I shot this at one of the most stunning archaeological-architectural sites in the world–King Herod’s port built with Roman ingenuity. Most of the site is ruins now except for the theater, but oh what ruins they are. I take all my students to see this site both for its significance but also it’s beauty.
I am shooting in the winter SW with an architectural lens. I do love this photo for many reasons but mostly, it reminds us that the Med can be a raging sea–and this is mild.
Tell Keisan, Israel-Palestine Don Michael Hudson, PhD
Tell Keisan, Israel-Palestine
Canon 5D M3
Tell Keisan is one of my favorite Tells from the ancient world, and I propose that it is one of the most important for understanding the history of the Southern Levant. “According to Pritchard (1981), this excavation is of major importance to the archaeological understanding of the Iron age in this region.” The Tell is situated on the northern coast of the Southern Levant just 8 km from the coast and north of Haifa. I see TK as being perfectly situated in the triangle of Cyprus-Phoenicia (Tyre)-Ancient Israel. We know that Samaria (Ancient Israel) had some types of ties to Phoenician culture(s)–the Ivories, the dressed stone work, etc. The site has barely been excavated beginning with Garstang on to DeVaux and then limited excursions by the IAA in the early 2000’s. Currently, David Schloen and Gunnar Lehmann, two of the finest living archaeologists, are excavating the Tell and recently uncovered a Persian military outpost. I expect, in the coming years, we will find more and more that Samaria (Ancient Israel) has much deeper ties to the north–Phoenicia and Aram–and not to the south. If we read the Hebrew Scriptures critically and carefully, we see this “undercurrent” emerging through the final Judahite gloss. Think about it–“Baal” “El” “Jezebaal” “Tyre” “Cedars of Lebanon” “Elijah and Elisha” “King Hiram”. It goes on and on. And here’s another kicker: king “Omri”? Omri is a Semitic name but not a Hebrew name. Wait, what?
I shot this photo early in the morning a few years, and I think I am shooting SW with the city and port of Haifa in the background.
This is an older article (2017), but it just came up on my feed elsewhere. If you are interested in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, especially Judahite history, and you are somewhat acquainted with the current argument between theo-political archaeologists like Garfinkel and Faust and historical archaeologists like Na’aman then you should read this. Make no mistake that many theo-political archaeologists are reading strong, unfounded assumptions into their interpretations of places in Palestine and Israel. For me, Na’aman, though hewing to the written text too strongly, is right up there with archaeologists like Gunnar Lehmann, Ayelet Gilboa, Tallay Ornan, and Raphael Greenberg. During and after the disappearance of Samaria (aka Israel) (not the city itself–the inhabitants) in 721 BCE, the Judahite kingdom comes to the fore in the 8th century BCE.
These are a few of my photos of Qeiyafa from July 2012.
Khirbet Qeiyafa Don Michael Hudson, PhD (July 2012)Khirbet Qeiyafa Don Michael Hudson, PhD (July 2012)Khirbet Qeiyafa Don Michael Hudson, PhD (July 2012)
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