Friday, October 29, 2010

The danger in doing archaeology

.

Faintly, in the twilight, on the far horizon, the Herodion is just visible.
.
National Geographic describes it like this:
.
"Eight miles south of Jerusalem, where the last stunted olive trees and stony cornfields fade into the naked badlands of the Judaean desert, a hill rises abruptly, a steep cone sliced off at the top like a small volcano. This is Herodium, one of the grand architectural creations of Herod the Great, King of Judaea, who raised a low knoll into a towering memorial of snowy stonework and surrounded it with pleasure palaces, splashing pools, and terraced gardens."
.
Chief excavator of the site for decades and recent discoverer of Herod's tomb, Prof. Ehud Netzer left his beloved Herodion on Monday for the last time, in an ambulance.
A wooden railing on which he was leaning broke and he fell ten feet downward, hit, rolled, and fell another ten feet, breaking his skull and neck.
.
Netzer, in his mid-70s, died yesterday and was buried this morning.
Israel suddenly lost an outstanding archaeologist.
.
My sympathy to his shocked wife and family. We will all miss Ehud.
May he rest in peace after a life well lived, a country well served, and work well done.
.
Latest news of the accident and burial: Jerusalem Post and Haaretz.
.
National Geographic's story of King Herod and Ehud Netzer (note, however, that the first photo is Masada and not Herodion)
.
If you are in the USA you can see National Geographic's "King Herod's Lost Tomb" on streaming Netflix.
.
Photos of Herod's just recently exposed royal theater box
.
Prof. Netzer's biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Netzer
.

10 comments:

  1. I was in shock in the morning when I read about the death of Netzer. Las yeat I visited Herodion and the tomb.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Salute to his commendable dedication to his profession. May his legacy live on and become an inspiration to other scientist working in his field.

    -----
    Thank you for sympathy for the disasters that have recently hit my country, Dina.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my goodness. How shocking and sad.

    May his memory be for a Loving Blessing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh no! How awful! It's scary to think you never know when an accident can happen. My aunt just fell yesterday and hit her head on the steps. Thank goodness she's recovering OK.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shalom, Dina!
    I finally managed to come here and THANK YOU! Hope everything's fine with you!!
    Have a nice weekend!

    Raquel, the Sailor

    ReplyDelete
  6. You've written a great tribute to Professor Ehud Netzer. It's such a loss for Israel. I read the articles about him in the Jerusalem Post and National Geographic. I understand now how important he was.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My sincere condolences. His work will surely stand out of time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. One of my Eagan Rotary club fellow members is leaving next week for Tel Aviv and 12 days in the Holy Land. I thought of you when he was talking up his trip!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am quite ashamed of my ignorance about him and very sorry for what happened.
    By the way, I have never been at the Herodion.

    ReplyDelete


Thanks for your comment!
Comment moderation is on so I will see any new comments even on older posts!