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

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Old Arad and Widespread literacy in Judah in 600 BCE

Arad

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Entry to Herodian Hilltop Palace unearthed

Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologists have discovered a massive and elaborate entryway to the Herodian Hilltop Palace at Herodium National Park in Judea, south of Jerusalem.

The newly discovered entryway is remarkable in that it features a complex system of arches on three separate levels, allowing the King and his entourage to directly enter the Palace Courtyard. Thanks to the arches, the 20-meter long and six-meter wide corridor has held up over the nearly 2,000 years since it was built at a height of 20 meters.

Archaeologists Roi Porat, Yakov Kalman and Rachel Chachy worked on the excavations that were conducted over the past year as part of The Herodium Expedition in Memory of Ehud Netzer, a project in memory of the university's famous professor who found the tomb of Herod the Great and passed away in 2010 after being wounded in a fall at the Herodium site.

According to the three archaeologists who unearthed the find, the corridor was built by King Herod (73-4 BCE) as part of his plan to turn the Herodium site into a fortress palace. However, the dig found evidence that the corridor was never actually used, as Herod apparently was aware he was nearing his death and converted the hilltop complex into a burial monument instead.

Herodian Hilltop Palace entry

The Herodium Expedition at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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What date was the Flood?

From :Image:Creation of Light.png, trimmed for use in infoboxes where a large horizontal to vertical ratio is useful. Adam Cuerden talk 22:47, 19 March 2007 (UTC) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is a difficult question because there is no archaeological or geological evidence that can be used to date the Flood, and the Bible provides very little chronological information prior to Abraham.
Abraham is usually dated at about 2000 BC. In my book, The Times: a Chronology of the Bible, I argue for 1946BC as the date of his birth. Prior to this point in time, dates become approximate due to problems in the ancient manuscripts. The genealogy given in Genesis 11 is the only information we have of the time span from the Flood to Abram. Yet it is fraught with problems. According to the Masoretic text of Genesis 11 (followed by almost all modern Bibles), there were 222 years between the Flood and the birth of Terah (see Gen 11:10-24). However, another ancient manuscript, the Samaritan Pentateuch, gives 872 years. This is because the age of a father at the birth of his first-born is usually recorded to be 100 years later in the Samaritan Pentateuch than in the Masoretic text. The Greek Septuagint is similar to the Samaritan Pentateuch but adds the generation of Cainan making the total time 1002 years. Luke’s record of Jesus’ genealogy seems to support the Septuagint by including Cainan (Lk 3:36). However, it is possible that other generations are also omitted.
Based on these numbers, the Flood could be dated anywhere between about 2200 BC and 3100 BC, or earlier if there are additional omitted generations.

Abram Journeying into the Land of Canaan (engraving by Gustave Doré from the 1865 La Sainte Bible) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Rob J Hyndman

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2,750-year-old temple near Jerusalem uncovered

During excavations at the Tel Motza archaeological site, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) west of Jerusalem, during preparations for work on a new section of Israeli's Highway 1, Archaeologists have uncovered a 2,750-year-old temple near Jerusalem, along with pottery and clay figurines that suggest the site was the home base for a ritual cult.

The excavation's directors say the Tel Motza temple must have been active in an era "prior to the religious reforms throughout the kingdom at the end of the monarchic period (at the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah), which abolished all ritual sites, concentrating ritual practices solely at the Temple in Jerusalem."

Tel Motza was thought to be associated with the ancient settlement called "Mozah" in the Book of Joshua. During previous work, archaeologists uncovered a large structure with storehouses and a number of silos. They said that structure might have served as a storage facility for Jerusalem's grain supplies.

The items discovered, near an altar of a temple, include ritual pottery vessels, fragments of chalices and figurines of animals.

Skyview / IAA

An overhead view shows the Tel Motza archaeological site.

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Blueprint for Ancient Egypt

SEPE (Survey and Excavation Projects in Egypt), directed by Dr. Gregory Mumford, is based at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It is funded by the National Science Foundation, National Geographic, NASA, and private donors. The objectives of this project are broad, but include
(1) an examination of the relations between Egypt and her neighbours, concentrating on the East Delta and Sinai,
(2) the excavation, analysis, and reconstruction of all aspects of the Late Period settlement of Tell Tebilla (East Delta), and
(3) investigating the more neglected aspects of Egypt's exploitation of and interaction with South Sinai.

Tell Tebilla is situated in the East Delta. Work on this site began with a summer reconnaissance trip in 1999, and has continued through December 1999, the summers of 2000, 2001 and 2003.
 
For more than a year, Parcak and her team scanned giant swaths of Egypt with a combination of NASA and commercial satellites, using techniques they had developed on a smaller scale and previously employed in regions in the South Sinai, East Delta and Middle Egypt. “The thing that was new for me was that I had never before been able to apply the technology over a broad area and test it on different environments and sites,” Parcak explained. “We scaled up our methodology across Egypt.”

Satellites orbiting 400 miles above earth have revealed numerous hidden ancient sites across Egypt, including 17 pyramids, 1,000 tombs and 3,100 settlements, the BBC reported in May. 

The contours of ancient Egyptian homes and other buildings appear in infrared imagery because they were constructed from mud brick, a dense material that stands out from surrounding soil. As a result, the satellite images showed both known archaeological sites that have been studied and excavated for decades and other ancient treasures ostensibly buried deep beneath the sand. 


Continue reading: Satellite Images Provide Blueprint for Ancient Egypt

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Assyriologist brother Wilfred Lambert goes to sleep

For 30 years the eminent Birmingham-born historian and archaeologist Prof Lambert (1926-2011) taught and researched at the University of Birmingham. But every single Thursday he would journey to the Department of the Near East in the British Museum, where he read and deciphered cuneiform tablets, the raw material of Assyriology.

This Christadelphian became one of the world’s top specialists in ancient eastern history and would be missed.
The funeral of internationally-respected Professor Wilfred Lambert took place at West Birmingham Christadelphian Hall, in Quinton, this week.

His skills and thoughts were chronicled in various published works, including Babylonian Wisdom Literature (1960); Atrahasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood (1969); Cuneiform Texts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, II, (2005) Babylonian Oracle Questions (2007). His latest work, Babylonian Creation Myths, is waiting for a publication date.

The British Museum, Room 55 - Cuneiform Collection, including the Epic of Gilgamesh. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Read More http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2011/12/01/birmingham-born-historian-and-archaeologist-wilfred-lambert-dies

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