Citations
Chapter 3 – Archaeology
[421] Article: "Archaeology." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[T]he scientific study of the material remains of past human life and activities. These include human artifacts from the very earliest stone tools to the man-made objects that are buried or thrown away in the present day: everything made by human beings—from simple tools to complex machines, from the earliest houses and temples and tombs to palaces, cathedrals, and pyramids.
[422] Paper: "Radiometric Dating of the Siloam Tunnel, Jerusalem." By Amos Frumkin, Aryeh Shimron, & Jeff Rosenbaum. Nature, September 11, 2003. Pages 169-171. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v425/n6954/full/nature01875.html
Page 169:
Modern scientific methods may, in principle, be used to independently date structures that seem to be mentioned in the biblical text, to evaluate its historical authenticity. In reality, however, this approach is extremely difficult because of poor archaeological preservation, uncertainty in identification, scarcity of datable materials, and restricted scientific access into well-identified worship sites. Because of these problems, no well identified Biblical structure has been radiometrically dated until now.
[423] Article: "Jerusalem Tunnel Linked to Bible." By Stefan Lovgren. National Geographic News, September 11, 2003. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/...
"The main problem is that we don't have a lot of material that can be dated," said Frumkin. "Unlike in archaeological dating, which relies on comparison of artifacts, it's very rare to have material available for radiometric dating."
[424] Article: "Archaeology." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004. The section entitled "Interpretation" states:
The greatest revolution in prehistoric archaeology occurred in 1948, when Willard F. Libby, at the University of Chicago, developed the process of radioactive carbon dating. In this method, the activity of radioactive carbon (carbon-14) present in bones, wood, or ash found in archaeological sites is measured.
[425] Article: "Dating Methods." New Millennium Encyclopedia. Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Radiocarbon dating techniques, first developed by the American chemist Willard F. Libby and his associates at the University of Chicago in 1947, are frequently useful in deciphering time-related problems in archaeology, anthropology, oceanography, pedology, climatology, and recent geology.
[426] Article: "Radiocarbon Dating: How to Find Your True Love." By Hershel Shanks. Biblical Archaeology Review, Jan/Feb 2005. Pages 50-53. Pages 50-51:
The focus, however, was on one of the main scientific techniques for dating organic remains—radiocarbon dating, more commonly referred to as carbon-14 or simply C14. Anything organic—olive pits, wood, bone, grain, etc.—produces and thus contains carbon-14, a particular isotope of carbon. Once an organism dies, carbon is no longer absorbed and the carbon 14 present in the material begins to decay and turn into something else (in the case of carbon-14, into carbon-12 and then into graphite.) The rate of decay is known and measurable. In this way, by examining the remaining carbon 14 in a substance, scientists can date the "date of death" so to speak—the date when the carbon 14 begins to decay.
[427] Article: "Radiometric Dating of the Siloam Tunnel, Jerusalem." By Amos Frumkin, Aryeh Shimron, & Jeff Rosenbaum. Nature, September 11, 2003. Pages 169-171. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v425/n6954/full/nature01875.html
Page 170: "We overcome this difficulty by dating artificial and natural materials incorporated within the tunnel walls, ceiling and floor, which constrain the age of the Siloam Tunnel. ... We have recovered from the ancient plaster fine plant fragments that are extraordinarily well preserved. Two samples were radiocarbon dated at the Oxford University accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility by its standard procedure."
Page 171: "The calendar age of SR61 [the short-lived plant sample] is, with 95% probability, between 800 and 510 BC...."
[428] Article: "Dating Methods." New Millennium Encyclopedia. Simon & Schuster, 1999.
The rapid disintegration of carbon-14 generally limits the dating period to approximately 50,000 years, although the method is sometimes extended to 70,000 years. Uncertainty in measurement increases with the age of the sample. Although the method is suited to a variety of organic materials, accuracy depends on the half-life to be used, variations in levels of atmospheric carbon-14, and contamination. (The half-life of radiocarbon was redefined from 5570 ± 30 years to 5730 ± 40 years in 1962, so some dates determined earlier required adjustment; and due to radioactivity more recently introduced into the atmosphere, radiocarbon dates are calculated from AD 1950.) The radiocarbon time scale contains other uncertainties, as well, and errors as great as 2000 to 5000 years may occur. Postdepositional contamination, which is the most serious problem, may be caused by percolating groundwater, incorporation of older or younger carbon, and contamination in the field or laboratory.
[429] Article: "Radiocarbon Dating: How to Find Your True Love." By Hershel Shanks. Biblical Archaeology Review, Jan/Feb 2005. Pages 50-53. Page 53:
This calibration curve shows the correlation of radiocarbon years ... with calendar years.... Matching radiocarbon years to calendar years requires finding the BP [radiocarbon years before present] of artifacts whose precise age is known. Scientists use preserved, ancient wood, since they can determine a tree's exact age by studying tree rings. ...
Why is a calibration adjustment needed if carbon decays at a steady rate? Because the amount of carbon in the atmosphere varies in different periods and even by area, thereby altering the amount of carbon that an organism has before it dies and carbon decay commences. Radiocarbon calibration curves also vary slightly, so the result may differ depending upon which calibration curve is used. ...
... In short, it is not easy to perform a radiocarbon test, and the results take some interpretation. That's part of the reason why it's so hard to get agreement.
The other reason is that we are talking about a relatively short time period, about 75 years. Can carbon-14, even with the recent advances in techniques, confidently date a 3,000 year old sample so precisely? ... [C]arbon-14 scientists are seldom asked to date a sample within such a narrow range. Until recently, they would have been unwilling to even try. On the other hand, the use of dendrochronology (the dating of tree rings) allows the scientists to measure their carbon-14 results against an accurate absolute date of some of the wood samples.
[430] Article: "Radio-dating Backs up Biblical Text." By Helen R. Pilcher. Nature News, September 11, 2003. http://www.nature.com/news/2003/030911/full/news030908-9.html
"A plant trapped inside the waterproof layer clocked in at 700-800 BC...."
[431] Article: "Radiocarbon Dating: How to Find Your True Love." By Hershel Shanks. Biblical Archaeology Review, Jan/Feb 2005. Pages 50-53. Page 50:
If Iron II begins in about 1000 B.C., this impressive architecture is probably to be associated with King Solomon. If, however, we move down 75 years or so the beginning of Iron II (to the ninth century B.C.), then this monumental architecture becomes associated with later Israelite kings ... and the impoverished remains of Iron I become associated with King Solomon! ...
The "low chronology" has ignited a firestorm in Biblical archaeology. ...
The Oxford conference was intended to bring the contending sides together to see whether their differences could be ironed out.
Page 52: "The bottom line after two days of talks and discussion: Carbon-14 is not the answer. Or, perhaps, more accurately, each side regarded the carbon-14 results as supporting its chronology."
[432] Article: "Coin." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004. The section entitled "Coins as historical data" states:
[C]oins have always been prized, often hoarded, and, therefore, frequently buried for safety. The contents of such savings banks have been dug up in all ages, so that the coins of past civilizations continue to be found in vast numbers. Studied alongside literary or archaeological evidence, they yield a wide range of information that is especially valuable for chronology and economic history.
[433] Article: "Archaeology." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
The section entitled "Interpretation" states: "Many material remains of man's past have no dating problem: they may be, like coins, or most coins, self-dating, or they may be dated by man-made dates in written records."
[434] Article: "The Siloam Pool: Where Jesus Cured the Blind Man." By Hershel Shanks. Pages 16-23. Biblical Archaeology Review, Sept/Oct 2005. Pages 16-23. Pages 20-21:
Many times archaeologists are unsure of the date of what they find. But in this case, there is no question. ...
... The excavators went over the early steps with a metal detector, and in four places it beeped, revealing four coins in the plaster. These coins would date the first phase of the pool.
They were all coins of Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 B.C.), one of the later Hasmonean (Jewish) kings who were succeeded in 37 B.C. by Herod the Great. The excavators cannot be sure precisely how long these coins were in circulation before being embedded in the plaster of the first phase of the Pool of Siloam. But they can say with some assurance that the pool was constructed in the late Hasmonean period or early Herodian period.
[435] Article: "Archaeology as a Love Affair." By Paul W. Lapp. Biblical Archaeology Review, June 1976.
There are some 5,000 ruin heaps in ancient Palestine, within the modern states of Jordan and Israel. ...
Most of the major ruins are tells. This ... designates a roughly cake-shaped hill or mound with sloping sides, its layers comprising the remains of the succeeding peoples who called it home. ...
... The depth of occupational debris varies from a few inches to over 70 feet.... In extent Palestinian tells range from tiny citadels 150 feet in diameter to sites of some 25 acres.
[436] Book: Rivers in the Desert: A History of the Negev. By Nelson Glueck. Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, 1959.
Page 4: "It was not uncommon for the debris of these ruins ... to rise as much as a hundred feet or even more. ... Some of these tells conceal the ruins of as much as twenty cities...."
[437] Article: "tell (also spelled Tel)." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
In ancient times, houses were constructed of either piled-up mud (pisé), lumps of clay pressed together (adobe), or (later) sun-dried or kiln-baked bricks strengthened with straw, gravel, or potsherds. All mud structures, however, crumble easily when exposed to the elements, and that feature, combined with the repeated wholesale destructions from man-made or natural causes, made repairs and rebuildings frequent. Earlier debris was simply leveled off, and new buildings were erected on top of it.
[438] Article: "Archaeology as a Love Affair." By Paul W. Lapp. Biblical Archaeology Review, June 1976.
Why build a new town on a ruin heap? Perhaps the most compelling reasons were similar to those which attracted the first inhabitants to the site. Three of the most important factors were a convenient and sufficient water supply, access to highways and trade routes, and a defensible position. ... This higher location provided an overview of the neighborhood, often for miles around, an advantage in case of attack. As its succeeding towns rose and fell the tell grew higher, its slopes steeper, and its attractiveness as a defensible site for new occupants increased. ...
Even after centuries of neglect and abandonment the stumps of earlier defense walls made renewal of the defenses relatively simple, and the walls and tumbles of stone buildings provided a convenient supply for the new builders....
[439] Web page: "Preventing Antiquities' Robbery. Israel Antiquities Authority. Accessed May 15, 2009 at http://www.antiquities.org.il/shod_eng.asp
"Ancient coins are the most common archaeological artifact found at antiquity sites and help the archaeologist to pinpoint the exact date of strata and periods. A coin removed from its archaeological context renders research and understanding of the complete picture impossible."
[440] Article: "Archaeology." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004. The section entitled "Interpretation" states:
The great and difficult part of the archaeologist's work is dating material remains that are not themselves dated. ... Sometimes an object from another culture, the date of which is known (e.g., in the case of pottery, by its style), is found at a previously undated site. Then, using the relative dating principle (see below) the archaeologist reasons that the material found with the imported object is contemporary with it. ...
... Stratigraphy is the essence of relative dating. The archaeologist observes the accumulation of deposits in a gravel pit, a peat bog, in the construction of a barrow, or in accumulated settlements in a tell, and ... can see the succession of layers in the site and can then establish the chronology of different levels of layers relative to each other.
[441] Article: "How to Date a Cooking Pot." By John C. H. Laughlin. Biblical Archaeology Review, Sept/Oct 1992.
Sir Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) first recognized that lowly potsherds could help pinpoint the date of the archaeological strata in which they were found. Building on Petrie's insight, William Foxwell Albright (1891–1971) and his students defined the pottery features associated with the ancient Near East's various chronological periods.
While the type of clay used, method of manufacture (wheel-made, handmade or a combination of the two), decoration, firing method at low or high temperature and size are all important for dating a ceramic artifact, the single most crucial criterion is shape. ...the dating of pottery often lies at the heart of important debates among archaeologists. The recent discussions over when Jericho was destroyed and when and where Israel emerged in Canaan are good cases in point.
[442] Article: "Jerusalem Update: The Missing Millennium in Jerusalem's Archaeology." By Hershel Shanks. Biblical Archaeology Review, Sep/Oct 2000.
"Pottery is easily breakable. Indeed, it breaks so easily and must be replaced so frequently that its design evolves rapidly. That is why changes in pottery forms provide such an excellent chronological indicator. And nothing is more abundant on archaeological digs than pottery sherds, by which different strata are dated."
[443] Article: "The Mistress Of Stratigraphy Had Clay Feet: Kathleen Kenyon's Flawed Jerusalem Excavation." By Hershel Shanks. Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 2003. Page 58:
One serious problem in identifying tenth-century B.C.E. material is that it is often indistinguishable from ninth-century B.C.E. material. As Steiner tells us ... "The introduction of a new type [of pottery] took place in a centre, from where it dispersed slowly. Thus, a type may have been uncovered in one place in great quantities, while it was still unknown at other sites."
[444] Article: "How to Date a Cooking Pot. By John C. H. Laughlin. Biblical Archaeology Review, Sept/Oct 1992.
There are two caveats, however. First, a standard pottery type may have had many variants. Second, similar ceramic types from different sites may not all date to the same period; a new manufacturing technique or style may have been introduced at different times in different locales, and some ceramic types may have survived longer in certain places than at others.
[445] Article: "Archaeology." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004. The section entitled "Interpretation" states:
Some archaeologists, even until quite recent times, have mistakenly supposed that depth below ground level is itself an indication of antiquity. But even in properly observed and recorded stratigraphic levels there is often doubt, and the question arises: are all the artifacts and human remains found in the same level contemporary? Is it possible that there could have been later intrusions that have been difficult to distinguish in the field?
[446] Article: "Archaeology as a Love Affair." By Paul W. Lapp. Biblical Archaeology Review, June 1976.
"When newcomers found lines of earlier stone walls, they frequently dug them out. The trench that remained was eventually filled with later materials, thus forming so-called "robber trenches" to plague the archaeologist."
[447] Article: "Coin." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
The section entitled "Coins as historical data" states that "coins have always been prized, often hoarded, and, therefore, frequently buried for safety."
[448] Report: "Forgery Hysteria Grips Israel." By Hershel Shanks. Biblical Archaeology Review, Sept/Oct 2005. Page 52:
A 'forgery hysteria' is consuming archaeological circles in Israel at the moment. The characterization is that of Johns Hopkins professor Kyle McCarter, a leading American paleographer (an expert in ancient scripts). On a recent trip to Israel, I talked to that country's leading paleographer, Hebrew University's Joseph Naveh, and to the co-editor of the Israel Exploration Journal (IEJ), Shmuel Ahituv, who teaches at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva. Both agree with McCarter's characterization.
[449] Report: "The Other Shoe. Five Accused of Antiquities Fraud." Biblical Archaeology Review, Mar/Apr 2005.
Pages 58-69 provide information on the artifacts that are under suspicion, the alleged forgers, investigators, prosecutors, scholars, and lawyers who are part of this affair.
[450] John 6:42: "And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?"
Matthew 13:55: "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?"
Galatians 1:18-19: "Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother."
[451] Article: "Israelis Say Burial Box of Jesus' Brother Is Fake." By Greg Myre. New York Times, June 19, 2003. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/19/world/...
But Israel's Antiquities Authority said it had found overwhelming evidence that the inscription on the box was a fake produced in modern times. "The bottom line is that every single scholar who examined this came to the conclusion that the inscription was not authentic," said Dr. Gideon Avni, director of excavations and surveys for the Antiquities Authority.
[452] Article: "Burial Box of James the Brother of Jesus." By André Lemaire. Biblical Archaeology Review, Nov/Dec 2002. Pages 24-33, 70.
Page 28: "I am pleased to report that in my judgment it [the inscription] is genuinely ancient and not a fake."
Page 30 contains a sidebar entitled "The Right Man for the Inscription," written by Steven Feldman. It states Lemaire "is one world's leading epigraphers (specialists in inscriptions)" and his expertise has been sought by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
[453] Report: "The Other Shoe. Five Accused of Antiquities Fraud." Biblical Archaeology Review, Mar/Apr 2005.
Page 59: "Many of the items—the Baruch bulla, the Three Shekel ostracon, the Widow's plea ostracon, the decanter inscription, in addition to the James ossuary inscription—are still widely regarded as authentic by experts, including some of the defendants."
[454] Report: "Forgery Hysteria Grips Israel." By Hershel Shanks. Biblical Archaeology Review, Sept/Oct 2005.
Page 52 notes that in the judgment of three leading scholars (Kyle McCarter, Naham Avigard, and André Lemaire), the inscription that reads: "(Belonging) to the Temp[le of Yahwe]h, holy to the priests," is authentic. The IAA has declared it to be a forgery.
[455] Article: "Discussion of 'Authenticity examination of the inscription on the ossuary attributed to James, brother of Jesus' by A. Ayalon, M. Bar-Matthews and Y. Goren (Journal of Archaeological Science, 2004, vol. 31, pp. 1185-1189)." By James A. Harrell (Ph.D., Professor of Archaeological Geology, Department of Earth, Ecological & Environmental Sciences, The University of Toledo). Biblical Archaeology Society, 2004. http://www.bib-arch.org/
Page 2: "I have not yet come to a decision on the authenticity of the inscription."
[456] Paper: "The "Scientific" Approach to the Detection of Forgeries." By James A. Harrell Ph.D., Professor of Archaeological Geology, Department of Earth, Ecological & Environmental Sciences, The University of Toledo). Biblical Archaeology Society, 2004. http://www.bib-arch.org/
Pages 2-3:
I recently experienced this first-hand with the James ossuary. This is purportedly a first century AD limestone ossuary with the inscription, as commonly translated, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." No one doubts that the ossuary itself is authentic, it is the inscription that is questioned by some. The technical analyses to date have been concerned with the microscopical and geochemical characteristics of the various patinas* or coatings around the carved inscription. Together with technical experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Geological Survey of Israel and other organizations, I have been debating the inscription's authenticity. The end result thus far, after much time and effort spent on all sides, is that nothing has been definitively resolved: the authenticity of the inscription is still very much an open question. I am sure the reader will know of similar examples of 'expert deadlock' for other unprovenanced artifacts.
NOTE: * In this context, a patina is a coating that builds up on an artifact as it ages.
[457] Report: "Forgery Hysteria Grips Israel." By Hershel Shanks. Biblical Archaeology Review, Sept/Oct 2005. Pages 52-53:
I spoke to Ahituv and Demsky about their conclusion. I asked each of them how certain they were, on a scale of 1 to 100, that the inscription was a forgery. Each thought for a while. Ahituv finally decided the likelihood that it was forgery was between 80 percent and 90 percent. Demsky chose the higher figure. For neither it was 100 percent.
[458] Article: "Israel Antiquities Authority's Report on the James Ossuary Deeply Flawed." By André Lemaire. Biblical Archaeology Review, Nov/Dec, 2003. Pages 50-59, 67, 70.
NOTE: This article contains so much data that a few selected quotes cannot do it justice.
[459] Report: "Star Witness Recants: Israeli Prosecutor Repudiates IAA Report on Forgery." Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 2005. Page 46:
Committee member Ronny Reich wrote that he was "forced" only by the hard scientific evidence to change his view that the inscription was authentic. Based on his own expertise in reading ancient inscriptions, he would have found the inscription authentic. Now, after studying the scientific evidence in more detail, he announced to a BAR banquet in San Antonio last November that he believes the inscription is authentic, although not archaeologically important. The more important defection from the IAA report is the Israeli prosecutor.
[460] Paper: "The "Scientific" Approach to the Detection of Forgeries." By James A. Harrell Ph.D., Professor of Archaeological Geology, Department of Earth, Ecological & Environmental Sciences, The University of Toledo). Biblical Archaeology Society, 2004. http://www.bib-arch.org/
Page 1:
In order to establish my credentials for this discussion, I need to point that my own expertise is in archaeological geology, and my research primarily concerns the sources, varieties and uses of building, ornamental and gem stones in ancient Egypt. The microscopical and geochemical (i.e., 'scientific) analyses of these stones are a large part of what I do.
Page 2:
The analysis of artifacts with high-tech instruments and the interpretation of the results is not science per se any more than is the testing and diagnosis of engine problems by a car mechanic. True science involves the application of the 'scientific method,' which is used in the search for answers to fundamental questions. ...
Testing artifacts rarely involves true science, and so one should really speak of 'technical analyses' performed by 'technical experts.' This is not just splitting hairs over terminology. It is important to understand that many so-called 'scientific analyses' are completely devoid of any real scientific input, and so lack the intellectual rigor that comes with the use of the scientific method. Unfortunately, technical experts are not always as expert as they think they are or as we would like them to be. All such experts, myself included, have knowledge gaps and prejudices. Also, we tend to use the methodologies that are most familiar to us rather than the ones that are the most appropriate for a given artifact or question. ...
Page 6:
It is important to bear in mind, however, that technical analyses, no matter how well conceived or executed, will sometimes not provide a definitive answer to the authenticity question. In such cases, it will be the epigraphy, paleography, art history and/or other disciplines that will have to decide the issue.
[461] "Statement on Inscribed Artifacts Without Provenience." By Frank Moore Cross of Harvard University. Biblical Archaeology Review, Sept/Oct 2005. Page 58:
I should add the caveat that analyses by hard scientists are by no means infallible, and sometimes inferior to the scientific judgment of typologists. Having been a chemist early in my career, I am aware of the false results of poorly designed experiments—illustrated by the false results of scientists in the analysis of the forged Yehoash Inscription, and indeed by some of the vagaries of early carbon-14 analyses.
[462] Article: "Burial box 'held the bones of Jesus's brother'." By Roger Highfield and Jonathan Petre. London Telegraph, April 18, 2003. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/...
A team at the Geological Survey of Israel extracted the patina, a cream-coloured film adhering to the stone, and found it matched that inside one of the letters after a study with electron microscopy, as would be expected with the genuine item. The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto subjected the inscription to a tougher test, using long-wave ultraviolet light which should highlight attempts to fake it. Again, it looked genuine, said Dr Keall.
[463] Letter regarding "SEM-EDS [Scanning Electron Microscope equipped with Electron Dispersive Spectrometer] analyses of patina samples from an ossuary of "Ya'akov son of Yossef brother of Yeshua." By Ammon Rosenfeld & Shimon Ilani (both of the State of Israel Ministry of National Infrastructures and Geological Survey). Biblical Archaeology Review, Nov/Dec 2002. Page 29.
This letter discusses the lab results and concludes: "It is worth mentioning that the patina does not contain any modern elements (such as modern pigments) and it adheres firmly to the stone. No signs of the use of a modern tool or instrument was found. No evidence that might detract from the authenticity of the patina and the inscription was found."
[464] Article: "Probing for 'Why?' The arguments on which the forgery accusations rest are about to fall apart." By Hershel Shanks. Biblical Archaeology Review, Jan/Feb 2006. Page 64:
The IAA first attacked the James ossuary inscription as a forgery, based largely on a unique method for detecting forgeries developed by Professor Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University ... a method that has never been used before to detect forgeries: isotope analysis. The isotope analysis of the patina-like covering on the James ossuary inscription demonstrated that it was created in modern times either to cover-up the forged characteristics of the inscription or as the result of cleaning the inscription.
[465] Web page: "Professor Kenneth A. Kitchen." University of Liverpool School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology. Accessed December 2, 2009 at http://www.liv.ac.uk/sace/organisation/people/kitchen.htm
Professor Kitchen's research-programme is threefold.
(1) Egyptology: producing the translations and commentaries for the texts published in his earlier Rammesside Inscriptions, I-VII; work in ancient Egyptian history (especially New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Periods), foreign relations (with Near East and East Africa) and literature.
(2) Ancient Near East: major project on history, inscriptions and cultures of ancient [pre-Islamic] Arabia, and in the Levant.
(3) Ancient Egypt, Near East and Hebrew Bible: historical, literary and cultural background to the Hebrew Bible on an empirical, factual basis from its Near Eastern environment.
[466] Book: On the Reliability of the Old Testament. By K.A. Kitchen. Eerdmans, 2003.
Page 481: "[Kitchen has] epigraphed more than 600,000 lines' ... worth of Egyptian texts of all kinds in the last half-century."
[467] Article: "Discussion of 'Authenticity examination of the inscription on the ossuary attributed to James, brother of Jesus' by A. Ayalon, M. Bar-Matthews and Y. Goren (Journal of Archaeological Science, 2004, vol. 31, pp. 1185-1189)." By James A. Harrell. Biblical Archaeology Society, 2004. Page 2:
When I learned that the Ayalon et al. paper had come out, I contacted the JAS [Journal of Archaeological Science] editor and asked if he would consider publishing my discussion of this paper. He would not, he said, because it was the policy of JAS to not publish discussions of its articles.
[468] Article: "Probing for 'Why?' The arguments on which the forgery accusations rest are about to fall apart." By Hershel Shanks. Biblical Archaeology Review, Jan/Feb 2006. Page 64:
Two leading professional societies—the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) and the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA)—will not allow papers about unprovenanced objects (objects whose legal origins cannot be demonstrated) to be presented at their scholarly meetings. They will not allow articles on unprovenanced articles to be published in their journals. On the other hand, almost all leading scholars (from the United States, Israel and Europe) who use archaeological materials in their research do rely on unprovenanced objects and publish them, contrary to the policies of ASOR and the AIA.
[469] Article: "The Age of BAR: 25 Years of Kicking Up Some Dust." By Steven Feldman. Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2001.
[470] Book: Jewish Documents of the Time of Ezra. By A. Cowley. Macmillan, 1919. Page ix:
Documents on papyrus, such as these, have a special interest, because they preserve to us the actual words and writing of a remote past. In fact, they are records contemporary with the events to which they relate, and are therefore (like inscriptions) first-hand historical evidence, uncorrupted by the errors which inevitably appear when a text is transmitted by repeated copies through the centuries.
[471] Report: "The Other Shoe. Five Accused of Antiquities Fraud." Biblical Archaeology Review, Mar/Apr 2005.
Pages 58-69 detail the artifacts that are under suspicion. Among these, page 59 mentions "a bowl with a hieroglyphic inscription containing a reference to Pharaoh Shishak.... No one knows exactly where this bowl is located. The indictment alleges that Oded Golan destroyed it."
[472] Book: On the Reliability of the Old Testament. By K.A. Kitchen. Eerdmans, 2003. Pages 10:
Shoshenq I [in Hebrew, Shishak], the founder of the Twenty-Second Dynasty, has left us explicit records of a campaign into Palestine (triumph scenes; a long list of Palestinian place-names from the Negev to Galilee; stelae [plural for stela, which is a stone plaque inscribed to commemorate an event or person]), including a stela at Megiddo.
Page 607 shows a diagram of the stela from Megiddo.
[473] Book: Rivers in the Desert: A History of the Negev. By Nelson Glueck. Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, 1959. Pages 4-5:
Thus for long years, or even centuries, various parts of the earth would lie waste and void, until newcomers often of different culture and speech and sometimes of a different race took possession of the land. They would erect new dwellings and sometimes protected walls around them, over the debris of the old....
[474] Article: "Are The Bible's Stories True? Archaeology Sheds New Light on Moses, King David, the Exodus and Whether Joshua Really Fought the Battle of Jericho." By Michael D. Lemonick, Marlin Levin, Felice Maranz, and Richard N. Ostling. Time, December 18, 1995.
This article quotes Magen Broshi, curator emeritus of the Dead Sea Scrolls, as stating "Archaeology throws light on the Bible. It has no business trying to prove it."
[475] OROT, Pages 316-317.
[476] OROT, Page 336.
[477] OROT, Page 335.
[478] OROT, Page 336.
[479] OROT, Pages 164, 195, 481.
[480] OROT, Pages 185-186.
[481] Article: "The Mistress Of Stratigraphy Had Clay Feet: Kathleen Kenyon's Flawed Jerusalem Excavation." By Hershel Shanks. BAR, May/June 2003. Pages 53-58, 70.
NOTE: See especially the information regarding the "Amarna letters" on pages 56-57.
[482] OROT, Page 183.
[483] OROT, Page 155.
[484] OROT, Page 183.
[485] OROT, Pages 184, 641.
[486] OROT, Page 184.
[487] OROT, Page 184.
[488] OROT, Pages 184-185.
[489] OROT, Page 186.
[490] OROT, Page 185.
[491] OROT, Page 186.
[492] Article: "Discovering Hebron: The City of the Patriarchs Slowly Yields Its Secrets." By Jeffrey R. Chadwick. BAR, Sept/Oct 2005. Pages 30-31.
[493] OROT, Page 481.
[494] OROT, Page 164.
[495] OROT, Page 185.
[496] OROT, Pages 97-98.
[497] OROT, Page 215.
[498] OROT, Page 98.
[499] OROT, Page 98.
[500] OROT, Pages 97-98.
[501] OROT, Page 98.
[502] OROT, Pages 97-98.
[503] OROT, Page 96-97.
[504] Article: "How Water Tunnels Worked." By Dan P. Cole. BAR, Mar/Apr 1980.
[505] OROT, Page 155.
[506] OROT, Page 154-155.
[507] OROT, Page 121.
[508] OROT, Page 55.
[509] OROT, Page 149-150.
[510] OROT, Page 155.
[511] OROT, Pages 150-156, 539, 624 (notes 204 & 210).
[512] Article: "Did I Find King David's Palace?" By Eilat Mazar. BAR, Jan/Feb 2006.
[513] Article: "Jerusalem in David and Solomon's Time. It Really Was a Major City in the Tenth Century B.C.E." By Jane Cahill. BAR, Nov/Dec 2004. Pages 20-31, 62.
[514] OROT, Pages 33, 146-149.
[515] OROT, Page 54.
[516] OROT, Pages 55-56.
[517] OROT, Page 119.
[518] OROT, Page 90.
[519] OROT, Page 394.
[520] Article: "Tanis." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[521] OROT, Page 40.
[522] OROT, Page 38.
[523] OROT, Page 56.
[524] OROT, Page 394.
[525] Article: "Nubia." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[526] OROT, Page 15.
[527] Article: "Assyria." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[528] OROT, Page 57.
[529] OROT, Pages 21, 41-42, 52-53.
[530] Article: "Babylonian Empire." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[531] OROT, Pages 70, 394.
[532] Article: "Daphnae." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[533] OROT, Page 75.
[534] Articles: "Darius I," "Xerxes I," "Artaxerxes I." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[535] OROT, Page 518.
[536] OROT, Page 518.
[537] OROT, Page 518.
[538] Article: "Herod's Mighty Temple Mount: Archaeology vividly recreates bustle of pilgrims two thousand years ago." By Meir Ben-Dov. BAR, Nov/Dec 1986.
[539] Article: "Capernaum: From Jesus' Time and After." By John C. H. Laughlin. BAR, Sep/Oct 1993.
[540] Article: "Ancient Burial Customs Preserved in Jericho Hills." By Rachel Hachlili. BAR, July/Aug 1979.
[541] Article: "The Siloam Pool: Where Jesus Cured the Blind Man." By Hershel Shanks. Pages 16-23. BAR, Sept/Oct 2005.
[542] Article: "Ports of Galilee: Modern drought reveals harbors from Jesus' time." By Mendel Nun. BAR, July/Aug 1999.
[543] Article: "Sumptuous Roman Baths Uncovered Near Sea of Galilee." By Yizhar Hirschfeld and Giora Solar. BAR, Nov/Dec 1984.
[544] Article: "Gadara." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[545] Article: "Banias Dig Reveals King's Palace. (But which king?)" By John F. Wilson and Vassilios Tzaferis. BAR, Jan/Feb 1998.
[546] Article: "Caesarea Maritima: The Search for Herod's City." By Robert J. Bull. BAR, May/June 1982.
[547] Article: "Corinth in Paul's Time—What Can Archaeology Tell Us?" By Victor Paul Furnish. BAR, May/June 1988.
[548] Article: "Corinth in Paul's Time—What Can Archaeology Tell Us?" By Victor Paul Furnish. BAR, May/June 1988.
[549] Article: "Gamla: Portrait of a Rebellion." By Danny Syon. BAR, Jan/Feb 1992.
The caption of picture displaying 27 silver coins notes that seven of them of were "minted in Antioch in 61, 63 and 64 C.E."
[550] Article: "Ephesus: Key to a Vision in Revelation." By Steven Friesen. BAR, May/June 1993.
[551] Article: Hittites in the Bible: What Does Archaeology Say? By Aharon Kempinski. BAR, September/October, 1979.
[552] OROT, Page 159.
[553] Article: "Philistine Temple Discovered Within Tel Aviv City Limits." By Robert B. MacDonald and Daniel L. Mattson." BAR, June 1975.
[554] OROT, Pages 214, 238.
[555] OROT, Pages 17, 92-93.
[556] OROT, Pages 10, 33, 461.
[557] OROT, Pages 13, 16-17.
[558] Article: "Omri." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[559] OROT, Page 17.
[560] OROT, Pages 17-18, 30.
[561] OROT, Pages 17-18, 30.
[562] OROT, Page 18.
[563] OROT, Page 13.
[564] OROT, Page 14.
[565] OROT, Page 18.
[566] OROT, Pages 14, 25.
[567] OROT, Pages 19, 604.
[568] OROT, Page 604.
[569] OROT, Page 15.
[570] OROT, Page 18.
[571] OROT, Pages 19, 604.
[572] OROT, Page 18.
[573] OROT, Pages 18, 19.
[574] OROT, Pages 18, 19, 604.
[575] OROT, Page 15.
[576] OROT, Page 15.
[577] OROT, Page 15.
[578] OROT, Page 15.
[579] OROT, Pages 18, 19, 604.
[580] OROT, Pages 16, 346, 394.
[581] OROT, Page 15.
[582] OROT, Pages 18, 20, 604.
[583] OROT, Pages 20, 604.
[584] OROT, Pages 21, 604.
[585] Article: "Did I Find King David's Palace?" By Eilat Mazar. BAR, Jan/Feb 2006. Page 26. [Spelled "Gemaryahu ben Shafan" in this article.]
[586] OROT, Page 604.
[587] OROT, Pages 20, 604.
[588] OROT, Pages 21, 604.
[589] Article: "Did I Find King David's Palace?" By Eilat Mazar. BAR, Jan/Feb 2006. Page 26.
[590] OROT, Page 16.
[591] OROT, Page 15.
[592] OROT, Pages 21, 604.
[593] OROT, Page 18.
[594] OROT, Page 70.
[595] Article: "Apries." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[596] OROT, Page 15.
[597] OROT, Pages 73-74.
[598] Book: Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple (Revised and Expanded Edition). Edited by Hershel Shanks. Prentice Hall, 1999. Accessed via BAR Archive CD. Chapter: "Exile and Return: From the Babylonian Destruction to the Reconstruction of the Jewish State." By James D. Purvis, revised by Eric M. Meyers.
[599] Article: "Darius I." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[600] Article: "Bisitun." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004. (Also spelled Behistun or Bisotun.)
NOTE: This is the name of a village where a famous inscription/moment of Darius is engraved on the side of a cliff.
[601] OROT, Pages 14, 25.
[602] OROT, Pages 74, 613.
[603] Article: "Herod Inscription Surfaces at Masada." BAR, Nov/Dec 1996.
[604] Article: "Caesarea Maritima: The Search for Herod's City." By Robert J. Bull. BAR, May/June 1982.
[605] Article: "Burial Cave of the Caiaphas Family." By Zvi Greenhut. BAR, Sep/Oct 1992.
[606] Article: "Spending Your Way Through History: Ancient Judean Coins Tell Their Story." By Sandy Brenner. BAR, May/June 2003. Page 48.
[607] Article: "Caesarea Maritima: The Search for Herod's City." By Robert J. Bull. BAR, May/June 1982.
[608] Article: "Caesarea Maritima: The Search for Herod's City." By Robert J. Bull. BAR, May/June 1982.
[609] Article: "Banias Dig Reveals King's Palace. (But which king?)" By John F. Wilson and Vassilios Tzaferis. BAR, Jan/Feb 1998.
[610] Article: "Corinth in Paul's Time—What Can Archaeology Tell Us?" By Victor Paul Furnish. BAR, May/June 1988.
[611] OROT, Page 402.
[612] OROT, Pages 402-403.
[613] Article: "Baal." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[614] OROT, Page 230.
[615] OROT, Pages 110-111, 526 (note 70).
[616] Article: "How We Know When Solomon Ruled. Synchronisms with Egyptian and Assyrian rulers hold the key to dates of Israelite kings." By Kenneth A. Kitchen. BAR, Sept/Oct 2001. See pages 35-37.
[617] OROT, Pages 330, 402.
[618] OROT, Pages 67-68.
[619] OROT, Pages 67-68.
[620] Book: Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple (Revised and Expanded Edition). Edited by Hershel Shanks. Prentice Hall, 1999. Accessed via BAR Archive CD. Chapter: "Exile and Return: From the Babylonian Destruction to the Reconstruction of the Jewish State." By James D. Purvis, revised by Eric M. Meyers. See section on the "Cyrus Cylinder."
[621] Web Page: "Ancient Seals from the Babylonian Collection." Yale University Library. Accessed December 2, 2009 at http://www.library.yale.edu/judaica/site/exhibits/...
This page states that Cyrus' "own inscription confirms the Biblical record" and quotes from the Cyrus Cylinder: "I returned to the sacred cities ... the sanctuaries of which have been in ruins for a long time, the images which used to live therein and established for them permanent sanctuaries. I gathered all their (former) inhabitants and returned (to them) their habitations."
[622] OROT, Page 78.
[623] Article: "What Did Jesus' Tomb Look Like?" By Jodi Magness. BAR, Jan/Feb 2006. Page 41.
[624] Articles: "Diana" & "Artemis, Temple of." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
[625] OROT, Pages 10, 33-34, 607-609.
[626] OROT, Pages 13, 34-35.
[627] OROT, Pages 413-415.
[628] OROT, Pages 17-18, 36-37.
[629] OROT, Page 53.
[630] OROT, Pages 38.
[631] OROT, Page 38.
[632] OROT, Page 40.
Page 15 states that Tartan (also spelled "turtan") is "a rank well attested in Syrian records."
[633] Book: Sennacherib's Campaign to Judea. By William R. Gallagher. Brill, 1999.
Page 165: "The tartan was the highest ranking Assyrian official after the king and crown price."
[634] OROT, Page 39.
[635] OROT, Pages 15, 40-42.
[636] OROT, Pages 24, 41-42.
[637] Article: "Tel Halif: In the Path of Sennacherib." By Oded Borowski. BAR, May/June 2005. Page 29.
[638] OROT, Page 42.
[639] Article: "Hezekiah's Tunnel Re-Opens." BAR, June 1976.
[640] OROT, Pages 18, 44-45, 68.
[641] OROT. The remarkable specificity of this information warrants citing the source. Page 68:
From a vaulted building closely adjoining the royal palace proper came a series of cuneiform tablets dated to the tenth to thirty-fifth years of Nebuchadrezzar II (595-570), being "ration tables" for people kept or employed in Babylon and its palace. Among the beneficiaries in receipt of oil were "Jehoiachin king of Judah" (just once, "king's son of Judah") and "the 5 sons of the king of Judah in the care of (their guardian?) Qenaiah."
NOTE: This inscription dates to 592 B.C. A diagram of the relevant extract is shown on page 612.
[642] Ancient Work: The Annals. By Cornelius Tacitus. Published 115-117 A.D. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb. Macmillan, 1891. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=...
Section 1:51: "[Tiberius] Caesar, to spread devastation more widely, divided his eager legions into four columns, and ravaged a space of fifty miles with fire and sword. Neither sex nor age moved his compassion. Everything, sacred or profane, the temple too of Tamfana, as they called it, the special resort of all those tribes, was levelled to the ground."
[643] Entry: "legion." Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
"[A legion is the] principal unit of the Roman army comprising 3000 to 6000 foot soldiers with cavalry."
[644] Article: "Archaeology as a Love Affair." By Paul W. Lapp. BAR, June 1976.
"Even after centuries of neglect and abandonment the stumps of earlier defense walls made renewal of the defenses relatively simple, and the walls and tumbles of stone buildings provided a convenient supply for the new builders...."
[645] OROT. Page 151: "Such terracing (and buildings) were liable to collapse or hostile destruction; renewed terracing (and buildings) would often reuse many of the same old stones, obscuring the nature, form, even data for the very existence of earlier work there."
[646] OROT. Page 90: "But since the tenth century [B.C.] Jerusalem has suffered repeated changes, destructions and rebuildings, often on the grand scale...."
Pages 150-151:
Given the destructive nature of the clearance of older remains and the establishment of massive foundations by the Herodian, Roman, Byzantine, Arabic, Ottoman, and other builders, even a fill scale dig is inherently unlikely to yield practical results in any case. ... On the level zones of the main ridge [in an area called Ophel in Jerusalem], again, the later builders (Roman, Byzantine, etc.) would often clear down to (and into) bedrock – destroying earlier work, without even traces surviving.
[647] Article: "Digging in the City of David: Jerusalem's new archaeological project yields first season's results." By Yigal Shiloh and Mendel Kaplan. BAR, July/Aug 1979.
"Moreover, in the areas excavated by Macalister and Crowfoot, and in many of the areas excavated by Kenyon, these archaeologists had found Roman and Byzantine remains resting directly on bedrock and obliterating all earlier Israelite and Canaanite remains. This same situation has been found in other areas of Jerusalem."
[648] Article: "Jerusalem Update: The Missing Millennium in Jerusalem's Archaeology." By Hershel Shanks. BAR, Sep/Oct 2000.
Later building often obliterates evidence of earlier occupation, and I believe that has been a factor in Jerusalem. For the most part, the eighth-century city was built on bedrock. Precious little has been found from any earlier city. We know that there was an important city here in the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1550 B.C.) because from that time we have an imposing city wall, gigantic towers at the Gihon Spring and a water channel that runs down the eastern side of the City of David. Yet no significant buildings—domestic or public—have been found from this period.
[649] Article: "Jerusalem Update: More Temple Mount Antiquities Destroyed." By Suzanne F. Singer. BAR, Sep/Oct 2000.
Large-scale illegal construction on the Temple Mount and wholesale dumping of earth in the nearby Kidron Valley resumed this spring. The construction, which is being undertaken by the Waqf, the Muslim religious trust responsible for the Mount, is the continuation of work begun last winter to open what was supposed to be simply an emergency exit for the al-Marawani Mosque....
... The Temple Mount is, of course, sacred to three great Western faiths and is part of the world's cultural patrimony. Here may lie remnants from the time of the First Temple of Solomon, the Second Temple built by Herod, the Byzantine period and the early Islamic eras. Israeli excavations around the exterior of the Temple Mount since 1967 have found remains from all these periods, but the Mount itself has been terra incognita, protected by an understanding between Israel and the Waqf that says no construction will take place there. ...
Last November, we reported that the Waqf, in the dead of night, had dumped hundreds of truckloads of earth from the Temple Mount into the Kidron Valley and municipal garbage dumps. About 6,000 tons of earth were removed to open an authorized emergency exit for the al-Marawani Mosque....
The construction on the Temple Mount is only the latest, albeit perhaps the most egregious, example of the Waqf's disregard for the protection of antiquities. In 1993 Israel's Supreme Court found that the Waqf had violated the country's antiquities laws no less than 35 times, with many of the violations causing the irreversible destruction of archaeological remains.
[650] Article: "Bill Seeks to Halt Construction." By Steven Feldman. BAR, Sep/Oct 2001.
NOTE: This article contains revealing photographs of the construction described in the previous note.
[651] Report: "Sifting the Temple Mount Dump." BAR, Jul/Aug 2005. Pages 14-15.
Regarding the same issue as the previous notes:
The Waqf excavated and dumped over 70 truckloads of dirt into the adjacent valley. ...
[Gabriel] Barkay and [Zachi] Zweig have been at it [sifting through this debris] since November 2004. ...
So far Barkay, Zweig and their team have found over a hundred ancient coins; heaps of pottery sherds; jewelry fragments of gold, silver, bronze, and bone; beads; mosaic tesserae; arrowheads; animal bones and even a 2-foot-long piece of a marble column streaked with purple veins and white spots. ...
Between 10 and 20 percent of the finds come from the First Temple period—between the tenth century B.C.E. and the destruction of the Solomonic Temple in 586 B.C.E. by the Babylonians.
[652] Article: "IAA Battles Drainage Authority in Court: Bulldozers Damage Prehistoric Site." By Peter Cooper. BAR, May/June 2000.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has expressed outrage at what its northern region director, Zvi Gal, is calling "the worst catastrophe caused, with prior knowledge, to an archaeological site in the ten years that I have held this post." The incident last December involved a drainage operation near the prehistoric site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, located north of the Sea of Galilee on a mile-long strip of land along the banks of the Jordan River. ...
... Apparently frustrated by delays resulting from ongoing discussions with the IAA, the Kinneret Drainage Authority decided to proceed with the project in mid-December... The IAA, however, quickly obtained a court injunction that stopped the drainage authority's work in its tracks. ... Gal maintains that the dredging occurred at night and in direct defiance of a written directive from the IAA instructing the drainage authority to refrain from any work that would affect excavations at Gesher. But officials at the Kinneret Drainage Authority counter that they commenced their work only after they perceived that IAA-imposed restrictions would make it impossible for them to perform a socially necessary job that, they maintain, falls squarely within their legal jurisdiction.
[653] Web page: "Preventing Antiquities' Robbery. Israel Antiquities Authority. Accessed May 15, 2009 at http://www.antiquities.org.il/shod_eng.asp
"Every year hundreds of sites are damaged by robbers searching for valuable artifacts for commerce and personal collection, thereby erasing entire pages of human and cultural history."
[654] Web page: "Preventing Antiquities' Robbery. Israel Antiquities Authority. Accessed May 15, 2009 at http://www.antiquities.org.il/shod_eng.asp
"Approximately 30,000 known antiquity sites in Israel conceal thousands of years of human development and creativity. Most of the sites are located in open, unguarded areas, exposed to all."
[655] Web page: "Archaeological Survey of Israel: About the Project." By Yehuda Dagan. Israel Antiquities Authority. Accessed May 15, 2009 at http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_Item_eng.asp?...
In 1964, the "Archaeological Survey of Israel" was established as an association.... [I]ts many survey teams contributed a great deal of new information about remnants of the past scattered throughout the country....
The purpose of the Archaeological Survey of Israel is to conduct a comprehensive survey of antiquities and historic sites, including their being mapped, measured, photographed and scoured for related material.
The decision which areas to survey first is based on infrastructure development plans. The survey must precede any infrastructure development and the antiquities mapped before they are destroyed. ...
The survey has already covered close to ¼ of the total area of Israel. ...
Archaeological surveying is an efficient tool. It is the least expensive and quickest way of gathering information from surface remains and should be continued and directed toward areas destined for development in the near future.
[656] Article: "Archaeology." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004. The section entitled "Fieldwork" states:
Some archaeologists call everything they do out-of-doors fieldwork, but others distinguish between fieldwork, in a narrower sense, and excavation. Fieldwork, in the narrow sense, consists of the discovery and recording of archaeological sites and their examination by methods other than the use of the spade and the trowel. Sites hitherto unknown are discovered by walking or motoring over the countryside: deliberate reconnaissance is an essential part of archaeological fieldwork.
[657] Article: "Archaeology." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004. The section entitled "Fieldwork" states: "The role of chance in the discovery of archaeological sites and portable finds is considerable. Farmers have often unearthed archaeological finds while plowing their fields."
[658] Article: "Akeldama: Resting Place of the Rich and Famous. By Gideon Avni and Zvi Greenhut BAR, Nov/Dec 1994.
"As has often happened in Jerusalem when a road is being built, the phone rang at the Antiquities Authority."
[659] Article: "Archaeology." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004. The section entitled "Fieldwork" states:
Actually, much of the work of excavation is careful work with trowel, penknife, and brush. It is often the recovery of features that are almost indistinguishable from nonarchaeological aspects of the buried landscape.... Sometimes it is the recovery of features of which only ghost traces remain....
[660] Article: "Unrest in Middle East Sets Back Archaeological Research." By Michelle Chabin. Religion News Service, September 17, 2004. http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=...
Since the start of the Palestinian uprising four years ago, local archaeologists, many of them working on sites alluded to in the Bible, have had to scale back or even cancel their digs.
That's because the threat of continued violence has kept foreign professors and students from providing assistance at large digs. ..
A major problem is that American institutions, especially federally funded ones, find it difficult to obtain insurance for anyone they send to the region....
From the mid-1990s through the year 2000, Avni said, about 45 foreign academic institutions, two-thirds of them American, ran or co-ran digs in Israel. That number dwindled to five in 2003.
[661] I sent this inquiry to the Israel Antiquities Authority (http://www.antiquities.org) approximately December 2005. I sent another inquiry December 2009.
[662] Article: "Archaeology as a Love Affair." By Paul W. Lapp. BAR. June 1976.
There are some 5,000 ruin heaps in ancient Palestine, within the modern states of Jordan and Israel. Only a few hundred have attracted excavation, mostly small soundings and emergency clearances. Some thirty sites have been the scene of large-scale excavations, but even at these, much remains to be dug. This leaves some 98% of its major ruins still untouched by an expedition. Even with all these untapped resources, Palestine is probably the scene of the most intense archaeological activity on earth.
[663] Article: "Jerusalem in David and Solomon's Time." By Jane Cahill. BAR, Nov/Dec 2004. Pages 20-31, 62-63. Page 20:
Jerusalem may be the most excavated city in the world. The article on Jerusalem in the Israel Exploration Society's New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (NEAEHL) lists 126 major excavations between 1853 and 1992. Since then, several other major excavations have revealed a wealth of new material.
[664] OROT.
Page 151: "More extensive work since 1978 till now may have extended the area dug [in Jerusalem] up to 5 percent, but that still leaves some 95 percent undug (and mostly undiggable), or ruined by early clearances."
[665] Article: "The Fight for History: In the Holy Land, archaeology itself is a battleground. Will the Bible win out?" By Jeffery L. Sheler. U.S. News and World Report, December 24, 2001. http://rnc3.org/misc/USNEWS_Bible_History.htm
"At others, like Jerusalem, work is hampered by dense population and religious restrictions...."
[666] Article: "Digging in the City of David: Jerusalem's new archaeological project yields first season's results." By Yigal Shiloh and Mendel Kaplan. BAR, July/Aug 1979.
"We would have liked to have dug on the crest of the hill, but the entire crest of the City of David is covered with houses."
[667] Article: "Discovering Hebron: The City of the Patriarchs Slowly Yields Its Secrets." By Jeffrey R. Chadwick. BAR, Sept/Oct 2005. Page 33:
[According to the Bible] Hebron was David's royal capital for the first seven and a half years of his reign. The remains of his residence—if there are any—probably lie beneath the summit of Tell Rumeide. It is covered, however, by a medieval structure (originally a Byzantine monastery) that local Arabs call Deir Arbain. Hammond carefully surveyed the Deir, but due to an unlikely tradition linking the ruin to the burial of David's father Jesse and grandmother Ruth, the Israel Antiquities Authority would not authorize Hammond and his successors to excavate in or around it. As a result we can conclude almost nothing archaeologically concerning David's reign at Hebron.
[668] OROT.
Page 189: "Usually less than about 5 or 10 percent of any given mound is ever dug down to Late Bronze [1,550-1,200 B.C.] (or any other) levels; hence between 85 and 95 percent of our potential source of evidence is never seen."
[669] Article: "cuneiform." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
"Cuneiform was the most widespread and historically significant writing system in the ancient Middle East. Its active history comprised the last three millennia BC...."
[670] Article: "Divination in Ancient Babylonia." By William H. Hallo. BAR, Mar/Apr 2005.
Page 34: "Cuneiform tablets, made of mudbrick, preserving the records of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations, have survived in vast quantities. Of the roughly half-million in the possession of museums and research institutions, only a fraction have been studied."
[671] Article: "Jerusalem 3,000: A Yearlong Celebration." By Hershel Shanks. BAR, Nov/Dec 1995.
"Publication" is a technical term in the archaeological world; it means the publication of a final excavation report. Unless an excavation is "published" in this sense, the information that could be provided is lost forever; there is no way to repeat the experiment, to re-dig what has already been dug. Excavation is destruction; we allow it only because of the information that it makes available. When an excavation is not published, the justification for the destruction disappears. The failure to publish, quite simply, is tantamount to looting. As Tel Aviv University archaeologist Ze'ev Herzog notes in a forthcoming article, "There is no substitute for the final report, the only means by which archaeologists may present evidence destroyed during the course of excavation." ...
The list of archaeologists who have died without publishing final excavation reports is large, and the number of unpublished excavations is even larger. One recent study notes that more than 60 percent of the excavations of 1960–1969 have been published, whereas for the period of 1980–1989, only 13 percent have seen the light of day. The problem is getting worse, not better.
NOTE: In addition to the excerpt above, this article contains a wealth of other data regarding the publication problem.
[672] Article: "Archaeology." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004. The section entitled "Fieldwork" states:
To delay publishing the results of an excavation within a reasonable time is a serious fault from the point of view of archaeological method. An excavation is not complete until the printed report is available to the world. Often the publication of the report takes as long as, or much longer than, the actual work in the field.
[673] Article: "Archaeology as a Love Affair." By Paul W. Lapp. BAR. June 1976.
So many digs expend all their money and energy in the field, the staff disperses, and little or nothing is done about publication, until perhaps a decade later the excavator, having failed to organize his staff for publication, gets out a disappointing final report. The path of Palestinian archaeology is littered with digs and diggers who fell by the wayside because of personal contentions and squabbles.
[674] Article: "Prodding the Sluggards: Can't Publish? Don't Excavate!" By Steven Feldman. BAR, May/June 2000.
A group of influential archaeologists and antiquities officials from Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Greece, Britain and America has called for a crackdown on archaeologists who fail to publish the results of their work promptly. ...
"The problem is very acute," Karageorghis, the catalyst behind the conference, told BAR. "Excavators die, and their results remain unpublished." ...
Asked whether a reported crackdown by IAA chief Amir Drori on excavators who had not published was having an effect, Karageorghis replied, "I don't think so. Much remains unpublished. I know people who have not published who are still excavating. I will not name names."
[675] Article: "The Mistress Of Stratigraphy Had Clay Feet: Kathleen Kenyon's Flawed Jerusalem Excavation." By Herschel Shanks. BAR, May/June 2003. Pages 53-58, 70.
Page 53: "Between 1961 and 1967 Dame Kathleen Kenyon, one of the leading archaeologists of her day, led an important excavation in the area of Jerusalem known as the City of David, where the original city was located."
Page 70: "Kenyon's excavation of the City of David was the most extensive and significant since the first World War."
Page 53:
She wrote two popular accounts of the work she did there, but unfortunately, she died in 1978 without publishing her final report. In 1982, a committee from the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem assigned the task of completing a critical part of Kenyon's excavation report to H.J. Franken.... He, in turn, assigned the stratigraphy and pottery analysis to Margreet Steiner.... With glee, she leapt at the opportunity, although she now ruefully writes, "It is a good thing I didn't know then that it would take me almost 20 years to finish the project."2 ...
2 Publication of the coins, inscriptions, seals, flint, some closed pottery groups, human and animal bones, shells, stone weights, hammer stones and figurines have been assigned to specialists in various fields. Most of the work is "still to be done" and little of it is published.
Page 53: "If Kenyon is indeed looking down from her perch in heaven, she must be furious, for this book documents how incomplete, illegible, sloppy and just plain wrong her excavation records are."
Page 54: "But some of [Kenyon's] field notebooks, we learn from Steiner's volume, are nearly useless because they don't contain the locations of the layers that Kenyon excavated."
Page 53: "Worst of all, most of the pottery sherds [fragments], including diagnostic handles, bases, and rims, were simply thrown out."
NOTE: The article goes on to detail many glaring omissions and errors in Kenyon's notes.
[676] Article: "Archaeology." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004. The section entitled "Fieldwork" states:
To a certain extent all excavation is destruction, and the total excavation of a site subsequently engulfed by a housing estate or gravel digging is total destruction. This is why the archaeologist's field notes and his published report become primary archaeological documents. They are not themselves, strictly speaking, archaeological facts: they are the excavator's interpretation of what he saw, or thought he saw, but this is the nearest the discipline can ever get to archaeological facts as established by excavation.
[677] Web page: "Ancient Jerusalem Project." The Council for British Research in the Levant. Accessed November 7, 2006 at http://www.cbrl.org.uk/
"Although Dame Kathleen [Kenyon] produced two general books on Jerusalem and seven excellent and detailed preliminary reports, the final report was not written before her death in 1978, and the publication has been subject to long delays. To date four volumes of final reports have been published, with two more in process."
NOTE: The first four volumes were published in 1985, 1990, 1995, & 2001.
[678] Article: "David's Jerusalem: Fiction or Reality? It's Not There: Archaeology Proves a Negative." By Margreet Steiner. BAR, July/Aug 1998.
Failure to publish the evidence from the large excavations conducted in Jerusalem since 1960 has created severe problems for scholars who wish to evaluate the Jerusalem of these periods. The directors of all four major excavations died without writing final reports. Between 1961 and 1967 Kathleen Kenyon excavated on the southeastern hill known as the City of David, the oldest inhabited part of Jerusalem. From 1968 to 1978, following the Six-Day War, Benjamin Mazar excavated south of the Temple Mount in the area known as the Ophel. Nahman Avigad excavated in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City from 1969 to 1983. And Yigal Shiloh excavated the City of David from 1978 to 1985. Not one final report from these excavations has been completed, although teams of archaeologists are now working on them in Jerusalem; Manchester, England; and Leiden, the Netherlands.
[679] Article: "David's Jerusalem: Fiction or Reality? It's Not There: Archaeology Proves a Negative." By Margreet Steiner. BAR, July/Aug 1998.
Consequently, Steiner offers her readers startling historical conclusions that are not substantiated by the archaeological record, that appear to contradict evidence she herself has published elsewhere and—worst of all—that perpetuate the propensity of some archaeologists to publish sensational claims while maintaining exclusive access to unpublished evidence so that other scholars cannot independently evaluate the evidence.
[680] Article: "The Age of BAR: 25 Years of Kicking Up Some Dust." By Steven Feldman. BAR, March/April 2001.
Strugnell and Qimron's paper at the [1984] Jerusalem conference was the first time many scholars had heard of [the Dead Sea Scroll called] MMT, even though it had been found 30 years earlier. After the excitement generated by the presentation, an undercurrent of anger among scholars came to the fore: They could not study MMT or other Dead Sea Scrolls because the right to publish the scrolls had been granted to a mere handful of scholars. Anyone outside "the charmed circle" (in the words of scholar Theodor Gaster) had to wait until the official scroll editor published a scholarly edition of his materials. Nor could other scholars even see photos of the unpublished scrolls for fear that they might beat the official editor to the punch! But by the 1980s it was becoming painfully clear that the official publication team was woefully understaffed. Publication had slowed to a trickle. ... Other editors had died, leaving their work to colleagues to complete, as if the scrolls were a matter of personal property to bequest as one wished.
[681] Article: "Jerusalem Explores and Preserves Its Past: Jerusalem's Water Supply During Siege—The Rediscovery of Warren's Shaft." By Yigal Shiloh. BAR, July/Aug 1981.
"The original city of Jerusalem was established here because it is here that Jerusalem's only fresh water source—the Gihon Spring—is located, and because the long, narrow hill is protected on three sides by deep valleys."
[682] Article: "Light at the End of the Tunnel: Warren's Shaft theory of David's conquest shattered." By Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron. BAR, Jan/Feb 1999.
"Access to the Gihon Spring, Jerusalem's only natural water source, was essential for the survival of the early city residents."
[683] Book: History of the Transmission of Ancient Books to Modern Times together with the Process of Historical Proof. By Isaac Taylor. Haskell House, 1971. First published in 1875.
Page 392: "Two short periods excepted—after the capture and overthrow of the city—Jerusalem has been inhabited, continuously, throughout a period of three thousand years; and during all that length of time a written history has attended its fortunes...."
[684] Article: "Jerusalem." Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2004.
In addition to describing several historical events during the Byzantine era, this article identifies the two periods referred to in the previous note.
The section entitled "History, The Early Period, Ancient Origins" states: "In 587/586 BC the city and Temple were completely destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar, and the captivity began. It ended in 538 BC when Cyrus II (the Great) of Persia, who had overcome Babylon, permitted the Jews, led by Zerubbabel, of the Davidic house, to return to Jerusalem."
The section entitled "History, The Early Period, Roman rule / The Islamic and Crusader Periods" states: "In 66 [A.D.] the Jews rebelled against Rome, and in 70 the city was besieged and almost wholly destroyed by the Roman forces under Titus. The Temple, Herod's greatest creation, was reduced to ashes. By 130 the city had been partially repopulated...."
[685] Article: "Roman Jerusalem: Searching for Roman Jerusalem." By Hillel Geva. BAR, Nov/Dec 1997.
In the 1970s, I excavated in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City with the late Professor Nahman Avigad. In site after site, the same stratigraphical picture appeared. Over the destruction layer marking the Roman conquest of the Upper City in 70 C.E., we consistently identified a construction layer of the Byzantine period (fourth to seventh centuries C.E.)—with nothing in between!
[686] Article: "Church of the Apostles Found on Mt. Zion." By Bargil Pixner. BAR, May/June 1990.
"When the Crusaders arrived in Jerusalem in 1099, they found on Mt. Zion (Zion III) the Byzantine Church of Hagia Sion (Holy Zion) that had been destroyed...."
[687] Article: "The Fight for History: In the Holy Land, archaeology itself is a battleground. Will the Bible win out?" By Jeffery L. Sheler. U.S. News and World Report, December 24, 2001. http://rnc3.org/misc/USNEWS_Bible_History.htm
Ronny Reich, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, notes, for example, that excavations near the Gihon spring outside the present Old City have turned up "no pottery, nothing" from the Byzantine era–roughly A.D. 330-1450. "Does that mean there were no people in Jerusalem?" Reich asks. "Of course not. How do you explain it? You can't."
[688] Book: Sennacherib's Invasion of Palestine: A Critical Source Study. By Leo L. Honor. AMS Press, 1966. Page 1:
The most important Assyrian source for the history of Sennacherib's reign is Sennacherib's "Annals." ... [E]ach inscription contains an account of the king's building enterprises, as well as his military achievements. ... These annals passed through a number of editions. A new edition was usually forthcoming after the completion of a successful [military] campaign. ... There are a number of recensions of each edition.... [I]t seems, the scribes of each edition embodied with very little change the account found in the latest earlier edition, and added an account of whatever campaigns had taken place after the writing of the previous edition.
Note 3 on page 26 provides more specifics on the recensions and editions.
[689] Book: Sennacherib's Campaign to Judea. By William R. Gallagher. Brill, 1999.
Pages 9-11 provide information on the various inscriptions.
[690] Ancient Inscription: "Oriental Institute Prism Inscription" containing the Annals of Sennacherib. (Also known as the Chicago Prism.) Inscribed in 689 B.C. Translated in the book: The Annals of Sennacherib by Daniel David Luckenbill. University of Chicago Press, 1924. Pages 32-34.
[691] Ancient Inscription: "Oriental Institute Prism Inscription" containing the Annals of Sennacherib. (Also known as the Chicago Prism.) Inscribed in 689 B.C. Translated in the book: Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Edited by James B. Pritchard. Princeton University Press, 1955. Page 288 contains the relevant text:
As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities, walled forts and to the countless small villages in their vicinity, and conquered (them).... Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage, I surrounded him with earthwork in order to molest those who were leaving his city's gate. ... Hezekiah himself, whom the terror-inspiring splendor of my lordship had overwhelmed ... did send me, later, to Nineveh, my lordly city, together with 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver ... his (own) daughters, concubines, male and female musicians. In order to deliver the tribute and do obeisance as a slave he sent his (personal) messenger.
[692] Ancient Inscription: "Rassam Cylinder Inscription" containing the Annals of Sennacherib. Inscribed in 700 B.C. Translated in the book: Sennacherib's Campaign to Judea. By William R. Gallagher. Brill, 1999.
Pages 128-129 contain the relevant text, in addition to variants from other inscriptions. Only the Rassam text is quoted here:
(As for) Hezekiah, the Judaean. I surrounded and conquered 46 of his strongly fortified walled cities and countless small towns in their vicinity.... (As for) him, I enclosed him like a bird in a cage in the midst of Jerusalem, his royal city. I erected fortresses against him and made it unthinkable for him to go out of the gate of his city. ... (As for) him, Hezekiah, the fear of the radiant splendor of my lordship overwhelmed him and he sent after me to Nineveh, my capital ... 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver ... along with his daughters, his palace women, and male and female singers—and, in order to deliver the tribute and to carry out his servitude, he dispatched his messenger.
[693] 2 Kings 18-19 (NIV)
[694] Book: Sennacherib's Campaign to Judea. By William R. Gallagher. Brill, 1999.
Page 2: "Today the number of opinions as to what happened in 701 [B.C.] is so large that anyone who examines the topic is confronted with an enormous body of secondary literature...."
[695] Book: Sennacherib's Invasion of Palestine: A Critical Source Study. By Leo L. Honor. AMS Press, 1966.
Page XIII reviews 6 theories from "scholars who have attempted to reconstruct these events."
[696] OROT. Pages 41-42 offer a simple and non-miraculous analysis of these events.
[697] Ancient Inscription: "Oriental Institute Prism Inscription" containing the Annals of Sennacherib. Inscribed in 689 B.C. Translated in the book: The Annals of Sennacherib by Daniel David Luckenbill. University of Chicago Press, 1924. Pages 23-47.
[698] Book: Sennacherib's Campaign to Judea. By William R. Gallagher. Brill, 1999.
Page 111: "Through his imprisonment of Padi [an ally of Sennacherib] and his attacks on pro-Assyrian cities in Philistia, Hezekiah made himself Sennacherib's main enemy and main target."
Page 116 translates the following excerpt from Sennacherib's Annals (Rassam Cylinder) regarding Padi: "(As for) the city officials, rulers and people of Ekron, who had thrown their king Padi, bound by oath and covenant to Assyria, into chains and handed him over like an enemy to Hezekiah, the Judaean: their hearts became afraid due to the abomination they had committed, and against me they banded together with the kings of Egypt...."
[699] Book: Sennacherib's Campaign to Judea. By William R. Gallagher. Brill, 1999. Page 132:
The annals state that Hezekiah sent the final tribute payment after Sennacherib to Nineveh. This is not a typical victory in which the Assyrians walk into an enemy city, take what they want, and impose a new government on it. ... The claim that Hezekiah sent tribute after Sennacherib is unique in Assyrian inscriptions. ... Why did Hezekiah not come out, present his tribute, kneel down and kiss Sennacherib's feet like the other kings had done at Ushu? Why did Hezekiah stay in Jerusalem and merely send a messenger to Nineveh to pay Sennacherib homage?
[700] Ancient Inscription: "Oriental Institute Prism Inscription" containing the Annals of Sennacherib. Inscribed in 689 B.C. Translated in the book: The Annals of Sennacherib by Daniel David Luckenbill. University of Chicago Press, 1924.
Page 30 lists eight specific rulers plus "the kings of Amurru" and states: "[A]ll of them, numerous presents, as their heavy tribute, they brought before me for the fourth time, and kissed my feet."
[701] Ancient Inscription: "Oriental Institute Prism Inscription" containing the Annals of Sennacherib. Inscribed in 689 B.C. Translated in the book: The Annals of Sennacherib by Daniel David Luckenbill. University of Chicago Press, 1924. Page 23.
[702] Examples:
(1) Bryant G. Wood, who holds a Ph.D. in Syro-Palestinian archaeology from the University of Toronto
(2) Dr. Clifford Wilson, former director of the Australian Institute of Archaeology
(3) http://www.biblearchaeology.org/
[703] Entry: "Glueck, Nelson." Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography. Edited by John. S. Bowman. Cambridge University Press. 1995.
Page 276 states Glueck was an "ordained rabbi" and he "discovered 1,500 biblical sites in four decades of work...."
[704] Article: "Glueck, Nelson." American National Biography. Edited by John A. Garraty & Mark C. Carnes. Oxford University Press, 1999. Volume 9, page 127:
Glueck was asked to deliver the benediction at the 1961 inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. He also appeared on the cover of the 13 December 1963 issue of Time magazine, which featured an article on Glueck and his work entitled "The Search for Man's Past."
[705] Book: Rivers in the Desert: A History of the Negev. By Nelson Glueck. Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, 1959. Page 31.
[706] Book: Rivers in the Desert: A History of the Negev. By Nelson Glueck. Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, 1959.
Chapter 8 is entitled "The Cross and the Candelabra." One of the subsections is entitled, "The Epicenter of Christianity."
[707] Article: "Glueck, Nelson." American National Biography. Edited by John A. Garraty & Mark C. Carnes. Oxford University Press, 1999. Volume 9, page 127:
The two schools merged and Glueck became president of the new Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, overseeing campuses in Cincinnati and New York City. ... As president, he directed a period of unprecedented growth.... The New York City campus added ... a graduate school in Near Eastern and biblical studies that enabled Jewish and Christian scholars to interact and study together in an academic environment.
