Archaeologists from USC, UCLA and the Middle East have developed a searchable online map that details 7,000 archeological sites on the West Bank and Jerusalem - many of them never publicy disclosed. The map - an effort to identify Israeli archaeological activity since 1967, when Israel took over the West Bank and East Jerusalem - is freely accesibly online at the USC's Digital Library.
Built over several years through hundreds of hours of research, bolstered by freedom of information requests and, when necessary, a lawsuit in Israeli courts, the Web site provides interactive satellite maps showing locations of about 7,000 archaeological sites in the region, including:
Submitted by Sean Williams on Fri, 07/03/2009 - 14:36
The area of land around the Middle East and the Levant – also known as the Fertile Crescent - lays a precarious claim to be the 'cradle of civilization'. But is it really the birthplace of the world’s most ancient civilized societies? And what do we even mean by civilization, anyway?
What’s in a Word?
Attempting to pin down a definition of the world 'civilization' is no easy task. As it turns out, annoyingly, there are quite a few opinions on the issue. Some even argue the very definition of the word has to be intrinsically shifted as ‘civilization’ moves along, for example from writing to government (though surely those words in themselves suffice?). Still, there seem to be some running themes throughout this infinite mish-mash of musings, whereby a civilization comprises:
1. The gathering of people in populated areas, as opposed to sporadically-placed in wilderness regions.
2. The advancement of societies through record-keeping, like writing.
3. The development of social and political institutions.
Submitted by Sean Williams on Mon, 06/22/2009 - 12:30
Today the name ‘Venus’ conjures images of the little planet you can see in the clear night’s sky. You might even get the vision of a Botticelli-hewn beauty breezing in atop a seashell, or any other renaissance renderings – Titian, Velasquez et al. Yet the ancient Roman goddess was once much more than a mere picture of prettiness. An incarnation of earlier eastern and Hellenic deities, Venus was reprised in so many roles that during her heyday she would’ve been visiting the heavens’ psychiatrist for hourly sessions. Yet it was during the tenure of Julius Caesar that this theologically schizophrenic image met her own renaissance; the subject of a huge number of temples, statues and cults. Caesar even believed she was his natural ancestor, and built part of his famous Roman Forum in her honour. So who was Venus, where did she come from – and how did she spark one of the most feverish cults in ancient Rome?
John Garstang (May 5, 1876 – September 12, 1956, Beirut) was a British archaeologist of the ancient Near East, particularly Anatolia and the southern Levant. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's, Blackburn, and Jesus College, Oxford. Following undergraduate studies in mathematics at Oxford, his attentions turned to archaeology.
From 1897 to 1908 he conducted excavations at Roman sites in Britain, Egypt, Nubia, Asia Minor and North Syria. Later, his studies took him to the Sudan and Meroe (between 1909 and 1914) and Palestine at Ashkelon (1920–1921) and Jericho (1930–1936).
He was professor of archaeology at the University of Liverpool from 1907 to 1941. He served as the Director of the Department of Antiquities in the British Mandate of Palestine between 1920 and 1926, as well as filling the position of Head of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (1919–1926). He taught at the Egyptology section of the Faculty of Arts when it was established in the 1920s. Later, in 1947, Garstang founded the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, acting as its first director (he was succeeded by Seton Lloyd).
Archaeologists from USC, UCLA and the Middle East have developed a searchable online map that details 7,000 archeological sites on the West Bank and Jerusalem - many of them never publicy disclosed. The map - an effort to identify Israeli archaeological activity since 1967, when Israel took over the West Bank and East Jerusalem - is freely accesibly online at the USC's Digital Library.
