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Israel and its neighbour are a copious archaeological ground . Hardly a month run by without the dig of some 2,000 - year - old spot of human history . This past twelvemonth was no exception . archaeologist bring out new mosaic , altar , church and villages with association to ancient Hebrew and scriptural texts . They also found new enigma in text themselves . Read on for some of the most intriguing scriptural discoveries of 2019 .
An altar with a tale to tell
A stone Lord’s table discovered in Ataroth , Jordan , is etched withtantalizing clew about a rebellionthat take place more than 2,800 years ago .
The rebellion is cite in the Hebrew Bible , which tells of an uprising by the kingdom of Moab against thekingdom of Israel . According to the Biblical tale , Moab had to yield Israel tribute in the course of lambs and woollen . Then , the king of Moab , Mesha , grow discomfited with this arrangement and raised an army against the with child major power . A stele , or inscribed stone , get a line in 1868 in Dhiban , Jordan , records that Mesha successfully conquered the Israeli - controlled metropolis of Ataroth .
The altar , first turn up in 2010 , was analyse and its contents report in the diary Levant this yr . Its lettering — part written in the Moab script — affirm that Mesha and his army did capture Ataroth , advert the loot of bronze from the defeated metropolis . Another portion of the inscription discover 4,000 foreign men " scattered and abandoned in with child number " and mention a " barren " city .
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Church of the Apostles?
A convoluted - epoch church discovered in northerly Israel may be a long - lost shoes ofworship built above the home of the apostles Peter and Andrew .
The structure was reveal this year near the Sea of Galilee . It dates back about 1,400 years and still hold the corpse of intricate mosaic and carve marble . Its discoverer believe that the Christian church may be on the site of the Jewish fishing village of Bethsaida , the town whereJesus Christis enjoin in the Bible to have fed 5,000 mass with five loaves of bread and two fish . If so , the church could be the legendary " Church of the Apostles , " which was build to honor two of Jesus ' original disciples , one of whom ( Peter ) would become the first leader of the early Christian church .
The claim , however , is disputed by other research worker , who argue that they ’ve been excavating Bethsaida at a nearby internet site called et - Tell . Stay tuned for further excavations that might settle the debate .
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Origin of the Philistines
One of the most challenging Biblical discoveries of 2019 occurred not in desert guts , but in the desoxyribonucleic acid of ancient individuals buried at a Philistine archaeological site .
The DNA analysissuggests that the Philistines descendedfrom people who transmigrate to the Levant ( an field cover the eastern Mediterranean ) from Greece , Sardinia or the Iberian Peninsula some 3,000 years ago .
ThePhilistinesare a people repeatedly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and also in the writings of ancient Egyptians . These texts led archaeologist to the city of Ashkelon , in what is today Israel , where they find artifacts evocative of those seen in Bronze Age Greece . The new genetic analysis cement those ties , establish that these cultural token were brought by migrator to the Levant .
Balak: Myth or legend?
Remember that stela from Dhiban , Jordan , that severalise the tale of King Mesha defeating the Israelites at Ataroth ? Well , that same stele was at the center of another scriptural arguing in 2019 : Does its dedication confirm the existence of a Moab mogul name Balak ?
Balak gets a mention in the Hebrew Bible ’s Book of Numbers , but there has n’t been any non - Biblical check that he survive . This year , research worker at Tel Aviv University in Israel tried to trace some of the knockout - to - read portion of the Mesha stele ( which is go bad and held at the Louvre in France ) using a detrition of the stele that was created before it was break . They concluded that one fragment contain a B , which may stand for Balak … or for something completely dissimilar .
" We can read one missive , b , which they ’re guessing may be filled out as Balak , even though the fall out letter of the alphabet are missing , " Ronald Hendel , a professor of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at the University of California , Berkeley , who was not involved in the study , told Live Science . " It ’s just a guess . It could be Bilbo or Barack , for all we hump . "
A village with ties to Jesus' crucifixion
The Gospel of Luke in the New Testament tells the story of Jesus ' restitution after the crucifixion . According to the adherent , Jesus appear before two followers on the road to Emmaus , which is 60 stadia ( 10 to 12 kilometers ) from Jerusalem . This class , archaeologists report that theymay have discover Emmaus — though the identification remains controversial .
Israel Finkelstein , professor emeritus at the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University in Israel , and Thomas Römer , a prof of biblical study at Collège de France , argue that the archaeological site of Kiriath - Jearim , which sit down the proper length from the Old City of Jerusalem , is actually Emmaus . Fortifications discovered at the website peer what is known from write records of Emmaus . But there are other sites that are also contenders for the real location of Emmaus , so it ’s not yet unmortgaged if Kiriath - jearim is the real holder of the title .
Miraculous mosaic
A ardour in the 7th century may have destroyed an elaborate Christian church in the ancient city of Hippos , but it could n’t pass over away a mosaicdepicting one of Jesus ' miracles .
Archaeologists base the mosaic underneath a level of ashes in the ancient church building that overlooked the Sea of Galilee and was built in the fifth or sixth century . The mosaic depicts five loaf of bread and two Pisces in one division , then baskets overflowing with loaves and Pisces the Fishes in others — a reference to the New Testament tale of Jesus multiplying a few servings of food for thought into a fiesta for 5,000 .
Pontius Pilate’s grand avenue
Pontius Pilate fail down in Biblical history as the Roman prefect who supervised the trial and crucifixion of Jesus . Perhaps he ’d have been happier to be think of for his public works .
Archaeologists have now uncovereda 2,000 - foot - long ( 600 meters ) boulevard built by Pilate . The street would have taken 10,000 tons of limestone to ramp up and likely connect the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem to the Temple Mount , a holy place where ancient Judaic Pilgrim fit to worship .
The existence of the street may indicate that Pontius Pilate was n’t quite as insensitive to his Judaic subjects as account has painted him , the archeologist cover in Tel Aviv : Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University .
" It is no longer potential to view this first time period of lineal Roman administration in Judea as one only characterized by ego - interest and corruption , " they publish .
The secret of the Temple Scroll
TheDead Sea Scrollsare an archeological miracle . Despite being nothing but parchment , these ancient text survived for 2,000 years in desert caves near the archaeological site of Qumran . This year , research worker key out the secret to the saving of one of the most intact scrolls , the Temple Scroll .
This curl , they found , is imbue with piquant mineralsthat do n’t come from the cave where the curlicue was discovered ; nor are the minerals seen on other scroll fragment . The Temple Scroll , they concluded , may have been by design preserved by a method acting that ’s unlike from what was used on other coeval scrolls . The impost brew of salts may have helped keep the curl in tip - top condition for thousands of years .
All along a watchtower
In May , paratroopers with the Israel Defense Forces discovered evidence of the fortifications of their sire : A watchtower go out back to the eighth century B.C.
According to Haaretz , the advanced soldiers were taking part in the dig as part of a military preservation program . The watchtower measured 16 feet by 11.5 fundament ( 5 by 3 m ) at its theme , and its existing ruins stand 6.5 feet ( 2 m ) high . It was likely a two - story pillar when it was work up , according to archaeologists . clayware at the site dates the tower to the reign of Hezekiah , who predominate Judah set off around 715 A.D.
A coded message in a Christian epic
English poet John Milton was roll in the hay for abstract hidden messages into his epos , " Paradise fall back . " Using the first letter of each line of poesy in this tale of Adam and Eve ’s temptation by Satan , he ’d already been know to write out thematic words like " Satan " and “ Mars " in some section of the saga .
This year , an undergrad named Miranda Phaal at Tufts University discovered a pair of theseacrostics , which had never been noticed before . In sections of the poem in which Adam and Eve debate what to do about Satan , Milton had spelled out FALL and FFAALL ; the former spellout is peradventure a reference to Satan ’s fall from heaven , and the latter is potential a reference to the double capitulation of humans represented by Adam and Eve .
Originally published onLive Science .
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