#1672
2019-08-08
Ziklag, Huqoq, and First Century Fast Food
With Clyde Billington
More news items to discuss from the many news reports in the summer issue of ARTIFAX, the biblical archaeology news magazine. Ziklag, a city associated with King David, has been tentatively identified at a dozen different locations in Israel but now finally we have the correct location, says archaeology Yosef Garfinkel. (Other archaeologists are not so sure.) More mosaic discoveries in this summer's excavations at Huqoq, at the site of a fifth century synagogue overlooking the Sea of Galilee. The mosaics depict the Exodus spring of Elim, and the four beasts of Daniel 7. We also discuss a photo from professsor Carl Rasmussen, showing a first century thermopolia, a fast food establishment excavated at Pompeii. In the first century this is where people got their food because they didn't have kitchens in their high rise apartments.
tags: Huqoq David Garfinkel Mosaic Ziklag Elim Daniel fast food thermopolia
#1671
2019-08-01
Machaerus, Melchizedek, and the Philistines
With Clyde Billington
A little further discussion about our ARTIFAX cover story on Machaerus, details of how John the Baptist ended up a prisoner there, and was then beheaded, as reported in Matthew 14 and Mark 6. Also a few more words about the Pilgrimage Road that just opened in Jerusalem, an important pilgrimage spot for both modern Jews and Christians, between the Pool of Siloam and the Temple Mount. Archaeologist Eli Shukron reports the discovery of an altar related to Melchizedeck and Abraham. We are skeptical but looking forward to hearing more. And finally, another major story of the summer, reported in the latest issue of ARTIFAX, DNA evidence that traces the Philistines, or at least some Philistines, to southern Europe.
tags: Jordan Jerusalem Philistines Herod the Great John the Baptist Machaerus Abraham DNA Dead Sea Herod Agrippa Melchizedek
#1670
2019-07-23
With Jimmy Hardin
The cover story on the latest (summer) issue of ARTIFAX focuses on Machaerus, a fortress palace built by Herod the Great overlooking the Dead Sea from the East. Machaerus is most famous for the imprisonment and beheading of John the Baptist, as recounted in the Gospels and by the historian Josephus. The first excavation of Machaerus was undertaken by Jerry Vardaman, the founding director of the Cobb Institute of Archaeology. We talk with the current interim director, Jimmy Hardin, about some of the results of that excavation that were recently discovered at several locations.
tags: Jordan Herod the Great John the Baptist Machaerus Dead Sea Herod Agrippa
#1669
2019-07-18
With John DeLancey
Fifteen years ago, when the Pool of Siloam from the time of Jesus was discovered in Jerusalem, archaeologists also realized they could trace the road that went from the Pool of Siloam up to the Temple Mount. And now part of that road is available for pilgrims (Jewish and Christian) to walk once again, as they did 2,000 years ago. It's called the Pilgrimage Road. And we talk with our Israel tour co-host, John DeLancey of Biblical Israel Ministries and Tours, about this unique feature. In recent years, when we have been with John in Jerusalem, we've hiked the drainage channel that went beneath that road. But now the carefully engineered tunnel of the road itself, that goes beneath the present occupation level in the City of David, the oldest area of Jerusalem, is open. During this program we also briefly discussed John's week as an excavation volunteer at Tel Burna, and archaeological site 30 miles SW of Jerusalem, which has been identified as possibly the Old Testament city of Libnah.
tags: City of David Temple Mount Tel Burna Pool of Siloam Libnah Pilgrimage Road
#1668
2019-07-09
With Scott Stripling
This was the third season of excavations at Tel Shiloh, a site about a dozen miles north of Jerusalem that has traditionally been known as the first capital of Israel. It was home to the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant for 369 years. So once again we talked with dig director Scott Stripling, provost of Bible Seminary in Katy Texas, about the results of the 2019 expedition.
tags: Shiloh Tabernacle bullae Ark of the Covenant Scarabs Wet Sifting