Four-meter-tall model of Herod's tomb. Photo: Israel Nature & Parks Authority (via Ferrel Jenkins)

Today’s Haaretz newspaper carries an article about changes afoot at the Herodion (or “Herodium”, as I prefer) national park site in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. One change – already in place – is a 4-meter-high model of the mausoleum of Herod the Great installed on-site just last week (see photo).

The other change, which is in the planning stages and has just been publicly announced, is the actual focus of the story:  a proposed full-scale replica of this structure, rendered in lightweight plastic, which would apparently serve as a walk-in interpretive visitors’ center. It should be no surprise that the announced plan has immediately become the source of much controversy. For one thing, such things have simply never been done before on national park archaeological sites.

Below, I have reproduced the full text of the story as it appeared in Haaretz’ print edition. The story as it appeared in Haaretz’ on-line edition is HERE. The print edition version is found on-line HERE. (I have found there are many times differences, sometimes significant, between the two!)

A few comments: One, I cannot help thinking that the proposed structure is, at least in part, a monument to the long-time excavator of Herodium, Israeli archaeologist Ehud Netzer, who died in a tragic accident on-site a couple of years ago. (Really, it was like something out of a book: A makeshift railing gave way and Netzer fell about 20 feet, practically on top of the tomb of Herod — which he had spent much of his professional life in search of!). It’s not that Netzer is not worthy of such an honor — he certainly is. It’s worth noting, though, that the design of the replica — I’m assuming it would essentially be a large version of the present model — is Ehud Netzer’s. Netzer, trained as an architect, loved doing these kinds of reconstructions, but most often they are based on found bits and pieces, in this case the very lowest part of the podium, found intact (and in pristine condition), plus a handful of other fragmentary architectural elements. Yes, add to this Netzer’s considerable knowledge of Herodian period architecture and of known parallels in the ancient world. Taken together, his reconstruction could be very close, it could be spot-on, or…?? Who knows? And, perhaps it goes without saying, not all experts agree with his identification, that this is in fact Herod’s tomb (I myself think there’s a very strong case that it is.)

One other thought: Note who is pushing this highly questionable project: It is the Israel Nature and Parks Authority in league with the Gush Etzion Regional Council. The players here: Gush Etzion is the large and ever-expanding bloc of Jewish settlements (all illegal under international law) located between Bethlehem and Hebron, including the settlements near the Herodium. The Council therefore has, up front, an agenda to promote local tourism. Enter the newly-appointed head of the Parks Authority — who has trumpeted, to all who questioned it, the complete impartiality and transparency with which he would operate — one Shaul Goldstein. Goldstein is a settler, a resident of Gush Etzion, and until recently the head of the above-mentioned Regional Council (he is still shown as “mayor” on the Council web-site). It turns out he began promoting this plan in that former role, going so far as to secure funding from public institutions, and he also served as chairman of the Herodium site steering committee. Surprised? I’m not. It just goes to show how really cozy and enmeshed things get vis-a-vis Israel’s settler movement on the one hand and public life and public institutions on the other. Note too that Goldstein also wants to fill the ancient pool at the foot of Herodium with water, to help illustrate Herod’s grandiose, lavish lifestyle. To do so, I presume he would suck ever more water out of the local aquifers, from beneath the feet of the Palestinians — who most often are denied permission to dig a well or even a cistern on their own property (my commentary).

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Archaeologists slam plan to rebuild Herod’s tomb

The plan, promoted by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Gush Etzion Regional Council, includes rebuilding the tomb of Herod the Great in West Bank.

By Nir Hasson 

A plan to rebuild King Herod’s tomb at Herodion, southeast of Jerusalem, is sparking objections from leading archaeologists. The plan is being promoted by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Gush Etzion Regional Council, and focuses on reconstructing the original grand mausoleum out of lightweight plastics and turning it into a visitors center.

 This would be an unusual step never undertaken before at any excavation site in Israel, whose managers usually make do with installing miniature models of the historic buildings or partially recreating the sites using original materials found there.

 The tomb was uncovered some five years ago by the archaeologist Ehud Netzer, who died as the result of a fall at the site in October 2010. Before his death, Netzer was able to recreate the grand structure, which soared to a height of 25 meters and had a cone-shaped roof. A four-meter tall model of the structure was built at a cost of NIS 50,000 and installed at the site last week.

 ”It’s crazy. Archaeology is not Disneyland,” said a senior archeologist who chose to remain anonymous. “You don’t take an archaeological site and make a joke out of it.”

Prof. Haim Goldfus, head of the archaeology department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, added: “Herodion is impressive in its own right, and the new structure will just distract attention away from the real thing. A public committee should be formed to decide on such a move.”

Prof. Gideon Foerster, who managed the excavations at Herodion together with Netzer, noted that the drafting of the tomb model based on the findings has yet to be completed. Beyond that, other archeologists doubted the definitive identification of the tomb’s location.

However Shaul Goldstein, recently appointed head of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, is trying to persuade archaeologists that reconstructing the building in its original dimensions will not damage the existing findings. Goldstein started pushing the project while he was still head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. He also served as chairman of the Herodion site steering committee, and managed to secure funding for the project from the Ministry of Tourism and the National Heritage Site program.

Goldstein rejected outright the criticisms voiced by the archaeologists. “Disneyland attracts 50,000 people every day,” he said. “I oppose the distortion of history, but support an approach where it is possible to recreate the site and leave an opening for the imagination. I also propose filling the pool beneath Herodion with water, so that it will be possible to understand Herod’s wealth and the power of the period.”

King Herod ruled the Kingdom of Judah during the first century BCE and died in 4 CE. Among other things, he is credited with refurbishing the Second Temple and the construction of Caesarea and Masada.

Goldstein added that he visited the Shivta National Park near Nitzana and came away with a negative impression of the ruins at this archaeological site. “It takes a lot of imagination to understand what happened at the site. After all, it is possible to show what a two-story building looked like in the ancient world. When you have a pile of stones, the visitor doesn’t understand what is there. Caesarea and Beit She’an are attractive sites because they are well preserved.”

Redeemer Lutheran Church, viewed from the SE. The domes of the Holy Sepulchre appear in the background.

This post looks both back and forward: back to a visit I made to the site in August 2011 and forward to the anticipated opening to visitors of excavated areas under the church, plus a museum area, in the fall of 2012. If you didn’t know there were ancient remains under the church, don’t feel bad: For many, many years they have been viewable only by special request.  At the same time, one might surmise that beneath any sizeable property within the Old City of Jerusalem might lie things of interest from antiquity, and the Redeemer Church is no exception.

My recent visit to the place was a public tour offered in conjunction with an August 18-19, 2011 seminar sponsored by the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Jerusalem (GPIA) along with the Austrian Hospice. The occasion was a focus on the German theologian and orientalist Gustaf Dalman (1855-1941): the 70th anniversary of his death plus the launch of an international project “Gustaf Dalman’s Arbeit und Sitte in Palestina in Hebrew. A Commentary and translation”. (By the way, I understand Todd Bolen of BiblePlaces.com likewise has a Dalman project in the works, a first-ever translation of the scholar’s works into English.)

Dalman & students near Jericho, 1908

After the founding of the GPIA in 1900, Dalman – then Professor of Old Testament and Judaic Studies at the University of Leipzig – was appointed its first director in 1902 and served in that post until 1917 when, as a German national, his work in the Holy Land was cut short by the arrival of the British; back in Germany, he became once again a professor of Old Testament, until his death at age 85. Besides developing the program of the Jerusalem Institute, Dalman’s years of personal fieldwork in Palestine had  actually focused on everyday peasant life, which was even then fast disappearing. Thus, one of his greatest contributions was the production of wonderfully detailed ethnographic studies, not only as pure documentation but, as he intended them, a window into life in the biblical world.

Since 1982 the GPIA in Jerusalem has been housed on the Auguste-Victoria compound on the Mount of Olives; from 1967 there has been a GPIA institute in Amman as well. Our tour beneath the Redeemer Church was conducted by the current director of the GPIA, Dr. Dieter Vieweger.

A bit of background: The Lutheran Redeemer Church lies in the heart of the Old City’s Christian Quarter, a ‘stone’s throw’ (to the southeast) from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is a reflection, in part, of the intense interest that European nations began taking in the Holy Land in the 19th century — the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, and their desire to ‘stake their claim’ as it were through the building of churches, schools, hospitals and other such institutions. The property, the entire eastern half of the Muristan quarter, was obtained by the Prussian royal family in 1869. A church was then planned and designed, but not realized for several years. It was 1898 when the Redeemer Church, still under construction at the time, was officially dedicated by Kaiser Wilhelm II during his famous state visit and pilgrimage. The church and the adjoining historic structures underwent a complete renovation in the 1970s.

 The Muristan quarter — the name is from the Persian word for “hospital” — was for many centuries a center for the care of Christian pilgrims, perhaps as early as the time of Charlemagne. By the 11th and 12th centuries, first under the administration of the merchants of Amalfi in Italy assisted by Benedictine monks, and later that of the Crusader Knights of St. John — the Hospitallers, the Muristan had become a bustling place with at least three churches and related hospice and hospital facilities, some quite large.

The northeast corner of the Muristan was anchored by a large church known as St. Mary of the Latins. First built ca. 1070  and then rebuilt by the Crusaders about 1150, it became the monastic church of the Hospitallers. The rest of the order’s compound — cloister, dormitories and refectory — stretched to the south of the church, together constituting the Hospitaller’s headquarters in the Holy Land until the loss of Jerusalem in 1187. In the post-Crusader period the church slowly fell into ruin, but an 1865 photograph shows some of its walls and apses still standing to a considerable height. It was this church, the medieval St. Mary of the Latins, that the Prussians (later Germans) sought to recreate with the building of the Redeemer Church. The latter was indeed built on exactly the same spot, but with new foundations going down to bedrock (11 meters beneath the Crusader church) and its floor level standing 2 meters higher than the medieval floor. Apparently none of the upper parts of the medieval church were preserved in the new construction, except that the deep northern portal, with the numerous decorative carvings gracing its facade, were kept and incorporated into the new structure.

In preparing the site for the Redeemer Church in the 1890s, the workers discovered an ancient wall running on an east-west line, now known to be 1.6 meters thick and surviving to a height of several meters. This, indeed, is one of the highlights of the excavated area now being prepared for visitor access. At the time, the German explorer and architect Conrad Schick, among others, took this to be a section of the so-called Second Wall of Josephus (for a discussion of Josephus’ three walls, see my article on the Holy Sepulchre, pp. 3-5). The importance of this, if it were true, lay in the possibility of proving conclusively the accuracy of the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the true place of Golgotha and the tomb of the resurrection, since John 19 specifies that Jesus was crucified “near [i.e., outside] the city”. In any event, the Second Wall identification — which seemed to find support in a presumed gate structure found in the nearby Russian excavations — was firmly embraced, and the ancient masonry came to be viewed as a sort of relic pointing to the Lord’s Passion. Thus it is not surprising that when the new church’s foundation stone was installed in 1893, it was placed directly atop this wall.

After the building of the Redeemer Church, new excavations were not undertaken until Ute Wagner-Lux and Karel Vriezen conducted a project from 1970 to 1974. Without disturbing the present floor, they removed all the modern fill beneath it, as well as the remaining medieval floor, in order to further explore what was below. Among other things, a deep sounding was made along the southern face of the ancient wall, going all the way down to bedrock. As a result of this work, the wall was reinterpreted: Due to the nature of its construction, it could not be a city wall. It was judged to belong to the Late Roman period (2nd to 4th centuries), a retaining wall for terracing, or perhaps the foundations of a small building, belonging to the upper forum of Aelia Capitolina. At the bottom of the sounding were the distinctive traces of the Iron Age quarry that is known to underlie much of the Muristan and practically all of the Holy Sepulchre church. (The quarry itself actually provides evidence in support of the Holy Sepulchre site, since the Second Wall is presumed to have skirted the quarry on the east, leaving the quarry as a sort of defensive moat — outside the city wall.) Anyway, on with the tour…

In the medieval cloister. Dr. Dieter Vieweger, our host and guide.

Redeemer Church: south aisle, looking west. The new visitor access.

The group prepares to descend to the excavation/museum area.

The tall, well-preserved, E-W oriented wall.

Atop the wall sits the "Foundation Stone", a sort of time capsule installed during the church's construction.

The Foundation Stone, put in place in 1893, was opened for the first time this past summer, by Dr. Vieweger. For more on this unusual event see HERE.

In the museum space, the floor construction of the modern church looms overhead.

 The following four images form a sequence, giving a sense of the levels uncovered here, from top to bottom. It shows that the wall was founded on a bed of smaller stones laid directly on a thick fill of soft earth. Thus the wall, despite its size, was incapable of supporting any great weight. The thick fill layer probably represents the Roman leveling of the old quarry for the construction of Hadrian’s forum. The latter pictures are looking down into the deep rectangular sounding from the 1970s, right down to bedrock.

Dr. Vieweger points to the large ashlar-built wall. A later arch spans the wall cross-wise. (And, yes, that's the ubiquitous Dr. Gabi Barkay at lower right)

The bottom of the sounding: Quarry-cuts in the bedrock.

The excavated area, looking west. Many of the remains here Vieweger relates to the Constantinian Holy Sepulchre complex.

Buckets of tesserae (mosaic cubes) and other small finds

Here, for what it’s worth, is a bit more information about the tourism development project at the Redeemer Church from the web-site of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology. (Note: The English rendering leaves something to be desired in spots; also, for some reason this piece retains — without really challenging it — the old “Second Wall” interpretation of the excavated constructions.)

Again, the opening of these spaces to the public is slated for the fall of 2012.

From Wikipedia: Development below the Church of the Redeemer (Jerusalem):

The GPIA Jerusalem develops the old excavation below the Church of the Redeemer in the Old City of Jerusalem into a public museum. The project aims to enable pilgrims and tourists a historic walkway through the catacombs of the church and to show them important relics of the times of  Herod the Great, Jesus of Nazareth, Hadrian, Constantine the Great, and the Middle Ages (Church of St. Maria Latina).

The image as it appeared on-line (my markup)

No, it’s not an elaborate stunt produced for a David Copperfield TV special (is he still around, anyway?). This slight-of-hand was carried out by the rabbinate of the Israeli Army (IDF) who, in illustrating a booklet about Chanukkah observance, found the Dome of the Rock and the nearby al-Silsila minaret looming over the Western Wall a bit, well… inconvenient. Not to worry, though. Just start with a rather atmospheric image, have a go with the airbrush tool in your favorite photo editor to add a bit of fake fog, and… PRESTO! — No Dome.

Comparison picture of Kotel & Haram - Photo: Gora Berger

The story was carried in Haaretz on 05 JAN 2012, found on-line HERE (which includes an unmanipulated ”before” picture, from approximately the same angle, for comparison). The picture as reproduced in the Haaretz print edition (it ran with the captions only) turned out rather muddy for some reason, but the bottom parts of the Dome of the Rock and of the minaret are quite clear. I include a scan of it as well:

The image as it appeared in the Haaretz print edition (click for larger image)

This is not a unique phenomenon by any means. What’s rather outrageous is that this example — this altered reality –  was perpetrated and issued to military personnel by an official government office. Really, though, there is a whole genre of this kind of now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t art involving the Muslim shrines on the Haram al-Sharif/ Temple Mount. The hot-spot for this, in my experience, is the Cardo “mall”, the string of upscale shops, studios and galleries in the heart of the Old City’s Jewish Quarter. Granted, some of the art edges toward the stylized and idealized, BUT almost always the Western Wall and the expansive post-1967 plaza fronting it are depicted very realistically — these are not illustrations of ancient Jerusalem. (A thought question: Is this the Jewish-Israeli analog to Muslim-Palestinian “Temple Denial”? And, if so, do the two phenomena somehow reinforce each other?) Following are my photos of prints and paintings seen on display on the Cardo on a recent visit: 

Once the inconvenient Muslim shrines disappear, if you like, you can have the Third Temple (I suppose) descending in a radiant cloud, or hovering mysteriously over the modern Haram/ Temple Mount…

…OR, you can have it firmly planted on the transformed esplanade. For this you pay extra, I believe…

Some may find this sort of thing heart-warming and inspirational, and others (like me) a bit chilling. At the same time, I have to remember that religious Jews have prayed every morning, for hundreds of years: “May it be Your will, L-rd our G-d, and G-d of our fathers, that the Holy Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days.” Even though it’s not in the Bible, that must be pretty compelling, especially when your people have established a sovereign state in their ancient homeland  and exercise more or less total control over Jerusalem. What are we to make of it all? It’s all in one’s perspective, I guess.

From a purely Christian perspective, I find the obsession of some believers with a “Third Temple” an unnecessary, unhelpful and un-scriptural diversion: Consider that — even though I don’t pretend to understand all that the passage means and implies — the writer of Revelation, in Chapter 21, is envisioning a “NEW heaven” and a “NEW earth” and a “NEW Jerusalem”, which, yes, is “coming down out of heaven from God”. But wait… “I saw no temple in the city…”! Why? “…for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.” End of sermon.

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OK, just when I thought I had exhausted this topic, on 12 JAN 2012 Haaretz ran a retrospective of a 1997 story about a “funny” gift presented by P.M. Netanyahu during his first term as prime minister. It happened that the PM made a special trip in order to present in person, to the prelate of the Greek Catholic church in the country, a piece of art supposedly depicting the present-day city of Jerusalem. A nice enough gesture, but it seems there were… um, some things missing! The story says, in part:

As the new year of 1997 dawned, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Haifa to visit the head of the Greek Catholic Church in Israel, Archbishop Maximos Salloum. Netanyahu gave the archbishop a silver engraving of the Old City of Jerusalem and wished him a happy new year.

Soon, a rumor spread that the gift lacked several key elements. Haaretz reporter Joseph Algazi called the archbishop, who acknowledged that the Muslim holy places, the Al Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, did not appear on the engraving. Instead there was “an approximation of the Second Temple,” a Jewish holy site.

I have searched on-line but have been unable to find a picture of this object, so on this I must withhold judgment (just a tiny bit).

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 Once again, I thought I had squeezed this for all it was worth. But… oh, no:  Today I ran into the web-site of the Global March to Jerusalem. Whatever the merits of this upcoming event on 30 March 2012 — and I basically support their efforts to raise worldwide awareness of realities here — it seems they have foisted a visual trick on visitors to their main web-page. It falls in this same category, I’m afraid, but from “the other side”. Have a look and see what you see — or don’t see:  http://www.globalmarchtojerusalem.org/main/

That’s right, even though it’s “only” a painting, they have managed to “airbrush out” the thousands of Jewish graves covering the southern slopes of the Mount of Olives! If I were completely given over to cynicism, I could just shrug this off as “turnabout’s fair play”. BUT, if Jerusalem is to ever have a just resolution of its issues and the competing claims of its various peoples, it’s NOT going to come through airbrushing the “other” out of history. It’s not helpful and it’s not legitimate — whoever does it.

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Hezekiah’s Pool, follow-up report:

For background, see my previous reports on recent work at the site in June and August 2011 . The impressive clean-up effort, which went down and exposed the floor of the pool, was supposed to be coupled with a drainage project to prevent the place from returning to its former state as an eyesore and health hazard. In November, after our first respectable rain in Jerusalem, I got curious and went to have a look: The photo below shows the southern end of the pool once again filling with rainwater; a corrugated plastic conduit was in evidence, but if its intended function was pumping water out, it was apparently not getting the job done.

Southern end of Hezekiah's Pool, Nov. 2011, looking southeast.

One by-product of the rain, however, was to further clear the floor of dust, providing a better look at the surface. The photo below shows a section of the pool’s floor near the western edge. It’s clearly a pavement of small, flat stones set in a matrix of reddish looking plaster. Any guesses as to the age of this floor? Does anyone know, from written sources, when the pool was last used as a public water source?

Exposed floor of Hezekiah's Pool, Nov. 2011

On January 1st I was back for a look (but without my camera). This was after our second serious rainfall of the season, over Christmas weekend, and the pool was a bit fuller. On this occasion I observed a lone workman in waders mucking about (literally) in the stagnant water in the southern end. I don’t know what his specific objective was, but, again, if they intend to pump the pool, they ought to get on with it! 

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Repairs at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre:

The southernmost of the two canopies (top), viewed from the parvis, SEP-2011

Visitors to the Old City these days may notice two large, white, tent-like canopy structures covering the buildings on the east side of the entrance courtyard (parvis), and over the adjacent roof areas to the north. This is not exactly news, since I first noticed this installation last Easter! At first I thought this covering must be connected to this story from three years ago about the precarious condition of the Ethiopian monastery on the church’s roof and of all its associated chapels. (I subsequently learned, from someone who would know, that story was greatly overblown — much ado about nothing: the issue seems to have been the state of the monk’s rather primitive plastered huts which, needless to say, are not “up to code”.) That’s not what th e canopy is about, though.

The two canopies viewed from the SW, JUL 2011. The northernmost canopy stands at a higher level, covering a separate roof area

To get the actual story on this, I consulted my friend Fr. Alexander, an Orthodox monk who lives on the Mount of Olives and frequents the library of the Ecole Biblique, where I live and work. Digging into this, I was reminded that there is always — always — something new to learn about the Holy Sepulchre complex! It seems there is a small roof-top chapel up there belonging to the Greek Orthodox which is being completely rebuilt, known as the Chapel of St. Abraham. But, its a chapel no one ever sees – and no one would ever guess was there! To give me a glimpse of it, Fr. Alexander took me through the labyrinthine Greek Patriarchate compound and up to the roof of the church structures on the west side of the parvis, near the bell-tower (the Greeks in fact control most of the church’s roof areas). Looking across to the east, the low-vaulted roof of this obscure chapel is visible on the other side:

The chapel is dedicated to, yes, that Abraham, the progenitor and patriarch of the Book of Genesis. Father Alexander says it has only one fixed, liturgical function: it is the site of a special mass for the Feast of the Twelve Apostles, to whom one of the altars inside would be dedicated; the annual feast falls in June/July. Jerusalem being Jerusalem, it should not be surprising that nearby is yet another chapel, this one dedicated to Melchizedek, the “king of Salem” and “priest of God Most High” whom Abraham encounters and receives a blessing from in Gen. 14.

The eastern (upper) roof areas of the church, looking west. Building materials were being stockpiled on the roof deck (AUG 2011)

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Solomon’s Quarries: something’s going on in there…

Put up a tall screening fence and some people (like me!) will just naturally try to find a way to peek through it – or over it! And, start digging a hole in the bedrock beneath Jerusalem’s Old City wall, and you’ve definitely got my attention! Several weeks ago I first noticed this fenced-off area along the northern wall of the Old City. Someone had obligingly pried apart two of the sheet-metal panels, revealing a considerable passage being opened through the bedrock beneath the city wall. The location is east of Damascus Gate and about 250 feet east of the entrance to Solomon’s Quarries. Later, I came back with my camera to record the scene:

Construction of an eastern, emergency exit from Solomon's Quarries. DEC 2011

There, in an angle of the city wall, a pre-existing opening (marked by a now-defunct metal frame) was being extended downward. Moreover, markings spray-painted on the scarp suggested that a sizeable cut was to be made in the bedrock, to further enlarge this passage. I realized that all this must connect with one of the eastern  rooms of the Solomon’s Quarries complex, as indeed it does. This was confirmed by the attendant at the SQ entrance kiosk, who said an “emergency exit” was being constructed.

This map was created by Fr. Vincent of the Ecole Biblique in the early 20th century. Markup shows the present entrance and the area of the new work.

Solomon's Quarries aka Zedekiah's Cave

For those who may not be familiar with this place, Solomon’s Quarries, aka Zedekiah’s Cave, is an impresive series of interconnected galleries cut out of the bedrock and stretching over 650 feet beneath the Old City. Both of the common names are traditional: “Zedekiah’s Cave”, the name used by Jews, reflects an old legend about the escape of the last king of Judah from Jerusalem, fleeing the Babylonians. “Solomon’s Quarries” is a bit more accurate — they are in fact quarries, but mostly, or perhaps entirely, from the Roman period. Rediscovered in modern times by James Barclay in the 1850s, the Quarries have been repeatedly opened to visitors and then closed again over the years. Since about 2007 they have been consistently open, under the management of the East Jerusalem Development Corp., a quasi-governmental entity.

A few days after the above-mentioned discovery, I noticed workmen in a different location removing the blocking from the edge of the Quarries’ original, ancient opening. This got my attention, of course, but — again I was without my camera (I know, I should just splurge and get a camera-phone.) When I returned the next day, they had done what they were after, the insertion of a large conduit for the passage of cables and probably other connections. (By the way, restroom facilities have already been installed inside, near the existing entrance.) What I saw was this:

Facade of Solomon's Quarries. At right, the modern entrance. Red line: the original, ancient opening.

The present-day visitors’ entrance is the green-gated opening at right. Also, I have traced in red the outline of the original opening which has been mostly blocked for many centuries. Many visitors would not realize how wide the ancient opening was, nor how tall — the original bedrock floor lies many, many meters below today’s ground level. One more picture: Three days ago, at twilight, I was passing and noticed light emanating from the new access: I could just make out, inside, the lines of a built structure; the kiosk man said it was a stairway being constructed at the new exit. We’ll see…

Taken together, these changes suggest a push by the site’s operators to increase the number of visitors, and, I suspect, Jewish visitors in particular. For one thing, in addition to being a tourist destination (although under-visited), in recent years the place has become more and more popular as a venue for local, private (read: Jewish) events. However, neither Israel’s Jewish populace nor Jewish visitors to the country typically walk in, or into — even a little bit — Arab East Jerusalem. (Other tour/pilgrim groups do, no problem.) Therefore, one other major addition, just completed, is quite telling: There is now, just off the main street (Sultan Suleiman St.) a brand-new, controlled — gated and “spiked”! — drop-off/ parking/ pick-up area for tour buses, and it is exclusively for the use of groups of visitors to the Quarries, since the gate is controlled remotely from the SQ entrance kiosk (I was curious, and asked). 

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A NEW resource (added 19 JAN 2012):  It’s encouraging that other folks are also monitoring some of these developments. The people at Emek Shaveh have recently released a new e-book. You can go HERE to read it on-line or download. Browse the index at left and you will see that it touches upon the present status of Hezekiah’s Pool (re: which I question their dating), Zedekiah’s Cave (aka Solomon’s Quarries) and many other sites in and around the Old City.

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Picture Quiz:

The following picture was taken just outside the entrance to Solomon’s Quarries. The question is: What (in Jerusalem’s ancient architectural history) does this remind you of?

PICTURE QUIZ: What does it remind you of?

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Not exactly New Years resolutions, these are a few posts I hope to tackle in coming months, as time allows. So, stay tuned…

The Disappearing Dome of the Rock

A visit to ancient Gibeon (el-Jib)

Digging beneath ‘Jerusalem’s Oldest Church’ (hint: It’s much older than we thought, and not originally a church)

The necessary nuances of history: A Guiding Moment

Beneath Jerusalem’s Redeemer Church: Archaeological finds to be opened to visitors

Light in the depths of the Holy Sepulcher: A Reflection

Do Owls Bring Bad Luck? An ancient legend comes home to roost in modern Israel

Jerusalem’s Ramadan Cannon: the rest of the story

and more…

The tiny "Temple Token" (my term)

A little over a week after its introduction to the public here in Jerusalem, the Temple “purity” seal has been reinterpreted, complete with a new reading of the inscription. If you missed the previous hoopla, see my previous post on this topic, which includes links to other resources on the story.

Today’s Haaretz carries the story of the new ‘take’ this intriguing object. (The story is found on-line HERE. The complete text appears below.)  Although the headline reads “scholars” — plural — it is apparently just one scholar, Prof. Shlomo Naeh of the Hebrew University’s Talmud department. He believes the characters on the face of the token could be abbreviations for the Aramaic word for “ram”, the word aleph for the first day of the week, and Yehoyariv, the priestly order that served on that day.  Naeh, like Reich and Shukron, supports his theory with a Mishnaic reference, which is not cited in the story, however. So, he believes the object represents an offering or, more specifically, a sacrifice, purchased in the Temple courts. It is clear by now, too, that this is not a “seal” in any traditional sense — it did not seal a container or other object — but it is really a token certifying that payment had been made.

Just to aid my understanding, I asked one of our scholars here at the Ecole Biblique, who had also read the story, if the worshipper, after paying the required amount, would then exchange such a token for an actual animal, which he would then take to yet another priest in order to carry out the sacrifice. OR, did the transaction with the token fulfill the worshipper’s obligation, with the rest of the sacrificial process conducted out of his sight. The scholarly response I received (not surprisingly) was that it was not at all clear, and the subject of much debate.

It bears noting that the Mishnaic verses cited in the official announcement released by the IAA do seem to indicate that the worshipper, at least for some sorts of offerings, was obtaining the actual offering, which he would then present in person. Perhaps it goes without saying that the Temple, as an institution, must have had a very involved protocol covering the many different kinds of offerings and sacrifices designated for different occasions and situations. This newly discovered object provides, at best, a tiny window into that world.

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Scholars offer new explanation for rare Temple artifact in Jerusalem

Object, at the northwestern [sic; it's SOUTHwestern! -tp] corner of the Temple Mount, was initially thought to read ‘Daka LeYa,’ which means ‘pure to God’ in Aramaic.

By Nir Hasson

A new interpretation is being put forward for the inscription on a tiny clay object, only a week after it was touted as the first archaeological find to confirm written testimony of ritual practices at Jerusalem’s Temple.

The object, discovered in an archaeological survey at the northwestern [sic; SOUTHwestern] corner of the Temple Mount, was initially thought to read “Daka LeYa,” which means “pure to God” in Aramaic.

Excavators Prof. Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Dr. Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority told a press conference last week that this was a seal used to mark objects used in the Temple as ritually pure, and that such a seal is mentioned in the Mishna.

But Prof. Shlomo Naeh of the Hebrew University’s Talmud department believes the inscription could be read differently. “I was sitting with my son and looking at the photograph, and in a moment of intuition, I realized what it could be,” he told Haaretz Tuesday.

Naeh also believes the object is related to Temple worship and purity, but reads the inscription differently, as “Dakar a Leyehoyariv.” Dakar in Aramaic means ram and a stands for aleph, the first day of the week, when the priestly order of Yehoyariv was on duty in the Temple.

Thus, the object was used in Temple worship, but not how Reich and Shukron believe it was, says Naeh. To ensure the purity of animal sacrifices offered in the Temple – and to maintain an economic monoply, Naeh believes – pilgrims had to buy their offerings in the Temple courts. They gave money to a treasurer who would exchange it for a token inscribed with the type of sacrifice they had purchased and the date.

Like Reich and Shukron, Naeh supports his theory with a mishnaic verse citing the existence of such tokens. With regard to Reich and Shukron’s interpretation, he said: “Purity was very fluid; the touch of an impure person was enough to make the object impure, so it is unlikely such a seal existed.”

He also said the object could not be a seal because it lacked a hole for a thread or a handle to affix it to another object.

“People have been saying the ancient sages fantasized everything about the Temple. But … they knew what they were talking about. For me, this is uplifting. The sages of the Mishna, my guys, win out,” Naeh said.

Now that the dust has settled a bit, I’ll chime in with my two cents’ worth. For those who may have missed the story, it has to do with a tiny sealing that was recovered in the sifting of material excavated from around the foundations of the Haram al-Sharif/ Temple Mount, near the southwest corner and well below the level of the Herodian street. It is tiny — the size of a button — but inscribed with the phrase in Hebrew characters ”pure to God”, according to the excavators. What’s especially interesting is that the object seems to reflect an administrative protocol practiced in the Temple for certifying commodities as “pure”, a system which is mentioned in some detail in the Mishnah — nice confirmation, if we needed it, that the Mishnah, compiled ca. 200 CE, contains actual memories of the Second Temple. It is interesting, too, that the IAA seems to have “sat” on this find until, wonder of wonders, Chanukkah rolled around and a nice connection could be made to the Maccabees’ rededication of the Temple and the story of the cruse of consecrated oil that burned miraculously for eight days. Oh, well, I guess we can forgive the IAA their penchant for dramatic flair…

Photos: Vladimir Naykhin

There were a few curious aspects of this find which I puzzled over at first: For one, it was not immediately clear to me if this was a seal (i.e., a “master” used to make multiple impressions) or a seal impression. It seems now it must fall rather outside the usual seal/impression paradigm: the material is clay, but the clay is fired — and the inscription is a “positive”, not the mirror-image writing you’d see on a typical seal. And, what I saw at first as a “handle” on the reverse of the object I learned from a colleague just yesterday are actually pinch-marks, complete with fingerprints! Thus, it seems like the lump of clay was held between the thumb and forefinger and pressed onto a master or into a mold to get the impression, then it was intentionally fired. This latter aspect is certainly atypical for a seal impression (despite the fact that the vast majority of known seal impressions (bullae) survived only because they were inadvertently “cooked” in some great conflagration.) So, this was really a manufactured object that was issued as a token (see video below).

Click on image to go to VIDEO

UPDATE, 01 JANUARY 2012: Here is some VIDEO from the Jerusalem Post which I have just gotten around to watching, about 3 minute’s worth of Ronny Reich explaining in some detail how the object was probably actually used, based on the Mishnah. Essentially Reich’s interpretation, from the Mishna, is that a worshipper coming to the Temple would pay money to a priest for an offering and receive the token. He would then take the token to another priest and receive the certified “pure to God” offering in its container. Finally, he took the offering to yet another priest, who would actually perform the ritual. OK, since I’m already being provocative here (just wait!), I’ll just say that the rather bureaucratic procedure that’s being described seems – to this Baptist, at least – well, a bit sterile and removed from personal spirituality. I know, I’m imposing a modern religious paradigm on ancient practices — not fair. Still, it occurs to me to at least ask: Could this — and the larger practice of selling offerings in/around the Temple at all – be part of what Jesus was railing about in the NT “cleansing” narrative (John 2 and elsewhere). Commentators often obsess on where exactly this incident took place, but is it possible that Jesus’ problem was with the whole “business” aspect of the Temple operations which, even according to some Jewish sources, had become a sort of money-driven industry? It’s a thought question. Or maybe scholars are already way ahead of me on this. Comments?

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BUT… my real comments have to do with a completely different aspect of the story. For this, please fast-forward 2,000-plus years to the political winds blowing in the State of Israel (not to be confused with the ancient, biblical faith-community of the same name). I encountered the story of this find as it appeared in the Haaretz print edition, which makes much of the political mileage two Israeli politicians have tried to get out of this humble little object that came out of the dirt: “Government officials who attended the [announcement] ceremony seized upon the finding as proof of Jewish continuity in Jerusalem”, the paper reported. It is reporting, by the way, which I found in no other media source. Now, I’m sure the left-leaning Haaretz takes no delight in making the reigning crop of Israeli politicians look foolish (although I certainly do), however this bunch manage quite well on their own, without much help! It’s a toss-up which is more troubling, their stupidity or their provocative arrogance.

Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's Minister of Education

Well, honorable mention goes to Israeli education minister Gideon Sa’ar: “Sa’ar said ‘these excavations could not have taken place without Israeli sovereignty.’” Well, OK, I think that goes without saying. I mean, who else but the Israelis would be probing around the foundations of the Haram al-Sharif/ Temple Mount (funded by the right-wing settler organization Elad), arguably the most sensitive piece of real estate in the world!? So what’s Sa’ar really saying? We’ve got the city — all of it. We get to dig up the goodies. And — surprise — we get to monopolize the Jerusalem narrative. It’s a case (as my parents would have said) of “rubbing their noses in it” , the allusion being to paper-training a puppy. I’ll let you make the application. There’s a problem with Sa’ar’s arrogant boast of “sovereignty”, though: Yes, Israel claims sovereignty and exercises sovereignty over East Jerusalem (and over the Temple Mount, when they think nobody’s listening), but that sovereignty is 100% self-declared. There is virtually no nation on earth, and no international organization — including Israel’s most consistent defender on the world stage, the good ole U.S. of A. — who accepts this definition. Under international law, until it’s status is negotiated to be otherwise, East Jerusalem is occupied territory, plain and simple, just like the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights — all taken by Israel by force of arms in 1967.  Sorry to be the one to let the cat out of the bag, to call attention ’the elephant in the room’, but everything that goes on in the 70 sq. km of East Jerusalem must be viewed in this light. It’s not that I expect anything to change — who, after all, is going to challenge the State of Israel on these things? — but a little less arrogance would be nice. (Footnote, totally unrelated: To his credit, Sa’ar has sought to ban cosmetics testing on animals.)

Limor Livnat, Minister of Culture & Sports

First place in this round, however, is reserved for Limor Livnat, Minister of Culture and Sports: “Livnat called the find ‘a seal of verification of our right to the Land of Israel.’” Really? I thought the little seal was a window into ancient Jewish practices in the Second Temple. But it’s really about control over real estate in the 21st Century – My God, what power these objects have! Now, it would be nice to be able to dismiss this lady as just another right-wing ideologue who found her way into Netanyahu’s shamefully bloated, 30-plus-member cabinet (coalition politics: you have to give out lots of candy to get the kids to play together!). Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury. Let me ‘connect some of the dots’ for you on Ms. Livnat: First, she heads the ministry under which the Israel Antiquities Authority operates, so on some level she has the power to set the tone of things and to set — and execute — an agenda. In this regard, Livnat was at the center of a recent controversy over the future makeup of both the IAA’s board of directors and Israel’s Archaeological Council, worrisome developments that we reported on at the time HERE and HERE. The net effect of these machinations, if they are allowed to go through: Israeli archaeology becomes less scientific and objective and more politicized and nationalistic.

Now, video of the collapse site at the City of David has been posted on-line HERE. It shows consolidation and reinforcement work already going on. The location shown in the video is at the very beginning of the tunnel route, actually along the Herodian plaza linking the Siloam Pool with the western stepped street. The video is from the folks at Peace Now’s Settlement Watch program.

Below is an aerial of the very southern tip of the City of David identifying the approximate location shown in the video, according to my best reckoning. It is my screen-grab and mark-up of a much larger interactive map from the Emek Shaveh organization. (The area marked “11″ is the exposed northern edge of the Lower Siloam Pool plus the paved plaza extending to the west; “12″ marks the stepped streets ascending on the east and west sides of the Upper Siloam Pool. The map is actually a bit dated, as the excavated underground route now extends northward all the way to the Temple Mount — see my previous post.)

Silwan Collapse Site, Dec. 2011. Base map: Emeq Shaveh.