Biblical Archaeology Review

See Robert Deutsch, “Seal of Ba‘alis Surfaces,” BAR 25:02.

Robert Eisenman and James M. Robinson, A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 2 vols. (Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1991).

Monika Bernett and Othmar Keel, Mond, Stier und Kult am Stadttor von Bethsaida (et-Tell), Orbis biblicus et orientalis 161 (Freiburg: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998).

Work on the geological and geographic questions at Bethsaida began in 1992. John F. Shroder, Jr., and Michael Bishop, of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Department of Geography and Geology, together with Moshe Inbar of the Department of Geography at Haifa University, led the investigations. The surveys at el-Araj have revealed that the sedimentation contains a mix of Hellenistic and Roman period finds, which were deposited there as a result of catastrophic flooding of the Jordan River following earthquake activity.

The same geological phenomena that led to Bethsaida’s demise also contributed to the disappearance of other ancient ports, such as Ephesus and Miletus in Asia Minor. In addition, declining water levels have isolated former ports near inland seas, including along the Aral Sea of central Asia and near ancient Lake Seistan (now Dasht-Margo, or Desert of Death), in southwest Afghanistan.

Rami Arav began the Bethsaida Excavations Project on behalf of the Golan Research Institute under the auspices of Haifa University. In 1991 the Consortium for the Excavations Project was formed. Today the consortium consists of 17 universities and colleges throughout America and Europe and is jointly sponsored by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Hartford.

Horace H.F. Jayne, quoted in Zettler and Horne, Treasures from the Royal Tombs, p. 19.

See Susan Pollock, “Ur,” in Eric M. Meyers et al., eds., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, 5 vols. (New York and Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997), vol. 5, p. 288.

Woolley, Excavations at Ur, pp. 68–69.