Jerusalem Tracker: News, Publications, and Media about the Holy City (No. 2)
Jerusalem Tracker: News, Publications, and Media about the Holy City (No. 2)
Helpful lists of new material about Jerusalem
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Update: since posting this article, “Jerusalem Tracker” has become a quarterly publication of new media about historical Jerusalem. Access the archive here.
These periodic “Jerusalem Tracker” newsletters are my attempt to keep up with the onslaught of relevant new publications, developments, events, and digital resources relating to the Holy City. I wrote the first of these posts tracking new material about Jerusalem in September 2022. This current installment aims to provide an updated list of publications that have been issued since September. A few older items are included that were mistakenly omitted before. I will continue collating and publishing these lists on a rolling basis as often as is needed. If you are receiving this message by email, note that it is too long to be fully displayed in your inbox, and you may need to click a link at the bottom to “show the entire message.”
Feel free to drop a comment below if you know of any important recent publications about Jerusalem that you think are missing here. I hope this list is helpful in your study of historic Jerusalem and its intersection with the living city. You may also enjoy access to my interactive bibliography of public domain and open-access resources about Jerusalem which is made available to paid subscribers.
Recent Publications about Jerusalem
The list of new articles related to Jerusalem below comes from recently published periodicals and books of collected essays. There is also a short section on new books about Jerusalem. Publications that do not pertain to the historic basin of the city or immediately adjacent rural hinterland are not included. Forthcoming publications are also not included. The majority are in English, and open access works are noted.
Articles and book chapters
Rediscovering the Royal Steward Inscription: A Photographic Study in NEA by Suriano and McKinny
An Early Bronze Age I Tomb, a Dwelling Cave, and a Quarry at the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem in JJA by Kohn-Tavor (open access)
Ittai and Obed-Edom: The Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for the Presence of Gittite Refugees in Jerusalem in To Explore the Land of Canaan (Maeir and Pierce eds) by Uziel
Olive Processing and Ritual Purity in the “Place of the Oil Press”: Reexamining the 1st-Century Features and Functions of Jerusalem’s Gethsemane Grotto in To Explore the Land of Canaan (Maeir and Pierce eds) by Grey
Jerusalem’s Growth in Light of the Renewed Excavations in the Ophel in TA by Winderbaum
The Iron Age Complex in the Ophel, Jerusalem: A Critical Analysis in TA by Finkelstein
“A Closer Look: The Houses on the Southeastern Hill of Jerusalem in Economic Perspective” in No Place Like Home: Ancient Near Eastern Houses and Households (Battini, Brody, and Steadman (eds) by Steiner
Obituary and bibliography of Michael Hamilton Burgoyne, including a number of works on Mamluk Jerusalem by Gibson (open access)
Between wars and peace: Some archaeological and historiographical aspects to studying urban transformations in Jerusalem in Cities as Palimpsests?: Responses to Antiquity in Eastern Mediterranean Urbanism (Fowden et al eds) by Avni (open access)
An Image of the Holy City in the Holy Land ‘Atlit Castle Chapel in MR by Shotten-Hallel
Cultic Images of Jerusalem in Lamentations 2:1–8 in JSOT by Goswell
The Site of the House of St Mary of Mountjoy, near Jerusalem in RB by Pringle
Defending the Middle Ground. The Walls of Jerusalem in Iron Age I and IIA in ZDPV by Wightman
The disappearing walls of Jerusalem? Observations on the Bronze and Iron Age fortifications and waterworks on the east slope of the City of David in Levant by Wightman
The Contributions of Caliph Abu Bakr to the First Muslim Liberation of Islamicjerusalem in JIJS by Muthi and el-Awaisi (open access)
The Differences Between the Invasion of Beytülmakdis in 1099 and the Invasion in the 20th Century (Turkish) in JIJS by Turan (open access)
The future vision of Al-Aqsa Mosque from the perspective of the Holy Quran (Arabic) in JIJS by Eid (open access)
The scientific movement in Jerusalem in the twelfth century AH through the translation of the Hanafi Mufti in Jerusalem Muhammad bin Muhammad al-Taflati (d. 1191 AH / 1777 AD) (Arabic) in JIJS by al-Naffar (open access)
The endowment (Waqf) and its impact on Jerusalem in the light of "the honorable man in the history of Jerusalem and Hebron" by Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali al-Alimi (Arabic) in JIJS by Shaban and Dwaima (open access)
On the Identification of the Dragon Spring in BN by Miller II
Review of The Arch of Titus: From Jerusalem to Rome—and Back Edited by Steven Fine in AJA by Olshanetsky (open access)
Journey to Jerusalem Pilgrims and immigrants in the time of Herod in BAR by Magness
Search “Jerusalem” to find relevant presentation abstracts, especially in the session “Yerushalayim, Al Quds, Jerusalem: Recent Developments and Dilemmas in the Archaeological and Historical Studies from the Bronze Age to Medieval Periods” which met three times during the first full day of ASOR.
Available papers from the 2022 New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region Conference which took place on 19-20 October 2022. It continues to be regrettable that although papers from this and other such conferences on Jerusalem are regularly cited in articles and books, they are not adequately made accessible to researchers. The articles below are listed in order of the table of contents. Readers must have access to Academia.
Historical Archaeology of Medieval Pilgrimage: Dating the “Walls of the Crosses” in the Holy Sepulchre Chapel of St. Helena by Re’em, Caine, Altaraz, and Tchekhanovets
Surviving Three Cycles of Destruction: The Graves of the Crusader Kings in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Re’em, Ingrand-Varenne, and Berkovich
“And He Had Prepared for Him a Great Chamber” (Nehemiah 13: 5): Examining Jerusalem’s Elite in the Terminal Phases of the Iron Age through Building 100 in the Giv’ati Parking Lot Excavations (Hebrew) by Shalev, Avisar, Freud, Koch, Bocher, Shalom, and Gadot
A Salvage Excavation in Sharafat: Remains of a Hasmonean Estate South of Jerusalem? (Hebrew) by Billig, Peleg-Barkat, Lieberman, and Gorin-Rosen
Late Iron Age IIA of Jerusalem: A View from the Ophel (Hebrew) by Winderbaum
Between Pompeii and Jerusalem: The Great Arch Monumental Staircase (Robinson’s Arch) by Moscovich
Bathhouses of Shuafat and the Emergence of Public Bathing in Iudaea by Kowalewska and Bar-Nathan
Archaeological Evidence for the Siege of Jerusalem by Antiochus VII Sidetes (Hebrew) by Ariel
From Zion Shall Come Forth ‘Purity’: The Beginning of the Age of Purity in Light of Unique Hasmonean Chalkstone Vessels from Jerusalem (Hebrew) by Zilberstein
The Rural Hinterland of Jerusalem and Its Vicinity in the Hasmonean Period (Hebrew) by Speiser, Zissu, and Zelinger
Selected articles from Jerusalem Quarterly issues 90-92 (2022 Spring-Winter), all open access:
Jerusalem's Paths Not Taken by JQ editorial staff
The Unbuilt Parliament: British Colonial Plans for a Legislative Assembly in Jerusalem by Wallach and Cirujano
Why Only a Hebrew University?: The Tale of the Arab University in Mandatory Jerusalem by Pappé
Archives and Potentiality in Jordanian Jerusalem (1948–67) by Lemire and Rioli
Spolia – A Conscious Display of History in Seventh-Century Jerusalem by St. Laurent
“Silence,” Heritage, and Sumud in Silwan, East Jerusalem by Stokes
The Five Transformations of Dung Gate – Bab al-Maghariba in Jerusalem by Jean Michel de Tarragon
Reflections of a Returning Daughter of Jerusalem by Abdelnabi
Silwan: Biblical Archaeology, Cultural Appropriation, and Settler Colonialism by Hawari
Lifta's Ruins: The Presence of Absence by Bshara
Lost in Jerusalem: The Nabi ‘Ukkasha Mosque and Tomb by Johnson and Shehadeh
New salvage excavation reports in Hadashot Arkheologiyot (all open access):
Nof Zion (Jebel Mukaber) by Cohen
Dar el-Consul in the Old City (off of Khan ez-Zeit Street) by Weksler-Bdolah
Silwan (southeast of the Pool of Siloam/Birket al-Hamra) by Weksler-Bdolah and Hagbi
Zikhron Moshe (in Mea Shearim) by Arbiv and Wiegmann
Hush Sahah Street in the Old City by Yeger
Books
The Landfill of Early Roman Jerusalem, The 2013‒2014 Excavations in Area D3 by Yuval Gadot
Figuring Jerusalem: Politics and Poetics in the Sacred Center by Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi
City of Caesar, City of God. Constantinople and Jerusalem in Late Antiquity edited by Konstantin M. Klein and Johannes Wienand
Available for free PDF or EPUB download
Pop Media, Blogs, and Social Media
Gershon Galil claims to have deciphered an apparently monumental inscription from Jerusalem (see also here and here), continuing to issue sensational claims to the public before publication. The allegedly new reading has already been suggested by the excavators Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron a decade ago (see the discussion here).
Gershon Galil later claimed to “discover” a number of never-before-seen inscriptions throughout the Siloam Tunnel, all supposedly related to Hezekiah. See the full English text of the announcement (translation by Christopher Hays of Fuller Seminary) here.
Following the announcement, leading Israel scholars published an open letter criticizing sensational announcements to the public without publication (see also this article in ToI).
One FB post shows a plaster squeeze of the Siloam Tunnel Inscription and shows a problem with Galil’s claim that the original inscription continued further below the known lines of text.
A look at the area inside Jaffa Gate during the Late Ottoman Period and a comparison with the area today.
Michael Chernin shares photos of hidden Crusader remains in the Cenacle complex on Mount Zion and discusses the history of the Mamluk Madrasah Jawhariya building outside the Iron Gate of the Noble Sanctuary (use the “translate” feature on FB).
Hummus, Tahini and Other Tastes of Home in Jerusalem’s Old City
Jerusalem's 2,000-year-old Pilgrimage Road preparing for modern revival
Solving mystery of Israel's Church of the Holy Sepulchre pillar carvings
The Foundations of Jerusalem Archaeology, Celebrating Conrad Schick’s 200th birthday
Where Were the Old Testament Kings of Ancient Jerusalem Buried?
Absences, Archaeology, and the Early History of Monotheistic Religions in the Near East
Medieval graffiti in King David’s Tomb
A Medieval stone-cut moat with a hand print was found on Sultan Suleiman Street in East Jerusalem
Roman Period golden bead found while sifting material taken from a structure in the Central Valley:
Recent Approaching Jerusalem Articles:
Podcasts, Lectures, and Video
Israel Finkelstein gives the following online lecture: Archaeology's Black Hole: Jerusalem and Yehud/Judea in the Persian and Early Hellenistic Periods
Video Lecture at the Kenyon Institute: Evaluating the Documentation & Preservation of Jerusalem’s Islamic Architectural Heritage
Axis Mundi Pod with Evan Gottesman and Daniel Seidemann, covering recent events and trends in Jerusalem with commentary on their implications for inhabitants of the city:
Jerusalem Unplugged Pod with Roberto Mazza discussing the history of Jerusalem during the Ottoman, Mandate, and modern periods with some forays into earlier histories:
Developments
Rev. Sally Azar is the first Palestinian woman to be ordained in the Holy Land. She will lead the English-speaking congregation in the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the Old City.
Ezra Scherpler, who founded the legendary Azura Restaurant in Machane Yehuda Market in 1952, passed away in December.
A new visitor’s center is being built over the Byzantine Church found in the Kidron Valley (Wadi en-Nar) below the Church of All Nations.
The Wohl Museum remains temporarily closed.
The Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue that was heavily damaged in 1948 continues to be reconstructed. Its dome has been completed and is visible on the horizon line as it was in 19th-century photographs of Jerusalem.
The Citadel inside Jaffa Gate continues to be under renovation.
The restoration of the floor in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the accompanying excavations is ongoing.
Update on the progress from January with fantastic photos of the area being excavated south of the Tomb of Christ. Further explanation and photos by Donald Binder here.
Mosaic floors that were previously uncovered in 1969 by Virgilio Corbo in another area of the church are being restored and will soon be on display at the Terra Sancta Museum. Watch this excellent video of the restoration project.
A ca. 7-ton plinth believed to be from the pagan temple of Hadrian was taken on a harrowing journey from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to the Terra Sancta Museum where it will be displayed in the future.
The Helen and Edward Mardigian Armenian Museum of Jerusalem has reopened after renovations (that link has a helpful video). The museum, which is located on Armenian Patriarchate Road, highlights the historic Armenian presence in the Holy Land and the Armenian Genocide during World War I. A Byzantine mosaic floor from an Armenian church that was discovered in 1894 is displayed prominently in the museum.
The Chalcolithic fresco from Teleilat Ghassul is temporarily on display at the Rockefeller Museum.
As a result of a recent legal ruling, an Israeli settler organization has gained ownership over the plot of land in East Jerusalem known as Birket al-Hamra which covers the Early Roman Period Pool of Siloam. The land, which had been leased to a Silwani family who farmed it since 1931, will be excavated in its entirety. The mature fruit trees that once covered the space have been removed, and test trenches are already being excavated.
Two Israeli youths vandalized over 30 graves in the historic Protestant Cemetery on Mount Zion, including the grave of Bishop Samuel Gobat. They were arrested.
Matthew Suriano provides a report on his study of Charles Clermont-Ganneau’s notes/squeezes and his plan to create the first critical edition of all the inscriptions from Silwan.
See his new initiative Monoliths of the Mount of Olives: A Virtual Archaeological Study
The Albright Institute is hiring an Assistant Director.
Jerusalem University College is hiring a Provost & Associate Professor of Biblical History and Geography.
Events
The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land held an exhibition from 7-8 Nov 2022 entitled: “Witness of the resurrection”: Discovering the Holy Sepulchre through the accounts of pilgrims. Follow the link for a video.
View abstracts from the conference “Conrad Schick and His World just recently held on 6-7 Feb 2023.
21 Feb: “The Armenians and Jerusalem, History and Contribution to the City,” a lecture by Fr. Koryoun Baghdasarian. In person only at Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem at 19:00 Jerusalem Time.
Oded Lipschits will be offering the following forthcoming lectures in honor of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society’s Diamond Jubilee:
20 Feb: The Sound of Silence: About Palaces, Administrative Centres and Temples near Jerusalem Completely Ignored by the Biblical Text (in person, London)
2 March: New Light on Jerusalem and its Surroundings during the Reign of King Manasseh (hybrid: live in Oxford, register to watch live online here)
6 March: A New Iron Age Temple Discovered Near Jerusalem and Its Implications for our Understanding of the Development of Cult and Religion in Judah (in person, Southampton)
Future AIAS lectures to be offered online (registration links not yet available):
27 April: Forty Years of Archaeological Work on Mount Zion in Jerusalem — Insights and Reflections by Shimon Gibson
1 June: Herodian Jerusalem In Light of New Finds from the Western Wall Tunnels by Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah
29 June: The Jewish Character of Jerusalem of the early Roman (Second Temple) Period as Attested by the Archaeological Record by Ronny Reich
Note: This post has been updated to include some additional resources since it was initially published.
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