New archaeological evidence is supporting Old Testament descriptions of ancient Jerusalem. [Thx Saturn]

An Israeli archaeologist said Monday that ancient fortifications recently excavated in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon and support the biblical narrative about the era.

If the age of the wall is correct, the finding would be an indication that Jerusalem was home to a strong central government that had the resources and manpower needed to build massive fortifications in the 10th century B.C.

That’s a key point of dispute among scholars, because it would match the Bible’s account that the Hebrew kings David and Solomon ruled from Jerusalem around that time.

While some Holy Land archaeologists support that version of history – including the archaeologist behind the dig, Eilat Mazar – others posit that David’s monarchy was largely mythical and that there was no strong government to speak of in that era.

[Full story] [Discuss here]

An ancient plaque featuring an Arabic inscription is offering insight into Jerusalem’s history under Muslim rule.

A home renovation in Jerusalem’s Old City has yielded a rare Arabic inscription offering insight into the city’s history under Muslim rule, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday.

The fragment of a 1,100-year-old plaque is thought to have been made by an army veteran to express his thanks for a land grant from the Caliph al-Muqtadir, whom the inscription calls “Emir of the Faithful.”

Dating from a time when Jerusalem was ruled from Baghdad by the Abbasid empire, the plaque shows how rulers rewarded their troops and ensured their loyalty, archaeologists said.

[Full story]

A section of a stone road, dating back 1,500 years, has been unearthed in Jerusalem.

The 19-foot (5.8-meter) section of street passes from the west into the center of Jerusalem’s Old City, coming to a stop at a large cistern that supplied water to the city’s residents. Pottery, coins and bronze weights used to measure precious metals from Byzantine times were also found at the site.

The discovery conforms to the layout of the city depicted in a mosaic map discovered earlier in a Jordanian church, said excavation director Ofer Sion of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The map has long been used as a guide to understanding the shape of the city during the 4th through 6th centuries and the discovery of the street proves the map is correct.

“This street was the center during the most (commercially) successful period in the history of (ancient) Jerusalem,” he said. “It is wonderful that (today’s street) actually preserved the route of the noisy street from 1,500 years ago.”

Working from the historic map, archaeologists three months ago uncovered covered the section of street 14 feet (4.3 meters) below the current street level.

[Full story]

Time has an interesting article discussing how politics and archaeology mesh (not well) in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem syndrome is a psychological disorder in which a visit to the holy city triggers delusional and obsessive religious fantasies. In its extreme variety, people wander the lanes of the Old City believing they are biblical characters; John the Baptist, say, or a brawny Samson, sprung back to life.

Archaeologists in the Holy Land like to joke that their profession is vulnerable to a milder form of the syndrome. When scientists find a cracked, oversize skull in the Valley of Elah, it can be hard to resist the thought that it might have belonged to Goliath, or to imagine, while excavating the cellars of a Byzantine church, that the discovery of a few wooden splinters might be part of the cross on which Christ died. This milder malady is nothing new. In the mid-19th century, British explorers who came to Jerusalem with a shovel in one hand and a Bible in the other used the holy book as a sort of treasure map in the search for proof of Christianity’s origins. (See a video of archaeology digging up controversy in Jerusalem.)

Now an extreme case of the willful jumbling of science and faith is threatening Jerusalem’s precarious spiritual balance. It could not come at a worse time: Israeli-Arab peace talks have stalled; Israel has a hawkish government disinclined to compromise; and radical Islamist group Hamas remains powerful among Palestinians. Any tilt in Jerusalem’s religious equilibrium could create a wave of unrest spreading far beyond the city’s ramparts. Eric Meyers, who teaches Jewish studies and archaeology at Duke University, says: “Right now, Jerusalem is a tinderbox. “

[Full story]

A first-century tomb found near the Old City in Jerusalem contains the first known case of leprosy. The man was buried in a shroud made up of a simple two-way weave, which is nothing like the complex weave of the Turin shroud, making it further evidence that it is a medieval fake.

The tomb is very unusual because it is clear that this man, whose remains are dated by radiocarbon methods to 1 CE to 50 CE, did not receive a subsequent burial. Secondary burials were common practice at the time, when the bones were removed after a year and placed in an ossuary (a bone box made of stone). In this case, however, the entrance to this part of the tomb was completely sealed with plaster. Spigelman believes this is because the man had suffered from leprosy and died of tuberculosis, as DNA of both diseases was found in his bones.

Historically, disfiguring diseases such as leprosy led to the sufferer being ostracized from their community. However, a number of indications – the location and size of the tomb, the type of textiles used as shroud wrappings, and the clean state of the hair – suggest that the shrouded individual was a fairly affluent member of Jerusalem society, and that tuberculosis and leprosy may have crossed social boundaries at that time.

This is also the first time fragments of a burial shroud have been found from the time of Jesus in Jerusalem. The shroud is very different to that of the Turin Shroud, until now assumed to be the one that was used to wrap the body of Jesus after his crucifixion. Unlike the complex weave of the Turin Shroud, this is made up of a simple two-way weave, as textile historian Dr. Orit Shamir was able to demonstrate.

[Full story] [Photo source]