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The Most Spectacular Mosaics Exposed in Israel to Receive the Most Spectacular Permanent Home in Lod

 

By JNi.Media -  30 Tishri 5778 – October 20, 2017

 

"The cornerstone of the Shelby White and Leon Levy Lod Mosaic Archaeological Center was laid on Thursday in a festive ceremony that included Lod Mayor Yair Ravivo, Israel Antiquities Authority Director Israel Hasson, and Shelby White, rated by Forbes as one of America’s top 50 givers and the women behind the establishment of the center."

 


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The Magdala Stone

 

"The Jews of Rome and the authorities of the Vatican seem to have decided that if so many people believe that the Vatican has the Menorah in its possession, they might as well capitalize on this “urban myth,” as it has been described by Rome’s Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni."

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Magdala
 
By Rhona Lewis -  4 Heshvan 5778 – October 23, 2017
 
"If you haven’t heard of Magdala, it’s where you can find out about the unearthing of an ancient fishing port on the edge of the Kinneret and a first-century synagogue, one of only seven synagogues in the world from this period of time."

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A Dig in Israel Unearths Clues About Ancient Food and Drink
 
By JOAN NATHAN
 
OCT. 20, 2017
 
"Tel Kabri, Israel — In a lush avocado grove, shaded by a tarp, a group of archaeologists and volunteers carefully hacked away at an ancient plaster floor. It felt like summer camp for adults as they sang songs from the 1980s in English and Hebrew. In a way it was."

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Gaza Bronze Age Remains Disappearing Under Concrete

 

October 24, 2017 by Sakher Abou El Oun With Laurent Lozano In Jerusalem

 


"Archaeologists and preservation activists in the Gaza Strip have managed to halt the destruction of a Bronze Age site for now, but the future of what remains may still be in jeopardy.

 


Palestinian archaeologist Moain Sadeq says the mound at Tell es-Sakan near Gaza City is a "unique" site that could offer an invaluable glimpse into the region's ancient heritage."

 



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Fighting Over the Bible: Jewish Interpretation, Sectarianism and Polemic from Temple to Talmud and Beyond

 

October 2017

 

By Isaac Kalimi
 
"The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament stands as an important sacred text for all branches of the Abrahamic faiths, although these maintain fundamentally different attitudes towards it. Nonetheless, far from unifying Jews, Christians and Muslims, the biblical texts divided them, and have regularly been used as weapons to condemn opponents – insiders and outsiders – rather than as tokens of unification and reconciliation."
 
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The Digitizing Tell en-Naṣbeh (Biblical Mizpah of Benjamin) Project
 
"Tell en-Naṣbeh is an archaeological site about 12 km (eight miles) north of the Old City of Jerusalem and south of the modern Palestinian city of Ramallah (31°53'07"N, 35°13'00"E; New Israel Grid 220559.86E - 643543.35N; Old Israel Grid 1706.1144) at 848 m (2762’) above sea level (Fig 1). The site sits on the trunk road running along the spine of the central hill country, connecting Hebron and Jerusalem on the south with important sites to the north, such as Samaria and Shechem. Tell en-Naṣbeh also sits near to the northern border of the tribe of Benjamin. Its location made it an important border fortress, protecting Jerusalem from attacks from the north (in Isaiah 10:27b–32 an imagined attacker diverts his approach on Jerusalem by taking the more roundabout eastern Michmash pass, rather than take the main road past Mizpah). The site, excluding surrounding cemeteries, is about 250 m north to south and 160 m east to west (Fig.2 and Plan of Plans below). It covers an area of 3.2 hectares (ca. 8 acres), though the area inside the fortifications only amounts to about 2.4 hectares and the actual area occupied by houses is only a bit over 1.7 hectares."

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Beyond the Texts: An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and Judah

 

November 2017

 

By William G. Dever
 
"Countless books have been written about ancient Israel. But this work is the first mainstream history of ancient Israel to be published in English in 40 years. It also differs from previous scholarship by attempting to prove an alternative, archaeological based history, or as the title has it, a “portrait.” I am a veteran of more than 50 years of fieldwork and research in the archaeology of Israel, with hundreds of publications. Even so, I believe that a portrait is the best that I, or anyone, can offer."

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The King of Judah, Jars of Wine, and the City of Jerusalem

 

The Jerusalem Papyrus and the forged words on it

 

Christopher Rollston   •  10/25/2017

 


"In October 2016, a papyrus mentioning the city of “Jerusalem,” “the king,” and “jars of wine” was published, amid much pomp and circumstance.1 The script and language were Hebrew, the words penned in ink on the papyrus. It seemed to some to be a truly sensational find. Based on the readings and restorations in the original publication, the inscription was interpreted to say: “…[Maidserv]ant of the King, from Na‘arat, two jars of wine to Jerusalem.” This content is quite sensational, as it mentions both the city of “Jerusalem” and “the King” (i.e., a king of Judah) in the same inscription, a true rarity to have both in the same inscription."

 


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1,600-Year-Old Church Mosaic Puzzles Out Key Role of Women in Early Christianity

 

Female donor memorialized in one of seven Greek inscriptions found recently in Byzantine village churches in the Galilee

 

By AMANDA BORSCHEL-DAN

 

7 November 2017, 11:13 am

 

"A newly uncovered mosaic in the western Galilee speaks to the relatively high status of women in the early Church. Dating to the 5th century, a Greek-language inscription memorializes one “Sausann” (or Shoshana) as a donor for the construction of a village church. It is one of seven inscriptions — including a massive five-meter long text — which were found in three Byzantine churches during this summer’s excavations by Kinneret College archaeologist Mordechai Aviam and historian Jacob Ashkenazi."

 


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Training IDF Soldiers Uncover Large Scale Antiquities Robbery in Gush Etzion
 
By David Israel -  26 Heshvan 5778 – November 15, 2017
 
"IDF paratroopers training in the Gush Etzion area, last Thursday uncovered an underground water system which had been invaded by antiquities robbers. The underground system, at the site of the biblical Eitam mountain (Givat HaEitam, which is an extension of Efrat), dates back to the First Temple period, Israel’s Channel 20 reported Tuesday."

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Were Gates of Solomon’s Desert Fortress, Described in 1 Kings, Uncovered in Israel?

 

By Eliana Rudee November 12, 2017 , 12:30 pm

 


"A structure from Biblical times, which one volunteer identified as the gates of Solomon’s desert fortress, has been uncovered at the Biblical Tamar Park in southern Israel. Paul Lagno, Bible student and participant in a five-day dig at the Biblical Tamar Park, suggested that the discovery gives evidence to the Biblical account of  Judean control over Tamar."

 


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Skeletons Could Provide Clues to Who Wrote or Protected the Dead Sea Scrolls

 

Few women or children have been found at Qumran burial site, suggesting similarities to Byzantine monastery cemeteries

 

BY BRUCE BOWER 2:05PM, NOVEMBER 17, 2017

 

BOSTON — "A decades-long debate over who once occupied a settlement located near the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found has taken a chaste turn."

 

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Hidden Gems of Jerusalem
 
A mission to reveal treasures that are inaccessible to the general public, and others that are just out of sight
 
By NOAM CHEN
 
16 November 2017, 3:36 pm
 
"We all know that each city we visit has its “must-see” sites and attractions. First-time visitors to Jerusalem usually go to the Western Wall, the Old City market and the Tower of David, to name a few of the city’s most famous landmarks."

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1,320 lbs. Lioness Statue Discovered Near the Kinneret
 
By David Israel -  5 Kislev 5778 – November 22, 2017
 
"The relief statue of a lioness carved in a basalt rock was recently discovered in a pile of debris that had been evacuated by a tractor from the Beit Ha’Bek excavation site by the northern Kinneret. It is estimated that the statue was placed at the entrance to a Jewish synagogue that operated there or at the entrance to another significant structure from the time the site was known as the lost Roman city of Julias, formerly the village of Bethsaida, which, according to Christian tradition, was the home of Jesus’ apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip. The age of the statue is estimated at more than 2,000 years."

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Jerusalem Post - Israel News
 
STUNNING 1500-YEAR-OLD GEORGIAN CHURCH MOSAIC DISCOVERED IN ISRAELI PORT CITY
 
BY DANIEL K. EISENBUD   NOVEMBER 23, 2017 10:25  
 
"The well-preserved remains of a 1,500-year-old colored mosaic floor from a Georgian church or monastery was unearthed during an excavation in the coastal city of Ashdod, the Antiquities Authority announced this week.
 
The mosaic was discovered in August at the ancient tel, or archeological mound, of Ashdod- Yam, under the direction of Dr. Alexander Fantalkin of Tel Aviv University’s Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations Department, and Prof. Angelika Berlejung of Leipzig University."

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Jerusalem Post  Israel News

 

ARCHEOLOGISTS UNEARTH RARE HELLENISTIC-ERA MYSTERY STRUCTURE IN NEGEV

 

BY DANIEL K. EISENBUD   NOVEMBER 30, 2017 13:33  

 

The archeologists said the new discovery came to light with the help of camera-equipped drones, a new technology that has become part of their tool box in recent years.

 

"A team of archeologists recently unearthed a 2,200-year-old structure from the Hellenistic period believed to be an Idumean palace or temple during excavations at the Horvat ‘Amuda site in the Lachish region of the Northern Negev.

 

During the Hellenistic period, Horvat ‘Amuda was one of the agricultural satellite settlements of Maresha, which later became the Idumean district capital."

 


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Hidden Hoard Hints at How Ancient Elites Protected the Family Treasures

 

A find from Israel reveals clues about Iron Age wealth protection

 

BY BRUCE BOWER 2:00PM, NOVEMBER 27, 2017

 

BOSTON — "Long before anyone opened a bank account or rented a safe deposit box, wealth protection demanded a bit of guile and a broken beer jug. A 3,100-year-old jewelry stash was discovered in just such a vessel, unearthed from an ancient settlement in Israel called Megiddo in 2010. Now the find is providing clues to how affluent folk hoarded their valuables at a time when fortunes rested on fancy metalwork, not money."

 


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News & Views - Archaeology History
 
2,200-Year-Old Edomite Temple Unearthed in Lakhish Region
 
By JNi.Media -  12 Kislev 5778 – November 30, 2017
 
"An impressive 2,200-year-old (Hellenistic period) structure, possibly an Edomite palace or temple, was uncovered on Sukkot in archaeological excavations at the site of Horvat ‘Amuda, situated at the heart of a military training area in the Lakhish Regional Council in southern Israel."

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The Royal Stoa of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

 

Posted on December 4, 2017 by Leen Ritmeyer

 

"During the Herodian period, a colonnaded hall, known as the Royal Stoa, graced the whole length of the Southern Wall. Constructed in the shape of a basilica with four rows of forty columns each, it formed a central nave in the east end and two side aisles. The central apse was the place of meeting for the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish Council. The main part of this building was used for the changing of money and purchase of sacrificial animals."

 


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Monday, December 11, 2017
 
One Hundred Years Ago Today: Allenby Enters Jerusalem
 
"One hundred years ago today, British General Edmund Allenby entered Jerusalem on foot and issued a proclamation declaring British control of the city. Two days earlier the Turkish authorities had surrendered, ending 400 years of Ottoman rule (1517-1917).
 
The photographic department of the American Colony was on hand to capture these historic moments. The most famous photo shows the mayor of the city surrendering to the British with a white flag."

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