Archaeologist, beware!

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Now that you are fortified with yesterday's post's pomegranate juice, let us get back to a weightier subject for today's Taphophile Tragics.

"The Kidron Valley is the boundary between the living . . . and the dead . . ."
So begins the City of David's sign perched on the side of the valley.
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Kindly click on the photo to read about Jerusalem's cemetery from 2,000 years ago.

The photo above can be enlarged too, so you can see the ancient inscription found in the burial cave.
The inscription, discovered in 1874, may relate to the Prophet Isaiah's words (22:16).

It says

This is [the grave of ] [... iahu] who is over the house. There is no silver or gold here, but [his bones (i.e. the deceased's)] and the bones of his maid servant with him.
Cursed be the man who will open this.

The City of David interpretation suggests this may refer to the royal overseer at the court of King Hezekiah, Shebna, whom Isaiah castigated for carving himself an opulent tomb in Jerusalem.

In this zoom shot you can make out at least five of these tomb entrances in between the houses in the Arab village of Silwan.
With a click on the photo and then another click, you should see some kids tending their goats.

Just to the left of Silwan begins the huge Mt. of Olives cemetery.
Jews have been, and continue to be, buried there for thousands of years.
The rows of graves stretch from the Kidron all the way up to the top of the mountain.
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(Isaiah, inscription, interpretation, and interment are all "I" words for today's ABC Wednesday meme.)
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Archaeology evening, Part 2

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Here is one of the guides who explained the Givati Parking Lot excavations on Thursday, as part of the 13th annual City of David conference.
He is showing the buried treasure that was found there in recent years.
Like the hoard of 264 gold coins, never used, in mint condition, dated to 613 CE, worth over half a million dollars today!

A British woman volunteer found the money in the wall of this Byzantine building.
This dig in the Arab village of Silwan, right next to the Old City, is the biggest on-going excavation in Israel.

The other items in the guide's photo are a tile with the stamp of the Roman Tenth Legion and a 2,000 year old earring of gold, pearl, and emerald.
Got $180 (less a holiday discount)? --You, too, can buy a pair of earrings, replicas of this beautiful Roman Period find.
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Last night's demonstration in Jerusalem

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The young woman with the bullhorn led the slogan-chanting of the demonstrators.
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I came up behind them, as I was just exiting the big Givati Parking Lot Dig where guided tours of the excavation were going on.

I had to cross the street to get to the annual City of David Archaeology conference.
I needed to squeeze between the many Border Police to get this photo.
The policemen outnumbered the demonstrators, it looked like.

The narrow street leads from the Arab Silwan up to the southern wall of the Old City.
To the left is the Dung Gate into the Old City.
The dome you see is El Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount.
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I'll tell you more about the conference itself in the coming posts.

If you want to try to understand the reason for yesterday's demonstration, please see my earlier post http://jerusalemhillsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.il/2010/09/trouble-in-jerusalem.html.
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The stuff of archaeologists' dreams

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The "4th International Festival of Light in the Old City of Jerusalem" is in full swing.

This animated line of dig "volunteers" swinging buckets of excavated dirt from one to another was my favorite part!
It looked so life-like I wanted to join them!

Enlarge the photo and you can find the one guy down on the ladder, heaving the heavy buckets up over his head.

Meanwhile projectors went on and off, highlighting different areas of the big dig going on at the Givati Parking Lot.
It's just outside the Old City wall, next to the City of David.

Adding to the atmosphere was the background music--the clicking of many small pickaxes on ancient stones.
From time to time pictures of the discovered treasures lit up the back wall.
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These scenes in the quiet Jerusalem night were heartwarming; I felt proud and lucky to be an archaeology worker in Jerusalem.

This best part of the Light Festival could very well be an illustration of what archaeologists dream about at night.
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Mysterious Vs in the bedrock

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Photo from the City of David website

A week ago, just in time for ABC Wednesday's V-Day, mysterious V-shaped carvings in the limestone beneath present-day Jerusalem were discovered during excavations.
Archaeologists of the dig are puzzled by the cuts in the rock in the City of David.
They are around 3,000 years old.

The Washington Posts says,
"Israeli diggers who uncovered a complex of rooms carved into the bedrock in the oldest section of the city recently found the markings: Three "V'' shapes cut next to each other into the limestone floor of one of the rooms, about 2 inches (5 centimeters) deep and 50 centimeters long. There were no finds to offer any clues pointing to the identity of who made them or what purpose they served."

Now this is where YOU come in!
If you have seen anything similar anywhere in the world, the archaeologists ask you to contribute that knowledge and help solve the mystery.

Go to the City of David site here and click on the photo to leave your answer.

Or if we just want to have fun and think of funny uses, you can write them in my comments section.
Over 20,000 have replied (not to me!).
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For the full story and more photos see
AP article in Washington Post or the Jerusalem Post article.

See ideas about the Vs at Todd Bolen's BiblePlaces Blog, e.g. one of his readers, A.B. Crysler, suggested this:
"The grooves in the limestone were used by the fullers to whiten clothes. II Kings 18:17 - ...they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field. See also Isaiah 7:3 and 36:2."

I had to look up the word "fuller." It means a workman who fulls (cleans and thickens) freshly woven cloth.

OK, good luck!
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UPDATE: More speculation from Tom Powers here in Jerusalem
UPDATE 2: At the City of David archaeology conference last night, Sept. 7, 2012, they said that 75,000 answers or speculations were received from all over the world about the mysterious Vs.
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Bridges to archaeology

 One way to allow the public to visit an archaeological site is to build bridges over the old stones.

Dig work can continue beneath  the visitors, as happens here at the City of David, a top tourist destination in Jerusalem.
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These "bridges" are for Sunday Bridges .
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A monk and his cell. A toddler dwelling in safety.

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Psalm 4 today for Robert's "Psalm Challenge" at Daily Athens.
You are welcome to join the little but growing group of blogging Psalm illustrators.
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Psalm 4:
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
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Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

You have enlarged me when I was in distress;

have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah.


But know that the Lord has set apart the pious man for himself;
the Lord will hear when I call to him.
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Tremble, and do not sin;
talk with your own heart on your bed, and be still. Selah.

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
and put your trust in the Lord.
There are many who say, Who will show us good?
Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.
You have put more gladness in my heart
than they have whose grain and wine are increased.

I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
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א לַֽמְנַצֵּחַ בִּנְגִינוֹת מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִֽד: ב בְּקָרְאִי עֲנֵנִי אֱלֹהֵי צִדְקִי בַּצָּר הִרְחַבְתָּ לִּי חָנֵּנִי וּשְׁמַע תְּפִלָּתִֽי: ג בְּנֵי־אִישׁ עַד־מֶה כְבוֹדִי לִכְלִמָּה תֶּאֱהָבוּן רִיק תְּבַקְשׁוּ כָזָב סֶֽלָה: ד וּדְעוּ כִּֽי־הִפְלָה יְהֹוָה חָסִיד לוֹ יְהֹוָה יִשְׁמַע בְּקָרְאִי אֵלָֽיו: ה רִגְזוּ וְֽאַל־תֶּחֱטָאוּ אִמְרוּ בִלְבַבְכֶם עַל־מִשְׁכַּבְכֶם וְדֹמּוּ סֶֽלָה: ו זִבְחוּ זִבְחֵי־צֶדֶק וּבִטְחוּ אֶל־יְהֹוָֽה: ז רַבִּים אֹמְרִים מִֽי־יַרְאֵנוּ טוֹב נְֽסָה־עָלֵינוּ אוֹר פָּנֶיךָ יְהֹוָֽה: ח נָתַתָּה שִׂמְחָה בְלִבִּי מֵעֵת דְּגָנָם וְתִֽירוֹשָׁם רָֽבּוּ: ט בְּשָׁלוֹם יַחְדָּו אֶשְׁכְּבָה וְאִישָׁן כִּֽי־אַתָּה יְהֹוָה לְבָדָד לָבֶטַח תּוֹשִׁיבֵֽנִי
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Trouble in Jerusalem

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Violence erupted yesterday on the eastern side of Jerusalem.

Riots took place in the Palestinian village of Silwan and on and around the Temple Mount.
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The picture above (taken on a quieter day) is from inside Silwan, looking toward the Temple Mount which is just behind the Old City wall.
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Some 40,000 Palestinians live in Silwan, on both sides of the valley.
This photo is taken from the City of David excavations.

Since the 1990s several hundred Jewish settlers have moved in, renovating or building new houses like the ones seen in the pictures above and below.

Over the last four years I have tried to educate myself by taking three tours in Silwan, guided by guides from opposing ends of the political spectrum, from Elad/Ir David to Emek Shaveh to Ir Amim.

The only tour where you actually talk to and listen to the Arab residents of Silwan, in this protest tent, is the one led by the Alternative-Archaeology archaelogists of Emek Shaveh.

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Unfortunately for this blog, but luckily for me, I was not in the fires and the blood of the riots yesterday.

I can only direct you to media reports with slideshows that you can click through:

Haaretz

Jerusalem Post

Ynet Yediot Aharonot
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Signs of W everywhere

White Paper, generally defined as "the British Government White Paper of 1939 that severely limited Jewish immigration to Palestine, sealing the escape route of European Jews prior to World War II. Succumbing to pressure generated during the riots of 1936-1939 ("Arab Revolt") the British limited Jewish immigration to 15,000 per year for five years, after which there would be no more immigrants allowed at all. "
The Etzel, an armed Jewish underground organization in pre-State Israel (during the British Mandate period), bombed the building in protest. Western Union, a way to transfer money abroad. Service inside the Post Office.
WIZO (in Hebrew it's pronounced vitso) is the Women's International Zionist Organization, a movement of Zionist women founded in England in 1920. WIZO volunteers do fine work to improve Israeli society.
I can show you where the ladies run a second-hand shop of housewares and clothes on Hillel Street. ;-)

Watch out when walking in Warren's Shaft water system!
Warren's Shaft in the City of David. It played an important part in bringing water to ancient Jerusalem. Watercourse? -- Some think that this system is the tsinor, translated variously as watercourse or pipe, mentioned in Samuel II 5:7-8, through which David conquered the city from the Jebusites.

Archaeological S words

Stepped stone structure at the City of David.
Sarcophagus at Rockefeller Museum.
Sacks of shards awaiting restoration.
Setting up shade on a sweltering day at one of my summer digs.
Swollen painful hand following stings. My pickaxe must have struck their underground nest in that square shown above. Several wasps flew straight into my work glove. Sh--!! is all she could say.