Mês: maio 2012

Toda descoberta arqueológica em Jerusalém gera controvérsias. Esta também.

:: Earliest Archaeological Evidence of the Existence of the City of Bethlehem already in the First Temple Period (May 2012) – IAA

The first ancient artifact constituting tangible evidence of the existence of the city of Bethlehem, which is mentioned in the Bible, was recently discovered in Jerusalem.

A bulla measuring c. 1.5 cm was found during the sifting of soil removed from archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is carrying out in the City of David. The sifting is underwritten by the ‘Ir David Foundation’ in a project being conducted in the Emek Tzurim National Park.

A bulla is a piece of clay that was used for sealing a document or object. The bulla was impressed with the seal of the person who sent the document or object, and its integrity was evidence the document or object was not opened by anyone unauthorized to do so.

Three lines of ancient Hebrew script appear on the bulla:
בשבעת Bishv’at
בת לחם Bat Lechem
[למל]ך [Lemel]ekh

According to Eli Shukron, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “it seems that in the seventh year of the reign of a king (it is unclear if the king referred to here is Hezekiah, Manasseh or Josiah), a shipment was dispatched from Bethlehem to the king in Jerusalem. The bulla we found belongs to the group of “fiscal” bullae – administrative bullae used to seal tax shipments remitted to the taxation system of the Kingdom of Judah in the late eighth and seventh centuries BCE. The tax could have been paid in the form of silver or agricultural produce such as wine or wheat”. Shukron emphasizes,” this is the first time the name Bethlehem appears outside the Bible, in an inscription from the First Temple period, which proves that Bethlehem was indeed a city in the Kingdom of Judah, and possibly also in earlier periods”.

In the Bible Bethlehem is first mentioned in the verse “in Ephrath, which is Bethlehem”, and it was on the way there that Rachel died and it is where she was buried (Genesis 35:19; 48:7). The descendants of Judah settled there, among them the family of Boaz (Book of Ruth).

 

More on the so-called ‘Bethlehem’ Bulla – George Athas: 25/05/2012

Since the original announcement by the Israel Antiquities Authority, there has been a flurry of discussion about the new bulla which, it is claimed, refers to Bethlehem. In my previous blog article, I mentioned that the photograph accompanying the announcement didn’t seem to allow for a reference to Bethlehem. At the same time, however, I mentioned that photographs of inscriptions like these can distort critical features. Hence, I called for some extra eyes to take a look at the bulla and let us know what they see.

Today comes news (via an email from Joseph Lauer) that Shmuel Ahituv (Ben Gurion University) inspected the bulla and in the second register he reads the following letters:

[…]יתלח[…]

According to Ahituv, the first fragmentary letter is not a ב (b), as originally reported by Eli Shukron, but a י (y). Furthermore, he claims that though they are slight there are traces of a left vertical stroke on the final extant letter, yielded a ח (ḥ) rather than ה (h). Accordingly, he concludes that the second register does indeed refer to Bethlehem (ביתלחם).

Ahituv is a trusty epigrapher. He’s the author of the Carta Handbook, Echoes from the Past: Hebrew and Cognate Inscriptions from the Biblical Period, and he knows his stuff. It’s good to see that we have an actual epigrapher looking at the bulla. One wonders why his opinion was not included prominently in the IAA’s original announcement. I’m more than happy to retract my preliminary conclusion on the bulla, but before doing so, I’d like to hear from one or two other epigraphers who can inspect the bulla itself. Chris Rollston, you’re up!

This raises the issue of the way epigraphic finds are announced. It would seem sound practice to employ two independent epigraphers and have their opinions accompany any such announcement. This is especially vital when the published photograph seems to speak against the announcement.

 

Drawing of the ‘Bethlehem’ Bulla – George Athas: 29/05/2012

There is a facsimile drawing of the so-called ‘Bethlehem’ bulla now available. It has been produced by Pnina Arad.

According to the drawing, the first register contains a triangular-shaped ʿayin (ע) and the lower fragment of a taw (ת), yielding the word בשבעת (bšbʿt), meaning ‘in the seventh (year)’. The second register has the leftmost portions of a yodh (י) as the first extant letter. The fourth visible letter has been drawn as a ḥeth (ח), though apparently the vertical stroke in the top left has been broken off. The proposed reading is ביתלחם (bytlḥm), referring to the toponym Bethlehem. The third register has only one extant letter, but on the basis of other fiscal bullae, has been reconstructed as למלך (lmlk), meaning ‘for the king’.

So it looks like the bulla probably does refer to Bethlehem after all. Nevertheless, a personal inspection by another epigrapher (in addition to Shmuel Ahituv) would still be good to double-check.

Israelenses descobrem joias de 3.000 anos escondidas em cerâmica

Por volta do ano 1100 a.C., a dona de uma requintada coleção de joias resolveu escondê-las numa vasilha de cerâmica, enrolando brincos e anéis de ouro em pedaços de tecido. Não se sabe por que ela fez isso, mas arqueólogos israelenses acabam de trazer esse tesouro à tona. O achado ocorreu em Megido, antiga cidade do norte de Israel que é uma das mais estudadas recentemente. Segundo os especialistas da Universidade de Tel Aviv, liderados por Israel Finkelstein e David Ussishkin, tanto a abundância de ouro quanto a presença de certas pedras semipreciosas entre os artefatos sugerem influência cultural e econômica do Egito sobre os moradores da cidade. Faz sentido quando se considera o período em que se encaixam os achados. Trata-se de uma época nebulosa, o início da Idade do Ferro, quando as tribos que passariam a ser conhecidas como israelitas (ancestrais dos atuais judeus) ainda não tinham grandes assentamentos. Por outro lado, algumas antigas cidades-Estado, como a própria Megido, ainda resistiam, mantendo seus elos com os egípcios, antigos senhores da Palestina que, no século anterior, tinham perdido seu domínio por causa de invasores bárbaros. Não se sabe exatamente quando, mas Megido acabou sendo incorporada ao reino de Israel. A cidade era importante por estar localizada numa rota-chave entre a Síria e o Egito, o que explica a riqueza dos achados. Esse papel estratégico também fomentou batalhas, como a que levou à morte do rei israelita Josias em 609 a.C. Em comunicado, Finkelstein e seus colegas afirmam que seu próximo passo é analisar quimicamente as joias, o que trará dados mais claros sobre o seu local de origem.

Fonte: Reinaldo José Lopes: Folha.com 23/05/2012

 

A Unique Hoard Was Found At Tel Megiddo

The Megiddo Expedition have recently discovered a collection of gold, silver and bronze jewelry, wrapped in fabric, hidden in a vessel at Tel Megiddo. The vessel was found in a domestic context that was dated to the Iron Age I (around 1100 B.C.). This vessel was actually excavated during the 2010 season, but remained uncleaned while awaiting for a molecular analysis of it’s content (soil). When it was finally emptied during the summer of 2011, the pieces of jewelry appeared. Both the textile and the jewelry itself were sent to analysis that should tell us more about the origins of this exceptional collection.

Veja fotos no site The Megiddo Expedition.

Archeologists at Megiddo unearth valuable jewels

The newly discovered jewels date to the dawn of the Iron Age, when a Canaanite city occupied the site just before it was subsumed into the Kingdom of Israel. The dig, in progress for nearly two decades, is co-directed by Tel Aviv University’s David Ussishkin and Israel Finkelstein, with George Washington University’s Eric H. Cline of George as associate director. The clay vessel in which the jewels were found was excavated in 2010. In July the vessel was emptied, and experts were stunned to find what they described as some of the most valuable jewels ever unearthed from the biblical period. A Tel Aviv University spokesman said the find was announced only this week because it took the experts months to analyze and date the jewels. The Megiddo cache is notable for its abundance of gold jewels, including nine large earrings and a ring seal. It also includes more than a thousand small beads of gold, silver and carnelian – a semiprecious stone of orange-to-amber hue. All of the artifacts are in good condition.

Leia a notícia completa em The Jerusalem Post: 21/05/2012

Leia Mais:
Gold Jewelry Discovered at Megiddo – Todd Bolen: BiblePlaces Blog – May 22, 2012