Category Archives: Archaeology

Reading the Blogs

Posted on November 25, 2012 | 1 comment

Charles Savelle (Bible X) tells about his enjoyable afternoon at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible Exhibit (Fort Worth). He describes the entire visit, step by step, including a list of “the scroll fragments and other manuscripts and Bibles” including a list of the Biblical verses included in the scroll fragments. A Qumran simulated dig is part of the exhibit. Charles includes a a hi-res photo of himself standing in a nice replica of a mikvah (ritual bath) at Qumran. Read the complete report here. The exhibit runs through January 13, 2013.

I enjoyed lunch with Charles one day at the recent ETS annual meeting. I find his Bible X blog helpful.

Luke Chandler reports here that a different Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit is now open at the Cincinnati Museum Center. This exhibit includes about “600 biblically-related artifacts on loan from the Israel[i] Antiquities Authority.” Read more here. This exhibit which runs through April, 2013, has already been in New York and Philadelphia. Check our link to the New York exhibition here. The 39 page guide to the exhibit by Gordon Franz is still available.

The War Scroll displayed at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Luke also comments on a recent comment by Dr. William Dever regarding the lack of evidence for the “Low Chronology” here.

It was only yesterday that I came caught up with a post by Seth Rodriquez (Wild Olive Shoot) written the day after the U.S. presidential election. He has some important words for those who may have been disappointed in the outcome of the election. See here.

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Posted in Archaeology, Bible Lands, Bible Places, Bible Study, Biblical Studies, blog, Israel, New Testament, Old Testament

Professor Maeir on the cease fire and Tell es-Safi/Gath

Posted on November 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

Earlier in the week at the SBL meeting I visited a few minutes with Prof. Aren Maeir, excavator of Tell es-Safi/Gath. He is back home in Israel, and writes this morning about the cease fire between Gaza and Israel.

Well, thank g-d a cease fire has been declared and that it appears to be holding.

I have heard an unconfirmed report that the Palestinians even shot a missile at Tell es-Safi/Gath! I’ll have to check this out, but perhaps someone in the Hamas does not like what we are finding at the site? (is nothing sacred? 🙂

UPDATE: Uri Kaizer, the warden for the Tell es-Safi/Gath region from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority has informed me that the missile did not hit the site, but rather fell a km or two to the west.

In any case, I pray that things will stay quiet and we can all get back to living our regular lives.

I would be nice if in the future, when describing the period following this last round of fighting, the following could be said: “The land was quiet for forty years”…

Follow his blog here.

You will recognize the last phrase in Maeir’s post as the common refrain from the book of Judges.

So the land had rest forty years. (Judges 3:11a ESV)

The following photo of Tel es-Safi/Gath shows the abundant wheat fields in the plain to the west of the tel.

Tel es-Safi/Gath with wheat fields in the plain to the west. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The Annual Meetings # 2 (NEAS)

Posted on November 19, 2012 | 3 comments

Attending the annual meetings of professional organizations allows one to keep up with the latest scholarly efforts of various scholars. When I was teaching I attended sessions dealing with the subjects I was teaching. I have always attended sessions dealing with archaeology because these help be to keep abreast of the field. On my tours, I am often able to tell the guides about discoveries that they have not yet learned about.

Some affiliated smaller organizations meet under the auspices of the larger one. The NEAS (Near East Archaeological Society) meets with ETS. I attended most of the sessions of the NEAS. Let me give you some idea about what I heard.

Charles Ailing, Did Moses Learn His Monotheism From Akhenaten? Mostly likely not. According to the Biblical chronology, Moses was earlier than Akhenaten.

Douglas Petrovich, Identifying the Tower of Babel and (Re-)Locating the Site of Its Construction. He suggested Eridu. Doug began his paper with a prayer in which he said, “Thank you for the thrill of learning, and thank you for the truth.”

Randall Price reported on “the Final Season of Excavation on the Qumran Plateau.” I did not hear his presentation about the search for Noah’s Ark. Seth Rodriquez looked at how archaeology provides insights into Psalm 144.

Morten Jensen, from Denmark, spoke about “Religious Motivation in the Archaeological Record of First-century Israel.” A paper on Metallurgy was read for a scholar who was unable to arrive from Germany.

We had two presentations by excavators at Gezer. Steven Ortiz spoke about the recent excavations. Daniel Warner spoke about the fabulous new find of the Gezer Water System. See our earlier report on this water system here.

Excavating Gezer Water System. Photo: Art Beaulieu. Courtesy BP & NOBTS.

The sessions last about three hours and have at least five presenters in each. One session was devoted to Wheaton College’s Contribution to Biblical Archaeology from Joseph P. Free to the Present. Alfred J. Hoerth, who served as chair of the department of archaeology, spoke of the contributions from Free to the present. Other speakers, all of whom attended and/or taught at Wheaton included Daniel Master (Ashkelon), John Monson, and Tom Davis. This was an extremely worthwhile session.

Free is known for his book about archaeology, but also for his excavation of the biblical site of Dothan. One interesting tidbit: Free purchased the tell of Dothan from the Jordanian landowner. I think this would be impossible today.

Dothan is known as the place where Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery (Genesis 37:12-36).

Perhaps I can get to a few comments about the SBL meeting after I return home.

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Posted in Archaeology, Bible Places, Bible Study, Biblical Studies, Israel, New Testament, Old Testament, Photography, Travel

The Annual Meetings # 1

Posted on November 17, 2012 | 2 comments

Each year in November professional meetings pertaining to the field of biblical studies are held in a major U.S. city. The largest meeting is the SBL/AAR meeting. That is the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion. Together these organizations attract maybe eight thousand persons who are involved in teaching and researching in the fields of Biblical Studies and Religious Studies.

ASOR, the American Schools of Oriental Research, meets separately a few days ahead of the other meeting. This organization attracts those who are teaching and active in the field of Near Eastern archaeology.

The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) currently meets at the same time as ASOR. I think in some recent years as many as 2000 members attend ETS. This organization attracts scholars who are admittedly conservative in their approach toward the Scriptures. Most of them teach in seminaries or religious schools.

Some international scholars attend each of these meetings.

From time to time I have someone ask me why I attend. I will suggest a couple of reasons based on the current ETS meeting, and these reasons will be true of both meetings.

Books, Books, Books. I do not buy as many books as I once did, but I still like to see what is being published. The ETS book exhibit has grown from a few tables several years back to a large exhibit hall this year. Many of the major religious publishers offer deep discounts to the members. They know that these teachers may use their books, or at least recommend them, in their classes. Only members with the proper ID are allowed in the exhibit hall.

The Crossway display. Crossway is the publisher of the ESV bible.

The books on display are mainly the current publications along with a few of the previous best sellers.

A small portion of the B&H display.

Friends. Another reason I attend the meetings to to see old friends and make new ones. Jack is now a freelance representative. This week he was working for Moody Press.

Promoting Moody Press books at the ETS meeting.

For the first time, Todd Bolen had a display of his Pictorial Library of the Bible Lands. We have written about this series here.

Todd Bolen, Bible Places.com, talks with a customer.

Todd Bolen (right), Bible Places.com, talks with a customer.

A. D. Riddle made new maps for the revised PLBL. He was helping at the booth. A customer is on the right. Bolen is in the background. This was my first time to meet A. D., he has been helpful to me several times via correspondence.

A.D. Riddle, who supplied new maps for the revised series.

A.D. Riddle (right), who supplied new maps for the revised series, takes a break from talking with an ETS member about the PLBL series.

I ran across Mark Wilson, author of Biblical Turkey: A Guide to the Jewish and Christian Sites of Asia Minor. Mark lives in Turkey part of each year, and has spoken to one of my groups. Everyone who plans a trip to Turkey, or who just wants to know more about the Biblical places in Turkey, should have this book.

Mark Wilson mans the Tutku Travel booth.

Other friends I saw included Steve Wolfgang, former students Rusty Taylor and Randy Murphy.

In another post I will mention some of the papers I heard.

2 Comments

Posted in Archaeology, Bible Lands, Bible Study, Book Review, Books, New Testament, Old Testament, Photography, Travel, Turkey

Acts 19 — Photo Illustrations

Posted on October 24, 2012 | 3 comments

Ephesus is one of the most excavated sites from the Biblical world. Teams of Austrian archaeologists have worked at the site since 1895.

Items of interest at Ephesus include the single standing column of the Temple of Diana (Artemis), the harbor which is now silted up, the great theater which seated nearly 25,000 (Acts 19:29), the Marble street, the Library of Celsus, the Agora, the Temple of Hadrian, the Temple of Domitian (or the Flavian Emperors), and much more.

The first instance of believers baptized into Christ at Ephesus is recorded in Acts 19. Many changes took place in the church between the time when Paul spent nearly three years in the city, and the time when John lived there. There are two letters in the New Testament addressed to the church at Ephesus. The first is the letter of Paul to the Ephesians. The other is the letter included in the book of Revelation (Revelation 2:1-7).

Yamauchi comments on the size of Ephesus in the first century:

“In the New Testament era it was probably the fourth greatest city in the world (after Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch) with a population of about 250,000” (Archaeology of New Testament Cities, 79).

The photo below shows the site of the Temple of Artemis (Diana). Notice the stork standing on top of the sole standing column. Click on the photo for a larger image.

The site of the Artemis temple at Ephesus. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The site of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The ruins of the famous temple were discovered in 1869 by J. T. Wood, an English engineer. Pausanias, the second century A.D. geographer, said the “temple of Diana surpassed every structure raised by human hands.” The temple was four times as large as the Parthenon. The platform of the temple was 239 feet wide by 418 feet long. The temple itself was 180 feet wide by 377 feet long, and the roof was supported by more than 100 sixty-foot columns. The temple served as a bank and a place of asylum for criminals. The earliest stage of the temple was built about 600 B.C. The Hellenistic temple which Paul and John saw was destroyed in A.D. 262.

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Posted in Archaeology, Bible Places, Bible Study, Book of Acts, Church History, New Testament, Photography, Revelation, Travel, Turkey

Tagged Apostle Paul

“You could feel the wheels turning”

Posted on October 21, 2012 | 3 comments

Obituaries for Frank Moore Cross (1921–2012) are beginning to appear in various sources. William Yardley writes in The New York Times about Cross:

Dr. Cross studied culture, religion and politics of the period in which the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, was written and revised, and he traced the ways different nations and cultures had translated its early texts. He also traced the evolution of ancient script and developed expertise in dating documents by the slightest shifts in writing style.

“That we know that a particular scroll comes from 100 B.C. and not 50 A.D. is almost entirely due to the study of the scripts and their development that he worked out,” Mr. Machinist said. “That may seem like a trivial point, but if you don’t have a sense of when these texts are dated, you have no sense of their historical importance.”

Once, several colleagues said, after carbon dating confirmed dates that he had established through script analysis, Dr. Cross joked that he was happy to hear that his script studies had validated the practice of carbon dating.

The article mentions the study habits of Dr. Cross.

Dr. Cross often sequestered himself in his study at home until late into the night.

“He was very intense, and we would just kind of tiptoe by the study,” Ms. Gindele [one of his daughters] recalled. “My mother liked to say you could feel the wheels turning and not to bother him.”

The full article may be read here.

Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review, writes here about the life and influence of Cross under the title, “The End of an Era.”

Jim Davila, who wrote a dissertation under Cross, offers some interesting reminiscences here.

HT: Jack Sasson and Joseph Lauer

3 Comments

Posted in Archaeology, Biblical Studies, Culture, Israel, Jordan, Old Testament

Tagged Dead Sea Scrolls, Frank Moore Cross

Acts 17 — Photo Illustrations

Posted on October 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Paul came to Thessalonica on his second journey (A.D. 50-53; Acts 17).

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. (Acts 17:1 ESV)

Thessalonica (called Thessaloniki now) is in biblical Macedonia. The area is still known as Macedonia, but is not to be confused with the modern country by that name. It is marked on maps of Greece as FYROM (former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). I know too little about the dispute to make any comments.

Paul wrote two letters to the church at Thessalonica while he was at Corinth. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica accompanied Paul on the voyage to Rome (Acts 27:2). When Demas forsook Paul he went to Thessalonica (2 Timothy 4:10).

The photo below shows excavated ruins of the 2nd-3rd century A.D. Roman Forum in the center of the modern city of Thessalonica. Fant and Reddish comment on the Forum:

Extensive, ongoing excavations are being conducted in this area. Likely the same site was the location for the Hellenistic agora as well. The forum originally covered two extensive terraces. The forum originally covered two extensive terraces. The one to the north contained a large courtyard surrounded on four sides by two-story stoas; to the rear of the stoa on the east side stood the odeion, originally a theater for music and performances, later converted into an arena for gladiatorial contests. (A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey, 137).

Roman Forum in the center of Thessalonica. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

I think if you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will see the odeion to the right of the image.

There are several posts about Thessalonica on this blog. Just put the word Thessalonica in the Search Box. You will also find posts about Amphipolis, Berea, and Athens.

New discoveries at Paphos, Cyprus

Posted on October 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

The Cyprus Mail reports the results of archaeological work in the agora at ancient Paphos, Cyprus, by the Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.

One of the significant discoveries during the August/September excavations was a small tablet with the name of an official on it in the Greek language. According to the article, the Greek inscription reads,

Seleukos, son of Agoranomos (market administrator) Ioulios Bathylos.

Architectural remains from the Roman period were also uncovered in the same area as the Greek inscription.

The short article maybe read here.

The photo below shows a few fallen columns in the mostly unexcavated agora in mid-May, 2012.

Ancient agora at Paphos, Cyprus. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Barnabas, Saul, and John Mark arrived at Paphos after crossing the length of the island of Cyprus on the first missionary journey. It was here that Saul’s name was changed to Paul.

6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.
7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him
10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?
11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.
12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. (Acts 13:6-12 ESV)

HT: Jack Sasson

Visiting the Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum

Posted on October 15, 2012 | 5 comments

You might never expect to find an excellent archaeological museum nearly hidden in the woods of eastern Tennessee. But that is what you will find at the Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum on the campus of Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee.

When we arrived on campus we asked a student the location of the Museum. After walking up a long series of steps that some students were skipping up (ah, youth!), we asked two other students. Each of them offered to show us. And, neither had been to the Museum. Everyone on campus that we spoke with was friendly and helpful.

Inside Hackman Hall is housed a wonderful educational exhibit.

The Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum is located in this building.

A few years ago William G. Dever gave his research library of nearly 3000 volumes and a large collection of archaeological artifacts to Southern. The artifacts are built into an award-winning exhibition under the title Vessels in Time: A Journey Into the Biblical World. Archaeology Professor Dr. Michael G. Hasel serves as curator of the Museum.

Iron Age IIA (1000-900 B.C.) Pottery in the Lynn H. Wood Museum.

The exhibits follow a chronological order from the early days in Mesopotamia to New Testament times. Each display has a good timeline which coordinates the archaeological periods with the Biblical record. The photo above shows some pottery from the Iron Age IIA (1000-900 B.C.). This is the period of the United Kingdom (or Monarchy). The bowl on the left has been slipped and shinned. The accompanying information explains that during this period vessels were sometimes dipped “into red watery clay” to create the colored slip. The bowl was then hand burnished with a stone like the one shown above it.

Three examples of dipper juglets from the period are shown:

A Phoenician import.
A simple local juglet.
A black-slipped, burnished juglet.

There is a nice model of Solomon’s Temple in the same room.

If your travels take you anywhere near Chattanooga, Tennessee, I suggest you take time to drive a few miles east to Collegedale and visit the Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum.

Full information about the Museum including visiting hours may be found here.

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Posted in Archaeology, Bible Places, Bible Study, Culture, Israel, New Testament, Old Testament, Photography, Travel

Tagged museums, William G. Dever

Acts 16 — Photo Illustrations (corrected)

Posted on October 11, 2012 | 1 comment

What is the best way to correct a blunder? Shall I totally delete the post and start anew, or shall I edit the existing one? I decided to leave the existing one for the time being and post the correction here.

Forum/Agora. One reader suggests that I have incorrectly identified the forum at Philippi as the agora. Some sources indicate that the forum was primarily used for civic or judicial matters while the agora was considered the commercial center or market place.

My intention was to use both words because they are often used interchangeably. At Philippi, Corinth, and other places, these activities are not far removed from each other. In fact, the Forum at Philippi, and the Agora at Corinth contain a Bema (judgment seat) as well as numerous commercial shops.

I am not at home and do not have access to some of the sources I might normally use to check these things, but I have access to some dictionaries online.

The American Heritage Dictionary gives this definition for forum:

The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.

The Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines the forum…

(in an ancient Roman city) a public square or marketplace used for judicial and other business.

The Wrong Photo. But my serious blunder was in the photo I labeled as the forum/agora. After publishing it I began to think I had uploaded the wrong photo. A friend has written privately to remind me that I have posted a photo of one of the basilicas at Philippi rather than the forum. I plead guilty. My oversight.

Here is a photo of a portion of the Via Egnatia (the Egnatian Way) in the forum at Philippi. Much of it is covered by several feet of earth. The modern road runs above the ancient one.

A portion of the Via Egnatia in the Forum at Philippi. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The next photo shows a sign that once sat on the road.

Identifying the Via Egnatia in the Forum at Philippi. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Perhaps later I will post a photo of some of the shops in the forum.

1 Comment

Posted in Archaeology, Bible Places, Bible Study, Book of Acts, Greece, New Testament, Photography, Travel

Category Archives: Archaeology

Reading the Blogs

Professor Maeir on the cease fire and Tell es-Safi/Gath

The Annual Meetings # 2 (NEAS)

The Annual Meetings # 1

Acts 19 — Photo Illustrations

“You could feel the wheels turning”

Acts 17 — Photo Illustrations

New discoveries at Paphos, Cyprus

Visiting the Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum

Acts 16 — Photo Illustrations (corrected)

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