More Audio Tours Available!

In a burst of creative teamwork we are proud to announce the addition of three new Audio Tours that will guide you through the sites of Aphek (Late Bronze through Turkish periods!); Tel Gezer (Middle Bronze through Iron II); and Lachish (Late Bronze through Iron II)! We invite you to take the tours and hope you will find them to be enjoyable as well as informative!

Nimrod Fortress

Nimrod Fortress is the largest and best preserved castle in Israel (located on a high ridge in the foothills of Mt. Hermon). Unfortunately, we know little about the castle due to the lack of a full scale excavation across the site and a confusion in the literature between this castle and the nearby castle at Banias. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful site to visit and explore its many towers and keep.

Now Take the Ein Feshka Audio Tour!

For anyone interested in Khirbet Qumran, the site most associated with the discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a visit to nearby Ein Feshka is essential. The physical association of these two sites within the greater context of the western bank of the Dead Sea raises serious questions for the traditional Essene-Qumran hypothesis. Listen to the audio tour and study the virtual reality movies for yourself to see just how complicated archaeology can be!

Ashdod-Yam

The virtual tour of Ashdod-Yam, along the southern coast of Israel, has been put online. The castle at Ashdod-Yam has been a long neglected site, and due to disturbances, the construction phases of the castle are difficult to discern (during the period from the Umayyad through the Crusader periods). Nevertheless, the castle is in a beautiful setting along the Mediterranean coast, and the walls of the castle are preserved to a substantial height, leaving a good impression of the site.

Khirbet Qumran Audio Tour

You can now take a guided audio tour of Khirbet Qumran! The narration focuses on the architecture of the site and some of the scholarly debates over its interpretation. By the way, in the VR movies you can see some of the caves where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were found, including the beautiful double-cavity Cave 4, which yielded over half the total number of Dead Sea documents. So be sure to check it out!

Udhruh

The large Roman fortress at Udhruh in southern Jordan has been put online. This site has been extensively damaged and neglected over the years, so that only a few towers and part of the perimeter wall remain visible. To get a good view of the size of the fortress, check out the satelite image from Google Earth (figure 11).

Two new sites

Two new, very different sites have recently been put online. In the south of Jordan, Ain Jammam consists of two different settlements: a Neolithic village and a Byzantine farmstead. In the north of Jordan, the Ajlun castle was used during the Crusader period.