Heritage Daily has named the finds made this summer at UNC Charlotte’s Mount Zion dig site as among the world’s Top 10 archaeological discoveries for 2013.
James Tabor, chair of religious studies in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences; and Shimon Gibson, Israeli archaeologist, fellow at the Albright Institute in Jerusalem and adjunct UNC Charlotte faculty, co-direct the site.
Heritage Daily is an independent online news and academic magazine, dedicated to the archaeology, heritage and history of the world. It offers the latest news in archaeology, palaeontology and associated disciplines.
In addition to its ranking as number five on the Top 10 list by Heritage Daily, the December issue of Popular Archaeology magazine featured the dig on its cover.
Popular Archaeology is a quarterly online magazine exploring the human past, from prehistoric beginnings to the present day. It ranks as the world’s most popular exclusively digital archaeology magazine.
The summer dig team included students, community members and UNC Charlotte faculty, who spent several weeks during the summer at the site in Jerusalem. The important finds included an Early Roman period mansion possibly belonging to a member of the Jewish ruling priestly caste.
A rare finished bathroom with bathtub, adjacent to a large below-ground ritual cleansing pool (mikveh), stands out among the specific items excavated. This is only the fourth bathroom to be found in Israel from the Second Temple period, with two of the others found in palaces of Herod the Great at Jericho and Masada.
Although the artifacts found this season are still being evaluated, one set of items in particular stand out as highly unusual: a large number of murex shells, the largest number ever found in the ruins of first-century Jerusalem. Species of murex (a genus of Mediterranean sea snail) were highly valued in Roman times because of a rich purple dye that could be extracted from the living creature.
The team hopes the relatively undisturbed nature of the buried ruin may yield additional significant domestic details concerning the rulers of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus.
The dig will continue in 2014 and 2015. The summer 2014 dig dates are June 13-July 12. Included in that time period is a student study aboard experience, from June 13-June 29. This two-week program consists of archaeological field work, lectures, and specially guided tours of Jerusalem and the Judean Desert including the Dead Sea and Masada. The program is open to UNC Charlotte students as well as students from other accredited American universities. Students of any academic major are welcome and no prior archaeological experience is required. This program offers three hours of academic credit.
Additionally, non-students can join the dig and participate in in the work. Non-credit or non-student applicants can find registration information at: http://digmountzion.com.
The UNC Charlotte dig, licensed by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Israel Parks Authority, is the only archaeological excavation in Jerusalem currently being conducted by an American university. The work in 2013 was made possible through the generous support of The Friends of Mount Zion, a group of private funders organized by the Office of Development at UNC Charlotte. Other assistance was provided by the University of the Holy Land and The Foundation for Biblical Archaeology.
