Posted on 03/07/2016 4:00:21 PM PST by SunkenCiv
The ancient copper mines in Timna are located deep in Israel's Arava Valley and are believed by some to be the site of King Solomon's mines... The tiny pieces of fabric, some only 5 x 5 centimeters in size, vary in color, weaving technique and ornamentation. "Some of these fabrics resemble textiles only known from the Roman era," said Dr. Orit Shamir...
The archaeologists also recently discovered thousands of seeds of the Biblical "Seven Species"... the two grains and five fruits considered unique products of the Land of Israel. Some of the seeds were subjected to radiocarbon dating, providing robust confirmation for the age of the site... said Dr. Ben-Yosef. "...We can reconstruct wine typical of King David's era, for example, and understand the cultivation and domestication processes that have been preserved in the DNA of the seed."
Copper was used to produce tools and weapons and was the most valuable resource in ancient societies. Its production required many levels of expertise. Miners in ancient Timna may have been slaves or prisoners -- theirs was a simple task performed under difficult conditions. But the act of smelting, of turning stone into metal, required an enormous amount of skill and organization. The smelter had to manage some 30 to 40 variables in order to produce the coveted copper ingots... food, water and textiles had to be transported long distances through the unforgiving desert climate and into the valley...
"We found linen, which was not produced locally. It was most likely from the Jordan Valley or Northern Israel. The majority of the fabrics were made of sheep's wool, a cloth that is seldom found in this ancient period," said TAU masters student Vanessa Workman. "This tells us how developed and sophisticated both their textile craft and trade networks must have been."
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
A fine wool textile dyed red and blue, found at Timna. The textile used the various colors of natural animal hair to create black and orange-brown colors for decorative bands. Credit: Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority
Like coats of many colors?
If they have gotten back 3000 years to King David, it's just a few hundred more back to Joseph. (Did Jacob take Joseph's coat with him to Egypt or leave it behind in the land of Canaan?)
Thank you for the ping. Yes, the article is great.
I LOVE ancient things. Touching history haptically or intellectually somehow attaches me to history itself.
I love ruins in Mexico as you are allowed to touch them (fewer and fewer though).
Touching carvings thousands of years old brings images in my mind of how people lived then.
GGG rocks!
[Did Jacob take Joseph’s coat with him to Egypt or leave it behind in the land of Canaan?]
It was destroyed.
After his brothers sold JOSEPH into slavery, they decided deceive their father. They killed one of the goats, and dipped Joseph’s coat in its blood; (and probably tore the coat) and they brought it to their father, and they said to him: “We found this coat out in the wilderness. Look at it, father, and tell us if you think it was the coat of your son.”
And Jacob knew it at once. He said: “It is my son’s coat. Some wild beast has eaten him. There is no doubt that Joseph has been torn in pieces!”
http://biblehub.com/library/marshall/the_wonder_book_of_bible_stories/the_story_of_joseph_and.htm
Yes, the brothers dipped the coat in goat’s blood, but it doesn’t say they tore it. Jacob rent his clothes when he saw Joseph’s coat, but it doesn’t say he did anything to the coat of many colors.
I'm that way with ancient Egyptian artifacts, a real menace. :') I'm probably done now, having touched at least one thing from the Old, Middle, and New Kingdom periods (when the guards turned their backs to me during their rounds).
Was the fabric made by Levites and Strauss?
How did Israeli textiles get made without imported Mexican labor?
I recall an article from years ago finding a tomb in Egypt for some fairly powerful person. They found part of a large statue showing a guy with with colorful garb. And this in the land of Goshen, where the Hebrews lived while in Egypt. The bones, along with everything else was gone. Grave robbers usually don’t worry about the bones. But the Hebrews DID grab Joeseph’s bones to bring to the Holy Land.
here’s a fairly long article similar to what I recall:
http://www.simchajtv.com/statue-of-biblical-joseph-found-story-covered-up/
I’m sure they used used imported Arab labor under the Northern Israeli free trade association. NIFTA.
Very interesting read, thanks for posting it.
My kind of archeological article.
It was featured on a recent TV documentary I saw recently about Exodus.It mentioned the statue and the garb as being typical of the Jewish style of the time. Also the fact that the statue clothes seened to be of many colors, perhaps as a tribute to the story in the Bible.
That is clever.
The Revision of Ancient History - A Perspective
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/669255/posts
Pharaohs and Kings - A Test of Time
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/725672/posts
Patterns of Evidence: Exodus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3338706/posts
and many topics about Simcha’s show:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/exodusdecoded/index
Thanks, my pleasure.
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