Highlights of the 1999 Diggings Tour
Lebanon has been badly scarred by the civil war which raged there for twelve years and it is only now that political circumstances have settled down enough for us to put this country on our itinerary. Our first destinations were Tyre and Sidon and next day we visited Baalbek and Byblos. As we were seeing these places for the first time in many years, they were of intense interest to us.
From Beirut we travelled in our comfortable bus over the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains with snow-capped Mount Hermon rising 10,000 feet in the background. Crossing the border into Syria was a bit tedious. A large number of locals crowded the border. Ours seemed to be the only tourist busload officials had to deal with and things moved slowly.
Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city in the Middle East, probably in the world, and it is remarkable that the street called "Straight", which runs in a straight line for some 3km should have existed over the millennia. With no town planners or council building regulations, most cities just grew, with houses being erected next to each other and streets twisting in all directions. This street is very different.
At the entrance of the street called "Straight" there is a portion of a very old wall which gives a lot of atmosphere to the site. At the other end there is a house built over the city gate. This is supposed to be the house where Saul was let down in a basket to escape arrest at the hands of Arestas the king. Paul later wrote, "In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to apprehend me; but I was let down through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands." (2 Corinthians 11:32, 33)
Obviously the governor's troops would be guarding the gates of the city and it is absurd to suggest that the house from which Paul escaped should be right over the city gate. This is a glaring example of the unreliability of traditional sites, which were mostly chosen centuries after it all took place.
From Damscus we travelled further south, crossing the border into Jordan, the second border crossing for us that day. A short journey brought us to Jerash, the best preserved Roman city in the Middle East. . . .
Next day we travelled south to Petra. The only new development there is that the Byzantine church is now open to tourists. This church and the neighbouring monastery, in which were found some charred scrolls, was discovered and excavated in 1990 but has not been accessible to visitors before.
Our next bus then took us across the Sinai desert to the tunnel under the Suez Canal and then to Cairo. Next morning it was an early flight to Abu Simbel and Aswan. Nothing has changed there except tightened security and the same can be said about Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. The security at Hatshepsut's temple where the massacre took place two years ago was particularly noticeable.
Back in Cairo we visited the Egyptian Museum. As previously reported, the Tutankhamun room has been renovated. Natural light through the windows has been excluded and the subdued artificial lighting, which is supposed to provide atmosphere, is disastrous for photography - and there are even fewer treasures on display. (Every year the number of exhibits seems to decrease.) We can hope that the proposed new Tutankhamun Museum will enable lots more items to go on display, but that is not in the foreseeable future.
The much-heralded Hetepheres room has been opened in the museum. A host of treasures were recovered from her tomb, but the items now on display are an anti-climax. Nothing of real value is shown, just her reconstructed bed and a few insignificant artifacts - most of which were already on display anyway!
On our last day in Egypt we visited the Bent Pyramid, the Red Pyramid and the pyramids of Abusir. Much publicity has been given to the opening to the public of these pyramids, but we found that they have still not been officially opened. We had to make special arrangements for our group to visit the site.
We flew from Cairo to Tel Aviv. At Kibbutz Ginnosar, where the 2,000 year old boat found 15 years ago is displayed, visitors are presented with an informative video picturing the exciting discovery of this boat. Scenes included the brothers who first saw the remains by the shore of the lake. At the end of the screening we were delighted to meet Uval, one of the discoverers of this ancient boat. He happened to be visiting the museum and was happy to be introduced to our group.
Next day we crossed the Lake of Galilee in one of the many "Jesus Boats" that now ply the lake. Soon after the discovery of the Ginnosar boat some bright Jewish businessman thought up the idea of building a replica and offering it for pilgrims to use. The idea quickly caught on and is popular with pilgrims and tourists alike.
Most pilgrims like to stop the boat in the middle of the lake and have a religious service. Ours was not a pilgrimage but our captain, Danny, stopped the boat anyway. He demonstrated how fishermen cast their nets into the water and assured us that he would catch some fish. In fact, he was so positive about it that he promised us that if he caught no fish he himself would walk on the water.
The inevitable happened - the net came up empty. Undaunted Danny poured out a jug of water onto the deck and walked on it. We admired his sense of humour!
For many years it has been inadvisable to travel through central Palestine, but things have settled down considerably and this year we chose to return to Jerusalem via Samaria and Nablus. Before the political disturbances our groups have visited Shiloh, but we always had it to ourselves. It is off the beaten track and there is nothing spectacular to see at the site. Now things have changed considerably. The nearby kibbutz has decided to make a shekel out of it. A gate has been erected over the road and admission can only be obtained on payment of 8 shekels per visitor.
Dr Israel Finklestein excavated Shiloh from 1981 to 1984. Naturally the foremost question to be answered was whether there was any evidence to support the Bible story of the Israelite sanctuary at Shiloh. Finklestein's answer is "no". He found a lot of Late Bronze pottery at Shiloh - and Late Bronze is usually associated with the period of the Judges - but claimed that it had been dumped there and "was not associated with any architectural remains." (Shiloh, the Archaeology of a Biblical Site, p. 43) In fact, he refers to Shiloh during the Late Bronze "when the site was not occupied by a settlement." (p. 45)
However if we accept the revised chronology, which places the Exocus in the time of Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt, the erection of the sanctuary would have occurred during the Middle Bronze Period. For this period Finklestein found convincing evidence that Shiloh was a cult centre. Massive walls were built and animal bones testify to the sacrifice of sheep and goats. Just down hill to the north of the city centre a platform has been cut out of the limestone bedrock. It is orientated east-west as the Biblical account requires and is 75 feet wide, which was the width of the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle.
While the group was looking over the Shrine of the Book, where the Dead Sea Scrolls are displayed, I took the opportunity to visit Dr Rudolph Cohen, who has now retired as head of the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Dr Cohen is also of the view that the MB II people should be identified as the Israelites and he told me that all the archaeologists working in the Negev, where the Israelites first entered Palestine, hold the same view.
On May 17 fifteen of our group flew to Istanbul for the last phase of the tour. For the remaining twenty-six there was still the dig at our site of Maresha.
