Archaeological Findings Proving History Correct From Old Testament (Tanakh)

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                           

      Eilat Mazar places her hand into the impression created by a large pithos pottery vessel in 1986. ESTATE OF DR. EILAT MAZAR 

Not only are many rabbinical families' professions an inherited interest and vocation; archaeology is also.  I see that Dr. Eilat Mazar is the young archaeologist who followed in her grandfather's footsteps in discovery while working on King Solomon.From the September-October 2022 Let the Stones Speak Magazine Issue

T

hough Dr. Eilat Mazar is best known for her work in the City of

 David, she spent most of her career excavating the Ophel, part of ancient

Jerusalem from the time of the Kings; first mentioned by Micah (4:8)

and Isaiah(32:14) according to II Chronicles.  (27:3) Jothan "built much

on the wall of Ophel."

It was on the Ophel, south of the southern Temple Mount wall, where Eilat developed a  passion for archaeology as a young child, helping on her grandfather’s “Big Dig,” Temple Mount excavations that spanned from

1968 to 1978.  Today, the name, Ophel, has been extended to mean the 

whole area of the city of David South of the Temple Mount. 

Her grandfather was  Binyamin (Maisler) Mazar (born in 1906-an Israel

 scholar, born in Russia and was Jewish, settling in Palestine in 1929.  He

Joined the staff at Hebrew University  in 1943, and became professor of 

biblical history  in 1950.  Then he became president of the University 

from 1953-1963. 

 He has excavated at Ramat Rachel, En Gedi, Tel el Kasile, Bet Shearim,

 etc. 

 After 1968, he excavated the Southern and Western walls of the Temple Compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. His major works include a 

history of Palestine up to the period of the monarchy and a historical  

atlas of the country.  

Geneaology:    from Geni                                   

Binyamin Zeev Mazar (Maisler), Prof. Hebrew: בנימין מזר (מייזלר), פרופ׳
Birthdate:	June 28, 1906
Birthplace:	Ciechanowiec, Wysokie Mazowieckie County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland
Death:	August 09, 1995 (89) Jerusalem, Israel
Immediate Family:	Son of Chaim Maisler and Rebecca Maisler Husband of Dina Mazar Father of Ori Mazar Brother of רחל פינקלשטיין; Fishel Maisler; Malka Peles and Hanoch Mazar

From the September-October 2022 Let the Stones Speak Magazine IssueWhen Jerusalem archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar died on May 

25, 2021 at age 64, the world lost a truly extraordinary person. 

Dr. Eilat Mazar excavated Jerusalem for over 50 years. Born in 

Jerusalem in 1956, Eilat began her archaeological career at age 11, when

 she worked alongside her grandfather, the late Prof. Benjamin Mazar, on

 his Temple Mount excavations.

Benjamin Mazar was a founding father of the modern Jewish state. He

 was central to the establishment of Hebrew University and the Israel 

Exploration Society, as well as numerous other intellectual and public

 institutions in Israel. 

Eilat Mazar, a nonreligious archaeologist, stated by a Christian outlet but not knowing that she was Jewish  who embraced the unfashionable idea of digging with a shovel in one hand and a Bible in the other, died Tuesday at 64 (1956-2021).

In her five decades excavating Eretz Yisrael, Mazar discovered the remains of a palace believed to belong to King David, a gate identified with King Solomon, a wall thought to have been built by Nehemiah, two clay seals that name the captors of the prophet Jeremiah, seals that name King Hezekiah, and a seal that may have belonged to the prophet Isaiah.

Once called the “queen of Jerusalem archaeology,” Mazar took the Bible seriously as a historical text and quarreled with scholars who thought it was unscientific to pay too much attention to Scripture.  Since all her soources were from the Old Testament, one realizes that "The Bible" meant just that. our Tanakh-Hebrew for "Bible."  I claim her back as being very Jewish.  

Resource:

wikipedia

christianitytoday.com

armstronginstitute.org 

The Man Who Dug Up Abraham's UR, Sir Leonard Woolley and His Excavations at Ur

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

     Ur of the Chaldees (Kasdim in Hebrew), in its heyday.  before Abram in 3rd millennium BCE. Abram was born in about 1948 BCE (2nd millennium) The Chaldeans were a Semitic tribe that migrated in S. Babylonia and adopted the ancient Babylonian culture.  Gradually, they gained  supremacy over the native people their name, Chaldees, was used for the entire area.  Their astrologers became famous, even after they were gone. The Assyrians' Nebuchadnezzar in 7th century BCE came along and established an empire. This is the group evidently that Abram was originally from.   

Sir Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880 – 20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia. He is recognized as one of the first "modern" archaeologists who excavated in a methodical way, keeping careful records, and using them to reconstruct ancient life and history.  He was the son of a clergyman, so should have wondered about Abraham's city that he was born and raised in by Terah.  Abraham is mentioned in the Editor's preface, p. 8 &9.  Woolley has written a whole book about him called "Abraham."  

Sumer was humanity's first great civilization. Sumeria was a part of Babylonia that was not Semitic.  Even in today’s society you can still find traces of Sumerian inventions in agriculture, language, mathematics, religion and astronomy. Names like Nimrod and Cush  are connected to Sumerian tradition.  

Woolley (right) and T. E. Lawrence with a Hittite slab at Carchemish during excavation, between 1912 and 1914.

He gained experience by working  with TE Lawrence at the Hittite city of  Carchemish, the location of an important battle, about 605 BCE, between the Babylonians and Egyptians, mentioned in the Bible (Jer. 46:2). in Syria and Armarna in Egypt; The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, and abandoned shortly after his death in 1332 BC. among other places.  Then he went to Ur, Abram's birth city where he lived before departing for Haran of ancient Babylonia. Woolley's finds will show Ur had a highly civilized nature of rich artwork made of gold and silver and other beautiful jewels as well as evidence of having a flood at an earlier date. "Woolley was one of the first archaeologists to propose that the flood described in the Book of Genesis was local after identifying a flood-stratum at Ur "400 miles long and 100 miles wide; but for the occupants of the valley that was the whole world". 

                         Woolley in Syria 1912

Woolley led a joint expedition of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania to Ur, beginning in 1922, which included his wife, the British archaeologist Katharine Woolley. There, they made important discoveries, including the Copper Bull and the Bull-Headed Lyre, 4 lyres in a pit holding a massive group of people with the queen, as if at a party, and each holding a cup as if to drink wine or poison, we don't know.  Was it a death party or were they tricked in dying with each other-including oxen and their wagons.  It was a shocking find that included all their gold and silver goods as well, a burial site unknown to the many looters of that period.                                

        Ur:  The editors say in the book's preface,  that contrary to the view consistently argued by Woolley, there is no actual proof that Tell el-Mukayyar, the Ur of his book, Ur, was identical with "Ur of the Chaldees' in Genesis 11:29-32.  Nor is there any agreed opinion on the existence of Abraham himself with these non-Jewish researchers, but we are aware of their disbeliefs. We're lucky that Wooley had a religious background and was curious.                                                                                      

Ur and its ziggurat, now in Iraq,  dedicated to the moon god , Nanna.  The city's patron deity was Nanna (in Akkadian, Sin), the Sumerian and Akkadian moon god, and the name of the city is in origin derived from the god's name, UNUG^KI, literally "the abode (UNUG) of Nanna". The site is marked by the partially restored ruins of the Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of Nanna, excavated in the 1930s. The temple was built in the 21st century BC (short chronology), during the reign of Ur-Nammu and was reconstructed in the 6th century BC by Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon. The ruins cover an area of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) northwest to southeast by 800 metres (2,600 ft) northeast to southwest and rise up to about 20 metres (66 ft) above the present plain level.  As with many Mesopotamian gods, Nanna was incorporated into the Assyrian pantheon and, when the Neo-Assyrian Empire fell in 612 BCE, a great number of these deities lost favor. Nanna continued to be recognized, however, and was still worshiped in the region of Syria as late as the 3rd century CE when he was replaced by the Christian God.  In 637, Babylonia was conquered by the Arabs who followed Mohammad (d: 632  CE)  

These tombs, which date to the Early Dynastic IIIa period (approximately in the 25th or 24th century BCE), contained an immense treasure of luxury items made of precious metals and semi-precious stones imported from long distances (Ancient Iran, Afghanistan, India, Asia Minor, the Levant and the Persian Gulf). This wealth, unparalleled up to then, is a testimony of Ur's economic importance during the Early Bronze Age.           

"Ur was the burial site of what may have been many Sumerian royals. The Woolleys discovered tombs of great material wealth, containing large paintings of ancient Sumerian culture at its zenith, along with gold and silver jewelry, cups and other furnishings. The most extravagant tomb was that of "Queen" Pu-Abi. Amazingly enough, Queen Pu-Abi's tomb was untouched by looters. Inside the tomb, many well-preserved items were found, including a cylindrical seal bearing her name in Sumerian. Her body was found buried along with those of two attendants, who had presumably been poisoned to continue to serve her after death. Woolley was able to reconstruct Pu-Abi's funeral ceremony from objects found in her tomb."

 Gold helmet of Meskalamdug, ruler of the First Dynasty of Ur, 26th century BCE.

"It is thought that Ur had a stratified social system including slaves (captured foreigners), farmers, artisans, doctors, scribes, and priests. High-ranking priests apparently enjoyed great luxury and splendid mansions. Tens of thousands of cuneiform texts have been recovered from temples, the palace, and individual houses, recording contracts, inventories, and court documents, evidence of the city's complex economic and legal systems.

                                 

              Typical lyre of today  "The lyre has its origins in ancient history. Lyres were used in several ancient cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The earliest known examples of the lyre have been recovered at archeological sites that date to c. 2700 BCE in Mesopotamia."

I am left with Woolley's description of finding the huge party of dead people who joined the queen either willingly or by her plan of awe and shock with their deaths as well.  They all seemed to be dressed in their party clothing and jewelry, with their oxen and wagons, all dead in their natural repose.  4 lyres, their music accompanied them in death, giving us a real glimpse into their last moments.  Those people must have walked down a path to a lower level and that level gave way for the huge vaulted area below it.  Egypt had its pyramids above ground and Sumeria had theirs below ground. So shocking to me and for those poor people.  No wonder Abram wanted to leave this town of wealth.  

Abraham was originally from the Semitic tribe of Chaldea/Chaldees and settled in Ur, populated by a non-Semitic people.  They eventually became the dominant group, but by the time Abram was a young married man, of deplorable morals according to Abraham's beliefs.  The question now is--where did this tribe come from which we understand was in the East somewhere?  This is why we signify Ur as Ur of the Chaldees, different from any other Ur.  

Resource:

https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/chaldeans-kaldu-west-semitic-tribes#:~:text=CHALDEANS%20(Kaldu)%2C%20West%20Semitic,in%20the%20population%20of%20Babylonia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEtasd52cfg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur

Book: UR "of the Chaldees", a revised and updated edition of Sir Leonard Woolley's Excavations at Ur, by PRS Moorey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sumer  

  

Proof of Kings David and Solomon's Existence In Digs

 Nadene Goldfoot                                     

A view of the City of David and Silwan, (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM). 

Today there are people who are trying to prove that Kings David and Solomon never existed and that they are just found in folklore.  These are kings written about and found in the Torah/Tanakh or Old Testament;  the Bible..      

One proof of their existence  all started with an exploded sewage pipe 20 years ago at the City of David, one of the premier tourist attractions in Jerusalem’s Old City. The new finds are due to be opened to the public in the next year, but The Jerusalem Report got an early look.    https://www.facebook.com/cityofdavid.en/videos/250206686020354/                     

“So they send a team to fix it (the sewage pipeline),” said Yehuda Deutch, a tour guide at the City of David. “They were smart enough to have an archaeologist there to supervise. As they were digging underneath the pipe, they came across some ancient findings and the archaeologist said, “We are going to have to come back here and dig, and meanwhile you’ll have to install a temporary pipe.”  They excavate from 2004 to 2007, eventually uncovering part of the famous Pool of Shiloah, a giant ritual bath used by tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims who came to Jerusalem on the three festivals of Passover, Sukkot and Shavuot.                     

These ancient anepigraphic clay seals were found on a dig site in southern Israel; they offer evidence of government activity in the 10th century BCE, a time when many scholars said a kingdom could not exist in the region. Scale bar in the upper image – 1 cm. Image credit: N. E. Greene, University of Wisconsin-Madison / B. J. Hartzell.

It's become the thing today to say that what's in the Old Testament or Torah or Tankah is not true, like there never being a King David.  

On the whole, archaeologists have not been religious people, but they are finding, probably accidently, proof of King David's and his son, King Solomon's existence.  

In December 2014, Six clay seals found at the archaeological site of Khirbet Summeily in Israel offer evidence that supports the existence of Biblical Kings David and Solomon, says a team of archaeologists led by Dr Jeff Blakely of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.    

The official clay seals, or bullae, unearthed by Dr Blakely’s team at Khirbet Summeily – a small Biblical period village (10th-8th century BC) located in the northern part of Israel’s picturesque Negev desert – provide evidence that some type of government activity was conducted there in that period.

“These bullae were used to seal official correspondence in much the same way wax seals were used on official documents in later periods,” said Dr James Hardin of Mississippi State University, a team member and the lead author of the paper published in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology.

Names of Jerusalem have been:

1. Zion, which is the name of David's fortress

2. City of David                     

3. David had captured Jerusalem, then called Jebus in 1010 BCE.  and it became his capital.  David dealt leniently with the Jebusites, but established himself in the city, adding the fortress of Zion and also a "House of Heroes" for his guard.  He also constructed a tomb inside the city for himself and his dynasty.  Then he transferred the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, making Jerusalem also the religious center for Israel.   Israel became an empire reaching from the Red Sea to the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia.  

Large Stone Structure (King David’s Palace in Jerusalem)

The Large Stone Structure was identified by archaeologist, Eilat Mazar, as the palace of King David. Photo: Photo courtesy of Dr. Eilat Mazar.

King David, born 1000 BCE to Jesse in Bethlehem, was armor-bearer to King Saul at age 25;  friend of King's son, Jonathan, fought in war against Philistines; husband of Saul's daughter, Michal.  

David was eventually made king over all Israel (2 Sam. 5:3), and he immediately captured Jerusalem (2 Sam. 5:7), and set to building a palace, which Hiram, king of Tyre, assisted in the construction of by providing cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons (2 Sam. 5:11). From 2005-2007, Israeli archaeologist, Dr. Eilat Mazar, unearthed what is now known as the Large Stone Structure, a monumental building complex with walls that were 6-8 feet wide, constructed of impressive stones, and to which a beautiful 5-foot-long proto-Aeolic capital likely once belonged. It is located above the famous Iron-Age Stepped-Stone Structure, which probably supported the Fortress of Zion and the Large Stone Structure above. The pottery found beneath the Large Stone Structure, dated the first phase of its construction to the beginning of the Iron Age IIa (10th century BCE (1010 -970 BCE), the time of King David. Based on the palatial nature of the structure and the fact that its location matched biblical data (such as 2 Sam. 5:17 – David descending from his residence to the fortress), Mazar identified the structure as David’s Palace.

                                               

Scott serves as the provost at The Bible Seminary in Katy (Houston), Texas and as the Director of Excavations for the Associates for Biblical Research at Khirbet el-Maqatir and Shiloh, Israel. Scott is a sought after speaker at churches, conferences, and seminars.  While this identification has not been without controversy, numerous scholars accept her conclusion. Archaeologist, Dr. Scott Stripling, states, “Eilat Mazar’s excavation of the Large Stone Structure likely revealed David’s actual palace, just above the well-known Stepped Stone Structure or milo.”

Nadav Na'aman is an Israeli archaeologist and historian. He specializes in the study of Near East in the second and first millenniums BCE. His research combines the history of the Ancient Near East, archaeology, Assyrology, and the study of the Bible. He possesses broad knowledge in all these four branches of research. His background:

1939   Born in Jerusalem

1957-1960     I.D.F. Military service

1967   B.A. in Archaeology and Jewish History (cum laude)

1971   M.A. in Jewish History (summa cum laude)

1975   Ph.D. granted by Tel Aviv University. Doctoral dissertation The Political Disposition and Historical Development of Eretz-Israel according to the Amarna Letters (Profs. Y. Aharoni and A.F. Rainey - supervisors).

1975-1979     Lecturer in Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University.

 Nadav Na’aman, former professor of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University notes, “The Large Stone Structure, which Eilat Mazar unearthed and identified as the residence of King David, is indeed a suitable candidate for this building, or more accurately, for its northeastern wing.”

                                                  

Evidence for five consecutive generations of Davidic Kings (from left to right): seal of Sebnayau, “servant of Uzziah”; seal impression of Ahaz [son of] Yehotam [Jotham], King of Judah”; seal impression of “Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz, King of Judah”; seal of “Manasseh, son of the king.” Photo Credits (from left to right): Todd Bolen, BiblePlaces.com; The Madain Project; Ouria Tadmor / © Eilat Mazar; Israel Exploration Society

Sorry to disappoint nay-sayers, but the information in the Bible about our kings is correct.  Every day more proof is discovered.  

Resource:

https://www.facebook.com/cityofdavid.en/videos/250206686020354/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGn0Xgbd180

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_igZfXsFJQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32sD9bCw2x4

https://youtu.be/H6GGx3Epdjw

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2023/january/excitement-builds-in-city-of-david-for-pool-of-siloam-excavation

https://www.sci.news/archaeology/science-biblical-kings-david-solomon-02371.html

https://english.tau.ac.il/profile/nnaaman