1207 - Christmas in the Holyland

In the early days of The Book & The Spade, we would annually receive a recorded program from the Israel Broadcasting Service called Christmas in the Holyland. They were always well-done and offered great archaeological and cultural background information about the sacred holiday.

Unfortunately only a few of these great programs were saved. This is one from the archives, dating back to 1992. It features Helga Abraham, talking with James Fleming, Father Jerome Murphy O'Connor, and Suzanne Bartel. It's focused on the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Political conditions have changed in Bethlehem since then, but the church still stands and it's story is fascinating.

As a special Christmas gift to blog followers, here's a short video of the discovery of a tomb in Egypt that has not been disturbed for 2600 years.

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1206 - Tall Jalul and Khirbet Omrit

On this week's program we discuss the excavations at Tall Jalul in Jordan, part of the Madeba Plains Project, as well as the Roman ruins at Omrit, possibly the remains of a temple that Herod built to honor Augustus Caesar. These are two excavations that are slightly off the beaten path, but very important for Biblical Archaeology.

1205 - Western Wall Excavation Plans

In 2004, the last time I talked with Jerusalem archaeologist Dan Bahat, he told me about his plans to excavate under the western wall plaza. It seemed like a pretty ambitious plan, but now there are reports that the excavations just might happen. People would still be able to pray at the wailing wall, a platform would be cantilevered out over the excavation area. If the plans proceed as outlined, the first century street that runs along the western wall may be uncovered from the SW corner all of the way to the Via Dolorosa. Meanwhile, other excavations near the Pool of Siloam are revealing the other end of the street. Perhaps it will be uncovered all of the way from the Pool of Siloam to the western wall at some point.

1204 - Hammurabi in Egypt

An exciting find at an ongoing excavation in Egypt. Austrian archaeologist Manfred Bietak has dug up a seal impression connected to the reign of Hammurabi in Babylonia in his excavation at Tel Al-Dabaa in the Nile delta. Tel Al-Dabaa is a very important excavation of the Egyptian capital city once called Avaris and later Pi-Ramses, located in the land of Goshen area where the Israelites had settled.

Also on this program, discussion of an additional find linking the Jordan River Valley and Galilee shore area with Egypt going back to 3,000 B.C.