israel antiquities authority

A researcher has uncovered evidence of a widespread scam in Israel that results in tourists buying recently looted artefacts without their knowledge. Buying antiquities in Israel is legal if they were found before 1978, the year a major antiquities law was passed. There are numerous dealers in Israel, who are required to register with the Israel Antiquities Authority and keep an inventory of the artefacts they have for sale. Dr. Morag Kersel, of Brown University in the United States, has been studying the illegal antiquities trade in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories.

The Globe and Mail’s Patrick Martin (the paper’s former Middle East Correspondent), is reporting that Jordan is asking the Canadian government to seize the Dead Sea Scrolls on display in Toronto Canada.

The Royal Ontario Museum is currently displaying seven of them as part of an exhibit on the scrolls. The last day of the exhibit is January 3. 

“Summoning the Canadian chargé d'affaires in Amman two weeks ago, Jordan cited the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, to which both Jordan and Canada are signatories, in asking Canada to take custody of the scrolls,” said Martin.

One of Israel's leading archaeologists has publicly condemned the Israel Antiquities Authority's failure to object to a plan to construct a part of the Western Wall Heritage Center over a site where a well-preserved ancient Roman road was recently excavated. The construction area has been designated for religious purposes since Israel took control of the Western Wall in 1967. The building would include a 4,800-square meter, three-story museum and educational institute that would display the Roman road on the ground floor, but Yoram Tsafir told Haaretz.com even the most amazing architect will not be able to avoid damaging the find and visitors need to be able to see the entire road - not just a fragment - to appreciate it.

Footprints left by the artists and workers who made the largest and most beautiful Roman-era mosaic in Israel 1,700 years ago have been discovered in the plaster underneath the mosaic. Archaeologists were in the process of conserving the famous Lod Mosaic when they found the imprints of bare feet and sandals shown clearly in the plaster bed – onto which the mosaic was later laid.

Starting this Saturday, the second oldest copy of the Ten Commandments will go on display, at the Royal Ontario Museum, for 80 hours only. The exhibit will run from October 10 to October 18.

It runs concurrently with a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit that is taking place at the museum.

The Israel Antiquities Authority has been very cautious about how much light it gets exposed to – which is the reason why it is only going to be put on display for 80 hours.

“Damage due to light is accumulative and it just gets worse and worse,” said Dan Rahimi, an archaeologist and Vice-President of Gallery Development for the Royal Ontario Musuem.

The museum is going to be displaying it under lighting that is “equivalent to the light of a candle.” You will still be able to see the text since the light outside the display case will be turned down so that the scroll will appear bright.

Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered an amphitheatre in Tiberias, overlooking the sea of Galilee. It has taken 19 years of research and excavation work to enable the site to be made public by the team of experts, led by the late Professor Izhar Hirshfeld from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Yossi Stefanski.

A third-century AD house from the Roman period has been uncovered at excavations in the City of David in Jerusalem. The building covers about 1,000 square metres and has emerged during a dig that is being carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

Dr Doron Ben-Ami is the excavation director on behalf of the IAA, and he believes that the house was centred on a large open courtyard encircled by columns. He said: “Galleries were spread out between the rows of columns and the rooms that flanked the courtyard. The wings of the building rose to a height of two stories and were covered with tile roofs”.

The Ten Commandments are coming to Toronto – but only for 80 hours. The Royal Ontario Museum has announced that the "best preserved" copy of Deuteronomy 5- one of the Dead Sea Scrolls - will be put on display at the museum from Saturday, October 10 to Sunday, October 18.

The museum has emphasized that it will not be displayed longer than this – because of the scroll's fragility. This display coincides with its special exhibit Dead Sea Scrolls: Words that Changed the World.