ETS Tall el-Hammam Session

This year at the annual Evangelical Theological Society meetings in New Orleans there will be an entire session dedicated to the research of Tall el-Hammam. Dr. Steven Collins is director of the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project and serves as Dean of the College of Archaeology and Biblical History at Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque and will provide an overview of the fourth season of excavations at Tall el-Hammam. There were some interesting finds this season that I'm sure he will want to share. Gary Byers, assistant director of the excavations will not only moderate the sessions but speak on the discoveries related to the culinary practices in the Early Bronze Age (Gen 10). Dr. Steve McAllister, field archaeologist will speak on the defensive walls discovered at Tall el-Hammam. Dr. McAllister’s PhD research was on defensive walls and together with the excavation findings over four seasons, will provide an interesting session. Finally, Scott and I, who are supervising the Roman excavations, will present our arguments for identifying the Roman ruins as part of the significant Roman city of Livias. Not only will this be a time of intellectual stimulation but reunion of good friends.

Wednesday Nov 18, 2009

Near East Archaeological Society
M-Ile de France I Room

Theme: General Session
Moderator: Gary A. Byers (Associates for Biblical Research)

2:50 – 3:30
Dr. Steven Collins (Trinity Southwest University)
“Tall el-Hammam Season Four: Data, Interpretations, and Insights from the 2009 Excavations”

3:40 – 4:20
Gary A. Byers (Associates for Biblical Research)
“Homecooking in the Early Bronze Age: Insights from Tall el-Hammam”

4:30 – 5:10
Dr. Steve McAllister (Trinity Southwest University)
“The Defensive Architecture of Tall el-Hammam: 4 Years of Excavation”

5:20 – 6:00
Dr. Scott Stripling (Belhaven College) and Dr. David E. Graves (Atlantic Baptist University)
“Livias: A Case of Mistaken Identity”

This photo was taken (Jan 09) on our hike in search of the Roman aqueduct that existed in the Roman/Byzantine period on the back side of Khirbet el-Ḥebbēsa. I have doctored the photo and imposed a sample aqueduct where the remains indicated it ran across the gorge. The original aqueduct would have fed the five cisterns that I've calculated held over 1 million litres of water and would have been magnificent in its day. This water system was more than enough to supply a large city like Livias. This photo was taken the day before we located the aqueduct remains and had walked right through the base of the V in the gorge because they were so camouflaged. With the help of Dr. Kay Prags article and map several of us went back the next day and after much searching were able to see the water channels at the top of both sides of the gorge. The remains of the aqueduct were evident once located. We measured, photographed, and GPS'ed the ruins and just enjoyed the satisfaction of finding the water source from the hills somwhere behind. The aqueduct spanned 43.5 meters of the gorge and was 19m high. The recreation of the aqueduct in the photo shows what it might have looked like. Tall e-Hammam is located just behind the aqueduct in the photo. More details will be provided in an upcoming publication.

Lunch in Jordan

Today we visited the house of our Jordanian Bus driver, Mohammed who put on a wonderful feast. The ladies sat in the other room while the men congregated in this room. Spread before us was a feast of hot coffee to start and then upside down chicken (ZaZa Gabera translated big chicken given to some of our team). Served with this was yogurt, fresh vegetable salad and the rice had roasted peanut over the top. Hot pita bread finished the course and made it most wonderful. Then more mint tea and then coffee and fresh oranges and tangerines for desert. Dr. Collins and Mike Luddini our photographer are the two on the right.

Khirbet el-Habbasa Aqueduct

Yesterday on Khirbet el-Habbasa we discovered another section of aqueduct that matches the one we have at the foot of the Tall at Tall el-Hammam. The plaster is of the same period and construction indicating that it was built/rebuilt at the same time. The aqueduct hugs the fortification wall and winds around the side of the Tall to link up with the aqueduct at the back of the Tall.

Off to Jordan Dig

Early in January I'm off to the Tall el-Hammam dig once more. This will be my fourth season and every year is filled with unexpected discoveries. This season we hope to document a cross-section of the aqueduct uncovered last season and set down another square in the Roman structure. It would be good to find evidence of the exact dates for the structures. Coins found last season were too corroded to get any reading. However, all indications are that they date to the first century BC to second century AD.

Edersheim states that Herod Antipas resided in Livias instead of Tiberias during at least the building project of his capital city (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. New updated ed. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1993, chapter 28). If Tall el-Hammam is Livias, which I strongly believe, then this would place Herod Antipas here during his reign. Edersheim argues that if Herod was living in Tiberias then we would hear more about Jesus from him. However, John the Baptist features large in Herod's mind, not only due to John's condemning message, but also due to the close proximity to Herod living in Livias. Our structure could be connected to Herod Antipas. Perhaps this was Herod Antipas' bath house given its size. We shall see what the archaeology tells us this season.

I will only have two weeks this year but will make the most of them. A side trip to the Wadi Rum is also in the works. This is the desert region where T.E. Lawrence (Arabia) was filmed. We will see if time permits and we can pull together the necessary logistics to make it happen. Again this season I hope to post various photos of the trip.

Smyrna Older than First Thought

Archaeologists say that Smyrna (modern Izmir) is older than first thought. They are now saying that the city was occupied as early as the Neolithic period 8500 years ago. See News article. It was known that the city of Smyrna had a long history and was originally located at a different site.

Smyrna (modern Izmir) is in western Turkey (Asia Minor) about 35 mi north of Ephesus. In antiquity Smyrna, along with the other cities of the seven churches, formed a circular route.[i] The history of Smyrna was first thought to span some 3000 years from the tradition of her origins among the Amazons (ancient Hittites) until today as one of the most important cities in Asia Minor. In Paul’s day it had a population of about 250,000. It was an important seaport with two harbors in ancient times. One of these harbors could be closed for security, but had silted up by the early 19th century. The harbors stimulated trade and commerce that developed the city of Smyrna into a commercial metropolis. It was a beautiful city with purposely-symmetrical streets through which breezes off the Mediterranean cooled the citizens on hot summer nights.

The image is of the arch in the Agora in Smyrna. The face of the Emperors wife Faustina is still visible on the arch as a tribute for her rebuilding the Agora after it was destroyed in an earthquake in 147 AD.

[i] For a detailed historical background of Smyrna one can consult the thorough work by Cadoux (1938: 23–170); Cook (1963: 68–74); and a number of other helpful articles by such noted authorities on ancient Ionia as Ramsey (1979: 251–2; 1902: 553–56); Akurgal (1976: 848; 1985); Strahan (1919: 513–14); and Arundell (1834) and more recently D. S. Potter (1992: 6.73–5).


Akurgal, Ekrem

1976 Smyrna. Pp. 847–8 in Princeton Encyclopaedia of Classical Sites, eds. Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald and Marian Holland McAllister. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Arundell, Francis Vyvian J.

1834 Discoveries in Asia Minor; Including a Description of the Ruins of Several Ancient Cities, and Especially Antioch of Pisidia. London: Bentley.

Cadoux, Cecil J.

1938 Ancient Smyrna. Oxford: Blackwell.

Cook, J. M.

1963 The Greeks in Ionia and the East. Ancient Peoples and Places 31. General editor Dr. Glyn Daniel. New York: Praeger.

Potter, D. S.

1992 Smyrna. Pp. 73–75 in vol. 6 of The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman. London: Doubleday.

Ramsay, William M.

1902 Smyrna. Pp. 553–56 in vol. 4 of A Dictionary of the Bible, ed. James Hastings, et al. 4 vols. Edinburgh: Scribner.
1979 The Letters to the Seven Churches. Grand Rapids: Baker.

Strahan, James

1919 Smyrna. Pp. 513–4 in vol. 2 of Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, ed. James Hastings et al. 2 vols. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.

ETS and NEAS Meetings

I will be attending the ETS conference in Providence Rhode Island this year. Look forward to connecting with a number of scholars and friends. Our Near East Archaeological Society meeting will also be there. I will be presenting a paper on the "Identification of Tall el-Hammam as Roman Livias."

Tall el-Hammam Dig 2009

Many students have asked me about going along on the Tall el-Hammam dig in Jordan. Here is the information and prices for the upcoming dig 2009:

Tall el-Hammam Prices

Biblical Archaeology Review Find a Dig

The official dates are Jan 14–Feb 19^th 2009.

You have the choice of 4 different stays for the dig depending on your availability and funds. 16 Day, 23 Day, 30 Day, and 37 Day.

You can have your choice of periods to dig which include Middle Bronze, Iron Age, or Early Roman. Dr. Steven Collins believes that this site is an excellent candidate for the ancient city of Sodom (Gen 13-19). Why not consider a vacation of a lifetime and dig up part of this fascinating period of history (It was occupied in the Neolithic and Early Bronze period). It may have been Sodom (Middle Bronze) where Lot came to live with this family but because of the wickedness of the citizens was destroyed by fire from heaven. Then during Moses day (Late Bronze) it was Abel-Shittim visited by Moses and the twelve tribes of Israel as they waited in tents to enter the promised land. For two years Moses kept the Ark of the Covenant stood here while he wrote the book of Deuteronomy on our site. Then Moses goes up Mt. Nebo behind our site to die and the Israelites cross the Jordan River to take the city of Jericho and Ai. Then during Solomon’s day (Iron Age) it was a significant administrative center. It is still occupied during the Hellenistic and Early Roman period and called Livias or Julias after the Emperor's wife Livia. Because of its famous therapeutic hot springs early Christian pilgrims visited Livias for healing in the baths. Perhaps we will find evidence of these baths this season. Why would anyone want to go on a cruise?