DailyHebrew.com

As several readers may know, I will be traveling over the next few days to Zincirli, Turkey (ancient Sam’al, Google map) for the summer excavation by the Oriental Institute (Chicago Chronicle article).  DailyHebrew.com should continue, nevertheless, albeit from Turkey.  My time will be limited so responses to comments and/or emails may be a bit sluggish, but posting should continue as internet access has been promised onsite.

I'm not quite sure how I missed this news story from last month, but here it is:

The ancient tunnel was recently discovered buried beneath rubble, a monument to one of the great dramatic scenes of the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 A.D. The channel was dug beneath what would become the main road of Jerusalem, the archaeology dig's directors, Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said Sunday. Shukron said excavators looking for the road happened upon a small drainage channel that led them to the discovery of the massive tunnel two weeks ago.

Norman Golb weighs in on the significance of the find to the ongoing Qumran debate.

There are only eleven hours left before the voting is completed for the "new" seven wonders of the world.  Assuming the site is not a scam to harvest email addresses, it is nice to see a little media attention on these very important cultural sites.

Those of you who follow this blog regularly know that I limit this site to things related to the Hebrew Bible and attempt to refrain from engaging in personal assertion and opinionated propaganda (i.e. politics).  However, this post requires a comment on the intersection of these two conversations. 

A recent AP report, concerning archeological playing cards being issued to US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, reads:

Some 40,000 new decks of playing cards will be sent to troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan — as part of an awareness program so troops can help preserve the heritage of those countries…It's aimed at making troops aware they shouldn't pick up and bring home artifacts and also to avoid causing damage to sites — such as an incident after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when U.S. troops built a helicopter pad on the ruins of Babylon and filled their sandbags with archaeological fragments from the ancient city

Setting aside the pedestrian messages on the cards (see the image on the right), one must admit that the protection of the said artifacts and archeological sites is an admirable goal.

This brings to mind a comment made in one of my archeology classes by Mac Gibson, one of the foremost Mesopotamian archeologists of the last century, in which he said that when a country assumes the responsibility of regime change it takes on the duty to protect not only the country’s economic but also its cultural assets.  Regardless of what you think about the merits of the Iraq situation, whether good or ill, we all must agree that the protection of Iraq’s archeological heritage is absolutely essential.  The question should not be, as the seven of clubs queries, “This site has survived 17 centuries. Will it and others survive you?” but ‘Why have these cards not been issued earlier?’

The recent unveiling at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem of an Exodus fragment which may date to the 7^th or 8^th century CE is getting quite a bit of media coverage.  The most recent article at Artdaily.org includes an excellent picture of the first few verses of Exodus 15.  The text visible in the image is identical to the consonants of the MT (colored red below; the layout may not reflect the pagination of the fragment).

MT:

Exodus Fragment:

The final verses of “the Song of the Sea” from the Leningrad Codex:

 As always Jim Davila is on top of the story here and here.