Technology is providing new tools to help archaeologists and biblical scholars. In this program, we discuss news reports from the latest issue of ARTIFAX, our biblical archaeology newsmagazine, which highlight new innovations. For example, Dead Sea Scroll fragments that were thought to be without writing were found to have words written on them, when they were scanned with multiple wavelengths of light. In addition we discus some microarchaeology that was used to help pin down the construction date for Wilson's Arch, which supported a walkway from Jerusalem's upper city to the Temple Mount, and is now a feature of the western wall.
The excavation of a major administrative complex from the time of King Hezekiah, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. This complex is near Ramat Rahel, where archaeologists in recent years have excavated a royal palace from roughly the same period. The Biblical Archaeology Review story focuses on a theory by professor Yosef Garfinkle that a figurine he excavated at Khirbet Qeiyafa, the only figurine from the entire excavation, represented Yahweh, God of the Israelites and God of the Bible.
A conversation about the history of Jerusalem with Magen Broshi. This is a 1995 interview in Broshi's office at the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, where he was curator for many years. Magen Broshi passed away on July 14, 2020. He was 91.
Following up on last week’s program, another first hand account of the launching of a new #biblicalarchaeology program at Lipscomb University in Nashville. Steve Ortiz and colleague Tom Davis faced the dismantling of the Tandy School of Archaeology at Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth last March. But then a remarkable thing happened. As we reported last week, Mark Lanier went to work on creating a new place for them at his alma mater, Lipscomb. Steve relates the story from his perspective on the creation of the Lanier School of Archaeology. He also gives an update on his latest field work. After closing out the excavation at Gezer three years ago, he has joined the excavation at Tel Burna.
Even though biblical archaeology fieldwork is mostly nonexistent this summer, there is news in the world of biblical archaeology. The news concerns an archeology program that was killed at one school, and resurrected at another. One of the key characters in this drama is Mark Lanier, a Houston attorney and founder of the Lanier Theological Library. The library has over 100,000 volumes, as well as a number of ancient artifacts. When Mark found out that Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary was pulling the plug on the Tandy School of Archaeology, he started maneuvering to get the two top archaeologists, Steve Ortiz and Tom Davis, hired at his alma mater, Lipscomb University in Nashville. Accreditation is now being sought for the new Lanier Center for Archaeology at Lipscomb.
The Dead Sea Scrolls have been a major story in Biblical Archaeology and Biblical scholarship for over 70 years. New York University and the Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority recently held a public conference online with some of the top Dead Sea Scroll scholars and we have received permission to share a portion of the conference. Lawrence Schiffman, professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, offered a history and status report on Dead Sea Scroll studies with a chronological walk through the decades that chronicled how perspectives have changed over the years.
The Dead Sea Scrolls have been a major story in Biblical Archaeology and Biblical scholarship for over 70 years. New York University and the Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority recently held a public conference online with some of the top Dead Sea Scroll scholars and we have received permission to share a portion of the conference. Lawrence Schiffman, professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, offered a history and status report on Dead Sea Scroll studies with a chronological walk through the decades that chronicled how perspectives have changed over the years.
Last November, I noticed the passing of Larry Hurtado, Emeritus Professor of New Testament Language, Literature and Theology at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. I recalled a particularly gracious interview that I had with him about ten years ago that I’m finally getting around to replaying now, in his honor. We were talking about news attention given at that time to a mysterious document, a tiny lead book called a codex, which eventually was judged a modern forgery. Larry Hurtado pointed out that it was the early Christians who lead the way in the transition from the scroll to the codex for written material.
Israeli archaeology Gabby Barkay calls the Temple Mount the most important archaeological site in Israel. This sensitive holy site, holy to both Jews and Muslims, has never been the site of an archaeological excavation. Nonetheless, an archaeological investigation is underway. It’s called the Temple Mount Sifting Project. In a recent symposium, Barkay, one of Israel’s most distinguished archaeologists, gave the background on how the project came into being and what they are finding.
Israeli archaeology Gabby Barkay calls the Temple Mount the most important archaeological site in Israel. This sensitive holy site, holy to both Jews and Muslims, has never been the site of an archaeological excavation. Nonetheless, an archaeological investigation is underway. It’s called the Temple Mount Sifting Project. In a recent symposium, Barkay, one of Israel’s most distinguished archaeologists, gave the background on how the project came into being and what they are finding.
The Nazareth Inscription is a 2,000-year old text inscribed on a marble tablet that threatens penalties against anyone disturbing bodies in tombs. This strange pronouncement has been described as possible evidence for the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. A new analysis offers evidence for the source of the marble but does it tell us anything else about the reason for the text? Professor Billington has devoted considerable time to an analysis of this text and suggests there is an easy explanation for how the marble tablet got from the Aegean island of Kos to Nazareth, where it was apparently discovered by a French antiquities collector almost a century and a half ago.
Centuries before the famous running messenger who told the tale of the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, another messenger took the tale of a disastrous Israelite defeat at the hands of the Philistines back to the Israelite Temple at Shiloh. The message was just the opposite, but the distance was about the same. And thus, today there is a marathon race in Israel that goes from Tel Aphek, the site of the battle, to Tel Shiloh. In addition to this fascinating story that connects archaeology to sports, we have two more stories that connect archaeological research to two important foods of the region: olives and dates. These stories and more in this week's program, discussing stories from the news digests of the latest issue of ARTIFAX, our biblical archaeology news magazine.
News stories have been published in recent months about a palace of the kings of Israel, near the modern city of Afula, and two temples: one Israelite and one Canaanite. A road project near Afula, in the Jezreel valley has uncovered the largest palace associated with the House of Omri (Ahad, Jezebel, etc.). Interestingly, it’s just about a half dozen miles from Tel Jezreel, where they had another palace. We also discuss a Canaanite temple excavated at Tel Lachish, and an Israelite temple excavated just outside of Jerusalem, less than a half dozen miles from the “official” Jerusalem temple.
No excavations at Tel Dan and a number of other archaeological sites in Israel this summer due to the travel restrictions related to the COVID19 coronavirus. But there are still some excavations holding out hope that they may get into the field in 2020. We discuss both situations plus other impacts of COVID19. Also, from the news digest of the latest issue of our biblical archaeology newsmagazine, ARTIFAX, we discuss the reopening of Hadrian’s Gate in Jerusalem, which is almost 2,000 years old, and the discovery of a large Phoenician iron-smithing installation at Akko from the Persian period.
One of the participants in an academic symposium at the Museum of the Bible, held in conjunction with the release of an investigative report on the museum’s Dead Sea Scroll fragments, was Christopher Rollston. The report, paid for by the museum, found that the fragments were modern forgeries. Rollston, professor of Northwest Semitic languages and literatures at George Washington University, is often called upon to verify the authenticity of ancient inscriptions. In our interview he discusses his desire to see the perpetrator of this fraud brought to justice, and why no one should ever buy antiquities.
One of the participants in an academic symposium at the Museum of the Bible, held in conjunction with the release of an investigative report on the museum’s Dead Sea Scroll fragments, was Christopher Rollston. The report, paid for by the museum, found that the fragments were modern forgeries. Rollston, professor of Northwest Semitic languages and literatures at George Washington University, is often called upon to verify the authenticity of ancient inscriptions. In our interview he discusses the praiseworthy transparency of the museum on this issue.
Almost simultaneously with the announcement from the Museum of the Bible that the Dead Sea Scroll fragments in their collection were modern forgeries, came the additional announcement that museum founder and board chairman Steve Green was repatriating, to Egypt and Iraq, more than 11-thousand antiquities that were inappropriately acquired during the museum formation process. Once again I was referred to Jeffrey Kloha, the Chief Curatorial Officer at the Museum of the Bible. He was speaking for the museum, and not for Steve Green in this week's interview.
Colette Loll of Art Fraud Insights was in charge of the investigation of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Museum of the Bible collection. In this interview she details how the investigation was conducted and how they determined that all 16 scroll fragments were 20th century forgeries. This interview was conducted to collect information for the article I wrote on the Museum’s Dead Sea Scrolls collection for Christianity Today magazine.
This is the first in a series of interviews which I have done for an article for Christianity Today that was just posted online today. Jeffrey Kloha is Chief Curatorial Officer at the Museum of the Bible and the host of an academic symposium that was held at the museum on March 13, 2020, the day that the results of the museum-sponsored investigation into the 16 scroll fragments was released. Jeffrey gives the background on how the scroll items came into the possession of the museum, how the first suspicions were raised about the fragments, and then the investigative process. An embarrassment for the museum, but much praise from academic scholars for the way it was resolved.
Megiddo is one of the pre-eminent sites of biblical archaeology, a benchmark site for other excavations. George Washington University professor Eric Cline has done something that no other writer has done, excavate an excavation. He has gone back through the papers of the excavation figures–their letters, cables, dig reports, daily summaries, etc.–and provided a chronological account of how the dig progressed. This new book, Digging Up Armageddon, The Search for the Lost City of Solomon (Princeton University Press), is a different way of seeing an excavation and the drama is there, through the personalities of the directors and other aspects of the excavation. It’s a behind the scenes look at how history unfolded at a site, the second time, as archaeologists attempted to dig up its secrets. This is the second half of the interview.