Study Rewrites Hasmonean History

February 1, 2010

However, IAA researchers have determined that the fortress was Hasmonean, of the Jewish dynasty (140–37 BC) that won their independence from the Romans. After Hasmonean King Alexander Jannaeus—the great-grandson of Mattathias the high priest (who started the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BC)—conquered Gaza in 99 BC, he built the fortress half way between Gaza and Petra along the Incense Road in order to control the famous trade route and force the Nabateans out of the Negev.

According to Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini, scientific editor of the excavation, “We are talking about a revolutionary discovery that will redraw the maps of the region which describe that era and greatly increase the territory governed by the Hasmoneans…Despite the evidence of the historian Josephus, according to which Jannaeus conquered the southern coast of the land of Israel and the harbor in Gaza and even further south, no clear archaeological proof of this has been found in the field. And it was because of this lack of proof that historians were inclined to dismiss the possibility that the Hasmoneans did indeed control the Negev.”

DNA Reveals Earliest Case of Leprosy

Excerpts from a Hebrew University press release

The DNA of a first-century AD shrouded man found in a tomb on the edge of the Old City of Jerusalem has revealed the earliest proven case of leprosy. The burial cave is located in the lower Hinnom Valley and is part of a cemetery known as Akeldama or “Field of Blood” next to the area where Judas is said to have committed suicide. The tomb is located next to the tomb of Annas, the high priest who betrayed Jesus to the Romans. It is thus thought that this shrouded man was either a priest or a member of the aristocracy.

What is particularly rare about this tomb is that it was clear this man, which is dated by radiocarbon methods to 1–50 AD, did not receive a secondary burial, where the bones were removed after a year and placed in an ossuary (a stone bone box). The entrance to this part of the tomb was completely sealed with plaster. Professor Mark Spigelman [of Hebrew University, who was part of the team who undertook the molecular investigation of the shroud] believes this is due to the fact that this man had suffered from leprosy and died of tuberculosis, as the DNA of both diseases was found in his bones.

A number of indications—the location and size of the tomb, the type of textiles used as shroud wrappings, and the clean state of the hair—suggest that the shrouded individual was a fairly affluent member of society in Jerusalem and that tuberculosis and leprosy may have crossed social boundaries in the first-century AD.

This is the first time fragments of a burial shroud have been found from the time of Jesus in Jerusalem. The shroud is very different to that of the Turin Shroud, assumed to be the one that was used to wrap the body of Jesus. Unlike the complex weave of the Turin Shroud, this is made up of a simple two-way weave. Based on the assumption that this is representative of a typical burial shroud widely used at the time of Jesus, the researchers conclude that the Turin Shroud did not originate from Jesus-era Jerusalem.

Jesus-Era House Found in Nazareth

By Joshua Spurlock, BFP Israel Mosaic Radio

The existence of the ancient Jewish town of Nazareth, home of Jesus, has been further proven by archaeology, following the first discovery of a residential building dating to the Early Roman Period (the first and second centuries AD) in modern Nazareth. According to an Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) press release, the building has two rooms and a courtyard with a rock-hewn cistern.

Excavation director Yardenna Alexandre said, “The discovery is of the utmost importance, since it reveals, for the very first time, a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth and thereby sheds light on the way of life at the time of Jesus. The building that we found is small and modest, and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period…Until now, a number of tombs from the time of Jesus were found in Nazareth; however, no settlement remains have been discovered that are attributed to this period.”

The archaeological find included pottery shards and fragments of chalk vessels, which in that period were exclusively used by Jews. In addition, the excavation also uncovered another hewn pit with an entrance that was “apparently camouflaged.” The pit pointed to first-century Jewry’s opposition against Rome about 35 years after the time of Jesus. “This pit was probably hewn…by the Jews to protect themselves during the Great Revolt against the Romans in 67 CE [AD],” said Alexandre.

Photo Credit:

Photo Credit: Isranet and IAA