REPORTER OF THE LOST ARK? A journalist from The Smithsonian traveled to Ethiopia to try to get a glimpse of it.

Keepers of the Lost Ark?

Christians in Ethiopia have long claimed to have the ark of the covenant. Our reporter investigated

* By Paul Raffaele
* Photographs by Paul Raffaele
* Smithsonian magazine, December 2007

"They shall make an ark of acacia wood," God commanded Moses in the Book of Exodus, after delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. And so the Israelites built an ark, or chest, gilding it inside and out. And into this chest Moses placed stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, as given to him on Mount Sinai.

Thus Jews came to revere the ark as an earthly manifestation of God. The Old Testament describes its enormous powers—blazing with fire and light, halting rivers, blasting away armies and bringing down the fabled walls of Jericho. (Steven Spielberg's 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark provides a special-effects approximation.) According to the First Book of Kings, King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem to house the ark. It was venerated there during Solomon's reign (c. 970-930 B.C.) and beyond.

Then it vanished. Much of Jewish tradition holds that it disappeared before or while the Babylonians sacked the temple in Jerusalem in 586 b.c.

But through the centuries, Ethiopian Christians have claimed that the ark rests in a chapel in the small town of Aksum, in their country's northern highlands. It arrived nearly 3,000 years ago, they say, and has been guarded by a succession of virgin monks who, once anointed, are forbidden to set foot outside the chapel grounds until they die.

One of the first things that caught my eye in Addis Ababa, the country's capital, was an enormous concrete pillar topped by a giant red star—the sort of monument to communism still visible in Pyongyang. The North Koreans built this one as a gift for the Derg, the Marxist regime that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991 (the country is now governed by an elected parliament and prime minister). In a campaign that Derg officials named the Red Terror, they slaughtered their political enemies—estimates range from several thousand to more than a million people. The most prominent of their victims was Emperor Haile Selassie, whose death, under circumstances that remain contested, was announced in 1975.

He was the last emperor of Ethiopia—and, he claimed, the 225th monarch, descended from Menelik, the ruler believed responsible for Ethiopia's possession of the ark of the covenant in the tenth century b.c.

The story is told in the Kebra Negast (Glory of the Kings), Ethiopia's chronicle of its royal line: the Queen of Sheba, one of its first rulers, traveled to Jerusalem to partake of King Solomon's wisdom; on her way home, she bore Solomon's son, Menelik. Later Menelik went to visit his father, and on his return journey was accompanied by the firstborn sons of some Israelite nobles—who, unbeknown to Menelik, stole the ark and carried it with them to Ethiopia. When Menelik learned of the theft, he reasoned that since the ark's frightful powers hadn't destroyed his retinue, it must be God's will that it remain with him.

Many historians—including Richard Pankhurst, a British-born scholar who has lived in Ethiopia for almost 50 years—date the Kebra Negast manuscript to the 14th century a.d. It was written, they say, to validate the claim by Menelik's descendants that their right to rule was God-given, based on an unbroken succession from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. But the Ethiopian faithful say the chronicles were copied from a fourth-century Coptic manuscript that was, in turn, based on a far earlier account. This lineage remained so important to them that it was written into Selassie's two imperial constitutions, in 1931 and 1955.

[...]

Whatever the merits of the claims about the Ark of the Covenant (and as you might guess, I am skeptical), this is cool:

By chance, in the lobby of my hotel I met Alem Abbay, an Aksum native who was on vacation from Frostburg State University in Maryland, where he teaches African history. Abbay took me to a stone tablet about eight feet high and covered in inscriptions in three languages—Greek; Geez, the ancient language of Ethiopia; and Sabaean, from across the Red Sea in southern Yemen, the true birthplace, some scholars believe, of the Queen of Sheba.

"King Ezana erected this stone tablet early in the fourth century, while still a pagan ruler," Abbay told me. His finger traced the strange-looking alphabets carved into the rock 16 centuries ago. "Here, the king praises the god of war after a victory over a rebel people." But sometime in the following decade Ezana was converted to Christianity.

Abbay led me to another stone tablet covered with inscriptions in the same three languages. "By now King Ezana is thanking 'the Lord of Heaven' for success in a military expedition into nearby Sudan," he said. "We know he meant Jesus because archaeological digs have turned up coins during Ezana's reign that feature the Cross of Christ around this time." Before that, they bore the pagan symbols of the sun and moon.

Raffaele didn't get to see the Ark, but he did meet its guardian.

The next day I tried again, led by a friendly priest to the gate of the ark chapel, which is about the size of a typical suburban house and surrounded by a high iron fence. "Wait here," he said, and he climbed the steps leading to the chapel entrance, where he called out softly to the guardian.

A few minutes later he scurried back, smiling. A few feet from where I stood, through the iron bars, a monk who looked to be in his late 50s peered around the chapel wall.

"It's the guardian," the priest whispered.

He wore an olive-colored robe, dark pillbox turban and sandals. He glanced warily at me with deep-set eyes. Through the bars he held out a wooden cross painted yellow, touching my forehead with it in a blessing and pausing as I kissed the top and bottom in the traditional way.

I asked his name.

"I'm the guardian of the ark," he said, with the priest translating. "I have no other name."

I told him I had come from the other side of the world to speak with him about the ark. "I can't tell you anything about it," he said. "No king or patriarch or bishop or ruler can ever see it, only me. This has been our tradition since Menelik brought the ark here more than 3,000 years ago."

We peered at each other for a few moments. I asked a few more questions, but to each he remained as silent as an apparition. Then he was gone.

It's a long article and well worth the read. It's of interest not for any historical information about the actual Ark, but for the fascinating parabiblical legends of the Ethiopians.

Earlier posts on the Kebra Negast are here, here, here, here, and here.

RICHARD BAUCKHAM'S BOOK, JESUS AND THE EYEWITNESSES, continues to generate lots of discussion post-SBL.

(The time stamp on this post is correct. Jet lag has caught up with me the second night home.)

NEW BIBLICAL STUDIES JOURNAL:

THE ORTHODOX CENTER FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF BIBLICAL STUDIES (OCABS) is pleased to announce the launching of its new, on-line academic journal, The Journal of the Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies (JOCABS).

The mission of JOCABS is to promote scholarship in biblical studies, homiletics, and religious education among Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians around the world.

Although submissions in English are preferred thus ensuring greater accessibility, academic papers in other languages (especially Arabic, Armenian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, and Spanish) will be considered by our multi-lingual editorial board and its international associates.

Articles may be submitted in the following areas:

• Old Testament and Cognate Studies. Including (but not limited to) critical studies in Hebrew Bible; Septuagint; Pseudepigrapha; Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture; Syro-Palestinian Archaeology.
  
• New Testament and Cognate Studies. Including (but not limited to) critical studies in New Testament; Early Christian Literature; Apocryphal Literature and Traditions; Classical Studies; Archaeology of the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
  
• The Bible in Homiletics and Christian Education. Including theoretical and methodological studies dedicated to the practical applications of biblical scholarship to both preaching and pedagogy.
  
• Book Reviews. Submissions of critical reviews of books related to the field of biblical studies will be accepted and invited.

JOCABS is committed to promoting scholarship among scholars and graduate students and encourages them to submit papers to its peer-reviewed process. The first issue will appear in the Summer of 2008, and semiannually thereafter.

For additional information, please contact Dr. Nicolae Roddy, at nroddy@creighton.edu or Fr. Vahan Hovhanessian, at vartabed@stnersess.edu.

To submit an article online, please visit http://www.ocabs.org/journal.

CAN'T MAKE IT UP -- Movies on Jesus in India:

Hollywood takes action hero Jesus to India

Film based on Aquarian Gospel to cover years left out of New Testament

Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi
Monday November 19, 2007
The Guardian

Hollywood is to fill in the Bible's "missing years" with a story about Jesus as a wandering mystic who travelled across India, living in Buddhist monasteries and speaking out against the iniquities of the country's caste system.

Film producers have delved deep into revisionist scholarship to piece together what they say was Jesus's life between the ages of 13 and 30, a period untouched by the recognised gospels.

[...]

The Aquarian Gospel is a modern forgery, which doesn't exactly count as "revisionist scholarship" or, indeed, any kind of scholarship.

Jesus Christ gets an evil twin in fantasy film
Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:14pm IST

By Tony Tharakan

PANAJI, India (Reuters) - There's no mention of him in the Bible but the plot of a fantasy film set in India gives Jesus Christ a twin brother -- and an evil one at that.

German filmmaker Robert Sigl's "The 13th Disciple" is still in the planning stage but producer Mario Stefan is in Goa trying to attract an Indian co-producer for the project.

"It's a fantasy-adventure film and takes place completely in present-day India," Stefan said on the sidelines of the 38th International Film Festival of India, which opened over the weekend.

The story traces the journey of two German archaeologists looking for evidence that Jesus visited India.

The researchers, who are twins themselves, find that Jesus had an evil twin brother who is reincarnated in the present as the scheming head of a religious sect.

[...]

The third-century Acts of Thomas places the Apostle Thomas in India, but that's quite a late tradition and in any case is rather a different matter from putting Jesus there.

Also the wandering Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, who lived at the same time as Jesus and is sometimes compared with him, reportedly (according to his third-century biographer Philostratus) traveled to India and hung out there with the gymnosophists for a while. But I'm not aware of any remotely ancient apocryphal traditions that put Jesus in India.

HERE'S MY REPORT ON THE SAN DIEGO DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION, which I visited on Friday. (Click on the images below for larger versions.)


This is a view of the Natural History Museum from the outside.


The big tree (visible on the right in the previous picture) has been a prominent fixture of the Museum Plaza for a very long time. I remember climbing on it when I was five years old, after a weekly summer museum class for children. But the decades of climbers like me started to take a toll on the health of the tree, so now it is fenced in so it can get a little peace.


This is the security line, through which visitors have to pass before entering the museum.


Security was tight. I had to check in my Swiss army knife.


There were further lines in the Museum. I had already bought my ticket online, so strictly speaking I didn't need to go through any of them, although it did take some time to find the place on the second floor where I could pick the ticket up. Note, by the way, the Allosaurus skeleton visible in the background through that open door.


My book was indeed for sale in the gift shop.

No photos were allowed in the displays, but here are some impressions. The upper floor had a lot of photographs on the walls of various things pertaining to Qumran, the Dead Sea, and the Scrolls, but I was familiar with most of this and breezed through it quickly. The actual Scrolls were on the lower level. The first few displays were crowded, but the crowds thinned, evidently because for most people when you've seen a couple of Dead Sea Scrolls, you've seen them all. The lighting was low and not always well angled for reading, but I did give each Scroll a careful look and managed at least to pick out a word or two in each. I was especially interested in two of them. The first was a manuscript of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, on which I've done a lot of work -- including in the commentary for sale in the gift shop. I worked from photographs and this was the first time I've been in the same room with one of the manuscripts, so I spent some time puzzling out the opening lines of the work. The second was Bar Kokhba papyrus 46. It's a land contract and in itself is not very interesting, but the opening line dates it to "year three of Shimon bar Kosiba, Prince of Israel" (שמעון בר כסבא נשיא ישראל). Again, this is the first time I've been in the physical presence of a scroll contemporary with Bar Kokhba which actually contained his name. It's a little like reading a document from Camelot with King Arthur's name on it. I also was happy to locate the name of Šemihaza, one of the Watchers (fallen angels that consorted with human women and fathered giants), in the Aramaic manuscript of the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch).

The introductory displays mostly seemed quite good to me. They concentrated on the Essene theory, but also repeatedly referred to Golb's theory (without mentioning him by name) that the Scrolls came from Jerusalem. They rightly made much of the ten years of effort invested by the original team in piecing together the thousands of fragments into scrolls, a huge accomplishment frequently glossed over by those who criticize them for taking so long to publish. There was mention of the criticisms of De Vaux's application of monastery-related terminology to describe the Qumran buildings. And there were salutary explicit corrections of errors in The Da Vinci Code, such as the fact that there are no books from the Christian New Testament among the Scrolls.

Naturally I found statements with which I disagreed or that I wanted to nuance, but I'll pass over those. But the timeline just before the Scrolls display did have a disturbing number of errors and infelicities. It said that Qumran was settled c. 250 BCE (actually generally thought to be c. 150 BCE, although the archaeological evidence would point to closer to 100 BCE). It dated the LXX translation c. 300-200 BCE, but I've never heard anyone argue that the Pentateuch was translated much before 250. Plato is correctly dated to about 385 BCE but he is placed under the third century BCE in the timeline. We are told that Jesus "teaches of the supreme power of love," which is not a very accurate sound bite of the scholarly view of the historical Jesus. It would have been more helpful to say that he taught about the Kingdom of God in parables. And, although I'm not a specialist in ancient China, I'm pretty sure that specialists regard the Tao Te Ching not as a fifth century BCE composition by someone named Lao Tzu, but a later pseudonymous work.

I wish they would correct these problems, but otherwise the exhibition was very good.


After the museum visit I had to run an errand Downtown and, this being Southern California and all, I was bemused but not surprised to happen upon this museum on Market Street. Unfortunately, it seems no longer to be in business, so I couldn't get in.

I'M BACK IN ST. ANDREWS. The trip was uneventful, apart from when my watch shorted out going through the security scanner at the San Diego Airport. All the security personnel I talked to swore that the scanners don't do such things, but it seems like a remarkable coincidence.

ARCHAEOLOGIST AREN MAEIR lectured recently at BYU on "biblical archaeology:

Scholar sees change in biblical archaeology

Caution replaces rash claims to prove Bible
By Carrie A. Moore
Deseret Morning News
Published: Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007 1:17 a.m. MST

Contrary to the quest of many biblical archaeologists in years past, today's "new image" of excavating ancient Near Eastern sites isn't focused on proving that the Bible is an ancient historical document.

Yet there's no reason to shy away from comparing scientific findings to biblical text, either, says a longtime archaeologist.

The challenge is to use caution, rather than leaping to what seem to be "logical conclusions" about findings that go well beyond the actual science involved with high-profile finds, some of which turn out to be forgeries.

That is according to Aren Maeir, chairman of the department of archaeology and Land of Israel Studies at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv. Rather than trying to "verify beliefs according to archaeological remains," Maeir said archaeologists driven by science are leaving those kinds of discussions to theologians. Archaeologists seek to provide information on what they find in the ground, when they believe it originated and how it may or may not play into theological discussions.

[...]

WHAT I BOUGHT ON E-BAY. Well, not me, but someone. A revelatory dream figures in the story.

Get in on eBay: Local man buys ancient Hebrew text online
By Rhys Saunders The Daily Times [Farmington, NM]
Article Launched: 11/24/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

FARMINGTON — One Farmington man was so overcome by divine inspiration that he recently bid on — and won — an eBay auction for an original 18th century Kabbalah book.

Thaddeus Beeley said he first became curious about the ancient text after talking to a friend studying Kabbalah at the time. Kabbalah refers to a set of beliefs and practices that supplement traditional Jewish interpretations of the Bible.

According to many who study the ancient texts, an intimate understanding and mastery of the Kabbalah brings one spiritually closer to God and enriches a person's experience of Jewish sacred texts and law.

"I was just getting curious and I wanted to get something that was an original, unchanged text," 23-year-old Beeley said. "I was browsing online and stumbled upon it."

[...]

That same night, something strange happened to Beeley. When he went to sleep inside his Farmington home, he dreamed of the book.

"I had this dream that someone bad got it, and they were trying to keep it covered up, and keep it for bad," he said.

When he awoke, Beeley decided he must have the Kabbalah text.

"I waited until the last minute," he said. "I think that's the best way with eBay, so you can get it the cheapest."

With 10 minutes left until the auction closed online, a second bidder vied for the ancient text, Beeley said.

"The bid went up, so I went up to $90," he said. "Then it went up to $110, then to $120, and I thought, I'm just going to put in $150.'"

Sixty seconds away from the close-out time on the item, Beeley won the bid.

"When I finally got it, it was even more incredible than I thought," he said. "It was printed around 1780, it smelled like an old library and it looked like an old treasure map. There's an inscription on the front of the book that is in Hebrew. I still don't know what to do with it yet, and I still haven't translated it."

[...]

I HEAD FOR ST. ANDREWS later today. Busy now, but I'll try to get in some blogging later, maybe at the airport.

FOR CHILDREN IN NYC:

‘ARCHAEOLOGY ZONE: DISCOVERING TREASURES FROM PLAYGROUNDS TO PALACES’ (Saturday through Thursday) Children will step into the shoes of an explorer like Indiana Jones in this new exhibition at the Jewish Museum, but the adventures will be purely scholarly. Still, there is plenty of excitement in analyzing artifacts like a jar handle, a clay jug and a bangle, and figuring out the purpose behind ancient pieces like a Greek helmet and a bull-shaped vessel. This interactive show also includes a recreated home from the Ottoman period (about 1900), where young archaeologists can dress in costume. (Through June 15, 2009.) Saturday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., and Thursday to 8 p.m., 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd Street, (212) 423-3200, thejewishmuseum.org. Free with admission: $12; $10 for 65+; $7.50 for students; free for under 12, members and for all on Saturdays.

THE MOSAIC FLOOR of the Roman-era synagogue found recently in the Galilee is the subject of LiveScience's Image of the Day for today.

JAMES ROBINSON will be lecturing in Florida a week from tomorrow.

Biblical Scholar to Discuss Dead Sea Scrolls, Historical Jesus at UCF Seminars
Nov. 21, 2007

By Jessica Saggio (UCF News)

Biblical scholar James Robinson will discuss the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Christian Scriptures and the historical Jesus during a seminar Friday, Nov. 30, and Saturday, Dec. 1, at the University of Central Florida.

Robinson was part of a team of scholars that produced a translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1992. He is a fellow at the Westar Institute, which has worked to uncover the “historical Jesus” from the Christian Scriptures. Robinson has most recently been involved in the work to reconstruct and translate the non-canonical gospels of Thomas and Judas discovered in Nag Hamadi, Egypt, during the 1940s.

[...]

Actually, he edited a translation of the Nag Hammadi Coptic Gnostic Library in the 1970s. But he was also involved with the production of the Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1991. That was a collection of photographs, not a translation, but it's probably what the writer had in mind.

Also, the Gospel of Judas was not discovered at Nag Hammadi and I think it was found later than the 40s.

ARAMAIC WATCH: Yesterday Pope Benedict preached a homily "On the Teachings of Aphraates." Aphraates was a fourth-century Syriac-speaking church father who took some interest in Jewish traditions. Excerpt:

I would like to introduce this world through Aphraates, also known as "the wise one." He was one of the most important and enigmatic characters of fourth-century Syriac Christianity. He lived in the first half of the fourth century and was a native of the Nineveh-Mosul region -- today’s Iraq.

We have little information about his life; he had strong ties with the ascetic-monastic environment of the Syriac Church, on which he reflected a great deal in his work. According to some sources, he was the head of a monastery, and later ordained a bishop. He wrote 23 speeches known as Expositions or Demonstrations, in which he discusses different topics of Christian life, such as faith, love, fasting, humility, prayer, ascetic life, and also the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, and between the Old and New Testaments. He writes in a simple style, with short sentences and at times contrasting parallelisms; nevertheless he manages to make consistent speeches by developing articulated arguments.

Aphraates came from a clerical community halfway between Judaism and Christianity. The community was very closely linked to the Mother Church of Jerusalem, and its bishops were traditionally chosen among what were called James' "relatives," the "Lord’s brother" (cf. Mark 6:3): These people were connected to the Church of Jerusalem by blood and faith.

Aphraates spoke Syriac, a Semitic language like the Hebrew of the Old Testament and like the Aramaic spoken by Jesus himself. The ecclesial community in which Aphraates lived wanted to stay faithful to the Judeo-Christian tradition, of which it felt it was a daughter. Therefore it maintained a close relationship with the Jewish world and its sacred books.

Significantly Aphraates defines himself as a "disciple of sacred Scripture," of both the Old and New Testaments (Exposition 22,26), which he considered his sole source of inspiration, and so often mentioned it that it became the center of his reflections.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Very busy today with family and friends. I do intend to post some more SBL thoughts and photos, but it may be a while. I'm also planning to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Balboa Park tomorrow. I'll let you know what I think.

A BRIEF PROFILE OF THE MEGIDDO EXCAVATION:

Digging Biblical History At 'The End Of The World'
ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2007) — Tel Aviv University archaeologists are studying Tel Megiddo, the New Testament location of "Armageddon," and unearthing truths about King Solomon.

Some come to dig the archeological site at Tel Megiddo because they are enchanted by ancient stories of King Solomon. Others come because they believe in a New Testament prophecy that the mound of dirt will be the location of a future Judgment Day apocalyptic battle. Hence the second, rather more chilling name for the site: "Armageddon."

Tel Megiddo has been the subject of a number of decisive battles in ancient times (among the Egyptian, Hebrew and Assyrian peoples) and today it holds a venerated place in archaeology, explains site co-director and world-renowned archeologist Prof. Israel Finkelstein.

[...]

Looks accurate, although the author needs to learn how to spell "lightning."

A SYNAGOGUE FIND IN THE GALILEE:

Remains Of Ancient Synagogue With Unique Mosaic Floor Found In Galilee
ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2007) — Remains of an ancient synagogue from the Roman-Byzantine era have been revealed in excavations carried out in the Arbel National Park in the Galilee under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The excavations, in the Khirbet Wadi Hamam, were led by Dr. Uzi Leibner of the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology and Scholion -- Interdisciplinary Research Center in Jewish Studies.

[...]

The excavators were surprised to find in the eastern aisle of the synagogue a mosaic decoration which to date has no parallels -- not in other synagogues, nor in art in Israel in general from the Roman-Byzantine period. The mosaic is made of tiny stones (four mm. in size) in a variety of colors. The scene depicted is that of a series of woodworkers who are holding various tools of their trade.

Near these workers is seen a monumental structure which they are apparently building. According to Dr. Leibner, since Biblical scenes are commonly found in synagogue art, it is possible that what we see in this case is the building of the Temple, or Noah's ark, or the tower of Babel. The mosaic floor has been removed from the excavation site and its now in the process of restoration.

[...]

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: The San Francisco Chronicle has a summary of the current state of play regarding the Iron Age II artifacts found on the Temple Mount during the Waqf's latest digging project.

Temple Mount discovery leads to dispute in Jerusalem

Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Sunday, November 18, 2007

(11-18) 04:00 PST Jerusalem --

Israeli archaeologists say that ancient remains from the era of Solomon's Temple were discovered last month for the first time on the holiest site for Judaism, reigniting a historical and political debate over an area that also is holy to Muslims.

[...]

Much of it is a rehash of old news, but the following is new:

However, Yusif Natsheh, a Waqf archaeologist, disputed the findings.

"I was present throughout this work and neither I, nor any Waqf official, recall seeing these items in the trench," said Natsheh. "I only heard about them in the press, weeks after the work was finished. If they were found, then why were they taken outside the compound?"

Natsheh said the trench was less than 3 feet deep and wondered how the Israeli archaeologists could hit a layer dating back to the First Temple without first slicing through the Byzantine and Roman periods, which logically would be above them.

"All of this archaeology and science in Jerusalem is manipulated for different political attitudes," said Natsheh. "It is not archaeology, it is not history, it is just spoiled politics."

Seligman dismissed Natsheh's accusation as "outrageous. Categorically, 100 percent of these findings came from the Temple Mount, and we stake our reputation on that."

I simply do not believe that the Israeli archaeologists are salting the site. As for the stratification, the Herodian architects presumably used a lot of fill from the demolition of the previous site when they built the Temple Platform, and it's not surprising to find pockets of earlier material in the mix. Or at least that's one possible guess at what's going on. When people take it upon themselves to carry out construction without controlled scientific excavation on an important site like this one, this is what you get.

CONSTRUCTION HAS BEEN HALTED at a Tel Aviv building site due to the discovery of ancient material remains:

Ancient artifacts found at Tel Aviv building site

Construction of luxurious skyscraper in city's north halted after Israel Antiquities Authority finds Byzantine relics on site, launches exploratory dig

Ofer Petersburg
Published: 11.20.07, 11:01 / Israel Money (Ynetnews.com)

Gazit-Globe's latest real estate venture in northern Tel Aviv came to a surprising halt recently, after an initial land survey discovered an archeological site on the premises, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.

The land survey, preformed by the Israel Antiquities Authority, discovered traces of antique pottery, presumed to be from the Byzantine era (4th to 15th centuries A.D), as well as evidence of an ancient wine-press.

Archeologists believe the area use to be a Philistine settlement. The first archeological findings in the area were made in the late 1940s, when pottery scribes discovered there were identified as ancient shipment logs dating back to the days of the First Temple.

[...]

LANE'S ARABIC-ENGLISH LEXICON IS ONLINE in a very convenient format, courtesy of David Instone-Brewer.

(Via Peter Williams at Evangelical Textual Criticism.)

THE ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY responds to the claims of the Turkish report on the Mughrabi Gate excavations:

Responding to the Turkish paper's report, The Israeli Foreign Ministry said: "Israel is cooperating fully with UNESCO, which had sent a professional team to the site of the dig and published a report refuting all the allegations against Israel.

"UNESCO has established a process that involves international institutions in the Israeli operations near the Mugrabi Gate, including Jordan and the Waqf. The archeological findings uncovered in the area are known to all, and work to disprove the claims against Israel."

Background here.

For the UNESCO report, see here.