archaeology

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What Is… A Cistern?

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Not just a hole in the ground. A cistern opening on Givat Oz, in Gush Etzion.

With this post today, I am inaugurating a new feature on the blog. I decided to begin writing a series of short posts that define terms and ideas that come up frequently while touring Israel. Some are unique to this country, others are universal. But I figured it would be a good reference. To see all of the entries in this “lexicon” in the future, you will be able to simply click on the category. I am going to be adding the category to a previous post that I think fits in nicely as well.

That being said, on to this post’s topic: cisterns!

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Tour: Beit Guvrin-Maresha

Monday, March 15th, 2010

The Columbarium Cave at Maresha

There are many sites in Israel that I still need to visit. Numerous places I’ve still not yet been to, and plenty of others that I haven’t seen in many, many years. So I can’t yet say what my “favorite” site in this country is.

However, there is one site that I’ve been to twice in the past year (once on a private tour, and then a couple of weeks ago with my course) that has quickly become one of my favorite sites. Beit Guvrin-Maresha is a great site to visit for so many reasons.

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Tour: The Mysteries of Ein Gedi Archaeology

Friday, February 19th, 2010

The beautiful Dead Sea oasis of Ein Gedi. (Seen from Nahal Arugot.)

(Catching up on writing about the siyurim/tours we’ve had so far, this one is from a little over a month ago.)

When most people think of Ein Gedi, they think of a beautiful oasis sandwiched between the cliffs at the end of the Judean Desert and the highly saline Dead Sea, the lowest place on Earth at 422 meters (1385 feet) below sea level. Popular images that spring to mind related to this oasis include gorgeous waterfalls, colorful flowers and delicate ibex bounding along sharp cliffs. Others might think of the date crops that were so closely connected with this area.

But what is somewhat less prominent, but still highly significant, is the wealth of interesting (and at times perplexing) archaeological finds within the Ein Gedi area. I wanted to highlight a couple of the archaeological sites that you might want to see on your next trip to the Ein Gedi park.

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Walking Through First Temple-Era Jerusalem

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

A piece of the wall that surrounded Jerusalem in the time of King Hezekiah.

Our siyur (tour) this past Tuesday started in my backyard, almost literally. We met at the Tayelet / Haas Promenade, a mere 5-minute walk from my apartment in beautiful Arnona, Jerusalem. This scenic outlook offers an excellent spot to view the geography of ancient Jerusalem. From there, we went to a semi-hidden and little known spot called Ketef Hinnom (Shoulder of Hinnom, a valley in Jerusalem), then hiked through Gei Ben-Hinnom / the Hinnom Valley, and came out at the bottom of Ir David / City of David. We spent the rest of the day winding our way up, down and back up again inside this complex and interesting archaeological site.

I am not going to go into too much detail about Ir David, especially since I already discussed it a bit in this post here, but I did want to discuss a few interesting points from throughout the day. I also want to discuss two recent news stories that relate to things we learned about.

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What’s a Tell?

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Tel Beit Shemesh

No, I’m not talking about a poker tell. I’m talking about the kinds of tells that you hear about whenever your travel to Israel (or other parts of the Middle East). Tel Arad, Tel Be’er Sheva or Tel Maresha, for example.

(By the way, you may have noticed the change in spelling from “tell” to “tel.” If so, 10 points for you. More on that distinction later!)

So, what is a tell, anyway?

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