Posted on 09/06/2019 8:57:54 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Archaeologists have uncovered the massive walls of a 2,200-year-old Hellenistic fortification that may have been built by the Seleucid general who defeated Judah the Maccabee, the famed Jewish leader at the center of the Hanukkah story. In an unexpected twist, the discovery could also help identify the location of the biblical town of Emmaus, where the Gospels say Jesus made his first appearance after being crucified and resurrected.
Since 2017, a Franco-Israeli expedition has been digging at Kiriath Yearim, a hill overlooking the approach to Jerusalem a few kilometers west of the city, next door to the town of Abu Ghosh. The site is mainly known for being the spot where the Ark of the Covenant was kept for 20 years before being taken to Jerusalem by King David, according to the Bible.
Indeed, much attention at the dig has focused on finds from the biblical period, namely a large earth platform surrounded by massive containment walls, which may have housed an Israelite cultic or administration center in the 8th-7th centuries B.C.E. But over the 2019 summer’s excavation, researchers uncovered evidence of at least two later phases at the site.
One is a second set of imposing fortifications, built over or next to the original walls. These military installations can be dated to the first half of the second century B.C.E. – the late Hellenistic period. These walls were then repaired and restored during Roman times, in the first century C.E., says Tel Aviv University archaeologist Israel Finkelstein.
The dating is based on pottery and other archaeological finds, as well as a dating technique called Optically Stimulated Luminescence, which can tell researchers when certain materials were last exposed to sunlight.
“The importance of this site, its dominant position over Jerusalem, was felt again and again through time:
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
Bookmark.
Thank-you.
Has anyone used Optically Stimulated Luminescence on Biden?
When was he last exposed to light?
Very cool.
Too recently; way too recently.
That Haaretz even mentions Christ appearing after His Crucifixion is astounding to me.
We live in Biblical Times!
Vampires cannot stand sunlight.................
The remnant, at the very least, will come to believe.
I pray that more do, but only the remnant will survive to His Second Coming.
*ping*
*ping of interest*
Bump
The road to Emmaus is my favorite Bible story. Funny, I always just assumed it lay east of Jerusalem.
Luke says Emmaus is 60 stades from Jerusalem (although some manuscripts read 160 stades).
Yes that is true.
I’m just surprised since Haaretz is about as liberal as they get in Israel for MSM.
How far is that in Miles?
Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
A stade was once around a stadium—about one-eighth of a mile or 606 feet. I think there were some slight variations in different places. So if “60” is correct it would be about 7.5 miles; if “160” is correct it would be 20 miles.
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