Archeology

Toward an Archeology of Hell

Alex Joffe — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Remembrance is a contradictory imperative. Respectful preservation of the past, especially the remains of those who have gone before us, stands at odds with the need to understand the same past, especially through means like archeology.

Excavating Nazi Extermination Centers

Isaac Gilead, Yoram Haimi, Wojciech Mazurek — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

What do archeological excavations actually tell us about the operation of death camps?

Treblinka: Revealing the Hidden Graves of the Holocaust

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Forensic archeologist Caroline Sturdy Colls describes her work at the site of Treblinka.

Disjecta Membra

Benjamin Balint — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Not for nothing was the Cairo Genizah called "the Living Sea Scrolls": its discoverers revolutionized the study of Mediterranean Jewish life at the very moment that it was drawing to a close.

Ardor, or Architecture

Yonatan Silverman — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

The holiness of Jerusalem in the Muslim tradition owes less to the Koran than it does to the opportunistic building program of Jerusalem's eight-century Umayyad rulers.

Analyzing Ashkelon

Sam Roberts — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Science is revolutionizing the study of ancient Ashkelon—revealing mysterious cylinders as parts of ancient looms, proving that what we thought were palaces may really have been stables.

Shrine Online

Sohrab Ahmari — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Unable to restore a shrine with a prominent Star of David in Iran, a U.S. organization and an Iranian-American architect are reviving the site in cyberspace.

The Mughrabi Bridge to Nowhere

Alex Joffe — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

From the southern end of the plaza in front of Jerusalem's Western Wall, a temporary wooden bridge ascends eastward to the Mughrabi Gate, the only one of the 11 gates into the Temple Mount area that is accessible to non-Muslims.

2011: A Year in Books

D.G. Myers — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

The holidays are over, the coffee-table books have all been unwrapped and set aside, and winter isn't going anywhere for a while. In short, it's time to settle in for some good reading. The literary critic D. G. Myers here presents the 38 best Jewish books of 2011, all of which merit your attention.

The Afghanistan Genizah

Gil Shefler — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

The scholarly world is abuzz over a cave filled with ancient scrolls that may be the most significant historical discovery in the Jewish world since that of the Cairo Genizah. (Hebrew report with video here.)

2010: A Year in Books

D.G. Myers — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

From the popular to the scholarly, a reader's and buyer's guide to 34 of the best books of 2010.

Highlights of 2011:Part II

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Part II of our round-up of the past year's most popular features on Jewish Ideas Daily. (Part I is here.)

Urban Planning, Hasmonean-Style

Elli Fischer — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

In the early 1990s, construction began on Modi'in, Israel's new "City of the Future." Designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie and located mid-way between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Modi'in is in many ways typical of modern planned communities.

Holy Land of Holy Graves

Shmuel Rosner — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Archeologists may fiercely debate the graves' authenticity, but worshipers favor tradition over suspiciously secular science.

The Hasmoneans Were Here�Maybe

Ran Shapira — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Umm el-Umdan? Titura Hill? The competition continues among theories on the location of ancient Modi'in.

Found on Hanukkah

Zafrir Rinat — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Excavations near the Western Wall unearthed a rare clay seal that appears to have been used to authenticate the purity of ritual objects used in the Second Temple.

Yehuda Halevi's Death and the Cairo Genizah

Eliezer Brodt — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Legend says the great 12th-century Spanish hymnist reached Eretz Yisrael but was killed at Jerusalem's city gate. Genizah documents suggest that the legend was based on fact.

Elephants and Homo erectus

Arieh O'Sullivan — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

A cave near Tel Aviv may offer up evidence that modern man first emerged not in Africa but in the Middle East—because of a scarcity of elephant meat.

Jewish Ossuaries

Eric Meyers — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Ossuaries, urns or vaults holding the bones of the dead, are critical to reconstructing Judaism and Jewish life in the era of the Second Temple.

From Haran to Hebron

Moshe Gilad — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST

One anthropologist is on a campaign to mark the 1,200 kilometer path traveled by the patriarch Abraham through Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Israel.