Funniest biblical oriented clip

John Walton, who is a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, and the father of Josh Walton, who has worked at Safi for several seasons (well-known for his torn yellow t-shirt that by the end of season has been known to go up to the tell on its own…) has put up a VERY FUNNY clip about how one should truly study the Bible.

Here it is – enjoy!

Clip thanks to John Anderson at the Hesed ve-Emet Blog

Great news – large grant for Louise Hitchcock!

I have been informed that Louise Hitchcock, of the University of Melbourne, who has been on our team (and played an important role, see e.g., here) for the last three years, has just been awarded a very large grant from the Australian Research Council. The grant will provide funding for the next three years for Louise and 20 or so students from Melbourne to participate fully in the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath and related research activities.

Here is Louise’s description of the grant:
“In the Wake of the Sea Peoples, In the Footsteps of Goliath:

Excavating the Philistine Site of Tell es-Safi/Gath

Australian Research Council Funded Discovery Project Administered by the University of Melbourne: 2010-2012

This project will enhance the international reputation of Australian research by bringing it into current scholarly debate on Philistine archaeology, a quickly growing sub-discipline in Mediterranean archaeology. Marginalized in the Bible as decadent, recent research sees the Philistines as a cosmopolitan culture resulting from migration from Cyprus and the Aegean, and interaction with the local Canaanite population.

The goals of the project are to:

• Work in collaboration with the project directory to identify local, regional, and foreign components in the Philistine material at Tell es-Safi/Gath.
• Compare these features to those at Canaanite, Cypriot, Aegean, and other Philistine sites.
• Document and analyze continuity and change in the earlier Late Bronze Age (14th-13th c BCE) and Iron Age I-II (between 1180 and 800 BCE).
• Consider the formation of Philistine culture as a product of interaction by a limited number of migrants from multiple neighboring regions in the Mediterranean
• Increase the presence of Australian scholarship in Near Eastern and Aegean archaeology
• Produce collaborative publications and workshops on the site of Tell es-Safi/Gath with other members of the team
• Subsidize teaching relief for the production of research publications
• Funding to support up to 4 post-graduate excavation assistants and 16 undergraduate student trainees from the University of Melbourne to excavate at Tell es-Safi/Gath”

The grant has even made headlines in the Australian press.

Way to go Louise!

Aren