Category: Archaeology

Palestine of Jesus 2014 – Day Ten

Friday, July 4. American Independence Day. The first Friday of Ramadan 2014. Heavy security presence in and around Jerusalem. A delayed funeral for the 16 year old, Mohammad Abu Khdair. More rockets and mortar fire from Gaza into the south of Israel. Shattered lives. Crushed dreams. Hatred and fear in the air.

There was a heavy police and military presence in East Jerusalem today, and this affected the transport arrangements as the Palestine of Jesus course followed its modified schedule for the day. Rather than travel to Bethany on the other side of Mt Olives, the group visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum here in Jerusalem.

This is always a powerful site to visit, and I vividly recall my first visit during a Palestine of Jesus course in June 1990. The current context of fear and violence will no doubt have resonated deeply with the course members as they worked their way through the exhibits that showcase the evils of Anti-Semitism as well as the courage of those who resisted.

For me it was a very different day as I prepared to leave my B&B in Kiryat Tivon and relocate to Nazareth for a night. In this part of the country life seems mostly untouched by the tensions in the south, and families were beginning their weekend with visits to the park and slow lunches in the restaurants.

Around midday I met with Ariel Berman, one of the preeminent authorities in Israel on coins from the Islamic period. I like to meet with him each time I am here, and I especially look forward to working closely with him as my own research on Mamluk coins develops during the next 18 months. Today, in addition to a social call, I was carrying two Islamic coins from the dig where his expertise would be helpful as we tried to decipher their significance. One of them was this late Ottoman coin.

It took Ariel just a few seconds to identify the coin and calculate the exact year of issue. This coin turned out to have been issued by Mehmed V (“Resad”), 1909–1918, and the 35th Ottoman Sultan. It was a 5 para coin, issued in his 5th regnal year (1327+5 = 1332 AH = 1913 CE). This was a year before WW1 erupted, 100 years ago this past week, and turned the world upside down for many people—including “Resad”, the conqueror!

The other coin was also Ottoman, but from 1790. Minted in Egypt, it had been used as an ornament long after its issue by Selim III.

I took careful note of the key reference works used by Ariel, and have already ordered the book that provides a ready index to the Muslim and Christian calendars. This saves a lot of time that otherwise needs to be spent to calculate the correlations.

By mid-afternoon I was settled into my hotel in Nazareth. Casa de Maria was my home for two weeks back in 2012, so I was welcomed back like the prodigal son—and given the best room in the house. It will be good to spend some time with the family tomorrow morning, before I head down to Tabgha to meet up with the Palestine of Jesus course that will be arriving tomorrow for three days in the Galilee.

As the sun was setting, I met up with two of my closest Nazareth friends for a lovely evening meal in the new Tishreen restaurant on the ridge between Nazrat Illit and Nazareth. The outdoor deck provided a lovely view of Nazareth as the daylight faded.

Finally, in view of the situation here right now, this anonymous prayer by a Palestinian Christian seems apt as I close this post:

Pray not for Arab or Jew,
for Palestinian or Israeli,
but pray rather for ourselves,
that we may not divide them in our prayers,
but keep them both together
in our hearts. Amen.

5 July 2014
Palestine of Jesus 2014 – Day Nine

With the current high level of tensions in Jerusalem and the other occupied Palestinian territories following recent abductions and murders, the schedule for the Palestine of Jesus course has been amended slightly.

Planned visits to sites on the West Bank have been deleted from the program: Nablus on Wednesday afternoon, Hebron on Thursday, and Bethany on Friday. The visit to Bethany was moved up to Wednesday afternoon in place of the trip to Nablus. On Thursday the College program went to Caesarea Maritima where they explored the archaeological areas as well as enjoying an opportunity to swim in the Mediterranean. Those keen to justify their “Med Sea, Dead Sea, Red Sea” t-shirts will be pleased with that change to the program!

For my part, I spent the morning on the site at Bethsaida. This allowed me to collect the essential data about the 26 coins found this season at Bethsaida, as well as to check on progress with Area T.

The southern end of the 10m x 4m ‘square’ that we opened this year has now been excavated to about 1.5m depth.

This has exposed the continuation of W1200 first located in 2012 as well as a Syrian fox hole:

Meanwhile, in the northern end of the square the crew has cleaned up the area nicely and exposed a well-preserved packed earth floor.

Next step is to prepare the technical drawings of the area:

In the evening we enjoyed a fascinating lecture under the stars by Richard Freund and Harry Joel. They explained how the portable Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems can now assist us to identify locations for excavation, in place of the traditional intuitive methods still much preferred by many field archaeologists.

4 July 2014
Palestine of Jesus 2014 – Day Eight
Today marks the beginning of a brief interlude during which time I will miss about three days of the Palestine of Jesus course at St George’s College in Jerusalem.

Soon after the group left to begin their morning program exploring the archaeological sites around the Temple Mount, I headed across to the Avis office in Jerusalem to collect my rental car and head north to the Galilee.

This morning the SGC program will take the group to the excavations around the southern steps of the temple, to the Western Wall (aka, the Wailing Wall), and the Pool of Bethesda at St Ann’s Church before returning to the College for lunch.

Pictures of:
In the afternoon, the group was going to Nablus (ancient Shechem) to visit the new Orthodox Church constructed over Jacob’s Well.

While the group was occupied with these visits I collected my rental car and made my way north to Kiryat Tivon, where I have checked into a lovely little B&B that I stayed in last December after the Sabeel conference. This will be my base for a couple of nights while I meet with Ariel Berman, a leading Islamic coin specialist who lives here, as well as catching up with the outcomes from the last two weeks on the dig at Bethsaida.

Tomorrow morning I will be pulling the dusty work boots back onto my feet and heading down to the dig bright and early.
2 July 2014
Palestine of Jesus 2014 – Day Seven

Today was an optional day in the program. We visited Masada and Qumran, and had an opportunity for a ‘swim’ (well, more a float) in the Dead Sea. About five people from the course took the option of staying behind in Jerusalem, while the remainder came with me to Masada towards the southern end of the Dead Sea.

It was again my privilege to serve as group leader for the day, so I guided people around the major features of the this site. One of the highlights is always the triple palace at the northern tip of Masada.

We also explored Herod’s luxurious bath house, and the room where archaeologists found the 10 pottery shards (ostraka) with the names of the Jewish rebels who would kill the other men, and then each other, after all had killed their own wife and children. All around the mountain we could see the remains of the siege wall that encircled the entire site, as well as several Roman army encampments. We studied the intricate water system, and visited the synagogue in which the rebels prayer for a deliverance that never arrived. We went down the steps to the lower levels of the Northern Palace, and we saw the ancient Roman siege ramp at the Western gate.

A brief video of our descent from Masada in the cable car is available online.

After leaving Masada we drove about 30 minutes north to Qumran, where we had lunch and then explored the modest ruins of the Essene settlement. Where Masada speaks of power and exploitation, Qumran testifies to the power of religion to shape alternative visions of divine justice.

The final part of today’s schedule was to visit Kalia Beach and experience the Dead Sea.

By the end of the day a tired but contented group of explorers had arrived back at College and were heading for the showers, and our beds for a nap before dinner.

For my part, I had dinner with a friend at Ecce Homo and then we walked to a nearby Arab hotel to enjoy drinks on its rooftop cafe. The Old City was alive with Ramadan celebrations, and it was so good to see the crowds enjoying their religious festival. The Damascus gate was a blaze of colour and sound.

2 July 2014
Palestine of Jesus 2014 – Day Six

Today it was my delight to lead the course during our visit to Sepphoris and Nazareth.

We led the College around 8.00am and arrived in Sepphoris a little after 10.00am. After a brief orientation talk based around the scale model of the site and watching a 10 minute multi-media presentation, we went off to explore the site.

The highlights included the “Nile House” with its mosaics that feature scenes from the Nile, the large wealthy house with the Dionysius mosaic (including the so-called ‘Mona Lisa of the Galilee’), the Ottoman fortress, and the small Roman theatre. We then headed to Nazareth where we enjoyed lunch at the Holy Land Restaurant not far from the Basilica.

After lunch we went to the Basilica of the Annunciation to begin our walking tour of Nazareth.

From the Basilica we walked through the old market (the Souq), spending some time at the Synagogue Church and later the El Babour Galilee Mill, before arriving at the Greek Orthodox Church of St Gabriel that celebrates the Eastern tradition of the Annunciation taking place at Mary’s Well. The church features an ancient well even though the actual source of the water is a spring further up the slope.

We had about 45 minutes at the end of the day to relax and soak up the atmosphere before boarding the bus at 4.30pm for our return trip to Jerusalem. We had a good run with the traffic, arriving at the College just a few minutes before 6.30pm. After dinner, several of us gathered on the roof of the College to talk about this land, the conflict that is tearing at the heart and soul of both the communities, the meaning of life, our insights from the program so far, and much more. These are the moments that make our trips such a special time.

1 July 2014
Palestine of Jesus 2024 – Day Five

Sunday in Jerusalem.

Most of the SGC Palestine of Jesus course attended the 9.30am service at St George’s cathedral, with its mix of Arabic and English. The place was packed as we had several international groups visiting at the one time. It was a great to have Naim Ateek, Founder of the Sabeel Centre, as our preacher.

It was also good to meet up again with Eric Funston from Ohio. After having been online friends for around twenty years, we finally got to met on Friday evening – but this time we took a photo to prove it!

After lunch we went to the Israel Museum, where I had the privilege of leading the group as we visited the large scale model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period, the Shrine of the Book (where we crossed paths with the group from Truman State University who had been on the dig at Bethsaida with us), and the archaeological hall.

There was also an opportunity to visit the haunting exhibit of 9 neolithic masks.

Before dinner I presented a lecture on the archaeological evidence for Nazareth in the first century CE. This was in preparation for our visit there tomorrow. It was good to have yet another opportunity to present that material and address questions from the floor.

30 June 2014