The Hasmoneans Were Here - Maybe

Haaretz ^ | 12-28-2005 | Ran Shapira

[blam]

The ruins of the synagogue at Umm al-Umdan. (Alex Levac)

The Hasmoneans were here - maybe

By Ran Shapira

In late 1995, not far from the city of Modi'in, whose construction had begun a short time earlier, several excavated burial caves were found. The find aroused tremendous excitement initially, mainly because on one of the ossuaries an engraved inscription was interpreted to read "Hasmonean." Had they found a burial plot belonging to the family of the Hasmoneans?

When the discovery was announced, the archaeologist digging there, Shimon Riklin, explained that this was not the grave built by Simon the son of Mattathias the Priest for his father and his brothers, which is described in the Book of Maccabees I. The use of ossuraies - stone containers for secondary burial, in which the bones of the dead who had been removed from their original burial place were placed - began in the second half of the first century BCE, more than a century after the beginning of the Hasmonean Revolt. However, the discovery reinforced the theory that the town of Modi'in, where the revolt broke out in 167 BCE, lay not far from the burial caves, in the area of the present-day Arab village of Midya.

A short time later, the excitement died down. A thorough examination made it clear that the word "Hasmonean" was not engraved on the ossuary. The settlement from which the Hasmoneans embarked on the revolt against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus is still waiting to be discovered, as is the burial plot in which Mattathias and his sons were buried.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

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[Hegemony Cricket]

Well, that's interesting. I just noticed that the Hasbeenians were over here. In fact, the longer I live, the more I think I are one. :-(

[Ciexyz]

Did the initial "mistake" in interpreting the inscription gain them extra funding?

[Drammach]

Sorry for the thread hijack: But I have a ??? and don't know where else to go..

Either of you two know if there's a "fossils" forum?
My bro-in-law has a strange stone, possibly a fossil..
It looks like a large cluster of frog's eggs..

I'd appreciate any input, direction to knowledgable persons, etc..

[SunkenCiv]

Looks like a Petoskey stone, i.e., fossil coral.

http://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/petoskey.htm

http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/petoskystone.html

[Drammach]

Looks like a Petoskey stone, i.e., fossil coral.

Yes, I looked at several examples on Google images of coral..
They all seemed to exhibit a star-like pattern..

But your second link, containing descriptions really seems to nail the appearance..

This was found near Fairbanks Alaska, by the way..

Thanks for the prompt response..

[SunkenCiv]

:') Glad to help.

[Drammach]

Googling Petoskey stones led me to the Devonian Era, and Hexagonaria, the coral from which the fossils derive...

Now I know about a coral reef that put the Great Barrier Reef to shame.. ( Alaska to Ohio to Arizona and all points in between.. )
And a "jellyfish" like coral..

My sister thought it was a fossilized turtle..

( She's always been strange, since the moose bit her.. )

[Young Werther]

My daughter got a fossil watch as a Christmas present.