1202-1203 Top Ten Most Important And Exciting Excavations in Israel

I've never done this before on The Book & The Spade, presented a condensed audio version of one of MY talks on Biblical Archaeology. But the Milwaukee Area Biblical Archaeology Society was kind enough to invite me and I put together a presentation for them covering some of the most important excavations we've featured in recent months on The Book & The Spade and in the pages of ARTIFAX magazine.

It might not be hard to guess what is the top dig on my list: the recently launched excavation at Khirbet Qeiyafa, also known as the Elah Fortress. As I say in my talk, the line between fact and legend in Biblical Archaeology seems to pass through the tenth century, the time of David and Solomon . This is a tenth century site that seems to have a lot of potential to address that debate. No big new discoveries there in 2009, as far as I'm aware, but nonetheless I think this is the most important dig going right now. For the rest of the Top Ten, give a listen, and let me know what you think I've left off.

1201 - Shasu of Yahweh

Even earlier than the Merneptah stele, there's evidence of the Israelites in Egyptian inscriptions. Two tomb inscriptions dating to the reigns of Ramses II and Amenhotep III mention Shasu of Yahweh. Professors Charles Aling and Clyde Billington, my colleagues in producing ARTIFAX, our quarterly magazine, discuss their article on this topic which appears in the latest issue. This information is strong evidence for the early date of the Exodus.

Here's an interesting article:

Excavations have been taking place at Bethsaida, near the NE shore of the Sea of Galilee for almost 25 years. This interesting first century site also has important remains from 1000 B.C., when it may have been the city of Geshur, home of the mother of Absalom. Rami Arav of the University of Nebraska Omaha directs the excavation. UNO has an annual archaeology conference. Here's a report on the most recent conference.

1200 - One million artifacts on display in Israel

A news item got my attention, "One million artifacts on display in Israel." That's where we start our discussion this week. Israel's archaeological riches are on display all over the country, not just in the big museums in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. For instance, I mention a visit to Kibbutz Ein Shemer to do an interview with archaeologist Adam Zertal a number of years back. We sat in a corner of a museum at the kibbutz (shown) that was dedicated to Zertal's archaeology. The rest of the museum focused on Ein Shemer's agricultural history. The Alon museum at Kibbutz Ginosar features "The Jesus Boat," the remains of a 2,000-year old boat found along the shore of the Sea of Galilee in 1986. Just a couple of examples of what's on display all over Israel. Israel has dozens and dozens of museums, which are catalogued on this page.

On this week's program we also discuss recently announced plans by the Israel Antiquities Authority to have private antiquities collectors register their collections with the government. There may be a flood of important archaeological discoveries to come from these collections, numbering around 100,000, IF collectors allow the IAA access to their collections. Not sure how they're going to accept this idea. It'll be interesting to watch.