Posted on 01/13/2003 9:05:23 AM PST by HAL9000
Any bets on whether a more open discussion of Temple Mount archaeology would cause the salamikazes to work even harder at destroying artifacts such as these?
Tons and tons of ancient rubble is being carted out from under the Temple by Muslims, and most of it is being destroyed. They've taken so much out that there's a crack in the side wall and some danger that the Dome of the Rock mosque will collapse.
This is typical Muslim behavior. Over the centuries they have obliterated millions of churches, monuments, and graves in order to destroy all evidence of other religions.
The Labour government under Ehud Barak let them get away with this, and Sharon hasn't done anything to stop it. It's a crime of the highest order. And the whole world is complicit because no one dares step in front of the Muslim juggernaut and tell them that what they are doing must be stopped.
Obviously this fragment would have disappeared with all the rest of one of the workers hadn't let his greed get the better of his religious zeal.
I had a very memorable experience with these traders when I was in Jerusalem on a fulbright in 1983. I discovered an unpublished early christian ivory reliquary for sale in an antiquities shop in Tel Aviv. later a Palestinian friend took me to see a very tall Bedouin, dressed in black from head to toe. It was very secret with a trip through the backstreets of the Old City. He revealed the provenance of this to me, as a favor to my friend. That means that he told me where it came from.
Provenance is very important in establishing the intellectual and monetary worth of something. This black market in antiquities is illegal, but it is profitable. The practitioners are nomads, not nationalists. They deny the power of states and realtors to restrict their movements.
Inconceivable!
Hmmm....
One exciting discovery was the “Water Gate” which is mentioned by Nehemiah, “And the temple servants living in Ophel, repaired to the place opposite the Water Gate towards the east, and the projecting tower” (Nehemiah 3:26). The gate discovered was typical of the period and was made up of three parts: the tower, the internal and the external gatehouse. Archaeologists calculated the date of construction as being during the tenth century BCE and that these were part of the walls of Jerusalem built by King Solomon.
Also discovered was the great projecting tower, “After them the Tekoites repaired another section, opposite the great projecting tower, as far as the wall of Ophel” (Nehemiah 3:27). Built of large hewn stones, the tower was added to the tower of the Water Gate, perhaps by King Uzziah.
First Temple Period Archeological Discoveries South of the Temple Mount
My comment was more directed toward this statement: The inscription is authentic, they insisted, and the finding is an archaeological sensation that could have global repercussions and that effectively vindicates Jewish claims to the Temple Mount.
That has obvious nationalist implications.
Thank goodness that worker's greed led him to steal that piece and sell it. Unfortunately, as news of this find spreads, the muslims will clamp down even harder on their operations to eradicate Jewish archaeological evidence from the temple mount. Even more curtains will go up, the workers will be searched for pebbles as if they worked in a diamond mine, and they will become even more reckless in their rush to commit archaeological genocide.
Pet peeve: I'm sick and tired of people plagarizing the Christian calendar. There is no other rationale for calling that period "the ninth century" other than the fact that it is 9 centuries BC on the Christian calendar. Using the calendar, while inventing phoney changes to render it "multi-cultural" is a form of plagarism (ie: using someone else's work while refusing to credit them for it). Why does Ha'aretz find the Christian calendar so repugnant? If they find it as such, why not just use another calendar system instead of this dishonest use of ours?
Maybe because they are not Christian? Wow! What a freakin' concept! I bet you also freak when people type G-d instead of fully spelling it too.
Many scientists also use Before Common Era and Common Era. And, if they did use a different calendar system, would you complain about that too?
Now, you tell me, why do they use "BCE" instead of "BC"?
I can only speak for myself in saying that if I did use another religion or culture's calendar, I would certainly credit them for it. To do otherwise is dishonest and arrogant.
Inconcieveable!
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