News reports about Canaanite genetic research, linking ancient Canaanites with the modern residents of Lebanon, flooded the news last week. The news reports had some issues that we took up in this interview with Cynthia Shafter-Elliott, who teaches Hebrew Bible and Archaeology at William Jessup University in Rocklin, California.
We also got an update on Cynthia’s excavation work at Tel Halif in the southern part of Israel and talked about the Israelite 4-Room House.
Steve Ortiz
Tel Gezer, a benchmark site in biblical archaeology, has been under excavation for the past ten years by Steve Ortiz and Sam Wolff (co-directors). During this year’s final season of excavation, the remains of two adults and one child were found in a destruction layer dated to about 1200BC.
In this 2-part interview we talk with Steve Ortiz about the results of their excavation, what they know about those three skeletons, and why Gezer was such a hard city to conquer, for the Israelites, the Egyptians, and the Philistines, who were all in the area at the time.
The image on the Shroud of Turin
Shiloh excavation director Scott Stripling, featured in our last two programs, also participated in a research project for the Shroud of Turin during a trip to Israel several months ago. The project involved limestone particles that have been found on the shroud, and a visit to the underground tombs at the Ecole Biblique, which are adjacent to the Garden Tomb.
During the interview Scott referenced an article that he and colleague Abigail Leavitt wrote for the BibleArchaeology.org website. He also referenced a study of the Garden Tomb done by archaeology Gabi Barkay, and written up for Biblical Archaeology Review in 1986, which is the definitive archaeological report on the Garden Tomb.
The Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.
Scott Stripling is once again our guest to report on the end of the Associates for Biblical Archaeology excavation in Israel, this year at Shiloh, since they have closed the excavations at Khirbet el-Maqatir. Shiloh, of course, was the location of the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant for most of the almost 400 years (by the biblical account), between the time of the exodus and conquest and the establishment of the temple in Jerusalem in Solomon’s time.
Many years ago an archaeologist told me that there wasn’t much left to excavate at Shiloh but that is apparently not the case, as Scott fills us in on what happened during this first season and what they are looking for in the seasons to come.
(illustration from the 1728 Figures de la Bible; illustrated by Gerard Hoet (1648–1733) and others, and published by P. de Hondt in The Hague; image courtesy Bizzell Bible Collection, University of Oklahoma Libraries, via Wikipedia.)
Dead Sea Scroll scholars and archaeologists (clockwise from upper left) Yigael Yadin, William F. Albright, Roland DeVaux, and John Trever.
Twenty years ago, on the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, I produced a 14-minute documentary featuring audio I had collected for my radio program from presentations and interviews.
I also included audio from a series of public radio programs produced by University of Wisconsin professor Menahem Mansoor, from tape recordings which he bequeathed to me. These recordings included observations from William F. Albright (whom he had studied under), Yigael Yadin, and Roland DeVaux–key figures in the discovery and excavation of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran community.
I am presenting this program from The Book & The Spade archives to mark the 70th anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Peter Flint
From our archives we present an interview from 20 years ago, when the half-century anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was being observed. Peter Flint, a South African scholar who was a world leader in Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship, directed the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University in British Columbia.
We were sorry to hear that he passed away last November. He was 65 years old. Peter Flint was a gracious and informative guest and we were very pleased that we got to have him on TB&TS twice.
Sidnie White Crawford
It’s been 70 years since the Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered in a desert cave overlooking the Dead Sea near the ruins of Qumran. The value of that discovery has changed over the years as our understanding of the scrolls has changed. We discuss current perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls with Sidnie White Crawford, a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar and professor of the Hebrew Bible at the University of Nebraska.
Let us know what you're interested in, in terms of future programs.
