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Archeology

Archaeologists discover and replicate earliest musical instrument in the Middle East

Archaeologists discover and replicate earliest musical instrument in the Middle East

9 June, 2023

Archaeologists are hearing for the first time how humans made music some 12,000 years ago, by recreating a flute that was likely used to hunt ducks and other small birds in northern Israel.

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On Friday, a team of Israeli and French researchers published an article about the recreated bone flute in the peer-reviewed Nature Scientific Report, offering an auditory window into how early humans shifted from hunter-gatherers to more settled villages, creating the earliest known musical instruments ever discovered in the Middle East.

The French-Israeli team of archaeologists discovered fragments of seven different flutes, dating to around 10,000 BCE, which is the largest collection of prehistoric sound-producing instruments ever found in the Levant. The pieces were found at the Eynan/Ain Mallaha site, a small village some 35 km (20 miles) north of the Sea of Galilee. The site was inhabited from 12,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE, around the time when humans were undergoing a massive revolution from nomadic hunter-gatherers to more sedentary, semi-settled communities.

 

Dr. Laurent Davin, a post-doctoral fellow at Hebrew University, was examining some of the bones recovered from the site when he noticed tiny holes drilled at regular intervals along a few of the bones. At first, experts had dismissed the holes as regular wear and tear on the delicate bird bones. But Davin examined the bones more closely and noticed that the holes were at very even intervals, and clearly created by humans.

“One of the flutes was discovered complete, and so far as is known it is the only one in the world in this state of preservation,” Davin said in a press release that accompanied the article’s publication.

 

Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily, a senior researcher with the IAA, spent 10 years excavating at the Eynan site and was instrumental in creating a replica of the extant flute.

“There were a lot of doubts that this was even possible [to recreate], but the replica was created exactly [in the same way] as the original and it allowed us to hear what people would have heard 12,000 years ago,” Khalaily told The Times of Israel.

“When we first heard it, it gave us this feeling like, we are really doing something for history,” Khalaily said.

 

The recreated flute produces a screeching, breathy whistling sound that Khalaily and the team believe could be an imitation of predator birds, including falcons, which eat small waterfowl.

“The sound could have attracted predator birds, which creates chaos with the other birds, and then it’s very easy to catch them, even with your hands,” explained Khalaily.

Previously, nomadic hunter-gathers had focused on bigger game such as gazelles, rabbits, or foxes. But when humans began settling in the Hula Valley for the first time, they started taking advantage of new food sources, including fish and smaller waterfowl in the lake that used to stretch across the Hula Valley.

Today, the Hula Valley is still a major conduit for bird migration in the late fall when tens of thousands of birds pass through Israel on their way from Europe to Africa. The Hula Valley was once covered by water, with a 13 square kilometer (5 square mile) lake and 47 square kilometers (18 square miles) of seasonal swamps. Early Zionist pioneers drained the swamp in the early 20th century as a major infrastructure project to create more agricultural land and to combat malaria.

 

A trove of bird bones

At the Eynan site, archaeologists are excavating a small Natufian village, which was a Mesolithic culture in the Levant and Western Asia around 9000 BCE. It’s a unique time because the culture emerged when humans started living a semi-sedentary lifestyle predating the agricultural revolution, meaning they had to find regular food sources in the same area even before they knew how to cultivate them. Once humans became more settled, their culture underwent dramatic societal change including the appearance of burial practices, art, and durable structures.

 

The Eynan site was first excavated by a French mission in 1955 and later from 1996–2005 by a joint team from Israel and France directed by François Valla of the Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Khalaily of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Excavations at the site are ongoing and it can take years to methodically sift through all of the earth removed from a site and search for fragments of tools, animal bones, or other detritus from daily life thousands of years ago. Over the past two decades, careful sifting has yielded 1,112 bird bones from the Eynan site.

 

The bone flute was researched and recreated by a team of French and Israeli experts, consisting of archaeologists and archaeozoologists, who study animal bones, ethnomusicologists, paleo-organologists (the research of ancient sound-making instruments), and technical experts that were able to find ways to recreate the exact placement of the finger holes.

The original flutes, also called aerophones because they are an instrument that produces sound due to vibrating air, were made from the hollow wing bones of the Eurasian teal and the Eurasian coot. The current replica was made from the wing bones of two female mallard ducks “because of the difficulty in obtaining carcasses of Eurasian coot (Fulica atra) used by the Natufians,” the article stated.

The tinier the bone, the more difficult it is to play. The researchers believe the bones were chosen specifically to mimic the calls of the Eurasian Sparrowhawk and the Common Kestrel, two birds of prey that were widespread in the Hula Valley.

 

The flute represents the oldest musical instrument found locally, but it is not the oldest aerophone that has been discovered. Most of the known Paleolithic sound-making instruments are found in Europe, and the oldest dates to around 40,000 years ago, which was found in southwestern Germany, made from bird bone and mammoth ivory.

Previous to this discovery, the only known “music” or sound production during the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods in the Levant was from a few studies suggesting that humans could have developed a belt of bone pendants that clacked and rattled, or possibly a bone whistle (flute with no fingerholes).

The flute represents an important discovery, but it’s not music to everyone’s ears. 

“I heard it for the first time on Youtube, and it’s really a terrible tone, it’s high and pitchy and not nice at all to my ear,” said Prof. Rivka Rabinovich, the scientific director of archeozoological collections at the National Natural History Collections at the Hebrew University. Rabinovich, an expert in studying and interpreting the remains of ancient mammal bones has been studying the discoveries from the Eynan site for years.

Rabinovich added that there’s no way of knowing whether ancient humans had a similar cringe reaction when they heard it; whether it was used for hunting, communication, or making music.

But it opens a window into a fascinating point in human development, the complexity of society and their ability to make tools. The small finger holes in the flute were drilled with the talon of a larger bird, likely a falcon. Archaeologists believe that talons also had spiritual significance to early humans, Khalaily said.

 

“It’s very interesting because this is just at the starting point of people becoming more sedentary,” Rabinovich said. “It’s a very exciting period at which to understand the day-to-day life and also larger questions beyond day-to-day life, and why they did certain things.”

She credited the discovery to the large and varied French-Israeli team, which united researchers and archaeologists with areas of expertise in niche areas like reconstructing bone tools and interpreting scratches made in animal bones.

“The message from this is that you really need to save everything [excavated from a site] because you always see these things with new eyes and new tools,” she said. “It takes a long time to sift through things, and when you look at it anew, you can see it differently. That’s because there’s continually new research, there’s continually new technology, and new ways to investigate new information. And it all works together to create a more complete picture of what happened there.”

 

The Eynan site hosted continuous human presence for around 4,000 years, with people living in round houses made of stones with animal hides or branches for roofs. In 8,000 BCE, when the agricultural revolution was well underway, humans abandoned the site, moving around 500 meters closer to the Hula Lake, whose contours had changed with time.

One of the most important tests on the flute is yet to come: In late fall, when the annual bird migration through the Hula Valley takes place, Khalaily plans to take the replicated flute to the Eynan site and play it there, in the same spot where humans created it 12,000 years ago.

“I want to go and see if we can make these voices, in hopes of attracting a hawk or falcon,” he said. “I’m naturally an optimistic person, but I do really think it will work. If we were able to replicate this sound, I’m certain it will bring those birds to us.”

This artical is from The Times of Israel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Sabaean Inscription on a Large Clay Jar Deciphered and Discovered Less Than 300 Meters from the Site of the Jerusalem Temple

A Sabaean Inscription on a Large Clay Jar Deciphered and Discovered Less Than 300 Meters from the Site of the Jerusalem Temple

3 April, 2023

In a new study [SJ1] published in Hebrew University’s Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, Dr. Daniel Vainstub deciphered a partially preserved inscription that was found on the neck of a large jar dated back to the time of King Solomon.

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The jar was originally discovered together with the remains of six other large jars during excavations carried out in 2012 in the Ophel area south of the Temple Mt., led by the late Dr. Eilat Mazar from the Institute of Archeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From the original inscription, only seven letters survived. Over the course of the last decade, more than ten researchers suggested various readings without reaching a consensus, but they agreed the inscription is written in Canaanite script, from which the ancient Hebrew script that used during the time of the First Temple, was developed. In the study, Dr. Daniel Vainstub determined the script is "Ancient South Arabian," the script that was used in the south-west part of the Arabian Peninsula (the Yemen region of today), where the Kingdom of Sheba was the dominant kingdom at that time.

Dr. Vainstub explains, "Deciphering the inscription on this jar teaches us not only about the presence of a speaker of Sabaean in Israel during the time of King Solomon, but also about the geopolitical relations system in our region at that time - especially in light of the place where the jar was discovered, an area known for also being the administrative center during the days of King Solomon. This is another testament to the extensive trade and cultural ties that existed between Israel under King Solomon and the Kingdom of Sheba."

According to the new interpretation, the inscription on the jar reads, "[ ]shy l'dn 5," means five " šǝḥēlet," referring to one of the four ingredients mentioned in the Bible (Exodus 30:34) required for the incense mixture. The " šǝḥēlet " was an essential ingredient in the incense that was burnt in the First and Second Temples and was called "tziporen" in Rabbinic literature. This indicates a clear connection between Jerusalem of the 10th century BCE (the days of the Kingdom of Solomon) and the Kingdom of Sheba. It appears that the pottery jar was produced around Jerusalem and the inscription on it was engraved before it was sent for firing by a speaker of Sabaean who was involved in supplying the incense spices.

The Ophel site in the Archaeological Park at the foot of the southern wall, within the area of the Jerusalem Walls National Park, includes a trail that passes between 2,000-year-old mikvahs used by pilgrims to the Temple. This is also the area where an administrative center of the kingdom of King Solomon was located.

During the 10th century BCE, the Kingdom of Sheba thrived as a result of the cultivation and marketing of perfume and incense plants, with Ma'rib as its capital. They developed advanced irrigation methods for the fields growing the plants used to make perfumes and incense. Their language was a South Semitic one. King Solomon is described in the Bible as controlling the trade routes in the Negev, which Sabaean camel caravans carrying perfumes and incense plants passed through on their way to Mediterranean ports for export.

The initial excavation led by Dr. Eilat Mazar was funded by Daniel Mintz and Meredith Berkman of New York, with assistance from Herbert W. Armstrong College in Oklahoma, USA, and the East Jerusalem Development Company.

 

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Ancient DNA from Medieval Germany Tells Origin Story of Ashkenazi Jews

Ancient DNA from Medieval Germany Tells Origin Story of Ashkenazi Jews

30 November, 2022

DNA Analysis of 14th-Century German Jews, Led by Researchers at Hebrew University and Harvard, Shows Jewish Community was More Genetically Diverse than Modern Day Ashkenazim.

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Excavating ancient DNA from teeth, an international group of scientists peered into the lives of a once thriving medieval Ashkenazi Jewish community in Erfurt, Germany. The findings, shared today in the Journal Cell, show that the Erfurt Jewish community was more genetically diverse than modern day Ashkenazi Jews.

About half of Jews today are identified as Ashkenazi, meaning that they originate from Jews living in Central or Eastern Europe. The term was initially used to define a distinct cultural group of Jews who settled in the 10th century in Germany's Rhineland. Despite much speculation, many gaps exist in our understanding of their origins and demographic upheavals during the second millennium.

“Today, if you compare Ashkenazi Jews from the United States and Israel, they’re very similar genetically, almost like the same population regardless of where they live,” shared geneticist and co-author Professor Shai Carmi of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU). But unlike today’s genetic uniformity, it turns out that the community was more diverse 600 years ago.

Digging into the ancient DNA of 33 Ashkenazi Jews from medieval Erfurt, the team discovered that the community can be categorized into what seems like two groups. One relates more to individuals from Middle Eastern populations and the other to European populations, possibly including migrants to Erfurt from the East. The findings suggest that there were at least two genetically distinct groups in medieval Erfurt. However, that genetic variability no longer exists in modern Ashkenazi Jews.

The Erfurt medieval Jewish community existed between the 11th and 15th centuries, with a short gap following a 1349 massacre. At times, it was a thriving community and one of the largest in Germany. Following the expulsion of all Jews in 1454, the city built a granary on top of the Jewish cemetery. In 2013, when the granary stood empty, the city permitted its conversion into a parking lot. This required additional construction and an archaeological rescue excavation.

“Our goal was to fill the gaps in our understanding of Ashkenazi Jewish early history through ancient DNA data,” explained Carmi. While ancient DNA data is a powerful tool to infer historical demographics, ancient Jewish DNA data is hard to come by, as Jewish law prohibits the disturbance of the dead in most circumstances. With the approval of the local Jewish community in Germany, the research team collected detached teeth from remains found in a 14th-century Jewish cemetery in Erfurt that underwent a rescue excavation.

The researchers also discovered that the founder event, which makes all Ashkenazi Jews today descendants of a small population, happened before the 14th century. For example, teasing through mitochondrial DNA, genetic materials we inherit from our mothers, they discovered that a third of the sampled Erfurt individuals share one specific sequence. The findings indicate that the early Ashkenazi Jewish population was so small that a third of Erfurt individuals descended from a single woman through their maternal lines.

At least eight of the Erfurt individuals also carried disease-causing genetic mutations common in modern-day Ashkenazi Jews but rare in other populations—a hallmark of the Ashkenazi Jewish founder event.

“Jews in Europe were a religious minority that was socially segregated, and they experienced periodic persecution,” described co-author Harvard University. Although antisemitic violence virtually wiped-out Erfurt’s Jewish community in 1349, Jews returned five years later and flourished into one of the largest in Germany. “Our work gives us direct insight into the structure of this community.”

The team believes the current study helps to establish an ethical basis for studies of ancient Jewish DNA. Many questions remain unanswered, such as how medieval Ashkenazi Jewish communities became genetically differentiated, how early Ashkenazi Jews related to Sephardi Jews, and how modern Jews relate to ones from ancient Judea.

While this is the largest ancient Jewish DNA study so far, it is limited to one cemetery and one period of time. Nevertheless, it was able to detect previously unknown genetic subgroups in medieval Ashkenazi Jews. The researchers hope that their study will pave the way for future analyses of samples from other sites, including those from antiquity, to continue unraveling the complexities of Jewish history.

“This work also provides a template for how a co-analysis of modern and ancient DNA data can shed light on the past,” concluded Reich. “Studies like this hold great promise not only for understanding Jewish history, but also that of any population.”

The research team, of over 30 scientists, included HU’s Shamam Waldman, a doctoral student in Carmi's group, who performed most of the data analysis.

 

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International Team of Leading Israeli Universities Finds Oldest Evidence of the Controlled Use of Fire to Cook Food

International Team of Leading Israeli Universities Finds Oldest Evidence of the Controlled Use of Fire to Cook Food

15 November, 2022

The remains of a huge carp fish (2 meters/6.5 feet length), analyzed by the Hebrew University, Bar-Ilan University Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Oranim Academic College, the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research institution, the Natural History Museum in London, and the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, mark the earliest signs of cooking by prehistoric human to 780,000 years ago, predating the available data by some 600,000 years.

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A remarkable scientific discovery has been made by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), Tel Aviv University (TAU), and Bar-Ilan University (BIU), in collaboration with the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Oranim Academic College, the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research (IOLR) institution, the Natural History Museum in London, and the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. A close analysis of the remains of a carp-like fish found at the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov (GBY) archaeological site in Israel shows that the fish were cooked roughly 780,000 years ago.  Cooking is defined as the ability to process food by controlling the temperature at which it is heated and includes a wide range of methods. Until now, the earliest evidence of cooking dates to approximately 170,000 years ago. The question of when early man began using fire to cook food has been the subject of much scientific discussion for over a century. These findings shed new light on the matter and was published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

The study was led by a team of researchers:  Dr. Irit Zohar, a researcher at TAU’s Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and curator of the Beit Margolin Biological Collections at Oranim Academic College, and HU Professor Naama Goren-Inbar, director of the excavation site.  The research team also included Dr. Marion Prevost at HU’s Institute of Archaeology; Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil at BIU’s Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology; Dr. Jens Najorka of the Natural History Museum in London; Dr. Guy Sisma-Ventura of the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute; Prof. Thomas Tütken of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and Prof. Israel Hershkovitz at TAU’s Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Zohar and Dr. Prevost: “This study demonstrates the huge importance of fish in the life of prehistoric humans, for their diet and economic stability. Further, by studying the fish remains found at Gesher Benot Ya’aqob we were able to reconstruct, for the first time, the fish population of the ancient Hula Lake and to show that the lake held fish species that became extinct over time. These species included giant barbs (carp like fish) that reached up to 2 meters in length. The large quantity of fish remains found at the site proves their frequent consumption by early humans, who developed special cooking techniques. These new findings demonstrate not only the importance of freshwater habitats and the fish they contained for the sustenance of prehistoric man, but also illustrate prehistoric humans’ ability to control fire in order to cook food, and their understanding the benefits of cooking fish before eating it.”

In the study, the researchers focused on pharyngeal teeth (used to grind up hard food such as shells) belonging to fish from the carp family. These teeth were found in large quantities at different archaeological strata at the site. By studying the structure of the crystals that form the teeth enamel (whose size increases through exposure to heat), the researchers were able to prove that the fish caught at the ancient Hula Lake, adjacent to the site, were exposed to temperatures suitable for cooking, and were not simply burned by a spontaneous fire.

Until now, evidence of the use of fire for cooking had been limited to sites that came into use much later than the GBY site--by some 600,000 years, and ones most are associated with the emergence of our own species, homo sapiens.

Prof. Goren-Inbar added: “The fact that the cooking of fish is evident over such a long and unbroken period of settlement at the site indicates a continuous tradition of cooking food. This is another in a series of discoveries relating to the high cognitive capabilities of the Acheulian hunter-gatherers who were active in the ancient Hula Valley region. These groups were deeply familiar with their environment and the various resources it offered them.  Further, it shows they had extensive knowledge of the life cycles of different plant and animal species. Gaining the skill required to cook food marks a significant evolutionary advance, as it provided an additional means for making optimal use of available food resources. It is even possible that cooking was not limited to fish, but also included various types of animals and plants.”

Prof. Hershkovitz and Dr. Zohar note that the transition from eating raw food to eating cooked food had dramatic implications for human development and behavior.  Eating cooked food reduces the bodily energy required to break down and digest food, allowing other physical systems to develop.  It also leads to changes in the structure of the human jaw and skull. This change freed humans from the daily, intensive work of searching for and digesting raw food, providing them free time in which to develop new social and behavioral systems. Some scientists view eating fish as a milestone in the quantum leap in human cognitive evolution, providing a central catalyst for the development of the human brain.  They claim that eating fish is what made us human. Even today, it is widely known that the contents of fish flesh, such as omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, iodine and more, contribute greatly to brain development.

The research team believe that the location of freshwater areas, some of them in areas that have long since dried up and become arid deserts, determined the route of the migration of early man from Africa to the Levant and beyond. Not only did these habitats provide drinking water and attracted animals to the area but catching fish in shallow water is a relatively simple and safe task with a very high nutritional reward.

The team posits that exploiting fish in freshwater habitats was the first step on prehistoric humans’ route out of Africa. Early man began to eat fish around 2 million years ago but cooking fish—as found in this study—represented a real revolution in the Acheulian diet, and is an important foundation for understanding the relationship between man, the environment, climate, and migration when attempting to reconstruct the history of early humans.

It should be noted that evidence of the use of fire at the site—the oldest such evidence in Eurasia—was identified first by BIU’s Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil. “The use of fire is a behavior that characterizes the entire continuum of settlement at the site,” she explained. “This affected the spatial organization of the site and the activity conducted there, which revolved around fireplaces.” Alperson-Afil’s research of fire at the site was revolutionary for its time and showed that the use of fire began hundreds of thousands of years before previously thought.

HU’s Goren-Inbar added that the archaeological site of GBY documents a continuum of repeated settlement by groups of hunter-gatherers on the shores of the ancient Hula Lake which lasting tens of thousands of years. “These groups made use of the rich array of resources provided by the ancient Hula Valley, and left behind a long settlement continuum with over 20 settlement strata,” Goren-Inbar explained. The excavations at the site have uncovered the material culture of these ancient hominins, including flint, basalt, and limestone tools, as well as their food sources, which were characterized by a rich diversity of plant species from the lake and its shores (including fruit, nuts, and seeds) and by many species of land mammals, both medium-sized and large.

Dr. Jens Najorka of the Natural History Museum in London explained: “In this study, we used geochemical methods to identify changes in the size of the tooth enamel crystals, as a result of exposure to different cooking temperatures. When they are burnt by fire, it is easy to identify the dramatic change in the size of the enamel crystals, but it is more difficult to identify the changes caused by cooking at temperatures between 200 and 500 degrees Celsius. The experiments I conducted with Dr. Zohar allowed us to identify the changes caused by cooking at low temperatures. We do not know exactly how the fish were cooked but given the lack of evidence of exposure to high temperatures, it is clear that they were not cooked directly in fire, and were not thrown into a fire as waste or as material for burning.”

Dr. Guy Sisma-Ventura of the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute and Prof. Thomas Tütken of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz were also part of the research group, providing analysis of the isotope composition of oxygen and carbon in the enamel of the fishes’ teeth. “This study of isotopes is a real breakthrough, as it allowed us to reconstruct the hydrological conditions in this ancient lake throughout the seasons, and thus to determine that the fish were not a seasonal economic resource but were caught and eaten all year round. Thus, fish provided a constant source of nutrition that reduced the need for seasonal migration.”

 

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First Sentence Ever Written in Canaanite Language Discovered at Tel Lachish:

First Sentence Ever Written in Canaanite Language Discovered at Tel Lachish:

9 November, 2022

Hebrew U. Unearths Ivory Comb from 1700 BCE Inscribed with Plea to Eradicate Lice —"May this [ivory] tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard”

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The alphabet was invented around 1800 BCE and was used by the Canaanites and later by most other languages in the world.  Until recently, no meaningful Canaanite inscriptions had been discovered in the Land of Israel, save only two or three words here and there. Now an amazing discovery presents an entire sentence in Canaanite, dating to about 1700 BCE. It is engraved on a small ivory comb and includes a spell against lice.

The comb was unearthed at Tel Lachish in Israel by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) and Southern Adventist University in the United States, under the direction of Professors Yosef Garfinkel, Michael Hasel and Martin Klingbeil.  The inscription was deciphered by semitic epigraphist Dr. Daniel Vainstub at Ben Gurion University (BGU). The ivory was tested by HU Prof. Rivka Rabinovich and BGU Prof. Yuval Goren and was found to originate from an elephant tusk.  Their findings were published in Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology.

The letters of the inscription were engraved in a very shallow manner. It was excavated in 2017 but the letters were noticed only in subsequent post-processing in 2022 by Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu. It was cleaned and preserved by Miriam Lavi.

The ivory comb is small, measuring roughly 3.5 by 2.5 cm.  The comb has teeth on both sides. Although their bases are still visible, the comb teeth themselves were broken in antiquity. The central part of the comb is somewhat eroded, possibly by the pressure of fingers holding the comb during haircare or removal of lice from the head or beard. The side of the comb with six thick teeth was used to untangle knots in the hair, while the other side, with 14 fine teeth, was used to remove lice and their eggs, much like the current-day two-sided lice combs sold in stores.

There are 17 Canaanite letters on the comb. They are archaic in form—from the first stage of the invention of the alphabet script. They form seven words in Canaanite, reading: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”

“This is the first sentence ever found in the Canaanite language in Israel. There are Canaanites in Ugarit in Syria, but they write in a different script, not the alphabet that is used till today. The Canaanite cities are mentioned in Egyptian documents, the Amarna letters that were written in Akkadian, and in the Hebrew Bible. The comb inscription is direct evidence for the use of the alphabet in daily activities some 3700 years ago. This is a landmark in the history of the human ability to write,” shared Garfinkel.

Ancient combs were made from wood, bone, or ivory. Ivory was a very expensive material and likely an imported luxury object.  As there were no elephants in Canaan during that time period, the comb likely came from nearby Egypt—factors indicating that even people of high social status suffered from lice.

The research team analyzed the comb itself for the presence of lice under a microscope and photographs were taken of both sides. Remains of head lice, 0.5–0.6 mm in size, were found on the second tooth. The climatic conditions of Lachish, however, did not allow preservation of whole head lice but only those of the outer chitin membrane of the nymph stage head louse.

Despite its small size, the inscription on the comb from Lachish has very special features, some of which are unique and fill in gaps and lacunas in our knowledge of many aspects of the culture of Canaan in the Bronze Age.  For the first time, we have an entire verbal sentence written in the dialect spoken by the Canaanite inhabitants of Lachish, enabling us to compare this language in all its aspects with the other sources for it. Second, the inscription on the comb sheds light on some hitherto poorly attested aspects of the everyday life of the time, haircare and dealing with lice.

Third, this is the first discovery in the region of an inscription referring to the purpose of the object on which it was written, as opposed to dedicatory or ownership inscriptions on objects. Further, the engraver’s skill in successfully executing such tiny letters (1–3 mm wide) is a fact that from now on should be taken into account in any attempt to summarize and draw conclusions on literacy in Canaan in the Bronze Age.

Lachish was a major Canaanite city state in the second millennium BCE and the second most important city in the Biblical Kingdom of Judah. To date, 10 Canaanite inscriptions have been found in Lachish, more than at any other site in Israel. The city was the major center for the use and preservation of the alphabet during some 600 years, from 1800-1150 BCE. The site of Tel Lachish is under the protection of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.   

 

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archeology

HEBREW UNIVERSITY UNCOVERS RITUAL BATH USED BY JERUSALEM’S ELITES ON EVE OF DESTRUCTION OF SECOND TEMPLE

20 July, 2022

Archaeological Excavations near Temple Mount Also Unearth Pool Built by Soldiers from Rome’s 10th Legion and Byzantine lamp inscribed, “The light of Christ shines for all”

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A salvage excavation near the Temple Mount by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology has unearthed a unique ritual bath (“mikveh”) dating back to the Late Second Temple period (1st Century CE).   These excavations, begun in February 2021 to provide handicap access between Jerusalem’s Old City and the Western Wall, were overseen by HU’s Michal Haber and Dr. Oren Gutfeld, funded in part by Israel’s Ministry for Jerusalem Affairs and the William Davidson Foundation, and spearheaded by the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

 

The ritual bath was found within a private villa, hewn into the bedrock and featuring a vaulted ceiling with fine masonry typical of the Herodian period.  It is located on top of a cliff in the “Upper City”—a phrase coined by historian Josephus Flavius to describe the area of Herod’s City which housed Jerusalem’s elites.  A plastered water cistern was uncovered near the same villa.  It had been in use until the destruction of the Second Temple by Rome in 70 CE, and held the remains of nearly 40 cooking pots, some still intact.

 

In addition to the ritual bath, the excavations unearthed additional artifacts that span the Second Temple, Roman-Byzantine and Ottoman periods, including a network of plastered pools and channels.  Among the finds were a section of the Ottoman-period phase of the “Lower Aqueduct” which transported water from Solomon’s Pools near Bethlehem all the way to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period; and an industrial pool built by soldiers of Rome’s Tenth Legion who were stationed in Jerusalem after the establishment of the Roman colony of “Aelia Capitolina” in 130 CE. The pool lies on top of the remains of an earlier Roman oven, also installed by soldiers of the Legion.  The bottom contains a layer of tile bricks, one of which was stamped with the letters “LXF,” alluding to “Legio X Fretensis,” the full name of the Tenth Legion. 

 

Also discovered over the course of excavation was a fragment of Late Byzantine-period ceramic oil lamp, inscribed with the Greek formula "The Light of Christ shines for all." This phrase may have its source in the ceremony of the Holy Fire, part of the Orthodox Easter celebrations in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Such oil lamps, dated primarily to the 6th and 7th centuries CE, may have been purchased by Christian pilgrims thronging to the Byzantine city -- by now known as “Hierosolyma”. 

 

Zeev Elkin, Israel’s Minister of Construction and Housing and of Jerusalem Affairs, inaugurated the Western Wall Elevator Project, noting “these rare finds, made during the Western Wall Elevator Project excavations, are truly exciting.  They provide proof of a continuous Jewish presence in Jerusalem for millennia.  Under my leadership, Israel’s Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage will continue to preserve and develop Jerusalem’s rich Jewish past and to transform the capital into a modern, innovative city.”

 

Surveying the unique finds, Gutfeld shared, “The excavation revealed remains dating from the Second Temple, Roman-Byzantine, and Ottoman periods. The amount of water channels, cisterns and pools discovered in the area reflect the central role played by Jerusalem’s water supply throughout the ages.”

 

As noted, the highlight of the archaeological dig was the ritual bath. Haber explained the significance of this find, “during the Herodian period, the area in question was home to the city’s wealthiest residents. While several other ritual baths have been unearthed in the area, the importance of this particular discovery stems from its striking proximity to the Temple Mount—raising the question of who lived in this grand villa on the eve of the city’s destruction. It may well have been a priestly family.”

 

With the help of Dr. Amit Reem, chief archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Jerusalem District, the ritual bath will be preserved and incorporated into the new Western Wall Elevator complex.

 

The Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs, headed by Minister Elkin, continues to develop Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter.  Current projects include the Western Wall Elevator, the Tiferet Israel synagogue, upgrades to the Herodian Quarter and the Broad Wall archaeological site.

 

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