Jacob's standing-stone also known as a matzevah? |
Israel's indigenous record through the lens of Jerusalem, archaeology or emerging events.
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Sunday, November 13, 2022
Jerusalem's Middle Bronze Yeshiva
Thursday, September 29, 2022
Jerusalem's Temple Zero Underground
Temple Zero Excavation (north end) |
Temple Zero Excavation (south end) |
Water channel (Blue) |
Red dots mark carbon dated evidence Iron Age walls (red) on western edge of Temple Zero's rock-cut-rooms |
Heights above sea level |
Less than 10 meters east, further down slope toward the valley, additional evidence was found, between bedrock and leveling rocks supporting a Middle Bronze Age wall (red dots on the image above-right). This indicates earth below the supporting rocks of the walls base had been used 150-200 years before the seeds trapped in the ash layer (further to the west). However, around 1m above the bedrock additional evidence, taken from the walls' mortar, revealed entrapped seeds of a similar date as the ash layer seeds. Therefore, the walls foundation layers were constructed on a base above bedrock more than 150 years earlier, shown in the image below.
Large rock placed on smaller supporting rocks near the bedrock base, site of earlier dated evidence |
Curiously the study identified an unusual 17th century gap in evidence, indicating that the entire area went out of use during the 50-75 years that preceded the ash layer seeds and the building of this small Middle Bronze Age wall.
Since Temple Zero was buried underground sometime in the 17th century it would not have been used for active worship during the 10th century reign of King David because the evidence in the drainage channel was undisturbed. The next time all of Temple Zero's rock-cut-rooms were exposed was during the bedrock discovery phase, required for construction of Jerusalem's massive eastern defensive wall, in the 8th century leading up to or during the reign of King Hezekiah. Almost 1000 years after the seeds became trapped in the ash layer, constructors of the massive defensive wall discovered, preserved and re-buried Temple Zero where it remained for another 2600 years until it was recently discovered in 2011.
The implications of this study are important because they provide a credible reason why Temple Zero was never discovered by King David and how the fragile matzevah (Stone of Israel), located in Temple Zero survived in its original place, preserved in soft sand, in tact all these years. One can only imagine what King Hezekiah's Iron Age wall constructors must have thought when they discovered and preserved it for our generation?
Monday, May 23, 2022
Finding Zion!
Mount Moriah, one rock |
North Entrance |
North over the olive press |
Looking North, at the top, large steps between W108 (north) and W109 |
Significant scale wall (looking north). Top right of the wall intersects W108. |
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Hezekiah's Dilemma
Hezekiah's Seal |
First in the sequence, Avishai saved King David's life. (95a:8) But, Tanach and midrash inform us that after King David's sinful census 70,000 in Israel's north were killed, the next day, on the summit of Jerusalem's Mount Moriah, when the angel of death was poised to destroy Jerusalem, Avishai was sacrificed to pacify the angel and prevent Jerusalem's destruction. At the foot of the angel of death David offered his personal sacrifice and that site would become the future altar of Jerusalem's first temple. This story is reflected in the 'sword over Jerusalem', words that are said each year at Passover tables the world over.
Next, Talmud steps the reader back ~500 years to the time Jacob returned and stumbled on 'the place' his fathers prayed (95b:1). By this, midrashim and commentaries we know 'the place' to be the Beit El of Abraham and Jacob, the Akeida (binding) of Isaac, which according to Jewish law will be the place of the future temple altar.
Then, the reader steps forward ~1000 years to learn of Hezekiah's failure to obtain his Messianic designation after Sancheirev attempted to destroy Jerusalem (95b:14). In other places we learn that Hezekiah' failed because he did not immediately attribute the saving of Jerusalem to Divine intervention. Then, Sancheirev was killed by his sons (age 64 - c.681BCE) and Nebuchadnezzar seized control of the Babylonian-Assyrian alliance. Around 100 years after Sancheirev's failed attempt, Nebuchadnezzar dispatched Nebuzaradan and destroyed Jerusalem (96b:4).
Sunday, January 30, 2022
72 Golden Bells
In 2011 a rare golden bell, in the shape of a pomegranate was discovered in a drainage channel near the Temple Mount along the route to the Siloam Pool (Shiloah) at the southern end of the City of David. The Second Temple artefact was thought to be one of 72 similar bells adorning the hem of the High Priests garment. The route along the drainage channel is one the High Priest would have frequently used.
The discovery was widely publicised prompting many to question whether this was one of the actual bells and it exposed an age-old debate among Torah scholars. The adornment of the High Priests garment is discussed in unusual detail in the section known as Tetzaveh, Exodus 28:33-34:
וְעָשִׂ֣יתָ עַל־שׁוּלָ֗יו רִמֹּנֵי֙ תְּכֵ֤לֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן֙ וְתוֹלַ֣עַת שָׁנִ֔י עַל־שׁוּלָ֖יו סָבִ֑יב וּפַעֲמֹנֵ֥י זָהָ֛ב בְּתוֹכָ֖ם סָבִֽיב׃
On its hem make pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, all around the hem, with bells of gold within them all around
פַּעֲמֹ֤ן זָהָב֙ וְרִמּ֔וֹן פַּֽעֲמֹ֥ן זָהָ֖ב וְרִמּ֑וֹן עַל־שׁוּלֵ֥י הַמְּעִ֖יל סָבִֽיב׃
a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe.
Tur HaArokh, Exodus 28:34:1
פעמון זהב ורמון, “a golden bell and a pomegranate.” According to Rashi the Torah speaks of two distinctly separate kinds of ornaments, one looked like a bell, the other like a pomegranate. Ramban writes We must assume that the bells were surrounded on the outside by these “pomegranates,” the “pomegranates” being hollow, they were made to look like unripe small “pomegranates” that had not “opened” yet, and the bells were hidden within their cavities, but could be seen partially from the outside.
Perhaps the Ba'al haTurim was also saying that the golden bells were concealed by the woven yarns, as a shell around the golden bell depicted below:
Monday, November 8, 2021
The Enigma of Ai
East of Beit El, West of Ai |
City of Ai at Ras Al Amud, finally located |
In the rectangle original Beit El before the walled city. Approximately 800m west of Ai Boundary - Benjamin (north) and Judah (south). |
Sunday, November 7, 2021
“Jacob Gave The Name Beit El To Jerusalem”
Click to enlarge |
(יא) וַיִּפְגַּ֨ע בַּמָּק֜וֹם וַיָּ֤לֶן שָׁם֙ כִּי־בָ֣א הַשֶּׁ֔מֶשׁ וַיִּקַּח֙ מֵאַבְנֵ֣י הַמָּק֔וֹם וַיָּ֖שֶׂם מְרַֽאֲשֹׁתָ֑יו וַיִּשְׁכַּ֖ב בַּמָּק֥וֹם הַהֽוּא׃
Genesis 28:11
(11) He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Beit El, Jerusalem - Did King David Know?
For 10+ years I patiently waited for news, finally it came. Using carbon dating on seeds, twigs and dirt, Regev et al unambiguously showed that the Rock-Cut-Rooms, on the eastern slope of Mount Moriah are sandwiched between two sources of evidence dated to the Middle Bronze Age approximately 3500 and 3800 years ago.
Bronze Age Rock-Cut-Rooms |
This is important because all archaeological evidence on the bedrock of these rooms was removed in the Iron Age II, around 2600 years ago when builders for King Hezekiah constructed the recently discovered eastern city wall (W20005 - W20021). Based on this evidence, before the rooms were first uncovered 2600 years ago they lay buried, out of use for some 900 years. No evidence of this time-frame showed up in the carbon dating report.
Area U and Rock-cut Rooms (V. Essman and O. Rose) Approximate evidence locations marked in red. |
You following this? These rooms were in use up till 3500 years ago, then they stopped being used for 900 years, then 2600 years ago they were discovered, uncovered and immediately buried, finally they were re-discovered and uncovered again in 2011.
East-side evidence samples |
West-side evidence samples |
Stunningly, the flimsy matzevah at the west end of room 4 (Area U map above) was intact as far back as 3600 years ago, the time of biblical Jacob. This perfectly fits the time-frame of evidence discovered on both sides of the rock-cut-rooms. Further, as the evidence stretches back to 3700 or 3800 years it suggests the rooms were actively in use at that time.
Matzevah (Pillar) of Jacob? |
Eli Shukron, the archaeologist who excavated these rooms is unequivocal, this is the first temple that ever existed on Mount Moriah, a thousand years before the First Temple of King Solomon. If this is the matzevah of Jacob (Genesis 28:18, 28:22, 31:13, 31:45, 35:14, 35:20), then this is also the Beit El where Abraham built an altar, tithed to Malchi-Tzedek and offered his son, Isaac. Could it be?
Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Jerusalem Archaeology A Biblical Narrative?
Jerusalem's defensive wall on the steep eastern slope |
The late first temple city wall, discovered on the lower eastern slope of Mount Moriah exposes the strategy that once revived use, from 1000 years prior, of a Bronze Age underground passage - Warrens Shaft System (WSS) to deliver water inside (west) of the wall so that the city could prolong its siege defense against Assyrians and Babylonian enemies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Wqhf_8itA
The mountain city's natural water source was the Gihon Spring, in the eastern escarpment where water exited into a cave just above the valley floor. For the first Bronze Age residents, living on the upper ridge, moving water 60 vertical meters up the escarpment was a major daily undertaking. Back then, supply was regulated by the local kings' whose water carriers would haul water sacks up the escarpment to meet the growing demand further up the ridge.
The east, west and south escarpments, on lower Mount Moriah fall sharply into surrounding valleys that provided a naturally defensive barrier against enemy attack. From the north, on the summit, distant movements could be clearly observed to prepare and repel hostilities. The upper flats, on the lower section of Mount Moriah was ideal to establish a small village and protect its residents, but water presented a major challenge.
Bronze Age occupants had a limited population size, but archaeology for that period suggests more than just local residents helped to construct a secure water carriage system. According to the Hebrew Bible Mount Moriah contained indigenous artifacts that Israelites, after Jacob and 250 years of exile, would have been intent to reclaim along with their inherited land. To improve water security and possibly dissuade an Israelite attack, the residents must have obtained regional labor support from regional allies in order to massively excavate the bedrock of the mountain.
Four significant constructions must be understood in order to interpret ancient events on the mountain and the motivation for theses constructions:
1. The 'Warren's Shaft System' (WSS) - a man-made tunnel rising through the mountain that permitted cool, efficient and protected passage to water carriers. Water was carried from the spring, hauled up to lower level dwellings at the uppermost exit of the system and further up to the city's mountain ridge (a ~60m vertical rise from the water).
2. Double walls - 'W108/W109' were built, east-west up the escarpment using +1 ton boulders carried up a ~30 degree grade and precisely placed to build the staggered walls that stretch ~50 meters uphill at a height of 6-10m. Such a substantial construction required more labor force than the residential capacity of the upper city.
3. The 'Rock-cut Feature' (RCF) - a large quarry, south of W109 left a gaping wound in the bedrock and cut convenient access between Area U's Rock-Cut-Rooms, on the higher slope of the eastern escarpment and the Gihon water source below.
4. The 'Rock-Cut-Rooms' (RCR) - a temple complex of 4 rooms each with a feature dedicated to worship. They include (from north to south) an olive press for pure oil, raised altar platform and liquids channel, matzevah or anointing-pillar and room for slaughtering and processing animal sacrifices.
Archaeologist Ronny Reich inside the sealed cave leading into WSS to his right |
Low animal tether looped in bedrock edge |
Close up of low animal tether ~25cm above ground |
Visitors climb up XVIII to RCR's the down path leads to water |