"Houses from Within' Festival focuses on Jerusalem’s past as well as its future.

Source: Jpost

A city as ancient as Jerusalem keeps quite a few secrets hidden away in dark alleys and small nooks. But for one weekend, the city will fling open her doors and invite the public into some of the lesser-trod historical and artistic buildings during the annual “Houses from Within” Festival.

Visitors can wander through modern marvels such as a hard-hat tour of the construction sites and a train tunnel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Or they can explore the 500-yearold private home of former rabbi of the Western Wall Meir Yehuda Getz in the Jewish Quarter, in a tour given by his son Nuriel.

The event focuses on Jerusalem’s past as well as its future.

Architects, archeologists and other experts will give multiple tours at the abandoned Arab village of Lifta at the entrance to the capital or share secrets uncovered about the Old City Walls during the Israel Antiquities Authority’s five-year restoration of the walls.

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The map, sketched by a German tourist in 1823, is considered to be the second modern map of the city; 'It replicates the boundaries and key structures with precision,' says Israeli historical geographer.

Source: Haaretz

A map of Jerusalem that was drafted some 190 years ago by a German tourist was recently unearthed by two researchers – one Israeli, the other German – in an archive in Berlin. The map, sketched by hand in 1823, was discovered in the course of a study conducted in tandem by Israeli researchers and scholars at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, in Leipzig, Germany.

The study, funded by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development, is intended to conduct a profound reappraisal of the cartography of 19th-century Palestine between the years 1830-1880.

The rediscovered map is highly significant. “It was sketched by hand by a German tourist named Westphal, who arrived in Jerusalem for a visit in 1823,” Prof. Chaim Goren, a historical geographer at the Tel Hai Academic College, told Haaretz. Goren is conducting the study together with Prof. Rehav Rubin of the Hebrew University and scholars from the German institute, including Dr. Bruno Schelhaas.

“We know that additional maps were subsequently drafted on the basis of this one and that numerous research studies of the history of Jerusalem, conducted by scholars all over the world, relied on them,” explains Goren.

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One of the largest gold treasures ever to be discovered in Israel was uncovered last week at an archaeological dig

Source: Israelnationalnews

One of the largest gold treasures ever to be discovered in Israel was uncovered last week at an archaeological dig near Herzliya.

The treasure, more than 100 gold pieces and weighing approximately 400 grams (nearly one pound), is estimated at a worth of more than $100,000.

The coins were found hidden in a partly broken pottery vessel at the Appollonia National Park, where archaeologists say the former Crusader town of Apollonia-Arsuf once thrived. The dig is being carried out under the joint auspices of Tel Aviv University and the Nature and Parks Authority.

Included among the items found were 108 gold coins, including 93 that weighed four grams each, and 15 that weighed 1 gram each. The gold was not new and clearly was part of someone's family treasure or business investment. The coins were minted in Egypt approximately 250 years prior to their burial under the floor tiles of the 13th century CE fortress that has been under excavation for more than 30 years.

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The mosaic contains a Hebrew inscription, tells Samson story, as part of 1,600-year-old synagogue.

Source: Jpost

The Israel Antiquities Authority on Monday announced that an archeological dig found a mosaic floor describing the story of biblical Samson and a Hebrew inscription from an approximately 1,600-year-old synagogue in the lower Galilee.

The dig is being led by Dr. Jodi Magness of North Carolina University in partnership with the IAA and others.

The synagogue structure and the related findings, dating back to Talmudic times between the 4th and 6th centuries CE, were found near modern day Kibbutz Hokuk, and are likely the remains of an ancient synagogue mentioned in various medieval and Talmudic sources as being in ancient Horkuk.

The ancient Hokuk is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud as one of a number of places where rabbis of the Talmud, both the earlier Tannaim and the later Amoraim, met to discuss and promote the writing of the Talmud.

A book by the medieval Rabbi Ashtori Ishtori from the 14th century specifically references a synagogue in the same area where the new findings were reported.

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Committee members vote on nominations to the World Heritage List, inscribe series of adjacent caves in the Mount Carmel region.

Source: Jpost

Four caves that contain evidence spanning millennia of human development in Mount Carmel joined the likes of the Egyptian pyramids, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Great Wall of China on an exclusive list on Friday.

The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted to add the adjacent Nahal Me’arot/Wadi El-Mughara caves – Tabun, Jamal, El-Wad and Skhul – to its World Heritage List.

The vote to add the caves, as well as 14 other sites around the world, took place as part of the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee, which began on June 24 and runs through July 6 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

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Hoard of jewels, silver and gold coins from Roman period uncovered at rescue dig carried out by the Antiquities Authority in the Kiryat Gat area

Souce: Ynetnews

According to the Archeologist Emil Aljam, the excavation manager on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, "The spectacular hoard includes gold jewelry, including a hand made earring with a floral pattern and a ring with a precious stone imprinted with a winged goddess, two silver sticks which may have been used in the application of makeup as well as 140 gold and silver coins.

"The coins are from the era of Roman emperors Nero, Nerva and Trajan who ruled the Roman Empire between 54-117 AD. The coins have the emperors' portraits on them with descriptions of the emperor's religious rituals… gods from the mythology like Jupiter on his throne or Jupiter holding a lightning bolt."

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