Free Republic

A huge 9,000-year-old Neolithic settlement -- the largest ever discovered in Israel, say archaeologists -- is currently being excavated outside Jerusalem, researchers said in mid July 2019. This site, located near the town of Motza, is the "Big Bang" for prehistory settlement research due to its size and the preservation of its material culture, said Jacob Vardi, co-director of the excavations at Motza on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, according to The Times of Israel. Among the many important findings is that 9,000 years ago, the people of the settlement practiced religion. "They carried out rituals and honored their deceased...

'Female figurines and inscribed prayers to a "divine couple" found in temples in Israel suggest that the “one God” of the Bible may not have been entirely alone. A recent excavation in Tel Motza, not far from Jerusalem, found what archaeologists believe to have been a ritual building - with clay figures of animals and men from the time of the First Temple, according to Israel's Haaretz news site. The find suggests that Iron Age religion in the area around Jerusalem may not have been monotheistic just before the time the Hebrew Bible – the basis of the Old Testament...

God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshipped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar. In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshipped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained new prominence because of the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter. Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures and journal papers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now...

Archaeologists have discovered a 2,750-year-old temple along with a cache of sacred artifacts, providing rare insight into religious practices at the time, the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday. The temple was uncovered west of Jerusalem, at the Tel Motza archaeological site, in preparation for work on Highway 1. Among the finds are pottery figurines, fragments of chalices and decorated pedestals, which indicate the site was the stomping ground of a ritual cult. "The ritual building at Tel Motza is an unusual and striking find, in light of the fact that there are hardly any remains of ritual buildings of the...

Archeologists made a rare discovery at Tel Motza, to the west of Jerusalem, recently: evidence of the Jewish religious practices and rituals in the early days of the Kingdom of Judah. Among the finds are a ritual building and a cache of sacred vessels some 2,750 years old. Anna Eirikh, Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily and Shua Kisilevitz, the directors of the excavation, released a joint statement provided by the Israeli Antiquities Authority in which they said: “The ritual building at Tel Motza is an unusual and striking find, in light of the fact that there are hardly any remains of ritual...

Archaeologists uncover 12,000-year-old settlement August 1 2003 Israeli archaeologists said today they had discovered a 12,000-year-old neolithic settlement west of Jerusalem which they believe is the largest of the period ever discovered in the Holy Land. The settlement, in Motza 5km west of Jerusalem, was home to 2,000 people and dates to 9,500 BC, Hammadid Khalife, head of the archeological team, told AFP. "We discovered a real treasure on the site consisting of 58 flint blades, found together, which at the time served as a kind of currency," Khalife said. "The origin of the stone and the way the blades...