We first headed out of Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. We went to the Eretz Israel Museum, which was first founded as an archaeological sight upon Tell Qasileh. The museum has expanded its interests quite a bit since that time, so the archaeological remains are not as well cared for and displayed as our teacher would like, but they were interesting. We saw the remains of a Philistine temple (apparently destroyed and rebuilt 3 times). Here's a pasted together photo of that. The different numbers in different colors point out areas of the temple during different phases.
If you look at the larger version of the picture you should be able to see three different colored #1's. The red one and the brown one represent the entrances of the 1st and 3rd temples (respectively) with stone thresholds. Of course, as soon as a threshold in a Philistine temple is mentioned, everyone's mind immediately jumps to 1 Samuel 5. :) Just in case your mind didn't quite make the connection, I'll summarize the story. The Philistines had captured the Ark of God and they put it in the temple of their god, Dagon. The next morning, Dagon had fallen face forward in front of the ark. They set him up again and the next morning, not only had he fallen, his head and hands were broken off on the threshold. Of course, what finding this means for the Biblical account is debated. The thoughts my professor gave were interesting, though probably not the direction I would go with it. At any rate, it is interesting.
On top of the Philistine site a new civilization moved in around 1000BC. They brought with them the four-roomed house (shown below with my professor) and collared-rimmed jars. Both of these are characteristic of Israelite civilization. Since David is thought to have lived around 1000BC, it is fairly likely that this is a Philistine town conquered by David and then settled by Israelites.
We didn't have time to visit a lot of the museum, but we did stop into their hall of pottery. It's a bit strange, but I find that the longer I'm here and the more I learn, the more excited I get about things like potsherds and other material remains of ancient civilizations. I guess it follows my theory that the more you know about something, the more you tend to appreciate it. Anyway, in this area we got to actually see in the flesh quite a few things that we had heard referenced in various classes.
Execration Texts (Egyptian "Voodoo"):
Household Idols from the Golon:
A butter churn from the Chalcolithic Age:
An ossuary with a nose, possibly from the coastal plain, though they were found all over, also dating to the Chalcolithic Age:
After that excitement we got back on the bus and headed a little way out of Tel Aviv to a hill topped with the remains of a small Israelite settlement. This is apparently one of the best preserved, earliest Israelite settlements. Here there were also three different phases, one of which was basically a large 4-room house with a couple "out buildings." There are a couple interesting things at this site.
The first is an ostracon that was found in a pit at this site. This is somewhat odd for a couple reasons. For one thing, this was a tiny settlement, and it was far removed from the center of Israelite civilization. One expects some amount of literacy near the center of government, but not necessarily on the outposts. Second, the letters are very irregular, though recognizable. There are 4 lines of writing on this ostracon and the first three make no sense. The fourth is recognizable as an alphabet. Someone has suggested that this was a child's school exercise. My professor doesn't like this explanation because of the size and placement of the settlement - it seems hardly the sort of place to support a school. He doesn't have a better explanation, though, so who knows? (See below a sign with a picture of the ostracon.)
The second object of interest in this settlement is its location. It is located on a hill above the ancient city of Aphek. Of course, the mention of "Aphek" together with some mention of and Israelite presence again make everyone's mind jump to the Bible, this time to 1 Samuel 4:2. Here we find the Philistines encamped at Aphek and the Israelites encamped at a place called "Ebenezer." An "Ebenezer" is again mentioned in 1 Samuel 7:12. Is it possible that this hill is the location of one or both of those events? Maybe. It's not certain, but with that possibility, the sight has been named "Ebenezer."
From there we moved on, passing the Jewish settlement of Ariel, arriving at Shiloh in time to eat a quick lunch before touring the site. This is the second time I've been at Shiloh in as many weeks. But I really like the area, so that's ok. :) I hope to go back in the spring too, and see all the wild flowers. There are enough even now to make me think that it will be amazing. (Really prickly, though!) However, what we learned was fairly similar to what we went over the previous time we were there, so I won't spend much time on that. Here's a picture, just for fun:
The next placed we stopped was near Michmash, where the Philistines were encamped in 1 Samuel 13:16. It was right around this area that the events of 1 Sam. 14 (Jonathan's heroic actions) took place. It's a good story. Read it and keep this sort of landscape in mind:
The last stop of the evening was at what is generally thought to be Gibeah of Saul. It is marked today by the shell of what was to be King Hussein of Jordan's Jerusalem Palace...until he choose the wrong side in the 6 day war. There has been some excavation done at that sight, but not much for us to look at. We mostly spent the time looking over the Benjamin Plateau and locating various places on the horizon. The picture below is the remains of a pillar with the tower of Nebi Samwil (which some people think is the location of Mizpah) in the background.
That was our trip!
Tonight starts Yom Kippur, probably the most holy and sombre day of the whole year.
This weekend (starting Saturday) we're going on a three day trip to the Shephela, Negev, and Dead Sea, so expect a long report at the end of that. :)
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