The Female Body of Akhenaten

Akhenaten was the pharaoh of Egypt best known for introducing a form of monotheism to ancient Egypt during the Amarna Age. This form of monotheism was represented by the worship of the sun god Aten . Akhenaten reigned in the mid-1300s B.C. He was married to Nefertiti and was the father of Tutankhamun, also known as King Tut.

According to Dr. Irwin Braverman, a Yale University physician, Akhenaten had “an androgynous appearance. He had a female physique with wide hips and breasts.”

Dr. Braverman said that the female form of Akhenaten’s body was due to a genetic mutation that caused the pharaoh’s body to convert more male hormones to female hormones than needed.

Read the news report here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Amarna Age, Akhenaten, Archaeology, Irwin Braverman

Joseph and the Seven Years of Famine

A group of Israeli scholars are reporting they have solved the biblical mystery of how Joseph preserved Egypt’s unsealed grain stores against invading pests during the seven year of famine and saved the Egyptian people from mass starvation. According to the news report,

The secret lies in the burnt corpse of a 3,500 year old beetle found in a grain of wheat claim researchers (Kislev, Simhoni and Melamed) from the laboratory for archaeological botany in the Life Sciences Department at Bar Ilan University, Haaretz reported on Monday.

The beetle belongs to the highly destructive Rhyzopetha dominica species, commonly known as the Lesser Grain Borer, which invades wheat and barley stored in silos after it has been harvested in the field.

Joseph knew of the Lesser Grain Borer and the beetle's amazing reproductive ability, the team inferred from a biblical description in Genesis 41:48-49. To reduce its migration he isolated the grain harvested in each locality and prevented batches being transferred from one city and community to another.

Sand was also added to the stored grain as a simple method of pest control known and practiced in ancient Egypt, the researchers say.

Sand crystals absorb moisture in the granary and prevent the grain from rotting and decaying. But they scratch away at the beetle's hard body shell causing it to dry up and die.

If this research is confirmed by other independent studies, it will help explaining some of Joseph’s work in saving the lives of the people of Egypt and the members of his family.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Egypt, Joseph

Pharaoh Seti I

Egypt Information Service is announcing that archaeologists have found the cartouche of King Seti I, second king of the 19th Dynasty (1314-1304 BC). The cartouche was found inside the corridor of the tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings.

Read the news report here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Egypt, Seti I

Archaeology and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Neil Asher Silberman wrote an article evaluating the “Israeli-Palestinian Cultural Heritage Agreement” that was established between Israeli and Palestinian archaeologists. The purpose of the agreement is to develop a way for both Israelis and Palestinians to resolve conflicts over archaeological sites and artifacts once Israel and the Palestinians agree on the issue of the two states.

Although the agreement is an attempt at protecting the fragile archaeological legacy buried below ancient ruins, Silberman believes that, unless there is an effort to change how Israelis and Palestinians view the role of archaeology, the agreement will fail.

Silberman wrote:

Indeed the very concept of "heritage" is almost necessarily exclusionary, delimiting "our" heritage from "theirs." Israelis tend to see stones, pots and ancient coins as materialized illustrations of a meaningful national narrative that runs from the beginnings of Jewish history to the rise of the State of Israel. For Palestinians, the narrative is one of dispossession, in which archaeological artifacts and sites are not seen as symbols but as alienated possessions, as real and movable property, whose ultimate significance lies in their physical return.

Neat archaeological partition will not work, and compromise arrangements will not further the cause of peace, so long as we refuse to recognize that it is not passionate archaeology that causes the present conflict, but, rather, that it is the other way around.

I believe Silberman is right. The idea of bestowing “exclusive possession of cultural property” has merits but it can create a potential for destruction of vital archaeological information. I just wonder what the Palestinians would do if they found an inscription that said “David slept here.” Would they share that inscription with the world?

I hope the agreement works and that it does not lead to further animosity between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Israel, Palestinians

For Sale: Authentic Babylonian Antiquities

Myers University in Cleveland, Ohio is going out of business. The school is selling its assets, including a collection of Babylonian antiquities.

The artifacts for sale include the following:

Two clay jugs, some carved stones and dozens of tablets carved with Sumerian words.

Forty-two neo-Sumerian texts, engraved on tablets that served as early versions of receipts.

An Old Akkadian cylinder seal.

Two Nippur incantation bowls.

Several cone-shaped items that came from outside the palace of Sinkashid, king of Uruk.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Antiquities, Archaeology, Babylon

Gold Coins Found in Egypt

World News is reporting that gold coins of Emperor Valens were found in an excavations in the west part of St. Catherine's monastery in Sinai. According to the news report,

The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced an interesting discovery. Gold coins forged by Roman Emperor Vales were unearthed at the astonishment of archaeologists; these findings represent the first of this kind in the Land of the Pyramids.

The two coins were found during excavations in the west part of St. Catherine's monastery in Sinai. The image represented on the front side of the coins is very similar to that of Valens' and specialists agreed that he is indeed.

Read the news report by clicking here.

Credit: Valens' Gold Coins Image courtesy of World News

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Ancient Coins, Archaeology, Egypt, Numismatic

Legend of the Crystal Skulls

On May 22, 2008 the new Indiana Jones’ movie, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” will be released. The movie is based on real archaeological artifacts known as crystal skulls that were discovered in the 19th century.



The May/June issue of Archaeology magazine has a good article explaining the mystery of the crystal skulls. The promotional introduction to the article describes the work of Jane MacLaren Walsh, a Smithsonian anthropologist:

Along with superstars like Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, and Shia Le Bouf, the newest Indiana Jones movie promises to showcase one of the most enigmatic classes of artifacts known to archaeologists, crystal skulls that first surfaced in the 19th century and that specialists attributed to various "ancient Mesoamerican" cultures. In this article, Smithsonian anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh shares her own adventures analyzing the artifacts that inspired Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (in theaters May 22), and details her efforts tracking down a mysterious "obtainer of rare antiquities" who may have held the key to the origin of these exotic objects.

This is a good article. I can’t wait to see the movie next month.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Crystal Skulls, Indiana Jones

An Assyrian Administrative Center at Ramat Rachel

Oded Lipschits, a professor at Tel Aviv University’s Department of Archaeology and the director of the excavation at Ramat Rachel, an archaeological site about two miles from Jerusalem, has concluded that, what he believed to be a Judean palace from the time of Hezekiah, king of Judah (715-687 B.C.), was in reality an ancient local administrative center used by the Assyrians to maintain their hegemony in the area.

According to Lipschits,

“Between 700 BCE to about 70 CE, Jerusalem was home to various Judean cults and at times a center for religious fanaticism. The Assyrians understood that they could gain better control of their vassal kingdom - and continue collecting taxes - by maintaining a safe distance.”

In evaluating how the Assyrians used this administrative center, Lipschits said:

“The Assyrians built their economic hub for the region two miles south of Jerusalem at Ramat Rachel. They created elaborate gardens, stocked their cellars with the wine and olive oil they collected in taxes, and quietly but carefully monitored Jerusalem.”

“You can see Jerusalem from Ramat Rachel, but when you’re inside Jerusalem’s City of David, you can’t see Ramat Rachel at all,” says Lipschits. “The Assyrians kept a watchful eye, but didn’t let the locals feel a dominant foreign presence.”

“It was smart for the Assyrian managers to take a few steps back, and not appear to be interfering with the city’s religious center and local culture. Businesses today could be advised to adopt similar strategies with their branch offices in foreign locations,” he surmises.

If Lipschits’s evaluation of the site at Ramat Rachel is correct, then the site will make an important contribution to the proper understanding of the situation in Jerusalem during the time Judah served as a vassal of Assyria. Let us hope that ongoing excavation at the site will produce additional information on the Assyrian presence at Ramat Rachel.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Oded Lipschits, Ramat Rachel

Egypt: A Photo Gallery

The National Geographic is presenting a photo gallery of the monuments of ancient Egypt. The twelve photos present Egypt’s ancient past, from the Great Sphinx to the Pyramids. The photos are magnificent. Visit the National Geographic to enter the gallery.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Archaeology, Egypt

Ramses II: A Photo Gallery

The National Geographic is presenting a photo gallery of Ramses II. The monuments Ramses created remain a timeless testament of the glories of ancient Egypt.

Visit the National Geographic and see photos of the monuments celebrating the glory of Ramses II.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Archaeology, Egypt

Life in Tell el-Amarna Was Tough

Image: Akhenaten





Archaeologists have discovered that many of the people who worked at Tell el-Amarna were sick, and worked under harsh conditions. Archaeologists have studied the remains of ordinary ancient Egyptians found in a cemetery in Tell el-Amarna and the results show that many Egyptians suffered from anemia, fractured bones, stunted growth, and high juvenile mortality rates.

Tell el-Amarna was the capital of ancient Egypt during the reign of Akhenaten, the Pharaoh who ruled Egypt between 1379 and 1362 BC. Akhenaten abolished the worship of Egyptian gods in favor of Aten, the sun god. Akhenaten built and lived in Tell el-Amarna for about 15 years. The city was abandoned after his death.

Read the news report by clicking here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Akhenaten, Archaeology, Tell e-Amarna

Queen Tiye and Amenhotep III

Image: Queen Tiye

Egyptian and European archaeologists have announced they have discovered a giant statue of Queen Tiye, the wife of the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III on the site of the Colossi of Memnon. The statue stands 3.62 meters high (almost 12 feet).

According to the archaeologists, the statue was discovered around the site of the massive Colossi of Memnon twin statues that look down on the road to Luxor’s famed Valley of the Kings. In addition, “two sphinxes representing Tiye and Amenhotep III as well as 10 statues in black granite of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, who protected the pharaohs,” were also found by the archaeologists.

Read the news release by clicking here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Amenhotep III, Archaeology, Queen Tiye

The Shroud of Turin: Is It Authentic?

Discovery News is reporting that the director of one of three laboratories that studied the Shroud of Turin 20 years ago is calling for the scientific community to re-evaluate the Shroud’s authenticity. According Christopher Ramsey, director of England's Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, new research has revealed that the Shroud may not be a fake after all.

Read the news report and watch a video about the Shroud of Turin by clicking here.

Personally, I believe that, even as scientists and archaeologists re-evaluate the authenticity of the Shroud, studies will reveal that the Shroud of Turin is a medieval creation.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tag: Archaeology, Shroud of Turin

Ancient Babylonian City Found

Iraqi archaeologists have announced that they have discovered the remains of an ancient Babylonian city located 180 kilometers south of Baghdad. According to archeologists, the site is more than 20,000 square meters in area. Some of the remains discovered at the site include administrative quarters, temples, and other buildings which archaeologists describe as of “magnificent and splendid design.”

Archaeologists have been unable to identify the name of the ancient Babylonian city, but they believe that it belonged to the Late Babylonian Period, about 1000 BC. Archaeologists also discovered several cuneiform tablets. However, they were unable to read the tablets because those archaeologists who could read cuneiform have left Iraq.

To read the news release, click here.

It is a shame that the remains of this ancient Babylonian city cannot be studied by experts. Hopefully, some Western scholars will be invited to visit the site and analyze the findings, specially the cuneiform tablets, and make the results available for scholarly research.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Babylon, Cuneiform

A Rare Half-Shekel Coin Found in Jerusalem

The Israel Antiquities Authority has announced that a rare half-shekel silver coin was found in an excavation in Jerusalem. The Israel Antiquities Authority has released the following press release:

A silver coin that was used to pay the half-shekel head tax to the Temple was found in what was the main drainage channel of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period

A rare ancient silver coin, of the type used to pay the half-shekel tax in ancient times, was recently discovered in an archaeological excavation that is being conducted in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park near the City of David, in what was the main drainage channel of Jerusalem during the Second Temple period.

The excavations, directed by Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa, are being conducted on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Nature and Parks Authority and the Ir David Foundation.

Archaeologist Eli Shukron surmises, “Just like today, when coins sometimes fall from our pockets and roll into drainage openings at the side of the street, that’s how it was some two thousand years ago – a man was on his way to the Temple, and the coin which he intended to use for paying the half-shekel head tax found its way into the drainage channel.”

The origin of the commandment to pay the half-shekel head tax to the Temple is in the weekly Biblical reading “Ki Tisa”, in the Book of Exodus: “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his soul to the Lord when you number them … half a shekel … the rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less… you shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your souls.”

At the time of the Temple’s construction, every Jew was commanded to make an obligatory donation of a half shekel to the edifice. This modest sum allowed all Jews, of all economic levels, to participate in the building of the Temple. After the construction was completed, they continued to collect the tax from every Jew for the purpose of purchasing the public sacrifices and other needs of the Temple. The collection began every year on the first day of the month of Adar when the “heralding of the shekelim” took place, and it ended on the first day of the month of Nissan, the beginning of the new fiscal year for the Temple, when the purchase of public sacrifices was renewed.

It was most likely a shekel of Tyre that Jesus and Peter used to pay the Temple head tax (a half shekel each): "Go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money. That take, and give unto them for me and thee" (Matthew 17:27). Moreover, Tyrian silver coins probably comprised the infamous payment to Judas Iscariot, when "they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver" (Matthew 26:15).

The annual half-shekel head tax was given in shekel and half shekel coins from the Tyre mint, where they were struck from the year 125 BCE until the outbreak of the Great Revolt in 66 CE. At the time of the uprising, the tax was paid using Jerusalem shekelim, which were specifically minted for this purpose. In the rabbinic sources, the Tosefta (Ketubot 13:20) states “Silver mentioned in the Pentateuch is always Tyrian silver: What is Tyrian silver? It is Jerusalemite.” Many have interpreted this to mean that only Tyrian shekels could be used to pay the half-shekel head tax at the Temple.

The shekel that was found in the excavation weighs 13 grams, bears the head of Melqart, the chief deity of the city of Tyre on the obverse (equivalent to the Semitic god Baal) and an eagle upon a ship’s prow on the reverse. The coin was minted in the year 22 CE.

Despite the importance of the half-shekel head tax for the economy of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period, only seven other Tyrian shekels and half shekels have previously been found in excavations in Jerusalem.

Melqart (pictured above), the deity of Tyre, was the god Jezebel worshiped. Jezebel tried to impose the worship of Melqart in the Northern Kingdom but she was opposed by Elijah (1 Kigs 18).

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Coins, Shekel

The Minoan Culture

The Onassis Cultural Center in New York is presenting a new exhibition called “From the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000-1100 B.C.” The exhibit displays more than 280 artifacts from Crete.

Most people are unfamiliar with the Minoan civilization. Archaeology magazine has a good review of the exhibit at the Onassis Cultural Center in New York. The review also provide a photo gallery showing 10 items from the exhibit. The photos are gorgeous and they reveal a small aspect of Minoan life and culture. You may not be interested in Minoan culture but you will enjoy the photos.

The photo above, one from taken from the photo collection included in the review, shows a clay tablet inscribed with six lines of Linear A writing from Zakros, end of Late Minoan IB (ca. 1450 B.C.). The photo is a courtesy of the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation.

To read the review and enter the photo gallery, click here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Crete, Minoan Culture

Archaeological Discoveries from the First Temple Period

A rich layer of finds from the latter part of the First Temple period (8th-6th centuries BCE) was recently discovered in archaeological salvage excavations in the northwestern part of the Western Wall plaza. Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority has released a press release in which they report that several items from the First Temple period have been discovered in salvage excavation in the northwestern part of the Western Wall plaza, c. 100 meters west of the Temple Mount. Because of the importance of the findings, I am reproducing below the press release in its entirety. In an excavation being carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority in partnership with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation in the northwestern part of the Western Wall plaza a rich layer of finds from the latter part of the First Temple period was recently discovered. Also found was a seal that bears an inscription in ancient Hebrew which reads: [belonging] to Netanyahu ben Yaush. A rich layer of finds from the latter part of the First Temple period (8th-6th centuries BCE) was recently discovered in archaeological salvage excavations that are being carried out in the northwestern part of the Western Wall plaza, c. 100 meters west of the Temple Mount. In the excavations, which the Israel Antiquties Authority has been conducting for the past two years under the direction of archaeologists Shlomit Wexler-Bdoulah and Alexander Onn, in cooperation with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, remains of a magnificent colonnaded street from the Late Roman period (2nd century CE) were uncovered that appears on the mosaic Madaba map and is referred to by the name - the Eastern Cardo. The level of the Eastern Cardo is paved with large heavy limestone pavers that were set directly on top of the layer that dates to the end of the First Temple period. Thus the Roman road "seals" beneath it the finds from the First Temple period and has protected them from being plundered in later periods. This is actually the first time in the history of the archaeological research of Jerusalem that building remains from the First Temple period were exposed so close to the Temple Mount - on the eastern slopes of the Upper City. The walls of the buildings are preserved to a height of more than 2 meters. Personal Hebrew seal made of a semi-precious stone (IAA) Another impressive artifact that was found in the salvage excavations is a that was apparently inlaid in a ring. The scarab-like seal is elliptical and measures c. 1.1 cm x 1.4 cm. The surface of the seal is divided into three strips separated by a double line: in the upper strip is a chain decoration in which there are four pomegranates and in the two bottom strips is the name of the owner of the seal, engraved in ancient Hebrew script. It reads: לנתניהו בן יאש ([belonging] to Netanyahu ben Yaush). The two names are known in the treasury of biblical names: the name נתניהו (Netanyahu) is mentioned a number of times in the Bible (in the Book of Jeremiah and in Chronicles) and the name יאש (Yaush) appears in the Lachish letters. The name Yaush, like the name יאשיהו (Yoshiyahu) is, in the opinion of Professor Shmuel Ahituv, derived from the root או"ש which means “he gave a present” (based on Arabic and Ugaritic). It is customary to assume that the owners of personal seals were people that held senior governmental positions. It should nevertheless be emphasized that this combination of names - נתניהו בן יאוש (Netanyahu ben Yaush) - was unknown until now. In addition to the personal seal, a vast amount of pottery vessels was discovered, among them three jar handles that bear LMLK stamped impressions. An inscription written in ancient Hebrew script is preserved on one these impressions and it reads: למלך חברון ([belonging] to the king of Hebron). These finds, as well as the numerous fertility and animal figurines, are characteristic of the Kingdom of Judah in the latter part of the First Temple period - the end of the 8th century BCE to the destruction of the Temple in the year 586 BCE.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Ben Yaush, Cardo, First Temple, LMLK Stamps

Noah’s Ark and Satellite Archaeology

Here we go again! Porcher Taylor, a professor at the University of Virginia is using “satellite archaeology” to search for Noah’s Ark. The following is an excerpt from an article published in the Telegraph:

From his office at the University of Richmond in Virginia, [Professor Porcher Taylor] has utilised a series of innovations in high-resolution commercial satellite imagery first developed for US spy agencies to try to work out whether an unusually-shaped “anomaly” on the ice-capped upper glacier of Mt Ararat in eastern Turkey is actually the remains of Noah’s Ark.

Prof Taylor, a national security analyst, describes his investigation as “satellite archaeology” and refers to GeoEye, the commercial satellite operator that has served as a “space-based Indiana Jones” for him since its 1999 launch. He has conducted his cyber-sleuthing by remote from a distance of nearly 6,000 miles. “I’ve never even been to Turkey but this technology is giving us the ability almost to conduct an archaeological dig from outer space. I can almost walk around the mountain and analyse the terrain in cyberspace.”

And as Ararat is a restricted military zone where civilian and foreign climbs are rarely allowed, that will remain the only option for such research for the foreseeable future. “Every time there is a quantum leap in the technology, we get better focus and clarity of the ‘Ararat anomaly’,” he said.

In recent years, ever-clearer satellite images have revealed an apparently nautical-shaped oddity almost submerged in a glacier 15,300 ft up the extinct volcano. Prof Taylor hopes that a satellite using radar beams rather than optical technology will picture the area for the first time in April, providing images that will remove the visually confusing effects of shadows and cloud. Also in April, a new satellite with a 16 inch resolution – the most detailed so far – will offer a fresh view of the ‘Ararat anomaly’.

Prof Taylor acknowledges that it would be surprising for a wooden craft to have survived several millennia, even protected by ice; that even a flood of epic proportions would have been unlikely to leave a vessel three miles up a mountainside; and that the anomaly’s dimensions – at 1,015 feet from “bow” to “stern”, it is larger than the Titanic – are extremely implausible for an ancient boat.

Most biblical scholars estimate the Ark to have been about 450 feet long based on measurements in cubits in the Old Testament. But more promisingly, the 6:1 ratio from the Bible for the craft’s length-to-width is reflected in the anomaly shape on Ararat.

Rod McCourt, a former RAF intelligence officer and satellite imagery analyst, has just scrutinised the pictures. “The Anomaly possesses a definite symmetrical shape which is extremely rare in natural features. There is certainly an effect causing the Anomaly to appear like the hull of a very large ship hull but the imagery evidence is inconclusive as to whether or not the “Ararat Anomaly” is a ship or a natural ice formation. Until we are able to see what exactly is under the ice, I cannot eliminate the fact that the Anomaly could be manmade,” Mr McCourt, founder of Global Intel Solutions, which specialises in the burgeoning field of so-called imagery intelligence.

Even sceptics of the Noah’s Ark theory acknowledge that whether the images show an unusual rock formation or even, as some have speculated, another man-made structure such as an old fortified settlement, the rapid progress in satellite technology has made his investigations possible and illuminating.

Is “satellite archaeology” archaeology? If archaeology is a study of remains of the past, satellite archaeology could be classified as a branch of archaeology, even though many archaeologists may disagree.

Archaeologists have been using high-resolution satellite imagery for some years now and it has been very helpful in the study of archaeological sites. In this use of satellite imagery to search for Noah’s Ark the question is: will they find anything on Mount Ararat? My answer remains the same: probably not. However, I will not complain if Professor Taylor can prove me wrong on this issue.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Noah’s Ark, Satellite Archaeology

A Jezebel’s Slide Show

The Biblical Archaeology Review is offering “A Jezebel’s Slide Show.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Jezebel

Biblical Archaeology Review - March-April 2008 - Free Online

The March-April 2008 issue of the Biblical Archaeology Review is available free on line. The following articles appear in the March-April issue:

“Fit for a Queen: Jezebel's Royal Seal,” by Marjo C. A. Korpel
Does the seal belong to the notorious wicked Phoenician queen Jezebel?

“Emmaus: Where Christ Appeared,” by Hershel Shanks
Excavators at Emmaus-Nicopolis believe they’ve got the right one

“First Publication: A Newly Discovered House Shrine”

“A Temple Built for Two,” by William G. Dever
Intriguing evidence suggests Yahweh shared a throne with Asherah

“Dissecting the Qumran-Essene Hypothesis,” by Edna Ullmann-Margalit
Magnifying glass on the Scroll scholars.

Great articles. Read them and enjoy.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology

The City of David: Politics and Archaeology

People familiar with excavations in Jerusalem know of the controversy that has arisen with the involvement of the Elad Foundation in sponsoring archaeologists in excavating the city in order to recover “the remnants of a glorious Jewish past.”

A recent article on the controversy reveals how politics, religion, and archeology influence excavations in Jerusalem. The following is an excerpt from the article:

Doron Spielman, the Elad Foundation’s international director of development said, “We do not deny we have a Zionist dream -- to reveal the ancient city beneath the ground and create a thriving Jewish neighborhood above the ground.”

More than 160 feet under Silwan on a recent afternoon, a visitor walked for half an hour in darkness and knee-deep water through Hezekiah’s tunnel, the stillness disturbed only by a party of South American tourists bellowing the theme song from the “Indiana Jones” movies.

The Old Testament books of Kings and Chronicles recount the tunnel’s origins: Hezekiah, king of Judea, dug it to channel water inside the city walls ahead of a siege by Assyrian armies.

Measuring 1,750 feet long -- about a third of a mile -- the tunnel was dug around 700 B.C. by two teams that started from each end and met in the middle, an engineering feat brought to life by their chisel marks, still visible on the walls, and recounted in an inscription they mounted on the wall.

“The City of David shows us the history and archaeology of Jerusalem since the day it was founded. Jerusalem's foundations are here,” said archaeologist Eli Shukrun, standing near the entrance to another tunnel -- a long, dank-smelling Roman-era sewer through which Jews fled Jerusalem as it was torched by Rome's legions in 70 A.D.

The sewer ran beneath a road that led up to the Second Temple, the center of the Jewish faith, destroyed in the same Roman assault.

Roni Reich of Haifa University, another City of David archaeologist, gives voice to the history pulsing through Jerusalem, reeling off the names of history’s giants associated with the city -- David, Jesus, the Roman Emperor Constantine, the Muslim ruler Saladin.

“It's hard to list another city similar to this one,” he said.”"And this hill is where it all started.”

The dig regularly yields important and colorful finds such as 2,500-year-old pins used to hold robes closed, and seals stamped with the names of Yehochal ben Shlemiyahu and Gemaryahu ben Shafan, two figures mentioned in the biblical book of Jeremiah.

Archaeologists not connected to the City of David digs don’t dispute their importance.

Amihai Mazar, a professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the site has already revealed important details of Jerusalem's history. He mentioned the discovery of massive Canaanite fo.jpgications 3,700 years old and of thousands of fish bones indicating the diet favored in this landlocked city on the desert’s edge.

“This site doesn’t stop surprising us,” Mazar said.

The archaeologists at the site say their work has nothing to do with politics. But others charge their colleagues with complicity in Elad's agenda of moving Jews to the Arab neighborhood.

The City of David dig”"is connected by its umbilical cord to politics,” said Rafi Greenberg, an Israeli archaeologist from Tel Aviv University who dug at the site in the 1970s and 1980s, before Elad was involved.

“No amount of dealing with ceramics and rocks can obscure the fact that the work is being done to establish facts in the present,” he said. He rejected his colleagues’ claim to academic neutrality, saying:”"They are being compensated for their cooperation with findings and money.”

Reich said the people paying for the dig haven’t interfered in his work. “I can divide the political from the archaeological,” he said.”"The people from Elad have never affected our archaeological judgment.”

When politics and archeology join hands to recover “the remnants of a glorious Jewish past,” the results can lead to conclusions that may not reflect the realities of the past. Archaeologists cannot allow donors to influence how the past is interpreted. The danger is that money and politics can become the prism by which archaeologists look at the past. Let us hope that this does not happens in the excavations of the City of David.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Jerusalem

A Commentary on the Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet

Last year, I wrote an article on the Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet. The discovery of the tablet produced a large amount of discussion among bibliobloggers. Now, Henry Stadhouders, from Utrecht University, has written an article in which he provides a transliteration and a translation of the Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet with a commentary on the tablet.

The article is titled:

"The Nebu(!)sarsekim Tablet
BM 114789 (1920-12-13, 81)
Some Provisional Remarks"
by Henry Stadhouders - Utrecht University

The following is the abstract of the article:

During the summer of 2007 an internet hype was unleashed by the breaking news that an Old Testament name of some importance, figuring in the Book of Jeremiah Ch. 39, had been positively identified on a cuneiform clay tablet, viz. a bill of receipt from the time of this prophet's floruit. Many a scholar of sorts was quick to claim that by this tiny piece of extra-scriptural evidence the Bible was proven to be historically reliable. Others did not relish this type of enthusiasm, or even dismissed the whole thing as a mere name detached from any historical context. So far, the debate has been missing a sound base, however, in that it had to fully rely on a provisional translation by the tablet's discoverer. In order for discussions to be based on firmer ground a transliteration of the document is offered here, along with a translation and some remarks putting things into context in a provisional way.

The article is available online on PDF format by clicking here.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Bible Criticism, Chief Eunuch, Rab-sarîs, Jeremiah 39:3, Nabû-sharrussu-ukin, Nebo-Sarsekim, Nebosarsekim, Nebusarsekim

The Sacred Roman Cave: Not the Lupercale

Kevin P. Edgecomb has left a comment on my post dealing with the ancient Roman cave that many people believe it was the shrine of the Lupercale, the sacred place where according to Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were suckled by a wolf. Kevin left a link to an article in which another Italian archaeologist claims that the cave is not the Lupercale.

The following is an excerpt of the article:

A LEADING Italian archaeologist said that the grotto whose discovery was announced this week in Rome is not the sacred cave linked to the myth of the city's foundation by Romulus and Remus.

The Culture Ministry and experts who presented the find said they were "reasonably certain" the cavern is the Lupercale - a sanctuary worshipped for centuries by Romans because, according to legend, a wolf nursed the twin brothers there.

But Adriano La Regina, Rome's superintendent of archaeology from 1976 to 2004, said ancient descriptions of the place suggest the Lupercale is elsewhere - 50 to 70 metres northwest of the cave discovered near Emperor Augustus' palace.

"I am positive this is not the Lupercale," Mr La Regina told Reuters in an interview.

Instead, he believes the cave - which ministry pictures show is decorated with well-preserved seashells and coloured mosaics - was a room in Nero's first palace on the Palatine Hill, which burnt down in 64 AD in the great fire of Rome.

I want to thank Kevin for the link. The original intent of my post was not to defend the statement that the cave was the Lupercale. Rather, my post asked the question whether archaeology could prove mythology and my answer was that it could not.

The debate on the significance of the cave is important because it allows archaeologists to ascertain the real nature of the cave.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Lupercale

In the News

The following are some of the stories I read this week. These are some of the stories that almost because subjects of a post. However, lack of time did not allow me to blog on them.


Iran envoy defends amputation ‘of the hand that steals’

Iran’s ambassador to Spain has compared chopping off the hands of thieves to a “surgeon amputating a limb to prevent the spread of gangrene.”

Conservative Rabbis to Vote on Resolution Criticizing Pope’s Revision of Prayer

The revision of a contentious Good Friday prayer approved this week by Pope Benedict XVI could set back Jewish-Catholic relations, Conservative Judaism’s international assembly of rabbis says in a resolution to be voted on next week.

The prayer calls for God to enlighten the hearts of Jews “so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, the savior of all men.”

God and Politics

Frank Lambert’s “Religion in American Politics,” published last month, traces the interplay between pulpits and the public square through nearly two centuries of U.S. history. Some things, he writes, never change.

Efforts to proclaim the United States a “Christian nation” date at least to 1827, when Calvinist minister Ezra Stiles Ely tried to mobilize a “Christian party in politics” to fight the delivery of mail on Sundays.

The Book of Mormon and Archaeology

Because of many false statements disseminated by members of the LDS Church, such as the one cited above, the Smithsonian Institute was forced to publish a statement concerning these matters. The 1986 statement begins with a denial of the claims put forth by Mormon enthusiasts:

“The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon in any way as a scientific guide. Smithsonian archeologists see no direct connection between the archeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book.” (“Statement Regarding The Book of Mormon.” Smithsonian Institute, Spring 1986).

Enjoy reading.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, God, Islam, Mormons, Politics, Pope

The Royal Goddesses of Ebla

Archaeology has an article detailing the latest discovery at Ebla, the Bronze Age city located in northern Syria. Among the most recent discoveries, archaeologists found a cuneiform tablet detailing the weapons the leaders of Ebla gave to their allies during a war fought against a common enemy (possibly Mari) circa 2300 B.C.

Archaeologist Paolo Matthiae and his team also found two figurines “that confirm textual evidence for a royal cult of the dead focused on the city’s queens.” Concerning the two figurines, the article says:

Both figurines are intricate representations of women, which are rare in Near Eastern Bronze Age art. One, made of steatite and wood, is depicted with her arms arranged in a gesture indicating prayer. The second figurine holds a goblet and wears an ornate gold dress. Both seem to have been used in a ritual mentioned in a tablet from Ebla that describes how the city’s dead queens became female deities who were then worshiped privately by their successors. Matthiae suspects the steatite figure depicts a living queen who would have prayed to the gold-covered figurine, itself a representation of a dead queen who had become a goddess.

The discovered of the city of Ebla thirty years ago caused a lot of excitement in the archaeological world. That excitement still continues today with these new findings.

Read the article in Archaeology by clicking here. See an enlarged picture of the figurines by clicking here.

HT: Duane Smith

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, Ebla, Goddess, Paolo Matthiae

Can Archaeology Prove Mythology?

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient Roman cave that has led many people to believe that the cave is the shrine of the Lupercale, the sacred place where according to Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were suckled by a wolf.

The picture above shows the underground grotto believed to be the sacred place where the wolf nursed Romulus and his twin brother Remus.

The discovery has generated heated debate among archaeologists. According to the news report published in USA Today,

Archaeologist Andrea Carandini of Rome's La Sapienza University calls the finding “one of the greatest discoveries ever made” and says the chances are “minimal” that the cave is not the site revered by the Romans as the Lupercale. Carandini and others point to discoveries such as the cave and earlier findings of ancient structures as evidence that myths about the city's founding reflect history, and say that the founder of Rome may actually have been named Romulus.

On the other hand, T.P. Wiseman, of the University of Exeter in England, said that “Archaeology by its nature can’t provide such evidence.” In addition, Christopher Smith, a historian at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland said that “even if artifacts clearly reference the Romulus and Remus story, all they will show is that the cavern is a place where first-century Romans celebrated the legend — not that the story is real.”

So, the question is: can archaeology prove mythology? The answer is “no.” However, if the myth is based on history, then archaeology can demonstrate the historical foundation for the myth. Take for instance, a book edited by Raymond-Jean Frontain, The David Myth in Western Literature (West Lafayette: Purdue Research Foundation, 1980), a book in which David is presented as a mythical figure in Jewish literature. For many scholars, the biblical David was a figure of legend because his name did not appear anywhere outside the Bible.

Then, in 1993 archaeologists excavating at Tel Dan discovered “The House of David Stela,” A monument erected by an Aramean king which contains the reading “house of David.” In addition, some epigraphers have proposed that the phrase “house of David” also appears in the Mesha Stele.

Archaeology cannot prove mythology and it cannot prove the theological claims of the Bible. Although archaeology cannot yet demonstrate that David and Solomon ruled over a large empire, archaeology has shown that “the mythical David” was not a myth. To the contrary, the Tel Dan Stela reveals that David existed and that his descendants were known as “The House of David.”

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, David, Lupercale, Mythology, Tel Dan

A Stone Relief Dedicated to the God Shuda

Newsweek is reporting that as a result of the U.S. troop surge in Iraq and the ease of violence, Iraqi archaeologists have began rescue excavat