Nimrod Fortress

New spots at Nimrod Fortress was photographed during the 2009 season. Theses photos have now been added to the Virtual World Project’s presentation of the site. Especially noteworthy are new photos of the the eastern Towers 15 and 16, which were not previously photographed.

Ashkelon

At 60 hectares, Ashkelon is one of the largest archaeological sites in Israel. It certainly was certainly inhabited for a long period of time: 6000 years, from the Chalcolithic to the Mameluke period.

Since 1985 Lawrence Stager of Harvard University has excavated the site for the Leon Levy Expedition. He has uncovered many significant remains and aspects of life at Ashkelon from the Middle Bronze through the Byzantine periods. Although many of the results of the excavations are no long visible, a Middle Bronze IIA gate – the earliest extant arched/barrel vaulted gate in the world – is well preserved. Also at the site are the remains of a Crusader rampart and a Byzantine church.

Tel Kabri

In the early 1990s, the late Aharon Kempinski uncovered a monumental Middle Bronze palace with Aegean-style frescoes on the large mound of Tel Kabri. Renewed excavations under the direction of A. Yasur-Landau and Eric H. Cline are re-examining the palace as a way of exploring the Middle Bronze polity at Tel Kabri. Although the frescoes and the painted plastered floors are not visible at the site (they are protected with a sand and geo-textile covering), the plan and monumental character of the palace is evident.

Stop by and explore the palace for yourself.

Hajr al-Mansub

Hajr al-Mansub is one of the most impressive menhirs (standing stones) in Jordan, located . Standing approximately 2.5 meters tall, this isolated menhir is associated with the Early Bronze ceremonial center and dolmen field at Murayghat, 1 kilometer to the west (the latter site has been photographed and will eventually be presented in the Virtual World Project too). Unfortunately, this menhir and the many monuments at Murayghat are in danger due to the expanding quarry nearby.

Stop by the Virtual World Project and marvel at this monument.

Ain Abu Nukhayla

Ain Abu Nukhayla is a pre-pottery Neolithic B site in the Wadi Ramm. The small agricultural village consists of small, irregular, circular semi-subterranean huts, lined with undressed stones.

Ain Abu Nikhayla provides a good example of circular hut clusters that characterize the earlier parts of the PPNB period, which in many sites give way to rectangular houses in the latter part of the period (such as Beidha). Stop by and explore them.

Rasm Harbush

Rasm Harbush is a Chalcolithic settlement in the Golan made up of a series of row houses. On the eastern wall of the isolated House U, a dolmen was built after the settlement was no longer inhabited. Photographs of the dolmen have now been added to the Virtual World Project’s presentation of the site.

Khirbet Qeiyafa

Khirbet Qeiyafa is famous for an early Hebrew inscription in the so-called "proto-Canaanite" script that was found in an early tenth century gate. But the archaeological remains are significant in their own right. Although only excavated for two seasons, Khirbet Qeiyafa has revealed a well-preserved early Iron IIA four-chamber gate with a casemate wall (700 meters long around the city) and two buildings (perhaps, dwellings) adjacent to the gate. The gate and wall are constructed from mammoth stones. In short, the fortified city with monumental gate and wall would be the earliest attestation of a centralized state for ancient Israel.

Come and visit this newly added important site in the Virtual World Project.

2009 Season

The VWP team (Ron Simkins, Nicolae Roddy, and Alexandra Untu) just returned from its 2009 photography season in Jordan and Israel. Twenty seven new archaeological sites were photographed in Jordan and twelve new archaeological sites were photographed in Israel. In addition, new photographs were taken at nineteen previously photographed sites in Israel.

These newly photographed sites will soon be incorporated into the project; check with this blog for regular updates.