arqueologia

Você se lembra da polêmica dos códices de chumbo da Jordânia, que alguns alegaram ser do começo do cristianismo? Isto foi em 2011.

Leia, primeiro, para recordar:

:: Códices de chumbo do começo do cristianismo? – Observatório Bíblico: 01/04/2011

:: Vídeo sobre os falsos códices de chumbo – Observatório Bíblico: 04/09/2011 [clique também nos links do “Leia Mais” no final do post]

Agora, o assunto, que não morreu, é denunciado em artigo de Jim West. O artigo, publicado por ele em The Bible and Interpretation, neste mês, é:

The Tale of the Lead Codices from Jordan: A Brief History [O caso dos códices de chumbo da Jordânia: uma breve história] – By Jim West: The Bible and Interpretation – January 2014

Até porque o texto denunciado por Jim West demoniza os biblioblogueiros que negaram a autenticidade dos códices de chumbo…

Ele escreve, entre outras coisas:
One would imagine, then, that with the bulk of evidence against those claiming the codices are authentic, that the matter would have died out several years back. Unfortunately, that is not the case at all. Supporters of the authenticity of the artifacts continue to portray them as valuable pieces of history. But they haven’t stopped there. They’ve also taken to demonizing all who would dare to call into question the ‘artifacts’. Even as recently as a few weeks, statements were made which demonstrate the lengths to which certain people will go to protect their investment. Claire Palmer, in a lengthy post [The Blogging Truth] at a website called the ‘International Times’, wrote…

Como disse certa vez Larry Hurtado, alguns temas parecem ter características de zumbis, pois não importa quantas vezes você os mate, eles sempre voltam…

I call these “zombie claims”:  No matter how often you kill ‘em off with the facts, they come back again, typically after sufficient years have passed that the news media will have forgotten the previous appearance(s) (and the memory of today’s news media is impressively short). Indeed, in today’s world of internet and e-communication, such zombie claims get a new life rather quickly, and get buzzed around the world almost overnight.

Robert Deutsch, um dos mais importantes negociantes de antiguidades em Israel, foi absolvido, em março de 2012, de seis acusações de falsificação de vários artefatos arqueológicos. Agora, ele move uma ação contra a IAA – Autoridade Israelense de Antiguidades – exigindo o pagamento de mais de 3 milhões de dólares por danos…

Você se lembra do caso do Ossuário de Tiago e da Inscrição de Joás? De Oded Golan?

E seria bom ler também Supreme Court says Israel cannot hold Jehoash Tablet but challenges antiquities trade.

Agora, em The Bible and Interpretation, o artigo sobre a ação movida por Robert Deutsch contra a IAA:

Deutsch Files $3 Million Suit Against Israel Antiquities Authority – By Matthew Kalman – December 2013

Que começa assim:
Nearly two years after the spectacular collapse of the Jerusalem archaeology forgery trial and his sweeping acquittal on all charges, Robert Deutsch, proprietor of the Archaeological Center in Old Jaffa, has filed suit demanding more than $3 million in damages from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Jerusalem District Attorney and individual officials behind the 10-year prosecution. Deutsch, one of the most prominent antiquities dealers in Israel, was acquitted in March 2012 on all six charges against him after being accused of “forgery with the intention of aggravated fraud” of various artifacts together with Tel Aviv antiquities collector Oded Golan and others.


Deutsch filed suit on 28 November in the Tel Aviv District Court against the Israel Antiquities Authority, its director Shuka Dorfman, the head of its anti-theft unit Amir Ganor, the Jerusalem District Attorney and Assistant District Attorney Dan Bahat who led the prosecution. He is seeking 12 million shekels ($3.4 million) in damages – an astronomical sum for Israel. In an interview, Deutsch said the multi-million-dollar damages demanded were “a drop in the ocean” compared to the wreckage wrought to his reputation and business by the affair. Deutsch was never accused of any involvement with the alleged forgery of either the James Ossuary or Jehoash Tablet, but when those items propelled the sprawling, 18-count indictment sheet into the headlines, as the main co-defendant his name was yoked to the allegations against Golan.

Acreditamos que uma onda de terremotos ao longo de 50 anos, de cerca de 1225 a 1175 a.C., contribuiu substancialmente para o colapso da civilização da Idade do Bronze Recente no Mar Egeu e no Mediterrâneo Oriental. Cerca de 50 locais da Idade do Bronze Recente nesta região mostram evidências de destruição catastrófica, de acordo com Robert Drews, da Universidade Vanderbilt. Esses locais devastados da Idade do Bronze Recente correspondem muito de perto aos locais atingidos por terremotos devastadores documentados no século passado. Esses locais, ao que parece, foram sujeitos a terremotos ao longo da história – e provavelmente muito antes disso (Nur e Cline).

Uma queda acentuada nas chuvas pode ter levado ao colapso de várias civilizações do leste do Mediterrâneo, incluindo a Grécia antiga, cerca de 3.200 anos atrás. A fome e o conflito resultantes podem ajudar a explicar por que toda a cultura hitita, pessoas que possuíam carros de combate e que governavam a maior parte da região da Anatólia, desapareceram do planeta, de acordo com um estudo publicado na revista PLOS ONE (Archaeology Briefs).

 

We believe that an earthquake storm lasting 50 years, from about 1225 to 1175 B.C., substantially contributed to the collapse of Late Bronze Age civilization in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. Nearly 50 Late Bronze Age sites in this region show evidence of catastrophic destruction, according to Robert Drews of Vanderbilt University. These devastated Late Bronze Age sites correspond very closely to sites struck by damaging earthquakes documented over the last century. These sites, it seems, have been earthquake-prone throughout history—and probably long before that (Nur and Cline).

A sharp drop in rainfall may have led to the collapse of several eastern Mediterranean civilizations, including ancient Greece, around 3,200 years ago. The resulting famine and conflict may help explain why the entire Hittite culture, chariot-riding people who ruled most of the region of Anatolia, vanished from the planet, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE (Archaeology Briefs).

Para os interessados no debate sobre as origens de Israel, este post de James F. McGrath pode ser proveitoso:

Drought, Earthquake, and the Emergence of Israel [Seca, terremoto e o surgimento de Israel] – By James F. McGrath: Exploring Our Matrix – August 22, 2013.

O trabalho de campo em Khirbet Qeiyafa ocorreu entre 2007 e 2013. Agora, a expedição se concentra na análise dos resultados e na elaboração dos relatórios finais da escavação. Um novo projeto de campo está começando em Tel Lachish, fruto da cooperação entre o Instituto de Arqueologia da Universidade Hebraica de Jerusalém e o Institute of Archaeology of Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, TN, USA.

Durante os últimos 30 anos, o relato bíblico sobre o estabelecimento de um reino no Judá bíblico tem sido muito debatido. Foram Davi e Salomão governantes históricos de uma sociedade urbana no início do século X a.C., ou este nível de desenvolvimento social foi alcançado somente no final do século VIII a.C., 300 anos mais tarde? Escavações recentes em Khirbet Qeiyafa indicam uma cidade fortificada bem planejada em Judá, aí pelo final do século XI, início do século X a.C. Os novos dados têm profundas implicações para os estudos bíblicos e para a arqueologia e a história de Israel.

The fieldwork lasted from 2007 to 2013. Now the expedition concentrates on the analysis of the finds and writing the final excavation reports. A new field project is starting at Tel Lachish, cooperation between the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Institute of Archaeology of Southern Adventist University. 


During the past 30 years, the biblical narrative relating to the establishment of a kingdom in Biblical Judah has been much debated. Were David and Solomon historical rulers of an urbanized state-level society in the early 10th century BC, or was this level of social development reached only at the end of the 8th century BC, 300 years later? Recent excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, the first early Judean city to be dated by 14C, clearly indicate a well planned fortified city in Judah as early as the late 11th-early 10th centuries BC. This new data has far reaching implication for archaeology, history and biblical studies.

Do próprio. É a alegação do Professor Yosef Garfinkel, da Universidade Hebraica de Jerusalém.

Mas…

Confira sobre isso:

:: Claim: Palace of David Discovered in the Foothills of Judah – Todd Bolen: BiblePlaces.com Blog – July 18, 2013
Professor Yosef Garfinkel has announced the discovery of two royal public buildings in his excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa. According to the press release, one is the palace of David and the other was the king’s storehouse.

:: Peter van der Veen on the Methodological Problems of Calling the Qeiyafa Discovery ‘David’s Palace’  – Jim West: Zwinglius Redivivus – July 18, 2013
Even though I would be thrilled to have a palace of king David at Khirbet Qeijafa, how can we jump so quickly to our conclusions as Yossi Garfinkel does? 


:: Explorator 16:13-14, de 21.07.2013, traz dezenas de links sobre o assunto e comenta: Big news this week was obviously the claim that King David’s palace had been discovered at Khirbet Qeiyafa (how close the association of the palace to David seems to vary from publication to publication), although by the end of the week we were beginning to (rightly) see some skepticism about the claims.

A New Ceramic Inscription from Jerusalem (10th century BC?) – George Athas: With Meagre Powers 10/07/2013

A new inscription purportedly dating to the 10th century BC has been discovered in excavations at Jerusalem. The inscription was inscribed on the shoulder of a large ceramic pithos jar that was turned up in Eilat Mazar’s excavation in the ‘City of David’ area (just south of the Old City walls). The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has issued a statement about the find, which I copy below at the end of this blog post (see blue section). Two photos accompanied the statement, and I have included them here in this blog post, too (…) To me the script certainly looks very old. I’m not sure I’d label it ‘Proto-Canaanite’, though. On first glance I would say tenth century BC seems about right, with the script bearing some resemblance to Phoenician. This is, of course, a preliminary estimate, because although there is a hi-res photo of the inscription here, I’d need to see the pottery up close in person to make a more definitive evaluation.

The 10th Century BCE Jerusalem Inscription – Jim West: Zwinglius Redivivus 10/07/2013

Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar says she has unearthed the earliest alphabetical written text ever uncovered in the city, the university announced Wednesday. The inscription is engraved on a large pithos, a neckless ceramic jar found with six others at the Ophel excavation site below the southern wall of the Temple Mount. According to Dr. Mazar, the inscription, in the Canaanite language, is the only one of its kind discovered in Jerusalem and could be an important addition to the city’s history.The inscription is engraved in a proto-Canaanite / early Canaanite script of the eleventh-to-tenth centuries BCE, which pre-dates the Israelite rule and the prevalence of Hebrew script. Reading from left to right, the text contains a combination of letters approximately 2.5 cm tall, which translate to m, q, p, h,n, (possibly) l, and n. Since this combination of letters has no meaning in known west-Semitic languages, the inscription’s meaning is unknown.  Dated to the 10th century BCE, the artifact predates by 250 the earliest known Hebrew inscription from Jerusalem, which is from the period of King Hezekiah at the end of the 8th century BCE.

The Decipherment of the New ‘Incised Jerusalem Pithos’ – Christopher Rollston: Rollston Epigraphy – Ancient Inscriptions from the Levantine World 11/07/2013

This inscription is written in the Early Alphabetic script. The inscription is written dextrograde. I am most comfortable with a date in the 11th century BCE. The extant lexeme on this inscribed pithos is arguably the word “pot.” [= pote, vaso, panela]  The word “pot” may have been followed by a personal name, such as “Ner” or (perhaps) a commodity such as “nard.” I prefer the assumption that it is a personal name. In terms of the language of this inscription, the language is certainly Northwest Semitic, and I would suggest that it is methodologically safest to posit that the language is Canaanite (as the script is Early Alphabetic, that is, Proto-Canaanite). However, I think that someone could propose that the language is Phoenician. In fact, I also believe that it is linguistically possible (but perhaps slightly more difficult) to argue that the language is Old Hebrew. Ultimately, however, as is often the case, there is no diagnostic element present which allows us to draw a firm conclusion. For this reason, the matter of the precise dialect of Northwest Semitic must be left open for this inscription, but my belief is that “Canaanite” is the best way to refer to the language of this incised pithos. Finally, I should like to conclude by stating that I believe this is a nice inscription, important in various ways. Of course, I personally would be very disinclined to “build a kingdom upon this potsherd.” But I would wish to state that this is an inscription that fits nicely into, and augments, the totality of our epigraphic evidence for the early Iron Age [os sublinhados são meus].

Uma animada discussão de biblistas sobre esta inscrição pré-israelita, ainda não decifrada, está em andamento na lista Biblical Studies.

E um alerta: qualquer artefato arqueológico encontrado em Jerusalém costuma vir embrulhado em muitos interesses políticos e, em consequência, recheado de informações contraditórias na mídia não especializada e, o que é pior, até na mídia especializada. Sobre isto, confira aqui e aqui.

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

Experimente visitar Digital Giza. The Giza Project at Harvard University.

The Giza Project gives you access to the largest collection of information, media, and research materials ever assembled about the Pyramids and related sites on Egypt’s Giza Plateau.

The Giza Project is a non-profit international initiative based at Harvard University. Through digital archaeology, we assemble, curate, and present archaeological records about one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, the Giza Pyramids and surrounding cemeteries and settlements. The Project manages arguably the world’s largest digital archive of Giza material. We use this data to build immersive 3D model reconstructions and other media as we develop powerful new teaching technologies and research tools.

Digital Giza, is the Project’s online digital repository of all archaeological documentation from multiple institutions, presented free to all, alongside Giza 3D, a virtual environment based on some of that documentation. Anyone can easily access real, detailed information about Giza and its archaeological history while also “experiencing” some of it as well!

The Giza Project opened at Harvard in 2011.

 

 

 

 

O que é Khirbet Qeiyafa? Confira aqui e aqui.

Sobre as últimas descobertas em Khirbet Qeiyafa, confira um panorama no post Khirbet Qeiyafa’s Model Shrines and the Accuracy of the Bible, publicado hoje por James F. McGrath em seu biblioblog Exploring Our Matrix.