Archeology

The land of Israel is thousands of years old.  It is so old that much of the country is buried underground. Whole cities are buried and other cities have been built on top of them.  It has happened that someone digging a basement for a new house suddenly finds things from an ancient (very old) city.  Other times, people know from history where to look for ancient items.  The people who look for ancient things and ancient places are called “archeologists.” 

When Israel became a state in 1948, many archeologists began looking for ancient places.  Sometimes, they found whole cities.  Sometimes they found bowls or coins or small oil lamps that people used in their homes.  When archeologists work, they work slowly and carefully so that they do not break anything fragile when they dig.  It can take months to find one little pot.

Archeologists need to put the pieces back together.  One of the most famous archeological sites in Israel is not even under ground!  It is a place called Masada.  Masada is a huge fort in the desert.  It used to be a palace for King Herod, who ruled the country in the days when it was called Judea. The Jews lived in it when they fled Jerusalem.  When the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, more Jews ran away to Masada.  It has many rooms for people to see and even a shul.  Look how high up it is.  It was very hard for anyone to attack it.

 Masada

If you would like to read information about Masada in Hebrew, click here. 

When Israel got back more of the country after the Six Day War, archeologists had even more places to look.  Archeologists discovered that the Kotel was only one part of the wall that was left from around the Temple.  It was around the Western side of the Temple.  Archeologists also found a southern wall.  They began to dig lower than the Kotel and discovered that much of the Kotel was actually underground.  They built tunnels next to the Kotel so that people could see the bottom of the wall.

                                                  Underground tunnel next to the Kotel

There were many important places to explore in Jerusalem.  Archeologists found dishes and other things from the ”Burnt House,” a house that archeologists believe was burned by the Romans when they destroyed Jerusalem.

Archeologists were able to look for ancient places in the Shomron, another part of Israel that the Jews got back during the Six Day War.  A group of archeologists was looking at Mt. Eval, the mountain mentioned in the Torah.  They found very little there until suddenly they found a large group of stones built into something.  But what was it?

  http://www.shechem.org/machon/engev ala.html

They looked at it closely.  It had no door or floor so it wasn’t a house.  They used special tests to figure out how old it was.  They looked in the Tanakh to read about the time of Joshua.

They finally figured out that it might be the altar that Joshua used for a sacrifice when he first brought the Jewish people into the Land of Israel.  This was just one of many exciting discoveries that archeologists found.

Now we can learn about another city, Caesarea.  We will take the Jewish National Fund's Web Tour of this ancient city that archeologists have found.  When you're finished, be sure to click on the back arrow to get back to this page.  Off to Caesarea we go!  Click HERE.

WEB-SEARCH

Using this chapter and the HINT LINK...

Try to find out....

What do Archeologists do?

Who was Herod?

Where is Caesaria?  

What body of water is near Caesaria?

CHALLENGE QUESTION:

What happened in Caesaria during the Bar Kochba war?

If you are a FMS student and try the challenge question, email the author your answer at sjablon@fuchsmizrachi.org.

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