I am most pleased to report that a major headlined story on our UNC Charlotte sponsored Mt Zion archaeological excavation has just appeared in the Jerusalem Post: “Jerusalem: “Rare 2nd Temple Inscription Found”

The story is already on-line and will appear in tomorrow’s paper. You can read the full story with color photos on-line at this link:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1248277923672&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

I have already offered a preliminary report on some of the initial results of our excavation this season in the previous entry of this Blog, but until now we had not gone public with these important finds–especially the rare inscription, yet to be fully deciphered. It appears, according to several experts, that the text is purposely cryptic, with the possibilities of letters written in both directions, upside down, and maybe even backwards. It is also not entirely clear that it is Aramaic and Stephen Pfann, of the University of the Holy Land, is leaving open the possibility that it is Hebrew. He has also suggested that the text might have had meaning within a closed circle of priests, similar to texts at Qumran. We are still hopeful we can “crack it,” but it is going to take some time. Various experts are now looking at it. Gibson and I made the decision early on not to hide it under a bushel but put it out to responsible parties who can then collectively apply their expertise.

The story in the Jerusalem Post mentions other important finds as well, including a housing complex with a well preserved mikveh (ritual bath) from the 2nd Temple period, as well as a room with two ovens–also dating to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.

You can read more about our excavation, and keep up with the latest developments, at our main Web site, which is being continually updated: http://digmountzion.com

More to come…

James Tabor

A PDF version of this report is available here and can be downloaded and circulated: MtMionJulyUpdate.

I wanted to offer a preliminary update report on the Mt Zion Excavation in Jerusalem after three weeks of digging. The results have been simply astounding, the finds quite spectacular, and the whole area has been transformed. I would dare say that those who have seen the site in past years would hardly recognize it. We owe much to our loyal team of 50 registered participants, averaging 30 per week, who have sacrificed their own money, time, and hard labor to advance this important effort. Given the times, with the pressures of the recession, many excavations have had to either cancel or severely cut back, due to lack of volunteers. UNC Charlotte is the only university presently digging in Jerusalem that offers students and volunteers a field school experience. This unique opportunity, along with our location in Jerusalem, has been a large part of our appeal. Our site offers an opportunity to uncover all periods of habitation of this important city (from modern through Ottoman, Crusader, Arab, Byzantine, and Jewish periods—all the way back to the Iron Age). Further, our precise location, on the slopes of Mt Zion, overlooking the Kidron and Hinnom valleys and the Mt of Olives, was in ancient times precisely at the center of Herodian/2nd Temple Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. And what’s more, we have extraordinarily well preserved ruins from this 2nd Temple period, culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE.

Our major goals this season have been to remove much of the garden fill and rubble that has accumulated over the past decades so as to get down to the archaeological layers that lie below, with particular emphasis on the 2nd Temple period levels that are preserved to an extraordinary height of 10-12 meters. We began our work on June 14th with two days of manually clearing the site of overgrowth and winter debris. At the same time heavy earthmoving equipment was brought in to remove up to one meter of modern garden fill and tumbled boulders left from the building the modern road that parallels our site. This preparatory work allowed us to concentrate on genuine archaeological layers from antiquity rather than wasting our precious time on debris, fill, and even modern trash layers. As a result the entire site was transformed and has begun now to look like a proper archaeological site. As readers might recall, we are digging in an area that was probed in the 1970s and then abandoned for 40 years! The deep pits and gauged out areas left behind had to be incorporated into our systematic plan to develop a proper archaeological approach to the area. As a result we have had to adopt an “open field” method of digging, rather than a strict grid of squares, however, slowly but surely, the whole site is beginning to make some coherent sense, even to the untrained eye.

Our progress has been amazing and the finds have been quite extraordinary. We will, of course, publish full reports on our Web site later this year but in terms of an overview here are some of our more spectacular finds so far:

1. A stone vessel with an ancient inscription of ten lines written in an archaic Jewish script. Such stone vessels were used in connection with maintaining ritual purity related to Temple worship, and they are found in abundance in areas where the priests lived. We have found a dozen or more on our site over the past three years. However, to have ten lines of text is unprecedented. One normally might find a single name inscribed, or a line or two, but this is the first text of this length ever found on such a vessel. We have shared high-resolution photos with various epigraphic experts in Jerusalem who are working together to try and decipher this text. It is written in a very informal cursive hand and is quite difficult to read.

2. Murex snail shells with holes drilled through them. Prior to our excavation one or two such shells had been found in all of Jerusalem but our site has yielded a half dozen or more. These snails were cultivated at sites along the Mediterranean Sea and a royal blue dye was extracted from them. According to some experts this blue color was used for the priestly garments, as well as the tzitzit or threaded tassels worn by all pious Jews of the period. That so many would be found at our site further supports our supposition that we are in a priestly residential area in terms of the 2nd Temple/Herodian city in the time of Jesus. As we descend into the preserved ruins of the houses of this period perhaps we will learn more of how these snails and their precious dye were used within the city of Jerusalem itself.

3. A fire pit that can be precisely dated to just after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE and the rebuilding of the city by Hadrian following the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 CE. To come upon this level was an amazing thing. Clearly someone had returned to the area after the Roman conflagration and was living outdoors literally on the ruins of Jerusalem, despite its total destruction. Further up the slope of Mt Zion we know that the 10th Legion of the Roman army had their camp. This little glimpse through a window of time, preserved by the fire pit, we found quite moving to contemplate. Our bone expert, Ram Bouchnik, will be examining the type of meal this mysterious “dweller in the ruins” might have prepared.

4. The threshold of a magnificent Fatimid period double gate that led into the Tower just adjacent to our site along the present city wall built by Suleiman “the Magnificant” in the 16th century. Magen Broshi, who had conducted the initial probes on our site in the 1970s, had always insisted there was a gate leading into the city at the tower, despite denials by Avigad and others, who had excavated inside the Jewish Quarter on the other side of the Wall. We also happened upon the rusted metal sign that Broshi had erected at the site at the time proclaiming this as the “Tower Gate” It is entirely possible that this threshold goes back to even earlier times, perhaps as far back as the Ayyubid period of Saladin (1200s CE). This discovery is most significant and will help us in reconstructing the periods of habitation that run through our site and provide a dramatic display for the public of the early and late Arab periods of Jerusalem’s history.

5. An arched doorway with mosaic floor and plastered wall. Last season we had uncovered the top of a plastered wall along the eastern edge of our excavation. We opened an extension of that area and were eventually able to expose the entire arch in situ with the plastered floor below, approximately 4 meters below the present ground surface. Dating is still pending but we are leaning toward Byzantine or Roman, and it is possible there is an earlier floor below. To have intact structures at this depth shows the amazing preservation levels that characterize the Mt Zion site.

6. Exposure of several well preserved 2nd Temple period vaulted chambers likely containing mikvot (ritual baths) and storage areas, similar to what was found by Avigad in the Jewish Quarter. After three weeks of hard work the extensive fill above one barely visible 2nd Temple period vaulted chamber has been removed, allowing access to the room above and its preserved walls, with the floors just centimeters below. Several chambers leading far below the visible structures are now visible and we have indications of multiple vaults under the debris and fill still to be removed. We anticipate going into these vaults and chambers before the end of this season, with the mysteries beyond awaiting us. Since these remains are better preserved than some of those in the Jewish Quarter (Burnt House and Wohl Museum), our anticipation at what might be found, remaining from the Roman destruction in 70 CE, is quite high.

In addition to these highlighted finds we have uncovered multiple coins, intact lamps, ceramic and glass vessels, bits of jewelry, and so forth as one might find in any excavation of ancient Jerusalem from this period.  We have also found two crosses from the Byzantine period. We also collect all bones, metal, and glass fragments, mosaic pieces, plus carbon and plaster samples for dating purposes.

Our dig schedule has been full with many visitors from the archaeological community stopping by to take a look at what we are finding as well as tourists and other groups who happen to come by. We have also had invited lectures for our students and staff from a distinguished roster of experts including Zvi

Greenhut, Tina Wray, Rafi Lewis, Jodi Magness, Tsvika Tsuk, Boaz Zissu, and Joe Zias—as well as your very own Shimon Gibson and James Tabor.

Our dig was shortened from six to four weeks due to financial constraints but we are discussing possibly extending things into a fifth or sixth week, contingent on funding, since we are poised this fourth week just over the well-preserved remains from the 2nd Temple destruction of Jerusalem, with chambers, several tabun (bread ovens), and other features emerging.  It seems important to enter these chambers this season rather than waiting for a year. A skeleton team of volunteers is willing to stay on if we can manage to work this out.

Funding has been extraordinarily tight this season with North Carolina state funds frozen entirely and many donors feeling the pinch of the recession. In order to complete our season, plus a minimum of conservation and post-excavation work, we have inaugurated a Web fund drive (http://digmountzion.com/information/Donations.html) to raise $50,000 by August 31st and we are about 1/3 there. Gifts have ranged from $25 to $3000, with the average around $100. I hope you will join this fund drive and pass on the word to others. I think by pulling together a few hundred of us can easily meet our goal.

Today, Sunday, June 14th we officially inaugurated our 2009 excavations at Mt Zion. There was an air of excitement as our little band of six staff and 30 dedicated volunteers, gathered to clear the site of its winter foliage and wash. Our team this year is drawn from around the world with members from the United States, the UK, Russia, South America, and a half dozen other countries and regions. Our team threw themselves avidly into the first day’s work, even in the blazing heat of the middle of June. The site looks transformed in appearance even after one day–and we have four weeks to go! We truly are expecting great things this year, including descending down in to well preserved intact rooms and chambers from the 2nd Temple destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE.

We are the only academic dig in Jerusalem in the past 30 years, offering a field archaeology school with full academic and scientific methods and oversight. We are also committed to preserving, not destroying, all levels of habitation in Jerusalem, the spiritual capital of the Western world, whether Turkish, Crusader, Arab, Byzantine, Roman, Jewish, or Canaanite. Our site, situated on the slopes of Mt. Zion, the highest peak of the “seven hills” of Jerusalem, has the advantage of sloping down to the south east and thus preserving a chronological record of “Jerusalem through the Ages.”

I have mentioned in previous posts that it costs a minimum of $90,000 to run a dig for a season, and given our recession, and a freeze in state funding through UNC Charlotte, we have less than half of what we need. I have had several people write and ask–why is archaeology so expensive? I can tell you it is not the wages paid to our students–they get none, but actually pay to dig with us–plus all their expenses. It is not the salaries of the staff–there are none. Most archaeologists sacrifice their time and energy as a labor of love and commitment to the field. It sort of gets in one’s blood. The costs almost all have to do with the logistics of soil moving and disposal, especially in an urban area, vehicle rentals, supplies and materials, tools and equipment, storage and curation of artifacts, and scientific tests. Even $90,000 is a lean budget and does not include conservation and post-excavation costs as explained in this report.

For example, today we had a large earth moving front loader with a fleet of trucks lined up to remove one meter of modern garden fill around the parameters of our site.  Five days works comes to $10,000, and that is just the beginning, as we will have multiple truckloads of soil removed over the next four weeks, as we carefully dig back through the the stratigraphic layers.

I hope readers of my Blog will consider joining our Web fund drive. I think the only way to fund archaeology during the recession is to take it to be people. We have raised nearly $10,000 with 91 contributers just in the past couple of weeks, but our drive seems to have stalled a bit since June 11th when I left to travel over here to Israel. Please join us and be a part of this historic and exciting endeavor by going directly to the Dig Mount Zion and “Pitching In” at any amount. You can also follow our progress there.

How does one fund an archaeological excavation in a serious recession?

In just over two weeks from now, on June 14, we will begin our 2009 season of excavating at our Mt Zion site. Although we are just outside the present Old City Wall, outside Zion Gate, we are actually well inside the ancient walls of Jerusalem, in fact the spot we are digging is pretty much “center city” as things were 2000 years ago.

The three questions I get most often when I lecture on our Mt Zion excavation are: 1) How do you choose where to dig and what are you hoping to find? 2) How do you get permission to carry out an excavation? 3) What does it cost to run an archaeological dig and who pays for it?

That this area of Jerusalem even exists without modern buildings over it, allowing us to excavate, and that it is well preserved due to centuries of debris, truly makes this one of the most exciting excavations in Israel. This summer we will be coming down upon Roman period ruins and uncovering layers that have been untouched since the destruction of the city in 70 AD/CE by the Romans! I can’t think of a more exciting place to dig. We are truly privileged to have our connection to this site through Dr. Shimon Gibson, based on his history of working in Jerusalem.

Our Mt Zion dig is also the only academic excavation, sponsored by a university (UNC Charlotte), taking place in Jerusalem. Most excavations these days are carried out by the Antiquities Authority or other institutions using hired workers, but we actually run a field school for four weeks, with academic credit available. In order to dig anywhere in Israel one must obtain various permits. It is a complex process, with various political ramifications, and nothing is guaranteed.  Excavating in Jerusalem is even more complex because one must deal with several entities, including the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Parks Authority, and the Jerusalem municipality. The good news is that we have everything now arranged for 2009 and are ready to begin.

I am also pleased to report that we have 50 participants officially registered to join us as “team members” spread over the four weeks. This is really quite extraordinary in these economic times when it would be easy to postpone participation in a dig like this to another year. The people coming are diverse in age, background, and experience and judging from the applications we could not have put together a better group. Their enthusiasm and dedication is contagious and exciting.

So with everything in place how are things funded? And more specifically, how do you fund an archaeological excavation during an economic recession? Even though things are very tight, with a spending freeze in place in many states, including North Carolina, we still find there are lots of loyal donors and friends of our Project who want to help us with funding. In order to reach beyond our present very dedicated donor base we have initiated a Web Funding Drive. So far it is going very well indeed and we invite readers to take a look.

If you go to our main Web site (http://digmountzion.com) you will find the “Pitch In” logo on the opening information page, as well as at our Donations link:

http://digmountzion.com/information/donations.html

You can make a secure donation on-line instantly by using a Paypal account or a credit or debit card. It is not necessary to open a Paypal account to use this service. If you prefer to write a check you should make it to The Foundation for Biblical Archaeology and mark it “Mt Zion 2009,” mailing it to TFBA, 2659 Freedom Parkway, Suite 307, Cummings, GA 30041. All contributions are tax deductible and you will promptly receive a receipt. Also, TFBA does not take any overhead to act as our vendor in this way, for which we are very grateful to Sheila Bishop, founder and president. That means 100% of what is given goes directly to our excavation costs.

Also, our main Web site is rich with information about the dig, its history, photos, and videos, see http://digmountzion.com. There is lots to browse and quite easy to get “hooked” on this exciting Project.

Thanks to Mark Elliot and the editors of the newly revived Web site Bible Interpretation for carrying a featured article on the latest report on our very exciting Mt Zion excavation in Jerusalem. You can read the report with pictures here. Bible Interpretation was, in my view, one of the finest sites on-line and it is great to see it back, up and running.

For more general information on the upcoming 2009 Dig Season at Mt Zion, as well as full reports, videos, pictures, and a history of this important excavation see our main Web site:

digmountzion.com

We accept volunteers of all ages and walkd of life and students from any accredited college or university in the United States can enroll for academic credit. Please write me directly with any questions or comments: jdtabor@uncc.edu