A discovery of human artefacts and human remains older than six thousand years

 

The Israel Antiquities Authority has announced the discovery of a 10,500 year old woven basket in the Judaea desert.

 

Discoveries both of human artefacts and human remains that are older than six thousand years pose a fundamental challenge both to the belief that humans would only six thousand years old and the concept of a ‘seven thousand year plan’. 

 

Between 1946 and 1956, some 981 different texts and scrolls were discovered in eleven caves in the eastern Judaean Desert of what is now the modern-day West Bank. This collection known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, was a huge sensation.

 

Preserved by the aridity of that region in the southwestern part of Israel, these scrolls dated back to around 100 B.C.E.-100 C.E..  They included Hebrew texts of much of the Old Testament, which were about a thousand years older than previously known Hebrew scriptures (or Old Testament) manuscripts and showed that the these texts had been transmitted rather faithfully over centuries of scribal copying. There were also other writings peculiar to the Jewish community that lived near those caves, which gave new insights into the religious and social currents of that day.

 

The previous weeks Israeli archaeologists, having searched the caves the Judean Desert announced their findings of further texts, giving us withdozens of new Dead Sea Scroll fragments some more insight in the texts of the minor prophets. 

Other objects found alongside the scroll fragments also withstood the test of time, including ancient olive pits; remnants of clothing and sandals and a wooden lice comb similar to one that might be used today.

 

Archaeologist Chaim Cohen says the four-year project has been vital to protect the treasures inside the cave system from future plunder.

"This project is the protection of the area because, again, it is almost impossible to beat the looters," he said. "They're working, and the solution was to get to the case before the looters."

The massive excavation site spans parts of southern Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel has long been criticized for removing objects found in the Palestinian territories.

According to international law, taking cultural property from an occupied territory is forbidden, but those concerns haven't prevented the Israeli Antiquities Authority from putting the discoveries on display.

 

The basket, the discovery of which was announced Tuesday 16th March was found in Muraba’at cave in the Judaea desert. According to the Jerusalem Post article, it is believed to be the oldest of its kind ever uncovered. 

 

Ken Gilmore, an Australian Christadelphian,  reacts on these findings and certain people their idea that mankind only exists a 5 or 6 thousand years:

Both the belief that humans were created only six thousand years ago and the ‘Gap Theory’ that posits an earlier creation which was eradicated and replaced six thousand years ago by another creation make clearly testable predictions. The former would have no human fossils or artifacts older than six thousand years in the archaeological record, while the latter would show clear signs of a destruction six thousand years ago and no sign of continuity between human remains / artifacts on either side of this six thousand year old destruction layer. It goes without saying that we see neither. What we do see is continuity and human antiquity, stretching back well before six thousand years ago:

“The transition from the food-gathering phase to fully developed agriculture and pastoralism was a long process which began in the Near East around 10,500 B.C.E. and lasted several thousands of years. It was accompanied by changes in social organization and economic activity which expressed themselves in the establishment of settled communities and the eventual birth of the ancient Near Eastern civilizations. Some of the most important steps in this development can be traced in Palestine.”

 

Read more on what he has to say:

How a 10,000 year old basket (and the whole archaeology of Neolithic and Chalcolithic Palestine) falsifies the fundamentalist belief in a Seven Thousand Year Plan

Shuafat and Arad Judahite literate places

Though in the Chalcolithic period humans were still using stone tools, they also began to create high-level ceramics and for the first time, copper tools as well, plus from findings found at the old Arad showed that there might have been a high literacy rate in Judah at the end of the First Temple period

The Chalcolithic period is by some considered a bridge between antiquity and modern human communal existence.

While scholars agree that key biblical texts were written starting in the 7th century BCE, the exact date of the compilation of these books remains in question.

A profusion of literate individuals in Judah may have set the stage for the compilation of biblical works that constitute the basis of Judahite history and theology, such as the early version of the books of Deuteronomy to Second Kings, according to the researchers of the Tel Aviv University who published some new resutls from excavations in the old city of Arad.

As far back as 7,000 years ago there were settlements in Jerusalem.
A dig in the annexed east Jerusalem neighbourhood Shuafat revealed two homes with parts of walls and floors intact, as well as “pottery vessels, flint tools, and a basalt bowl” characteristic of the Chalcolithic era, the Israel Antiquities Authority said at the beginning of this year.

A section of Israel’s separation barrier in east Jerusalem divides the Palestinian Shuafat refugee camp (right) from the Jewish settlement Pisgat Zeev.
© Provided by AFP

Putting the results together we may assume that literacy by certain groups existed at all levels of the administrative, military and priestly systems of Judah and that reading and writing were not limited to a tiny elite.

This handout photo released by the Israel Antiquities Authority on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2016, shows work on uncovering of an ancient settlement in Jerusalem. Israeli archeologists have discovered a 7,000-year-old settlement in northern Jerusalem in what they say is the oldest discovery of its kind in the area. (Israel Antiquities Authority via AP

> Read more about it in:

Old Arad and Widespread literacy in Judah in 600 BCE

Arad

 +++

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Monumental Podium Discovered in City of David

English: Jerusalem Model, The city of David, the Pool of Siloam and the southern wall of Mount Moriah Deutsch: Jerusalem Modell, Davidstadt, im Vordergrund der Teich von Siloah und die Südmauer des Tempelberges Français : Maquette de Jérusalem, la Ville de David. Au premier plan, la piscine de Siloé et la muraille sud du Mont du Temple (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

      Monumental Podium Discovered in City of David

Excavations in the City of David have revealed a pyramid-shaped staircase believed to belong to a first-century podium. The discovery was made along the street that runs from the Pool of Siloam up to the Temple Mount.

From the Israel Antiquities Authority:

According to archaeologists Nahshon Szanton and Dr. Joe Uziel, who direct of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority,

"The structure exposed is unique. To date such a structure has yet to be found along the street in the numerous excavations that have taken place in Jerusalem and to the best of our knowledge outside of it. For this reason, its exact use remains enigmatic. The structure is built along the street in a place that is clearly visible from afar by passers-by making their way to the Temple. We believe the structure was a kind of monumental podium that attracted the public’s attention when walking on the city’s main street. It would be very interesting to know what was said there 2,000 years ago. Were messages announced here on behalf of the government? Perhaps news or gossip, or admonitions and street preaching – unfortunately we do not know. Bliss and Dickie, two British archaeologists who discovered a small portion of this structure about 100 years ago, mistakenly thought these were steps that led into a house that was destroyed. They would certainly be excited if they could come back today and see it completely revealed”.
We know from rabbinic sources there were “stones” that were used for public purposes during the Second Temple period. For example, one source cites the “auction block” in connection with the street: “[a master] will not set up a market stand and put them (slaves) on the auction block” (Sifra, BeHar 6). In the Mishnah and Talmud the “Stone of Claims” is mentioned as a place that existed in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period:

“Our Rabbis taught: There was a Stone of Claims in Jerusalem: whoever lost an article repaired thither, and whoever found an article did likewise. The latter stood and proclaimed, and the former submitted his identification marks and received it back. And in reference to this we learnt: Go forth and see whether the Stone of Claims is covered” (Bava Metzia 28:B).

On Thursday (3.9), at the City of David Studies of Ancient Jerusalem’s 16^th Annual Conference that will be open to the public, Nahshon Szanton and Dr. Joe Uziel will present their findings from the excavation and the different interpretations regarding the nature of the podium. According to them, “Given the lack of a clear archaeological parallel to the stepped-structure, the purpose of the staircase remains a mystery. It is certainly possible the rabbinical sources provide valuable information about structures, such as this, although for the time being there is no definitive proof.”

Information about the conference can be found on the City of David website: www.cityofdavid.org.il.

The story can also be read at the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz, and the Times of Israel.
HT: Joseph Lauer

Photo by Gil Mezuman, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

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Dead Sea scrolls at Drents Museum in Assen

English: Dead Sea Scroll - part of Isaiah Scroll (Isa 57:17 - 59:9), 1QIsa b (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Dead Sea scrolls very rarely travel outside Israel, but they represent one of the major archeological discoveries of the last century. Since they were first found around sixty years ago, they have yielded ground breaking new scholarship. Many of the interpretations and reconstructions are heavily discussed and contested. Not only do they contest previously held insights among scholars, but they also give new insights into two of the major religious traditions: Christianity and Judaism. Themes include the nature of Judaism at the time, the nature of the community of people living at Qumran, but also whether the notion of a suffering Messiah was already present before the time of Jesus.

Fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls on display at the Archeological Museum, Amman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some of the texts represent the oldest existing texts of the bible, but many are also of a much more mundane nature, representing documents that people would take anticipating a flight from violence. Because of the varied nature of the documents found, they are a window unto the life during the times when (parts of) the Middle East was under Roman and Greek rule, the revolts against these empires and the links Jewish communities had to other parts of the world.

The exhibition in Assen is the result of a cooperation between the Drents museum Assen, the Israeli Antiquities Authority and Mladen Popovic, director of the Qumran institute at the University of Groningen. It can be visited until the 5th of January 2014.

Photographic reproduction of the Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran. It contains the entire Book of Isaiah in Hebrew, apart from some small damaged parts. This manuscript was probably written by a scribe of the Jewish sect of the Essenes around the second century BC. It is therefore over a 1000 years older than the oldest Masoretic manuscripts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

During the 2nd century bce and 2nd century ce the majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls were written. The Scrolls clarify our understanding of the fundamental differences between different Jewish sects, such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. at that time the people working at reproducing the writings of the Holy Scriptures considered their work very important and looked at the older writings as Sacred Scriptures where no fault could be allowed in the reproduction.

The non-biblical texts show profound discrepancies in the ways that the different groups, different Jewish sects, such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, interpreted their Scripture and obeyed its guidelines.

The texts shown on the exhibition may shed light on philosophical disputes about issues such as the Temple and priesthood, the religious calendar and the afterlife. They also present us with the more practical disputes at the time with the focus on everyday law and observance.

The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls digital library of the Israeli Antiquities Authority has a beautiful website with background information in English, as well as high quality images of the scrolls themselves.

Popovic explaining the significance of the scrolls on the Dutch new programmeKnevel and van den Brink (Dutch, towards the end of the program)

Article in Dutch highbrow newspaper NRC on the Dead Sea scrolls

Qumran Institute of Groningen University

> Drents Museum Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition

Portion of a photographic reproduction of the Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran. It contains the entire Book of Isaiah in Hebrew, apart from some small damaged parts. This manuscript was probably written by a scribe of the Jewish sect of the Essenes around the second century BC. It is therefore over a 1000 years older than the oldest Masoretic manuscripts. This picture shows all of Isaiah 53 (and is mostly identical to the Masoretic version). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Dode Zee-rollen te bezichtigen in Drents Museum te Assen

Drents Museum in Assen stelt tot en met januari 2014 de Dode Zee-rollen voor.

De snippers papyrus zijn één van de belangrijkste archeologische vondsten voor bijbelwetenschappers en worden samen met het grafcomplex van Toetanchamon in Egypte en het Chinese Terracotta Leger in Xi’an als één van de grootste archeologische ontdekkingen van de 20ste eeuw gezien. De rollen zijn rond het begin van de jaartelling verstopt in grotten vlakbij de Dode Zee in het huidige Israël. Dankzij de vinding konden verscheiden teksten als getrouw verklaard worden en kreeg men een bevestiging van de waarheid en gelijkvormigheid van de vele Bijbelvertalingen.

De tentoonstelling wordt samengesteld in nauwe samenwerking met het Qumran Instituut in Groningen en de Israel Antiquities Authority.

Vóór de Dode Zee-rollen kwam de oudste versie van veel Hebreeuwse Bijbelteksten uit ongeveer het jaar 1000. Door de vondst uit 1947 in Qumran kon de wetenschap ineens tien eeuwen verder terug in de tijd.

De overschrijvers bekeken de teksten die zij moesten over schrijven als heilige teksten waarbij de accuraatheid van het over schrijven of dupliceren van het allergrootste belang was.

Al mogen de Dode Zee-rollen geen inzicht geven in het al dan niet waar zijn van de Bijbel, geven ze wel een bijzondere inkijk in het (religieuze) leven van de Qumran-gemeenschap, een Joodse sekte die zich onder Romeins bewind terugtrok in de woestijn.

Nederlands: Dode zee (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Door de tentoonstelling kunnen wij nu ook vandaag een reis terug in de tijd maken. Het geeft ons de mogelijkheid om de tekstfragmenten te bewonderen zoals zij zich voordeden in het jodendom in de tijdsperiode dat Jezus er toen ook rondliep, en zijn leer meer dan enkele overeenkomsten vertoont met het gedachtegoed van de Essenen in Qumran.

Te zien zijn originele Bijbelse manuscripten en objecten uit de 2de eeuw voor Chr. tot de 1ste eeuw na Chr. en alternatieve teksten die niet in de Bijbel terecht zijn gekomen.

De teksten op deze wereldberoemde rollen geven ons onschatbare informatie over de geschiedenis en cultuur uit de periode waarin belangrijke kenmerken van het jodendom en christendom gevormd werden.

Verder worden er objecten getoond uit het oude Judea, uit de nederzetting van Qumran (de plaats waar de rollen gevonden zijn) en uit Jeruzalem.

Kossmann.dejong, exhibition architects uit Amsterdam, verwierf de opdracht om de tentoonstelling vorm te geven.
De tentoonstelling zal niet alleen in het Drents Museum te zien zijn, maar reist daarna door naar hetLandesmuseum Niederösterreich in Linz.

Uitzending Drents Diep 2-7-2013
Uitzending Nieuwsuur 8-12-2011  
Onderwijsprogramma Dode Zeerollen
 

Qumeran's caves (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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