Last weekend I spent the day on Sunday poking around the site of Tel Mareshah located in the southwestern foothills of Judea. It was a beautiful and productive day. It is not a terribly important biblical site but it is mentioned in a few places. However, as you will see, the site is interesting and has some very well preserved remains. There are a handful of references to the site in the Old Testament but the most famous one (Especially among geography buffs-whom I hang around with these days) is II Chronicles 11:5-12. This is where King Rehoboam is attempting to fortify his quickly diminishing kingdom that he inherited from his father, King Solomon. You may remember the context of the story where all of Israel and Judah comes to Rehoboam and says something to the effect of: "Your father worked us too hard be easy on us and we will serve you all your days." Rehoboam tells them that he will respond to them in three days. Meanwhile he seeks council from the elders of the kingdom and his younger friends. He foolishly takes the advice of his peers who concoct something like: "your little finger is stronger than your father's waist." So being bolstered by foolish council (Rehoboam was no child at this time he was 40 years old) he responded harshly to the kingdom claiming that he would scourge them with scorpions among other things. At this everyone walked away and the kingdom was divided. God intervened and stopped Rehoboam from attacking the north. Following this he makes fortifications for the heartland of Judah which show a clear loss of territory from the days of his father. Even with the fortifications Egypt runs over him in the third year of his reign and takes everything up to Jerusalem. That was a lot for a little context.... Here is the scripture:5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built up towns for defense in Judah: 6 Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth Zur, Soco, Adullam, 8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, 9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron. These were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. 11 He strengthened their defenses and put commanders in them, with supplies of food, olive oil and wine. 12 He put shields and spears in all the cities, and made them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin were his.
The cool thing about this passage is that we know very close to where every one of the cities listed is located and beyond that the list also makes perfect sense. All of the fortified cities are placed along major routes into the heartland of Judah. So by studying this list you realize where the important routes were and how the kingdom functioned.
This is a view off of Tel Mareshah overlooking the Guvrin valley that it is located on and defends. If you look closely you can see the dark green grains planted in the valley bottom that would have been a possible attack route from Egypt or the coast, the land of the Philistines.
From here on the pictures are from excavations at the town at the base of the Tel. This is a Columbarium. A very large pigeon coup. Apparently raising pigeons was big business because these underground systems with holes carved in the walls are a common find. The pigeons would have been used for food, temple sacrifices, and for their manure as fertilizer. This network of tunnels would have held several thousand pigeons.
At the site there are a number of well preserved olive oil production facilities. The reason why they are so well preserved is because they are underground. The limestone in this area is soft with a three foot thick layer of harder stone on the surface. This makes it easy to harvest the stone underneath without removing all of the hard surface material forming a type of man made cave. The stone is not hard enough for large building stones but it makes a perfect brick. It was used for building homes or for trade and then the empty spaces were used for other activities. This is a crusher for olives. The wood is reconstructed to help you picture how it would have functioned. A donkey would have been attached to the system and would pull the stone around and around pulverizing the olives pits and all.
Here is the other side of the room from the photo above. This area housed two presses to remove the oil. A log is inserted into a hole in the wall, baskets of pulverized olives are stacked under the log near the wall and the very large stones visible in the picture are hoisted up with the smaller log cranks. This puts pressure on the olives and the oil is squeezed out into a hole through the floor. Notice the mini temple carved into the middle of the room. Workers would have to bow to the diety to enter the back room and add or remove olives that were being pressed. It is thought that this region supplied much of the oil for Egypt as Olive trees do not grow well in their hotter climate. This facility probably dates to the second century BC. The man in the picture is my archaeology professor Dr. Barkay. It is a joy to study with him as he is one of the leading scholars in Biblical Archaeology anywhere. It was on one of his digs that the oldest known scripture in the world was found. It is a silver scroll with a few verses of a priestly blessing written in the ancient Hebrew script that is securely dated to the 7th Century BC. Before this find many scholars believed that much of the Bible was written at least a hundred years after that date. Now they are back to the drawing board.
A partially reconstructed house with access to its mined out lower level and the famous stone bricks in action. Nothing gives an archaeologist more joy than finding homes that were destroyed by war or some other tragic disaster. This means that the house collapsed and the owners likely did not have time to pack up all of their belongings leaving them for us to find. In this very house a jar of silver coins was found with the latest coin dating to 113BC. A date that coincides with other historical sources stating when the community was besieged by an advancing army so the date is secure.
Below the house. Actually I don't think that this is exactly below the house above but they all more or less look the same. Round pits that have been mined out for the stone and at some later point converted into a columbarium for raising pigeons.
A larger mining project that did not include housing above. These mines are valuable archaeologically because they contain inscriptions on the walls. Arabic writing and and Christian symbols such as crosses prove that there were Arabic speaking Christians excavating the stone. The original mining took place in the 7th or 8th century AD.
When I stepped into this arena I felt like I was on the stage of Gladiator. This is the same kind of Roman Amphitheatre that is shown in the movie with Maximus fighting for his life out in the hinterland. This one is well preserved and even has subsurface pits for storing the animals and such. Today there are bleachers reconstructed in the half of the circle that you do not see and the arena is again used for public events. The upper level is mostly fallen down and the nice stone seats have long since been stolen but there is still a well preserved tunnel that goes through the entire ring of the Amphitheatre. The acoustics are excellent as you can hear your voice being amplified inside of it when you are talking at normal levels. The white pillars that you see are a later edition from when the arena was used as a marketplace.
This is a view off of Tel Mareshah overlooking the Guvrin valley that it is located on and defends. If you look closely you can see the dark green grains planted in the valley bottom that would have been a possible attack route from Egypt or the coast, the land of the Philistines.
From here on the pictures are from excavations at the town at the base of the Tel. This is a Columbarium. A very large pigeon coup. Apparently raising pigeons was big business because these underground systems with holes carved in the walls are a common find. The pigeons would have been used for food, temple sacrifices, and for their manure as fertilizer. This network of tunnels would have held several thousand pigeons.
At the site there are a number of well preserved olive oil production facilities. The reason why they are so well preserved is because they are underground. The limestone in this area is soft with a three foot thick layer of harder stone on the surface. This makes it easy to harvest the stone underneath without removing all of the hard surface material forming a type of man made cave. The stone is not hard enough for large building stones but it makes a perfect brick. It was used for building homes or for trade and then the empty spaces were used for other activities. This is a crusher for olives. The wood is reconstructed to help you picture how it would have functioned. A donkey would have been attached to the system and would pull the stone around and around pulverizing the olives pits and all.
Here is the other side of the room from the photo above. This area housed two presses to remove the oil. A log is inserted into a hole in the wall, baskets of pulverized olives are stacked under the log near the wall and the very large stones visible in the picture are hoisted up with the smaller log cranks. This puts pressure on the olives and the oil is squeezed out into a hole through the floor. Notice the mini temple carved into the middle of the room. Workers would have to bow to the diety to enter the back room and add or remove olives that were being pressed. It is thought that this region supplied much of the oil for Egypt as Olive trees do not grow well in their hotter climate. This facility probably dates to the second century BC. The man in the picture is my archaeology professor Dr. Barkay. It is a joy to study with him as he is one of the leading scholars in Biblical Archaeology anywhere. It was on one of his digs that the oldest known scripture in the world was found. It is a silver scroll with a few verses of a priestly blessing written in the ancient Hebrew script that is securely dated to the 7th Century BC. Before this find many scholars believed that much of the Bible was written at least a hundred years after that date. Now they are back to the drawing board.
A partially reconstructed house with access to its mined out lower level and the famous stone bricks in action. Nothing gives an archaeologist more joy than finding homes that were destroyed by war or some other tragic disaster. This means that the house collapsed and the owners likely did not have time to pack up all of their belongings leaving them for us to find. In this very house a jar of silver coins was found with the latest coin dating to 113BC. A date that coincides with other historical sources stating when the community was besieged by an advancing army so the date is secure.
Below the house. Actually I don't think that this is exactly below the house above but they all more or less look the same. Round pits that have been mined out for the stone and at some later point converted into a columbarium for raising pigeons.
A larger mining project that did not include housing above. These mines are valuable archaeologically because they contain inscriptions on the walls. Arabic writing and and Christian symbols such as crosses prove that there were Arabic speaking Christians excavating the stone. The original mining took place in the 7th or 8th century AD.
When I stepped into this arena I felt like I was on the stage of Gladiator. This is the same kind of Roman Amphitheatre that is shown in the movie with Maximus fighting for his life out in the hinterland. This one is well preserved and even has subsurface pits for storing the animals and such. Today there are bleachers reconstructed in the half of the circle that you do not see and the arena is again used for public events. The upper level is mostly fallen down and the nice stone seats have long since been stolen but there is still a well preserved tunnel that goes through the entire ring of the Amphitheatre. The acoustics are excellent as you can hear your voice being amplified inside of it when you are talking at normal levels. The white pillars that you see are a later edition from when the arena was used as a marketplace. 
A busy spice shop.
The inside of the dome of the Holy 
It has just been in the past couple of weeks that I have really been getting a good feel for and understanding of how the Palestinians feel the realities that they live with. I know there is guilt on both sides and I am not claiming one side is more noble than the other. At this point however, Israel is the much stronger half and has the West Bank squeezed down tight. This building is a public policy institute that tracks the activities of Israel and attempts to make them known to the world. Never mind the sign that says that it is in Jerusalem it is definitely in Bethlehem. The people here have excellent data that show how Israel is breaking certain United Nations resolutions that have been passed over the years. For example Israel is not supposed to be adding settlers to the West Bank, but since 2002 they have added a mere 25,000 settlements. And not only that but they are placing them in 
I believe that Israel must defend itself but it is also clear that the wall is doing more than a good job with security. This view from a hilltop in Beth 
This is a refugee camp from the 1948 war. These people left their homes thinking that they would return after Israel lost the war. Instead their communities were bulldozed and made into parks. They are still hoping to return to their grandparents land. Even though they have been here multiple generations they maintain official refugee status and services are maintained by the UN. 12,000 people live in a 1/2 square kilometer of land. They are free to move anywhere in the West Bank but many stay out of pride in their cause. Almost all of them still possess the keys to their grandparent's homes.
A gate left as a memorial at the front of the camp. Jewish soldiers used to man a 
Children playing in the street at the Refuge camp. The wheelchair is simply a fun toy.
Bethlehem Evangelical Church. This is an Arabic speaking church that my friend attends. He is an 
Inside a recreated 
A grain grinder. You feed the grain into the whole in the center and spin the wheel and the ground grain comes out the edges.
Two boys in Bethlehem with dinner.
A man selling sesame seed loaf. I bought a kilo and a half of it for 18 shekels or about 5 dollars. It is a 
This is the main sanctuary/cathedral of the Abby. The facility is a large compound and it is difficult to get a good picture with both structures in view. This site is very historic and loaded with traditions. In the basement of this building is a memorial to the tomb of Mary. Adjacent to this building in the same compound is the site of David's tomb and the supposed (but certainly not) room of the last supper.
