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Wednesday, January 11 is Nicolas Steno’s 374th birthday, a fact that matters to a great many geologists who consider him the father of modern stratigraphy. (Even Google has honored his birth through their Jan. 11 doodle.) Steno first developed the important geological principles that younger geological layers were originally laid on top of older layers, horizontally and in a continuous fashion. Uplifting or bending of those layers or canyons cutting through the layers demonstrated that some major changes had been made to the face of the earth since those layers settled.
These were discoveries that caused thinking men to question the generally accepted age of the earth. There was a great deal of history that could be gleaned from the contents of those many geological layers, and while Steno did not try to put ages on the layers he saw, those who followed him suggested that perhaps the earth was a great deal older than previously thought. The earth aged exponentially during the next several centuries, and in 1956 geochemist Clair Patterson calculated the earth’s age to be about 4.5 billion years old after using isotopes to age date a meteorite.
Patterson’s conclusions have been generally accepted by the scientific community. The oldest rocks on earth have been dated to 4.28 billion years. (Zircons found from grains in Western Australia are considered slightly older – 4.36 billion years old.) Geologists depend on radiometric age dating to give dates to different strata and the rocks and bones and artifacts found in those layers. Most will say that the dating methods have been confirmed over and over again, but there are questions about whether the dating methods used are reliable and whether they give scientists true dates – or whether they give dates that fit those geologists’ developed expectations.
Meteorites:
During its history, the earth has suffered constant change. Erosion, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, catastrophes change the surface of the earth, melting rocks, grinding them up and spitting them back out in different forms than they had when they started. Because geologists have a difficult time finding truly ancient earth rocks, they have dated meteorites – assumed to have formed at the same time as the earth (and the rest of the solar system) – in order to give a reliable age for the earth.
Those who trust in radiometric dating methods point to G. Brent Dalrymple’s 1991 book The Age of the Earth, in which he lists the ages of various chondrite samples age-dated through several methods. Dalrymple shows that the dates of chondrite samples derived through different methods all give similar ages. A list of samples dated by the rubidium-strontium (Rb-Sr) method gives dates in a range from 4.37 +/- 0.34 billion years to 4.59 +/- 0.06 billion years. Samarium-neodymium (Sm-Nd) dating of chondrites gives a date of 4.21 +/- 0.76 billion years, and both eucrites dated by lutetium-hafnium (Lu-Hf) and iron dated by rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) gives dates of 4.57 billion years. Dalrymple lists other sets of samples and shows that the samples consistently date between 4.29 billion and 4.57 billion years, regardless of the dating method used.
This looks like convincing evidence that the earth is truly about 4.6 billion years old and the dating methods work reliably, (even though the Rb-Sr dating has a margin of error of 340 million years and Sm-Nd of 760 million years). Dalrymple’s results appear to be fairly consistent in giving the earth an age of well over 4 billion years.
As we have previously noted (see links below), the use of these dating methods depends on a number of assumptions. When these methods give dates hundreds of millions of years apart, even without taking the margins of error into consideration, we can reasonably hesitate to put our full faith in them. On tests of rocks considered much younger, the differences really matter.
Grand Canyon:
Despite claims to the contrary, dating methods do not always give consistent dates, and can give widely different results for samples of rocks from the same layers.
In 2005, geologist Andrew Snelling and creationist researchers had multiple samples of Grand Canyon basalts age-dated using at least three of the main radiometric dating methods, and found the tests gave discordant results. The Cardenas Basalt samples gave an age of 516 (+/-30) million years when dated by the K-Ar method, 1111 (+/-80) million years when dated by the Rb-Sr method, and 1588 (+/-170) million years when dated with the Sm-Nd method. The range in dates for just the Cardenas Basalt was therefore more than a billion years. That’s a huge range considering the low age-date for the basalt was “only” 516 million years.
The Grand Canyon Brahma amphibolites samples dated by the Rb-Sr, Ur-Pb, and Sm-Nd methods gave ages that ranged from 1240 to 1883 million years ago. In a couple of cases, layers farther down in the Grand Canyon (and therefore relatively older) were dated younger than layers higher up. These results, and other similar tests by Steve Austin and other creationists (see links below), have demonstrated that these dating methods are not necessarily as reliable as the majority of geologists often claim.
Assuming A Great Age:
One of the problems with using the Rb-Sr or K-Ar or other certain age-dating methods is that they do not give accurate ages for items that are young. Andrew Snelling reports that in 1996, samples were taken from 20th century lava flows on New Zealand’s Mt Ngauruhoe – “two each from the 11 February 1949, 4 June 1954, and 14 July 1954 flows and from the 19 February 1975 avalanche deposits, and three from the 30 June 1954 flow…” The samples were sent to Geochron Laboratories in Cambridge, Mass for whole-rock potassium-argon (K-Ar) dating. Even though the rocks were from lava flows less than 50 years old, the samples gave greatly exaggerated dates for the rocks.
Snelling reports, “The ‘ages’ range from <0.27 to 3.5 (± 0.2) million years for rocks which were observed to have cooled from lavas 25-50 years ago. One sample from each flow yielded ‘ages’ of <0.27 or <0.29 million years while all the other samples gave ‘ages’ of millions of years.”
Geologists complain that this sort of testing is ridiculous to do because everybody knows that K-Ar dating will not give accurate dates for extremely young rocks. Ah, and that’s just the problem. When geologists do tests of ancient rocks, they assume extremely old ages, and so they use age-dating methods that would be appropriate for extremely old rocks. If the rocks truly aren’t that old, how can geologists know? What would indicate to a lab that the correct date is the lower date rather than the 3.5 million year date? If they used dating methods appropriate for young rocks, would those give relatively consistent young ages for the rocks?
Speed of Light and Inflated Dates: While there are definitely some difficulties with the age-dating methods, Andrew Snelling believes they can still be useful for the most part in giving relative dates – that is, determining that this sample is older than that sample.
Some young-earth physicists like Lambert Dolphin, Barry Setterfield, and Trevor Norman argue that these dating methods are not wrong in theory – but they give wildly exaggerated dates because radioactive decay rates have slowed down over time. The speed of light has a direct effect on the atom and atomic decay rates. These physicists argue that the speed of light has been slowing down, affecting the rate of radioactive decay. If decay rates were much higher in the past, then dating methods based on today’s rates of change would be inflated.
Nicolas Steno was a true scientist who used observation of the natural world to open up a whole new realm of discovery to those curious about the physical history of the earth, and one of his greatest contributions was his fearlessness about uncovering the truth. He did not have any agendas. His purpose was to research and understand the way things were, and he did it – as did many scientists in his day – as a servant of God. He wrote in 1659: “One sins against the majesty of God by being unwilling to look into nature’s own works.” Geology tells a series of stories, ones with many gaps and with plenty of room for better understanding.
A carving of the Tower of Babel has been found on a stone tablet dating back over 2,500 years.
It comes from the newly published book Cuneiform Royal Inscriptions And Related Texts In The Schøyen Collection.
The collection is owned by Norwegian businessman Martin Schøyen, who has amassed over 13,000 ancient manuscripts and tablets.
One of the images shows King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled Babylon 2,500 years ago, standing next to a huge ziggurat – a pyramidlike structure dedicated to the god Marduk that some scholars believe is the Tower of Babel of Biblical fame.
Professor Andrew George writes that this drawing is one of ‘the stars in the firmament of the book’.
The depiction of Nebuchadnezzar is one of only four in the world.
Babel, is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a ‘scene of noisy confusion’.
Interestingly, the phrase ‘Tower of Babel’ is not mentioned in the Bible, but is described as ‘the city and its tower’.
Professor George says: ‘The others are carved on cliff-faces in Lebanon at Wadi Brisa (which has two reliefs) and at Shir es-Sanam.
‘All these outdoor monuments are in very poor condition and their depictions of the king are much less impressive than that on the stele [stone tablet].’
Elsewhere in the book is an interesting translation of a 3,000-year-old copy of the law code of Mesopotamian king Ur-Nammu.
Within this scholars discovered an ‘eye for an eye’ rule, predating Hammurabi’s famous 1780BC code by hundreds of years.
However, Ur-Nammu’s version was less cruel and stated that blinding someone should result in a fine, not the losing of an eye.
Bar tabs were also enshrined in law. If, for example, you told a ‘female tavern-keeper’ to put a beer on a tab in the summer, she could order you to pay a tax in the winter – though it doesn’t specify how much.
There are few events in a person’s life where one can say that they have changed a society’s understanding of history. For Dr. Steven Collins of Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque, this just may be the case.
Upon his recent return from the Tall el-Hammam dig in Jordan, Dr. Collins was full of fascinating facts and possible historic findings.
But before I get into his recent finds, allow me to review what occurred during last year’s dig.
In my article “Sodom Found?” I wrote, “According to Collins, ‘The traditional “Southern Theory” site of Sodom does not have the geographical parallels described in the [biblical] text. Namely: 1. One can see the whole area from the hills above Jericho (Bethel/Ai), 2. It must be a well-watered place (described “like Egypt”), 3. It has a river running through it (the Jordan), and 4. It must follow the travel route of Lot” (who went to the other side of the Jordan, eastward, away from Jericho.)’”
What does all this mean? Simple: The traditional sites attributed as Sodom may be incorrect.
With this, Dr. Collins and his team began digging at a new site, Tall el-Hammam, which corresponded to several factors. Dr. Collins summarized the end result: “To start with, the Tall el-Hammam site has twenty-five geographical indicators that align with the description in Genesis.
Compare this with something well known—like Jerusalem—that has only sixteen. Other sites have only five or six. So this site has a greater number of indicators than any other Old Testament site. That is truly amazing.
“Second, our findings—pottery, architecture, and destruction layers—fit the timeframe profile. Meaning we should expect to find items like what we are finding from the Middle Bronze Age. This is exactly what we are uncovering.
“Lastly, we have secured internationally recognized experts to review our findings. One such person is Dr. Robert Mullins; then there are our colleagues from the Department of Antiquities in Jordan. Dr. Mullins is an expert in Bronze Age pottery, and there are many others as well. My ceramic expertise also covers the Bronze Age. Their conclusions on the matter reflect that our findings are correct. Once again, this is incredible.”
“Though we are still digging and uncovering a plethora of material and artifacts, and much research still needs to be conducted, I feel that the evidence for this being the ancient city of Sodom is increasing by the day.”
The bottom line was that the findings of Dr. Collins’ team in Jordan were producing great results—all pointing to the city of Sodom.
Now let’s fast-forward a year.
As I met Dr. Collins at Solomon’s Porch Café (aptly named title for our meeting) in Albuquerque, I could tell something exciting was afoot.
We sat down with our tea and coffee and began to chat.
I started by asking some simple questions: “How long was this particular dig?”
“The dig was from December 6, 2010 through January 28, 2011,” Dr. Collins replied.
Did you bring a team?
“Yes, 120 of us split between Jordanian workers and staff, Trinity Southwest University staff, and volunteers from around the world.”
Was the location in the exact place as last year? I asked.
“Yes. We call this the Premier location. What made this dig exciting, however,” Dr. Collin’s shifted in his chair with enthusiasm as he continued, “Is that the Director General of Antiquities spent a good deal of time with us.”
“You see, in Jordan, the news of this find has created large interest. As a matter of fact, one of the leading archaeologists from Jordan stated: ‘This is perhaps the most important archaeological discovery of the modern era.’”
“What the Jordanian’s—and many others—are beginning to see is the mounting evidence for Sodom,” Dr. Collins concluded.
Beyond last year’s discoveries, what new evidence are you referring to? I enthusiastically wondered aloud.
“To put it simply, we have uncovered evidence of a massive, violent destruction.”
Such as? I prodded him.
“To begin with, ash and destruction layers in the terminal Bronze Age strata MB-2,” Dr. Collins replied.
He continued: “But the real big news is that we found skeletal remains that demonstrate a quick, violent death.”
Amazed, I asked for the background of this discovery.
“It began three years ago when we found some skeletal remains. Like many archaeological sites, we didn’t mention the find publicly because of the potential problems involved with such remains. However, with these recent finds, we had to say something because it was so monumental.
“It began when one of our doctoral students, Carrall Kobs, was supervising on site. She discovered two sets of human remains, then another. Concerned, she called me over. I asked her to walk me through the discovery and excavation process, asking important questions along the way. What we found was ash, debris, and destruction material with no indication of insertion cuts for graves or primitive burial indentations. They weren’t burials.
“To add further intrigue, this archaeological stratum was clearly within the Middle Bronze Age horizon. It was the terminal destruction of the city.”
Tell me more about the skeletons, I asked.
“Two of our osteologists, Dr. John Leslie, PhD, MD, and Dr. John Moore, PhD, DDS, looked over the bones. The area they concentrated on was the bottom half of the body, including the pelvis region, legs, and feet—the upper portions on two of them were missing. The initial results were amazing and quite exciting archaeologically—but sad in how the people died. They found the bodies splayed out, face down, joints twisted, toes hyper-extended, with many signs of violent burial within collapsing debris. In short, the bodies were extremely traumatized in their death.
“Shortly after, we discovered a child body one meter north. The child’s skeleton showed the same destruction, demonstrating traumatic demise.”
How so? I was quite curious.
“The legs were flexed in the wrong way, the knee joints were ripped apart, one arm was broken with left palm up, and the other arm was smashed under the pelvis. In all, it showed the signs of a sudden, ghastly death.”
Any other skeletal remains? I prodded.
“Yes. We’re still investigating these. But generally speaking, skeletal remains were found throughout the area, following the same patterns. One skeleton seems to be crouching, as if in fear, protecting itself from the destruction.”
So what can one conclude from all this? I asked.
“It may be too early to say, but initial evidence points towards a large-scale destruction from a catastrophic event. I say this because, in that area, the skeletal remains were traumatized by an east-to-west directional event, demonstrating that the catastrophe came from a particular compass point.”
Naively, I asked what they did with the skeletons.
“We took extreme care and precautions in working with the skeletons, going above and beyond protocol. Our goal was to ensure the safety and preservation of all the remains embedded in the ground.”
This is a significant find, I agreed. But is there more?
“Yes, much more. In the same geographical matrix we found ash, pottery, mud bricks, and objects, all pointing to a Middle Bronze Age time frame—the time of Abram and Lot.
“Also, we think we may have found the precinct of the temple as well. As of now, we’ve found a 100×100 meter area in the lower region of the tall [sometimes spelled tell]. One of the main walls is three meters thick and twenty meters long. If what we’re looking at is the temple, it appears that it may be the south wall.”
This all sounds quite amazing, I responded. And wanting to know “what next?” I asked if they were working with outside experts.
“Throughout the whole expedition we have been working with outside experts. On this particular dig Dr. Leen Ritmeyer, a world-renowned expert in ancient architecture has been assisting us. He’s done publication drawings and renderings for over 70 excavations in Israel, so we’re really glad to have him at Tall el-Hammam.
“Initially he was very skeptical of the Sodom designation for Tall el-Hammam. But with his recent visits and work at the site, his attitude may be changing toward a more positive position. In all, it would be safe to say that Dr. Ritmeyer would say that Tall el-Hammam is the best candidate for Sodom. I know he’s done several presentations on Hammam as Sodom.
“Additionally, Dr. Leslie has written up a scholarly assessment of the skeletal remains, to be published with our Season Six Report in major archaeological journal. Furthermore, our TeHEP Conservator had the bones infused with plastic for preservation purposes. The child bones have been collected within their ash matrix, and we’re waiting for carbon 14 test results, and other tests.
“So, in all, we’re using outside help, and we have many scientists working on our dig staff and in various analytical capacities—botanists, faunal experts, geologists, ceramic typologists, climatologists, chemists, materials scientists, you name it.”
By now, Dr. Collins and I have been talking for over an hour. I am engaged with every word and sentence as he describes the site. And even further, I marvel at what his team is uncovering.
Before I let him go, I have one more question. And the answer—once again—amazes me.
Is there anything unusual about Tall el-Hammam that you didn’t expect when you began digging over five years ago?
“You won’t believe this, Brian, but something quite fascinating has occurred during the past two dig seasons. We’ve found a vast amount of evidence that Tall el-Hammam and its surrounding area contains the largest and best preserved necroscape in the region. Or put in layman terms: an ancient landscape altered and designed for astronomical as well as religious purposes.”
Intrigued, I asked, how so?
“With our recent discoveries we found a large number of megalithic features: standing stones, menhirs, astronomical alignments, dolmens, henges, stone circles, and a host of other structures made of very large stones. Our staff anthropologist, Lucy Clayton, is collaborating with us on the interpretation of these. We’ve also got two of our senior field archaeologists, Dr. Steve McAllister and Dr. David Maltsberger, and an outside astronomer, working on the significance of our stone alignments.
“To add more fascination to this, we were on site during solar and lunar events, which showed the ancient inhabitants had a clear understanding of astronomical occurrences.”
How so? I inquired.
“One example is that the large standing stones—menhirs— are aiming at the temple. Another is that many of the megaliths give indication of an astronomical calendar, particularly for solar alignments. We’ve already tracked some of these firsthand.
“Though we’re just beginning this area of study, the findings are fascinating. In all of this we may also have found the reason that Joseph and his large Egyptian entourage mourned Jacob’s death in this same location for seven days, in Genesis 50. You know, the area of Tall el-Hammam is biblical Abel Mizraim and Abel Shittim. Abel means ‘place of mourning’. That’s what our megalithic field is—a sacred landscape purposefully constructed for the mourning of ancestors. It’s quite probable that the area became known as ‘Abel’, the place of mourning, after the destruction of Sodom and the Cities of the Plain. Very exciting stuff!”
Tossing out one more question (breaking my promise for one final question), I asked how Dr. Collins would summarize the Tall el-Hammam site.
“Well, in my opinion, we have found the city of destruction: Sodom. But beyond this, I believe this site is one of the best pictures of a Bronze Age city-state ever discovered and studied. The Tall el-Hammam is helping us develop new constructs for landscape anthropology, archaeological methods, and a mountain of clues to ancient man’s beliefs and actions. It may well turn out to be one of the greatest discoveries in modern archaeology. Actually, it already is.”
A website is suggesting that the remains of the biblical Noah’s Ark have been found near the summit of Mt. Ararat in Turkey, and the research team’s project leader has published a number of scientific articles claiming the legitimacy of the discovery.
The finding concerns a large, wooden piece measuring 24 x 123 feet from the Ark, which has been located deep inside the glacial ice 350 feet from the top of Mt. Aratat. The area has historically been associated with the possible spot where the Ark hit land after the ocean waters dispersed during the biblical account of the Genesis flood. According to the website, which is named Noah’s Ark Found, talk of the Ark has been swarming the mountain region for thousands of years, though science has never confirmed its existence or location.
The creator of the research project, Daniel P. McGivern, president and C.E.O. of Shamrock, The Trinity Corporation, has posted evidence on the website seeking to change that and argue a strong case for the credible existence of the Ark and its location at the 17,000-foot mountain. The “Science Directs Discovery” section features links to various scientific articles that discuss evidence for the Ark, as well as photographs from the archeological site of the discovery, and sketches that seek to illustrate the dimensions of the ship and how it would have found itself on top of the mountain.
McGivern’s case includes an argument that claims Carbon dating is not an effective way of determining the ship’s age because of the wet wood, as well as a video presentation by Dr. Walt Brown from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who discusses the Hydroplate Theory about the way the water would have risen and carried Noah’s Ark.
Another interesting finding featured on the website shares a story about former President Jimmy Carter who saw a large piece of the Arc while he was flying over the mountain in the Air Force One – a happening he wrote about in the White House Diary. A host of other sightings by prominent government officials include reports by U.S. pilots who flew over the region during World War II and gave accounts of similar objects.
There is even evidence from the CIA that presents satellite images showing the Ark buried beneath the snow and ice on Mt. Aratat.
Besides taking the scientific approach, the website also features biblical warnings from Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary who talk of judgment in the end times, and call for people to repent and place their faith in Christianity. A list of more than 30 ‘inspirational’ articles seeks to bring spiritual guidance to interested readers.
McGivern, a Roman Catholic, describes the collection of information on the website as “overwhelming,” and contends that the large piece found in the ice was from the Noah’s ark, CBN reported.
“The mountain is treeless. The mountain is volcanic with gases. There is no conceivable way that you could have an object that big on a mountain,” the C.E.O said, but added that it would be difficult to reach it: “You are up there at 16,600 feet. How are you going to get down to it?”
Archaeologists in tumultuous Palestine are digging up the ruins of Shekem, where Abraham once stopped, Jacob once camped — and today litter is strewn.
The biblical ruin lies inside a Palestinian city in the West Bank, where modern researchers are writing the latest chapter in a 100-year-old excavation that has been interrupted by two world wars and numerous rounds of Mideast upheaval.
Working on an urban lot that long served residents of Nablus as an unofficial dump for garbage and old car parts, Dutch and Palestinian archaeologists are learning more about the ancient city of Shekhem — and preparing to open the site to the public as an archaeological park next year.
The project, carried out under the auspices of the Palestinian Department of Antiquities, also aims to introduce the Palestinians of Nablus, who have been beset for much of the past decade by bloodshed and isolation, to the wealth of antiquities in the middle of their city.
“The local population has started very well to understand the value of the site, not only the historical value, but also the value for their own identity,” said Gerrit van der Kooij of Leiden University in the Netherlands, who co-directs the dig team.
“The local people have to feel responsible for the archaeological heritage in their neighborhood,” he said.
The digging season wrapped up this week at the site, known locally as Tel Balata.
The city of Shekhem, positioned in a pass between the mountains of Gerizim and Eibal and controlling the Askar Plains to the east, was an important regional center more than 3,500 years ago. As the existing remains show, it lay within fortifications of massive stones, was entered through monumental gates and centered on a temple with walls five yards (meters) thick.
The king of Shekhem, Labaya, is mentioned in the cuneiform tablets of the Pharaonic archive found at Tel al-Amarna in Egypt, which are dated to the 14th century B.C. The king had rebelled against Egyptian domination, and soldiers were dispatched north to subdue him. They failed.
The city also appears often in the biblical narrative. The patriarch Abraham, for example, was passing near Shekhem when God promised to give the land of Canaan to his descendants in the Book of Genesis. Later, Abraham’s grandson Jacob was camped outside the walls when a local Canaanite prince raped his daughter, Dinah. Jacob’s sons sacked the city in vengeance. The body of Jacob’s son Joseph was brought from Egypt hundreds of years later by the fleeing Israelites and buried at Shekhem.
Two millennia ago, the Romans abandoned the original site and built a new city to the west, calling it Flavius Neapolis. The Greek name Neapolis, or “new city,” later became enshrined in Arabic as Nablus. In Hebrew, the city is still called Shekhem.
Nablus has since spread, and ancient Shekhem is now surrounded by Palestinian homes and car garages near the city’s eastern outskirts. One morning this week, a garbage container emitted smoke from burning refuse not far from the remains of the northwestern city gate in a curved wall built by skilled engineers around 1600 B.C.
A visitor can walk through the gate, passing through two chambers before emerging inside the city. From there it is a short walk to the remains of the city’s temple, with a stone stele on an outdoor platform overlooking the houses below.
The identity of the city’s ancient residents at the time remains unclear. One theory posits that they were Hyksos, people who came from northern Syria and were later expelled from Egypt. According to the Bible’s account, the city was later Canaanite and still later ruled by Israelites, but archaeology has not corroborated that so far, van der Kooij said.
A German team began excavating at the site in 1913, with Nablus under the control of the Ottoman Turks. The dig was interrupted by World War I but resumed afterward, continuing sporadically into the 1930s under British rule. Much of the German documentation of the dig was lost in the Allied bombings of WWII.
American teams dug at the site in the 1950s and 1960s, under Jordanian rule. Israel conquered Nablus, along with the rest of the West Bank, in the 1967 Mideast war.
Over the years, the site fell into disrepair. The neglect was exacerbated after the first Palestinian uprising in the late 1980s, when Nablus became a center for resistance to Israeli control.
Its condition further deteriorated after the second, more violent, uprising erupted in 2000, drawing Israeli military incursions and the imposition of roadblocks and closures that all but cut the city off from the outside world. In recent years, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority increasingly asserting security control over the cities of the West Bank, Israel has removed some roadblocks and movement has become more free.
Visitors to Nablus are still rare, but the improvements helped convince the archaeologists that the time had come to resume work.
The new excavations and the establishment of the archaeological park are a joint project of the Palestinian Tourism Ministry, the Dutch government and UNESCO. The project began last year and is scheduled to end with the opening of the park in 2012.
In Israel, archaeology, and especially biblical archaeology, has long been a hallowed national pursuit traditionally focused on uncovering the depth of Jewish roots in the land. For the Palestinians, whose Department of Antiquities was founded only 15 years ago, the dig demonstrates a growing interest in uncovering the ancient past.
The department now has 130 workers and carries out several dozen rescue excavations every year on the sites of planned building projects in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, said Hamdan Taha, the department’s director. Ten ongoing research excavations are being conducted with foreign cooperation.
All of the periods in local history, including that of the biblical Israelites, are part of Palestinian history, Taha said.
Archeology in the Middle East consistently confirms the history of the Jews in Israel, for better or for worse. The following archeological sites are offering more information about the history of Jerusalem and the surrounding areas, including more confirmations of the history found in the Bible.
Solomon’s Wall:
A 70-meter-long, 6-meter-high wall constructed during the time of King Solomon has been opened to the public just outside the Old City in Jerusalem. The Ophel Wall offers archeologists artifacts that date clear back to 1000 years before Christ, during the time that Solomon was doing expansion work. Visitors can now walk through and touch these walls.
The entire site includes what is thought to be a gate house, a royal edifice, a section of a tower and the 70-meter long wall. Archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar finished exposing the Ophel site in Jerusalem, and the Israel Antiquities Authority Conservation Department did the conservation work necessary to open the site to the public.
Mazar believes the complex forms part of the fortifications that King Solomon had built in Jerusalem according to 1 Kings 3:1: “…until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.”
The plan of the gate house is similar to other gate houses from the First Temple Period found at Megiddo, Beersheba and Ashdod, and Mazar suggests that the gate house might be the “water gate” mentioned in Nehemiah 3:26: “Moreover the Nethinims [temple servants] dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out.”
This find is incredibly important in offering evidence of the Bible and the reality of Jerusalem as a place of importance to the Jews 1000 years before Christ.
Bathing Pool: According to history, after the Roman Tenth Legion destroyed the Second Temple in AD 70 they plowed under portions of Jerusalem so that it could not even be recognized as once inhabited. Later, in AD 130, Emperor Hadrian decided to build the Roman city Aelia Capitolina on top. That, along with his prohibiting Jews from entering the city and his banning of circumcision eventually led to the Bar Kochba revolt. After the revolt, the province was renamed Syria Palaestina – named after Israel’s enemies the Philistines as a supreme insult to the Jews.
The Romans specifically singled out Jerusalem for this treatment because it rebelled against the Empire.
No Roman buildings had been found in excavations in the Jewish Quarter, and archeologists had concluded that Aelia Capitolina was very small in area. However a Roman bathing pool has been uncovered in Jerusalem, demonstrating that the scope of Aelia Capitolina was larger than previously thought.
“This discovery continues to prove that Israel is unlike any other place on earth; every stone in Israel tells a story,” said Haim Gutin, Israel Commissioner of Tourism, North and South America. “We encourage you to visit for yourself, because once you visit Israel- you’ll never be the same.”
These ancient Roman bathhouse remains will be integrated into the ritual bath that is to be built in the Jewish Quarter.
The prophet Micah declared that Zion would be one day plowed, saying, “Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps…” (Micah 3:1).
Later, Jesus himself foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, explaining it was because they didn’t recognize that the Messiah had already visited:
“For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation,” (Luke 19:43-44).
Digging Up Gath: David famously killed Goliath, who came from the city of Gath on the frontier between Israel and the Philistine territory on the Mediterranean coast. Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University has been digging on a site at Gath since 1996, and every year volunteers swarm in to dig at Gath to help excavate a wealth of artifacts.
Recently, several 3000-year-old Philistine jugs were found with art that showed hints of the Philistines’ Greek history in the Aegean. Gath is an important site for revealing information about the Philistines, especially during the 10th and 9th centuries BC, the time that David and Solomon were ruling. Other Philistine sites give information about earlier and later periods, but Gath is useful for that particular history slot.
There’s evidence of Gath’s destruction in the 800s BC, which corresponds with Hazael, king of Syria’s destruction of the city in 830 BC (2 Kings 12:17).
“Gath fills a very important gap in our understanding of Philistine history,” said Seymour Gitin, director of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem and an expert on the Philistines.
Nebuchadnezzar invaded Gath in 604 BC and the city shows no history of ancient habitation after that.
Maeir noted that the story of David and Goliath does give an accurate portrayal of the geopolitical temper during that time period. There was intense fighting between the Philistines of Gath and the Israelites of Jerusalem on the other side of the frontier.
“It doesn’t mean that we’re one day going to find a skull with a hole in its head from the stone that David slung at him, but it nevertheless tells that this reflects a cultural milieu that was actually there at the time,” Maeir said.
At the remains of an ancient metropolis in southern Israel, archaeologists are piecing together the history of a people remembered chiefly as the bad guys of the Hebrew Bible.
The city of Gath, where the annual digging season began this week, is helping scholars paint a more nuanced portrait of the Philistines, who appear in the biblical story as the perennial enemies of the Israelites.
A ceramic shard found at the excavation site in Tel el-Safi
Close to three millennia ago, Gath was on the frontier between the Philistines, who occupied the Mediterranean coastal plain, and the Israelites, who controlled the inland hills. The city’s most famous resident, according to the book of Samuel, was Goliath – the giant warrior improbably felled by the young shepherd David and his slingshot.
The Philistines “are the ultimate other, almost, in the biblical story,” said Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University, the archaeologist in charge of the excavation.
The latest summer excavation season began this past week, with 100 diggers from Canada, South Korea, the United States and elsewhere, adding to the wealth of relics found at the site since Maier’s project began in 1996.
In a square hole, several Philistine jugs nearly 3,000 years old were emerging from the soil. One painted shard just unearthed had a rust-red frame and a black spiral: a decoration common in ancient Greek art and a hint to the Philistines’ origins in the Aegean.
The Philistines arrived by sea from the area of modern-day Greece around 1200 B.C. They went on to rule major ports at Ashkelon and Ashdod, now cities in Israel, and at Gaza, now part of the Palestinian territory known as the Gaza Strip.
At Gath, they settled on a site that had been inhabited since prehistoric times. Digs like this one have shown that though they adopted aspects of local culture, they did not forget their roots. Even five centuries after their arrival, for example, they were still worshipping gods with Greek names.
Archaeologists have found that the Philistine diet leaned heavily on grass pea lentils, an Aegean staple. Ancient bones discarded at the site show that they also ate pigs and dogs, unlike the neighboring Israelites, who deemed those animals unclean – restrictions that still exist in Jewish dietary law.
Diggers at Gath have also uncovered traces of a destruction of the city in the 9th century B.C., including a ditch and embankment built around the city by a besieging army – still visible as a dark line running across the surrounding hills.
The razing of Gath at that time appears to have been the work of the Aramean king Hazael in 830 B.C., an incident mentioned in the Book of Kings.
Gath’s importance is that the “wonderful assemblage of material culture” uncovered there sheds light on how the Philistines lived in the 10th and 9th centuries B.C., said Seymour Gitin, director of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem and an expert on the Philistines.
That would include the era of the kingdom ruled from Jerusalem by David and Solomon, if such a kingdom existed as described in the Bible. Other Philistine sites have provided archaeologists with information about earlier and later times but not much from that key period.
“Gath fills a very important gap in our understanding of Philistine history,” Gitin said.
In 604 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded and put the Philistines’ cities to the sword. There is no remnant of them after that.
Crusaders arriving from Europe in 1099 built a fortress on the ruins of Gath, and later the site became home to an Arab village, Tel el-Safi, which emptied during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. Today Gath is in a national park.
The memory of the Philistines – or a somewhat one-sided version – was preserved in the Hebrew Bible.
The hero Samson, who married a Philistine woman, skirmished with them repeatedly before being betrayed and taken, blinded and bound, to their temple at Gaza. There, the story goes, he broke free and shattered two support pillars, bringing the temple down and killing everyone inside, including himself.
One intriguing find at Gath is the remains of a large structure, possibly a temple, with two pillars. Maeir has suggested that this might have been a known design element in Philistine temple architecture when it was written into the Samson story.
Diggers at Gath have also found shards preserving names similar to Goliath – an Indo-European name, not a Semitic one of the kind that would have been used by the local Canaanites or Israelites. These finds show the Philistines indeed used such names and suggest that this detail, too, might be drawn from an accurate picture of their society.
The findings at the site support the idea that the Goliath story faithfully reflects something of the geopolitical reality of the period, Maeir said – the often violent interaction of the powerful Philistines of Gath with the kings of Jerusalem in the frontier zone between them.
“It doesn‘t mean that we’re one day going to find a skull with a hole in its head from the stone that David slung at him, but it nevertheless tells that this reflects a cultural milieu that was actually there at the time,” Maeir said.
A collection of lead booklets, allegedly found in a cave in Jordan, made headlines earlier this month. The media pounced on the booklets and declared that they were evidence of early Christian history. The lead codices, bound with lead rings, supposedly included a picture of Jesus and a map of Jerusalem. An Aramaic scholar has since examined pictures of the codices and has called them forgeries. Regardless of whether the codices are legitimate or not, the whole matter raises the importance of provenance and the difficulty in determining the authenticity of archeological artifacts when they’ve been taken away from the original site of discovery.
The 70 lead codices were supposedly found by a Jordanian Bedouin between 2005 and 2007. BBC wrote, “They could be the earliest Christian writing in existence, surviving almost 2,000 years in a Jordanian cave. They could, just possibly, change our understanding of how Jesus was crucified and resurrected, and how Christianity was born.”
If these codices are truly the earliest Christians writing in existence, they would be any archeologist’s dream find. Are they, though? Are the codices legitimate or are they an involved set of fakes?
Archeology enthusiast David Elkington has been leading a British team working to recover the codices from their current Israeli owner and put them in a Jordanian museum. Elkington is impressed with the drawings found on the covers and some of the pages of the lead booklets that have been opened, pictures he argues include images of a menorah and Jesus in the presence of God.
Philip Davies, Emeritus Professor of Old Testament Studies at Sheffield University, was impressed with a picture map of the holy city of Jerusalem, according to the BBC. “As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck. That struck me as so obviously a Christian image,” said Davies. “There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city. There are walls depicted on other pages of these books too and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem.”
The director of the Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, Ziad al-Saad, told the BBC that the books might have been made by early Christians in the decades after the crucifixion.
On the other hand, Dr. Peter Thonemann, a specialist in Greek inscriptions at Wadham College, Oxford, says the codices are fakes. In fact, they aren’t even good fakes but are phonies that “any expert would see through in five or 10 minutes.” Thonemann argues the codices were forged within the past 50 years.
Professional Aramaic translator Steve Caruso also decided the codices were contrived. Antiquities dealers often ask Caruso to analyze inscriptions on ancient artifacts, and he says he spent a week examining photographs of the codices.
“I noticed there were a lot of Old Aramaic forms that were at least 2,500 years old,” Caruso told Life’s Little Mysteries. “But they were mixed in with other forms that were younger, so I took a closer look at that and pulled out all the distinct forms that I could find. It was very, very odd — I’ve never seen this kind of mix before.” The youngest scripts dated to the second and third centuries after Christ, Caruso said, which proved the codices could not have been made at the dawn of Christianity.
The person who did the writing was not careful, Caruso noted, flipping letters around and using improper stroke order when writing the letters.
The squabble over the codices hasn’t stopped there. Plenty of arguments can be found on both sides. Early Christians were not necessarily well educated, which would indicate why the codices included many pictures and few words. Also, the lead codices were cast rather than carved. This means that if the letters were originally made with forward strokes, but were pressed into the ground or some other soft substance in order to make copies, then the hot lead for the cast would have been poured into a mirror image of the original. They would come out looking flipped backwards. Letters that Caruso considered Nabatean and young could also be interpreted as Hebrew and older.
The battle continues as those on both sides attack each other’s credentials. Kimberley Bowes, a Greek and Roman archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania has rejected David Elkington’s credentials as an archeologist, saying, “He doesn’t seem to occupy any post or other academic position.”
For his part, Elkington has criticized Dr. Thonemann, saying: “He’s not a biblical scholar, he’s a Greek classicist. Dismissing the provenance of the books on the basis of two low resolution photographs by e-mail is out of order.”
For its part, the Israel Antiquities Authority doubts the legitimacy of the booklets as “a mixture of incompatible periods and styles without any connection or logic.”
Provenance: The provenance of the books is the big issue, though. It’s difficult to tell exactly where they originated. Thonemann’s argument that they are just 50 years old is fairly thin, considering he has not seen the codices in person nor run any tests on them. At least Elkington photographed the codices firsthand. Yet, the Israeli collector who now possesses the codices argues that they’ve been in his family for over 100 years, contradicting the story that the lead booklets were found in a remote cave in Jordan between four and six years ago.
One of the most painful issues in archeology is that of provenance – the careful documentation of the discovery and ownership history of any artifact. Provenance often means the difference between a priceless piece of history and a piece of junk. It’s the difference between a $10,000 show dog and a mutt. Any time relic-hunters pull an artifact from the sands of the Holy Land and sell it to hungry collectors without carefully documenting how and where they found it, without getting experts involved to verify those facts, they destroy most of the historical value of the artifact. There are plenty of fakes out there, because antiquities offer big money. Without solid documentation, it is very difficult to shut the mouths of critics who argue an artifact is a clever (or not so clever) forgery.
The first rule for all amateur archeologists is to not remove an artifact from its find location. These codices are interesting, but because they lack solid documentation, it is difficult to trust the historical value of their lead pages.
For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price.
This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of Christianity.
Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.
On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation.
The books were discovered five years ago in a cave in a remote part of Jordan to which Christian refugees are known to have fled after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Important documents from the same period have previously been found there.
Initial metallurgical tests indicate that some of the books could date from the first century AD.
This estimate is based on the form of corrosion which has taken place, which experts believe would be impossible to achieve artificially.
If the dating is verified, the books would be among the earliest Christian documents, predating the writings of St Paul.
The prospect that they could contain contemporary accounts of the final years of Jesus’s life has excited scholars – although their enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that experts have previously been fooled by sophisticated fakes.
David Elkington, a British scholar of ancient religious history and archeology, and one of the few to have examined the books, says they could be ‘the major discovery of Christian history’.
‘It is a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church,’ he said.
But the mysteries between their ancient pages are not the books’ only riddle. Today, their whereabouts are also something of a mystery. After their discovery by a Jordanian Bedouin, the hoard was subsequently acquired by an Israeli Bedouin, who is said to have illegally smuggled them across the border into Israel, where they remain.
However, the Jordanian Government is now working at the highest levels to repatriate and safeguard the collection. Philip Davies, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Sheffield University, said there was powerful evidence that the books have a Christian origin in plates cast into a picture map of the holy city of Jerusalem.
As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck,’ he said. ‘That struck me as so obviously a Christian image. There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city.
‘There are walls depicted on other pages of these books too and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem. It is a Christian crucifixion taking place outside the city walls.’
The British team leading the work on the discovery fears that the present Israeli ‘keeper’ may be looking to sell some of the books on to the black market, or worse – destroy them.
But the man who holds the books denies the charge and claims they have been in his family for 100 years.
Dr Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society for Old Testament Study, said: ‘The Book of Revelation tells of a sealed book that was opened only by the Messiah.
‘Other texts from the period tell of sealed books of wisdom and of a secret tradition passed on by Jesus to his closest disciples. That is the context for this discovery.’
Professor Davies said: ‘The possibility of a Hebrew-Christian origin is certainly suggested by the imagery and, if so, these codices are likely to bring dramatic new light to our understanding of a very significant but so far little understood period of history.’
Mr Elkington, who is leading British efforts to have the books returned to Jordan, said: ‘It is vital that the collection can be recovered intact and secured in the best possible circumstances, both for the benefit of its owners and for a potentially fascinated international audience.’
SINAI ARTIFACTS INSCRIBED WITH ISRAEL’S GOD RESURFACE
The Egyptian revolution has provided more than just the impetus for the Libyans to oust Gaddafi. It has brought to light Hebrew artifacts from the Sinai, hidden away by the Egyptians for more than thirty years.
Israel took advantage of the time it held control of the Sinai to excavate important archeological sites. Tel Aviv University archeologist Ze’ev Meshel unearthed artifacts bearing the name of YHWH from the ruins of Kuntillet Ajrud, an ancient way station in the northern part of the peninsula. Then came heartbreak for the Israeli archeologists; the1979 peace agreement included terms that required Israel to hand over the finds from the Sinai, and these important pieces of the past were hidden away in Egypt.
After the children of Israel were taken captive into Babylon, they began to take on the writing and vocabulary of the Babylonians. The change in the Hebrew text of the Bible is quite distinct. The first month of the Hebrew calendar is called “Abib” during the time of Moses (Exd 34:18; Deu 16:1), but after the Babylonian captivity, it is called “Nisan” (Neh 2:1; Est 3:7). The actual lettering used by the Hebrews was changed to the Babylonian form. This is important to appreciate. A popular scholastic position contends that the Torah was not written down until the Exile. Yet, when the pre-exile Scriptures contain only the older vocabulary and none of the new, it presents evidence that the writing was indeed done prior to the Babylonian captivity.
Several of the artifacts from Kuntillet Ajrud bear on them inscriptions in paleo-Hebrew, the pre-Babylonian form of Hebrew. They also include references to YHWH, the personal name of the God of Moses. One of the finds Ze’ev Meshel discovered in the 1970s was a 400-pound stone bowl , on which was written in paleo-Hebrew, “(Belonging) to Ovadiah, son of Adnah, may he be blessed by Yahwe[h].”
Other inscriptions demonstrate the syncretism that the prophets so constantly spoke against. Ze’ev Meshel also had excavated two tall storage vessels with one inscription that refers to “Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah.” Another inscription refers to “Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah.” Still other inscriptions refer to Ba’al.
Yahweh v. Asherah
Francesca Stavrakopoulou, a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter, focuses on Israel’s preoccupation with the asherah poles and the Canaanite fertility religions. She goes on to make the case that these sorts of inscriptions show that Yahweh had a wife.
“Here was evidence that presented Yahweh and Asherah as a divine pair. And now a handful of similar inscriptions have since been found, all of which help to strengthen the case that the God of the Bible once had a wife,” says Stavrakopoulou.
Edward Wright, president of both The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research believes that the fact of God’s wife was kicked out by male chauvinism.
“Asherah was not entirely edited out of the Bible by its male editors,” he added. “Traces of her remain, and based on those traces, archaeological evidence and references to her in texts from nations bordering Israel and Judah, we can reconstruct her role in the religions of the Southern Levant.”
Asherah was not edited out of the Bible at all, contrary to what Wright argues. The fertilty goddess is mentioned 40 times in the Hebrew, and Yahweh made clear from Exodus that the Israelites were to get rid of the Canaanites’ asherah poles. (The Hebrew word “asherah” is translated “grove” in the King James.) Apparently Yahweh didn’t want Asherah for His wife.
“But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves. For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;” (Exd 34:13-15).
Archeologists often note that there was a mixture of religious traditions in ancient Israel, and that’s no surprise; the Bible tells us just that. The LORD told the Israelites to cut down the asherah of the Canaanites, and yet the Israelites did not fully do so. In fact, many began to worship the very gods of the people God had sent them to destroy. During the time of the Judges, Yahweh told Gideon to cut down his father’s asherah and to throw down his altar of Baal.
“But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.” (Deut 7:5) “And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him [Gideon], Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove, that is by it: (Judges 6:25)
Sadly, the Israelites were still provoking Yahweh to anger by worshiping the “queen of heaven” during the time of Jeremiah (Jer 7:18; 44:17-25).
Troubling as they are theologically, syncretistic inscriptions like those on the storage vessels confirm the Bible’s account of the nation’s poor spiritual condition before the captivity, and even before the monarchy. Yet, the artifacts have been stuck in an Egyptian storage facility for over 30 years.
After the 1979 peace agreement, the artifacts from Kuntillet Ajrud were handed over to Egypt and then not seen again. After the archeological stores at Qantara on the eastern side of the Suez were looted recently, it was feared these items would be sold cheaply to the far corners of the globe. It turned out, however, that 30 truckloads of items, including the Sinai artifacts, had been moved from Qantara to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. They may still not be displayed, but at least we know where they are.
Israeli epigraphers will publish on the inscriptions, with the contribution of Ze’ev Meshel, the original excavator. It may be 35 years after the excavation that the publication finally comes out, but, in these sorts of cases, it’s better late than never.
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