archaeology

The Lost Bible

by Prof. Doron Lancet
 
ABSTRACT: "New archeology" expands the use of technologies such as carbon dating and the analysis of ancient DNA. By changing dramatically the system of dating Israel’s archeological finds, these techniques may reveal agreement between biblical accounts and evidence on the ground
 
Last week, Ha’aretz Magazine published Prof. Ze’ev Herzog’s startling announcement that the Bible period never existed, as no evidence has been found for it in archeological excavations. Most other archeologists interviewed expressed complete agreement, and even said that Herzog’s statement was nothing new. A minority continues to claim that material evidence exists for the biblical accounts, but the consensus seems to go the other ay.Non-archeologists, religious and secular alike, unanimously said that whether the Bible is truth or legend, its standing as a colossal work will always prevail. But disturbing voices were heard, urging that the archeologists and their findings should be entirely dismissed.

(more…)

by Will Hart © 2002
Email: Wrtsearch1@aol.com
 
"The Brain Police" and "The Big Lie"

Any time you allege a conspiracy is afoot, especially in the field of science, you are treading on thin ice. We tend to be very sceptical about conspiracies–unless the Mafia or some Muslim radicals are behind the alleged plot. But the evidence is overwhelming and the irony is that much of it is in plain view.

The good news is that the players are obvious. Their game plan and even their play-by-play tactics are transparent, once you learn to spot them. However, it is not so easy to penetrate through the smokescreen of propaganda and disinformation to get to their underlying motives and goals. It would be convenient if we could point to a plumber’s unit and a boldface liar like Richard Nixon, but this is a more subtle operation.

The bad news: the conspiracy is global and there are many vested interest groups. A cursory investigation yields the usual suspects: scientists with a theoretical axe to grind, careers to further and the status quo to maintain. Their modus operandi is "The Big Lie"–and the bigger and more widely publicised, the better.

by Sengül Aydingün and Mark Rose

Conservators Struggle to Restore Justinian’s Great Church in Istanbul

Hagia Sophia, the sixth-century church built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian (Mark Rose)

From the top of the scaffolding in the immense dome, rising 185 feet above the marble floor, one sees the golden mosaics up close, and the beautiful nineteenth-century calligraphy spelling out a passage from the Koran, beginning: "The inherent light illuminates earth and sky." This is Hagia Sophia, for over nine centuries the principal church of the Byzantine Empire, and for nearly five centuries the principal Ottoman mosque. Gazing down to the floor and then up, the eye catches walls veneered with colored marble, massive monolithic columns of green and purple stone, and then the mosaics: angels, the Archangel Gabriel, and the infant Jesus on the lap of the Virgin Mary in the apse. Above all is the golden dome, which a sixth-century poet described as "formed of gilded tesserae set together, from which pour golden rays in an abundant stream striking men’s eyes with irresistible force."

Hagia Sophia’s mosaics were also admired by Sultan Abdülmecid in the nineteenth century. He gazed for a long time at the mosaics of Jesus and Mary, then commented, "They are all very beautiful, but for the time it is not appropriate to leave them visible. Clean them and cover them over again carefully, so that they may survive until they are revealed to view in the future." Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati, the sultan’s Swiss architects, completed the necessary structural repairs to the building, and by 1849 Hagia Sophia’s exquisite mosaics were covered by fresh plaster painted with Gaspare’s hybrid Ottoman-Byzantine motifs. (more…)