Waiting for the big news from Qeiyafa….

On By arenmaeirIn Miscellaneous

Joe Lauer (and Jim West based on Joe’s notice) , have sent out the Hebrew University media announcement of a forthcoming press conference next week at which Prof. Yossi Garfinkel of the HU will announce some new important finds at Kh. Qeiyafa, which he believes will have important implications for the study of archaeology, history and the Bible (seems Yossi may have learnt the art of a media tease from me…:-).

The bets are on, on what he will announce that he found:

1) The Philistine foreskins that David took

2) The bucket of water from the gate of Bethlehem

3) An inscription mentioning David

4) An inscription mentioning Goliath

5) Saul’s armor that David did not wear

6) All of the above

7) None of the above

Can’t wait until next Tuesday – should be VERY interesting!

:-)

Clarification: I am told that what will be announced is VERY SPECIAL, and I can’t wait to see what this is! And Just to clarify – this post was not meant to be critical of Yossi – just to continue along the line of the “tease”….

 

Aren

P.S. I’m going to try and use my contacts to see if I can find out what it is…

26 thoughts on “Waiting for the big news from Qeiyafa….”

  1. Peter van der Veen

    Yes use your contacts :-) I think he found Goliat’s sword which David took from the priests at Nob and then brought it virtually back to the place from where he took it (did he have a bad conscience that he had “stolen” it?) :-) Best Peter

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    1. arenmaeir

      Oops – you are right. Meant to add some other links but in the end only put in yours – so I should have given you named credit…

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  4. I’m bummed out that I never received the media announcement, but in any event, I’m betting that Garfinkel’s team excavated proof that Finkelstein’s low chronology is correct, & at the media event Dr. Garfinkel will apologize for previously saying Qeiyafa had anything to do with the Judean monarchy.

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    2. Correction: I actually received the media announcement from Joe (buried among hundreds of others from earlier this morning). This is the 2nd huge mistake I’ve made regarding Joe in 2 days. Thanks, Joe! You rock!

      Jordan, what can we bet that won’t get either of us in prison? Does this blog’s moderator guarantee immunity from the law? Jordan, which of Dr. Maeir’s 1-7 do you bet for? If 7, you have to think of something positive (not what it is not). How about whichever one of us is wrong has to make a Paypal donation to the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project?

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  5. Achish Melek Gat

    There are two types of people in this world — archaeologists, and everyone else. As one of the former, I will wait to hear what Yosi has to share. I’ll save any cheeky remarks for later. :)

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  6. Ian H

    Hmm… this will be interesting… I got to dig with Yossi for 3 weeks last year, and had the great experience of being involved with a couple of “special finds” that seemed pretty exciting to the senior personnel… I’m a novice to this stuff, but all I can say is that I don’t think it’s another ostracon he’ll be announcing… or 1-6 on the list above from what I saw unearthed…

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  8. I’d like to remind everyone about the other over-hyped & highly disappointing tease last November regarding the Western Wall, which promised to “challenge the conventional viewpoint” of the dating of the construction of the Temple Mount by King Herod. A complete dud, since they misrepresented the conventional viewpoint as pointed out by Todd Bolen (AND OTHERS YOU COULDN’T PAY ME TO DIGNIFY BY NAMING). But then again, that announcement came from the IAA, the organization responsible for bringing unsubstantiated charges against Robert Deutsch in the forgery trial (which I should begin referring to simply as ORFBUCARD).

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  9. Pingback: Qeiyafa Reveal « Roses and Razorwire

  11. And with great timing, the recently published Tel Aviv vol. 39 (May 2012) contains: “Khirbet Qeiyafa: An Unsensational Archaeological and Historical Interpretation” by Israel Finkelstein and Alexander Fantalkin:

    Official abstract: “The article deals with the finds at the late Iron I settlement of Khirbet Qeiyafa, a site overlooking the Valley of Elah in the Shephelah. It points out the methodological shortcomings in both field work and interpretation of the finds. It then turns to several issues related to the finds: the identity of the inhabitants, their territorial affiliation and the possibility of identifying Khirbet Qeiyafa with sites mentioned in the Bible and in the Shoshenq I list.”

    Unofficial abstract by me (quoting from p. 58): “The idea that a single, spectacular finding can reverse the course of modern research and save the literal reading of the biblical text regarding the history of ancient Israel from critical scholarship is an old one. Khirbet Qeiyafa is the latest case in this genre of craving a cataclysmic defeat of critical modern scholarship by a miraculous archaeological discovery.”

    It’s still not too late to place bets against me that Dr. Garfinkel will formally apologize to Finkelstein (& Fantalkin) next week!

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    1. arenmaeir

      I suspected it was these cultic things as well, but I have a feeling, based on the press conference, that there is something more to this story…
      I guess we will have to wait and see!

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    2. Ian

      From the report “…cultic objects. These included two model temples, one carved in stone and the other made of clay with a plastic decoration depicting an entrance flanked by two columns and two lions.”

      It was the clay object with the little lions (found on the very last day of excavation) that generated the most “oohs” and “aahs” during in my three weeks there… I haven’t a clue what it is, but it WAS really cool looking!

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      1. Readers will recall that in 2010, the IAA announced the discovery of an “extraordinary and unique artifact”: a 3,500-year-old horned bracelet, symbolizing a “storm god”, which Robert Deutsch exposed as a modern, 20th-century deposit by Bedouin.

        Now it appears that this “very special” discovery of a temple model with “plastic decoration” dating to the time of King Solomon may prove to be yet another modern deposit by someone playing with LEGOs!

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    3. “These included two model temples, one carved in stone and the other made of clay with a plastic decoration depicting an entrance flanked by two columns and two lions.”

      Now I remember reading this last month, & skipping over it because I got excited about the other statement regarding 500 marked jar handles. So it’s obvious now: The press conference will be about the major discovery that “plastic” was not invented in the 19th century by Charles Goodyear, but long ago by the non-Hebrew, non-pork-eating citizens of Qeiyafa living in the late 10th century BC.

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      1. arenmaeir

        George,
        Since one never knows when you are serious and when you are joking, just to clarify, “plastic decoration” in archaeological jargon means a decoration that is “stuck on” to the decorated object…
        Aren

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  14. In this instance, I was seriously ignorant of the jargon, & used the occasion to joke about it. Thanks for correcting me! Now we need to educate Merriam-Webster…

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