drink, cigarettes, until sunset. Pregnant women and those with medical conditions do not fast. During the day (except Friday) most of the non-food shops are open, but not any of the "fast food" shops where you can grab a quick bite. Usually by the afternoon, some markets are open where you can buy food to take home to cook for dinner. But you can't eat on the street (like I said, believe me...) and can't eat until about 7:45 in the evening, after the cannon goes off again.

I thought Ramadan was this serious time of contemplation, but it is really a celebration. I'm told during Ramadan prices are higher because people actually consume more; they just eat before and after sunrise and sunset. After dusk, lots of shops provide Ramadan pancakes, special breads, and special juices to help break the fast. Street noise and honking and fireworks well past midnight each night. Two nights ago we went to see some new friends in the Old City and broke their fast with them. We had this nice big platter of baked ground beef, onions, whole garlics, hot peppers, and other spicy stuff. Everyone stands around the platter, uses the Ramadan bread as spoon, knife, and fork and digs in. Yum! Made the mistake of  having a nice cup of Turkish coffee after, so was up past 2am.

Fridays are crazy. And I mean crazy! Yesterday, they estimated that 200,000 entered the Old City for prayers. On the first Friday of Ramadan the police had the whole neighborhood blocked off. No vehicles could get in. Many come to this area of town to walk into the Old City to the Al Aqse Mosque for prayers. Swarms of people. I noticed yesterday that the neighborhood was open, cars and buses everywhere...lots of honking and crowds. Police and soldiers around to well into the early morning hours.

Being a good Baptist...I'm eating all day! And last night at church (I go to church on Friday evenings here...a very cool habit, by the way) we had...MEXICAN FOOD!  We ate for about an hour and a half and then had church for about an hour and a half. Lots of fun.

Wine and Olives

So! I was thinking of the story of Gideon in Judges 6:11. It says that Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress so he could hide it from his enemies who were oppressing his people. Now this particular winepress [Jezreel] was built a millenium after Gideon, but you can see the general idea. It was quite a mess but we cleaned it up just enough for a photo. If you enlarge the picture you can make out the Byzantine pottery on the left on the side of the wall, the mosaic floor, and the round depression to collect the wine. So you can see how someone could work there and not be easily detected. Not exactly the best place to thresh wheat, but if you are trying to hide, it works.

This olive press was found in excavations under the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. So today, when you go in and out the Damascus Gate, you are about 25 meters above the ancient Roman Street from the first century. From what I understand, the best olive oil comes from the seeds so they have to be squished by a heavy object.  If you use the same thing on grapes, the seeds make the wine bitter. So the rule of thumb is...feet for grapes, stones for olives. This particular olive press dates to the time of Hadrian. He's the guy who kicked all the Jews out of Jerusalem in AD 135 and rebuilt Jerusalem into a Roman city: Aelia Capitolina.


Here's a pic of the Roman Street under the Damascus Gate.  Lots of excavation done underground in Jerusalem for obvious reasons.

"Down to Gehenna"

"Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, He travels the fastest who travels alone" (Kipling). Yesterday, I did just that. I left early (alone) before anyone else was up and went on a long four hour hike before it got too warm. We are having a heat wave this week. So I wandered down to the Valley of Hinnom (Greek, Gehenna). This pretty little valley, unfortunately, doesn't have the best reputation. In Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, it is an accursed place, a gate to the underworld and a valley of torment. Where the Hinnom and Kidron Valley's meet, it's the lowest elevation of the city, so there's a sharp contrast between these two valleys and the Temple Mount well above them. 2 Kgs 23:10 sharply condemns people sacrificing their own children here to the god, Molech. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah both promise that Molech himself will be burned there. Indeed, there are a few accounts in the Bible of Judah's kings taking the images and idols of pagan gods and burning them there near where the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys meet. Also, there's a Christian tradition that this is near the place where Judas killed himself. Jesus famously said that if there's a part of your body that causes you to sin, cut it off! It's better to enter heaven with a missing member of your body than your whole body be cast into Gehenna.

The valley is full of old rock-hewn tombs like this one.

Just like Home...or is it?

Take a close look at this picture. For my birthday today a group of us took the Arab bus to Bethlehem for a few hours.  Just like home...almost.

Religious Ambiguity and Faith-Based Absurdity

Israel is a place of political and religious ambiguity. I took a trip to Hebron yesterday to see the Cave of the Patriarchs. That's where, according to longstanding tradition, the Cave of Machpelah is located where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah are buried. Hebron is in the West Bank. The top picture shows the cenotaphs of Isaac and Rebekah. For centuries the Cave of the Patriarchs has been located under a large mosque built on Herodian and Byzantine remains from much earlier periods. In 1994, a religious orthodox Jewish zealot entered the mosque there, shot up the place and killed 29 people, and injured 125 others. He was beat to death by the crowd who were praying in the mosque. The mosque was closed for almost a year and when it opened, the building had been divided into two sections: a synagogue and a mosque. So Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah are on the mosque side, and Jacob and Leah are on the synagogue side. There are two separate entrances and parts of the Old City are completely closed, while other parts are cordoned off into Arab and Jewish sections. There are about 350 Jewish settlers, mainly from Brooklyn, NY, who live there among an Arab population of about 350,000.  This mural demonstrates the tensions.  I'm not positive but it looks like it originally said, "Free Palestine," and that has been painted over and on the dove it says, "Free Israel." I think it was Mark Twain who called this place a literally disillusioning place of unkempt, faith-based absurdity.

Sites with the Grand Old Man of Syro-Palestinian Archaeology

This week I visited several sites, including tell es Safi (biblical Gath) and tell Qeiyafa with the "grand old man" of biblical archaeology, Bill Dever. Both  are very important sites along the Judean/Philistine border. We also stopped by a couple of other"cool" places along the way. Bill gave a running monologue all along the trip about his experiences and about the general geography of the area. I took lots of notes.

2 Kings 12:17 states that Hazael, king of Syria went up against Gath, fought against it, and took it. In several places at Tell es Safi  there is clear evidence of a ninth century B.C. destruction layer like the one in this picture. There's no clear evidence who destroyed this city from the archaeological evidence alone, but the pieces seem to fit. On the 9th century floor were literally hundreds of pottery vessels like the one above. Last summer they found a horned altar there.  I'll post a link below.

Haaretz article on the Horned Altar

Qeiyafa is an important site, especially in light of the chronology debates of the last 20 years. It is a centralized border outpost that joins a string of similar outposts along the Judean/Philistine border. Here is the 4 chambered city gate and the Valley of Elah (of David and Goliath fame) below.

Surveying and Skiing in Jezreel

Jezreel...a notorious place in the Old Testament. The Israelite king Ahab pouted over Naboth's vineyard here and his wife Jezebel saw to it that her husband "inherited" it. Here Jezebel was killed when her own servants threw her out of the palace window. The dogs devoured her body before anyone got around to burying it. In Jezreel, Jehu slaughtered the seventy sons of King Ahab, an act that Hosea the prophet condemns explicitly. Yet it is also a beautiful place. The book of 1 Samuel mentions a fountain/spring which lies at the foot of the Jezreel Valley floor, a lush fertile expanse that extends east to west nearly all the way across Israel. The valley floor is below sea level, but Jezreel sits several hundred meters above the valley floor.

The Jezreel Expedition hopes to begin excavations next May. This week I assisted their staff in a survey of the area to document and plot various features like cisterns/silos, wine presses, olive presses, graves, buildings, etc. We did no excavation but identified many features that show promise for future work. The two pictures here are of a cistern or silo that is about 5 meters deep.  These silos all go thru the bedrock and then flare out underneath in the soft limestone.  Over 100 of these are on the site in all kinds of conditions dating to 9-10th century B.C. We had to walk carefully! I didn't get to enter any of them.

Jezreel Expedition Website

And for you Alaskans, yes...they have a ski area open year around. You have to see it to believe people ski in 100 degree weather.

Jerusalem at Night

Jerusalem is beautiful at night. You can click these pics to enlarge. Here is a photo of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount at night. The Western Wall is the wall King Herod built beginning around 20 B.C. to support the temple platform that he was renovating. This is not the wall of the Jewish temple itself, but the wall that supported Herod's enlarged platform.

While this picture is very interesting, but even more interesting is the stuff in the foreground of the picture. Excavations taking part in the Western Wall Plaza. I'm not sure what's up there yet but I'll find out.

Scenic View of the Old City and Work on a Catalog Room

I couldn't pass up this photo from the roof of the Austrian Hospice in the Old City. The Dome of the Rock is in the background. This is one of the better views of the city.

Where does excavated pottery go when it is removed from the field? Some goes to "pottery hell" and unceremoniously gets thrown out. Most of the rest goes to "pottery purgatory" where it remains for awhile until all the pieces can be assembled, photographed, drawn, and published. Then the good stuff may end up somewhere where it can be displayed. On Tuesday, I helped out in the catalog room of the Mt. Zion Dig, just inside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City. The catalog room, located in the Armenian Museum, includes some beautiful first century frescoes yet to be restored, some pottery in process of restoration, and many bags of pottery sherds yet to be sorted. The dig director, Shimon Gibson, has high hopes of reopening the museum, resuming digging again in 2014, and publishing material from earlier digs there in the 1970's.  I also attended a lecture on Byzantine Churches and a lecture on the history of the Rockefeller Museum's archive. And I spent two days in the National Library of Israel.

The Israel Museum

Here are a couple of cool finds displayed at the Israel Museum. I've been to Jerusalem 5 times and the museum has been under renovation every time until now. So it was great to spend a day there.  The first pic is of the Caiaphas Ossuary. An ossuary is literally a bone box. In the time of the New Testament, wealthy Jews who died would be laid in a rock cut tomb for about a year, then after decomposition, their bones would be put in an ossuary, often with the bones of their ancestors, to be kept for generations. Thus derives the expression, "to rest with your fathers." This ornate box has two inscriptions, "Joseph, son of Caiaphas."  This was the given name of Caiaphas, the high priest who condemned Jesus. Prior to this find, some scholars doubted the historicity of such a person named in the gospels. Inside this box were the bones of a 60 year old man.

The second photo is from a block of limestone that was found at a theater in Caesarea in 1961. The words Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea is clearly seen on the stone. The stone monument was dedicated to the emperor Tiberius, which you can see on the top line. When a person visits Caesarea, they can see a replica of this stone there, but the original is in the Israel museum, just across from the Caiaphas ossuary. Two early historians report that Pilate committed suicide in the first year of the reign of Caligula.

It's ironic that these two enemies of Jesus are so well represented today.

First Week at the Givati Excavations

I recently completed the first week of volunteer work at the Givati Excavation just south of the Old City of Jerusalem, across from the entrance to the City of David. Doron ben Ami, of the Hebrew University has directed the dig from its beginnings in 2007. It contains impressive remains from the Islamic era (9th century A.D.) back to the Iron Age, the Kingdom of Judah (9th century B.C.). The dig has four main areas, M-1 thru M-4. We are now working in area M-4, just working down into the Roman period. In several squares where we are working, there is a collapse and under the collapse of stones, several walls about a meter thick are emerging.


In the middle of the photo you can see the wall emerging, plus you can see the rubble of the collapse that was on top and around it. Also in the picture is a couple of cisterns. The one on the left at the bottom of the photo is fairly deep. The sandbags around the square separate the working areas.

 The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 is well represented at the site with coins dated to the very years of the siege, including a hole cut into the wall where people hid out from the Roman occupation. Josephus clearly documents that the Romans had to hunt down the insurgent Jews in sewers, caves, and holes in the ground.

All excavation in Jerusalem is controversial. Givati is no exception. I'll unpack a little of that controversy on a later post.

For now, here is a link to a short three minute video done in 2010 that can give you a view of the dreaded bucket line. It's the only way to get the dirt to the top of the surface. We fill two large construction containers full of soil each day. Each bucket line takes about a half an hour. About four a day.  See the link below.

Givati Parking Lot YouTube Intro 2010

Temple Road Ascent and Central Water Channel

I spent some time today at the City of David, just south of the Old City of Jerusalem. After walking through Hezekiah's tunnel and getting wet up to my thighs, I then discovered a new drainage conduit that was only recently opened to the public in 2011.  Archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron completed the exposure of this channel which runs over 650 meters from inside the city walls near Robinson's Arch all the way past the Pool of Siloah (Siloam). Probably built by Herod just prior to the time of Jesus, this conduit ran under the street. Some parts of the channel on the northern end are roofed with a stone vault and on the southern end it was built from the ground up, its walls made of dressed stones.  The southern part of the channel was probably built a little later. Pottery, coins, stone vessels, and decorated stones were found as this excavation took place. The coins marked the second and third year of the revolt of the Jews against the Romans. Scholars believe that the last surviving Jewish rebels hid out there because Josephus say that the Romans ferreted out the last remaining rebels from the sewers and killed them.

IMAX flyover of Jerusalem...a cool 7 minutes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=iPQI6Yupt48

A sabbatical...really?

I'm beginning a 6 month sabbatical starting June, 2012. I've been selected as an Associate Fellow at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. As an Albright Fellow, I'll reside just north of the Old City and will have access to world-class research libraries as well as several archaeological opportunities. Most of the other Albright fellows will arrive in the fall, but I wanted to be there to take advantage of some archaeological work this summer. My wife, BJ will be joining me in the fall too.

I know that look in your eyes when I mention a sabbatical. You're thinking "boondoggle" right? Actually, I will be working (I see that look in your eyes again!). Promise! Most of my time will be spent on a research project that I'll explain later, but I'll also be volunteering in three archeological digs, though only a week or two each month. I'll say more later in the blog, but these three digs are exciting: the City of David Excavations directed by Doron ben Ami; the Jezreel Expedition, co-directed by Norma Franklin and Jennie Ebeling; and The Megiddo Expedition, directed by Israel Finkelstein. You may remember that I was at Megiddo in 2000 and 2008. I'm no archaeologist, but these volunteer opportunities help me facilitate discussion in the classroom. Of course, I also hope to visit many of the important sites related to my teaching at WBU. Wayland Baptist University's generous sabbatical policy has paid for my travel and lodging while in country. I'm setting up this blog for students, friends, family and anyone interested in biblical studies and archaeology.

What is the Albright Institute?

The W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (AIAR), founded in 1900, as the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, provides a base for a broad range of American-led scholarly research projects in Near Eastern studies from prehistory to the early Islamic period in the Middle East. Located in an historic building in Jerusalem, the Albright offers fellowships for doctoral and post-doctoral studies, and maintains residential and research facilities for its fellows, including an extensive library. The mission of the Albright is to develop and disseminate scholarly knowledge of the literature, history, and culture of the Near East, as well as the study of the development of civilization from prehistory to the early Islamic period. Its international fellowship program annually includes 54 fellows, representing a wide diversity of national, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. The program is intended to promote the participation of students and scholars from all over the world as well as Israeli and Palestinian academics. This program offers a unique opportunity for interaction and the exchange of information and ideas in a friendly and peaceful environment. As such the Albright has succeeded in creating an intellectual atmosphere not duplicated in any other institution in the region.

http://www.aiar.org/index.html