Support Rome’s Archeology!

From : ParlaFood.com Support Rome’s Archeology!


The Vatican may attract the most visitors to Rome, but many millions flock to the eternal city for its Ancient history. I made my first trip in 1996 with my high school’s Junior Classical League. This was the age before social media. The internet was scarce. I spent the next five years reading about Rome in books and watching documentaries on the History Channel. I always hoped that I could participate in preserving the city in some way, no easy task considering the bureaucratic obstacles involved and the lack of opportunities for private citizens to invest in archeology. Now everyone has the opportunity to protect and document Rome’s cultural patrimony. It only takes a moment and can be done completely online. Here are two ways you can help:
Sign the petition to save “The Gladiator Tomb” from being buried. The second century mausoleum of Marcus Nonius Macrinus, the general who inspired the film The Gladiator”, was discovered on the Via Flaminia and is in danger of being buried, as funds to excavate are scarce. Send a message to the city and state authorities in charge of the site and sign the ipetition here. As of today, there are 2,507 signatures. Get involved! For more on the tomb, visit the American Institute of Roman Culture site here.
The American Institute for Roman Culture offers programs and projects in Rome for students and scholars. As part of their unique interdisciplinary offerings, the AIRC is seeking to raise funds for a one-hour documentary called “Digging Rome”. The non-profit educational video will be broken up into 5-10 minute podcast segments that explain and explore Rome’s rich cultural history. You can help the AIRC reach their goal of $10,000 by donating on Kickstarter here.(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dariusarya/digging-history-getting-dirty-has-never-been-so-ed?ref=card)

 

Low-water rivers offering up glimpse of history

From YahooNews.com:  Low-water rivers offering up glimpse of history

Enlarge PhotoAssociated Press/United States Coast Guard, Colby Buchanan - This Nov. 28, 2012 photo provided by The United States Coast Guard shows a WWII minesweeper on the Mississippi River near St. Louis, Mo.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — From sunken steamboats to a millennium-old map engraved in rock, the drought-drained rivers of the nation's midsection are offering a rare and fleeting glimpse into years gone by.

Lack of rain has left many rivers at low levels unseen for decades, creating problems for river commerce and recreation and raising concerns about water supplies and hydropower if the drought persists into next year, as many fear.

But for the curious, the receding water is offering an occasional treasure trove of history.

An old steamboat is now visible on the Missouri River near St. Charles, Mo., and other old boats nestled on river bottoms are showing up elsewhere. A World War II minesweeper, once moored along the Mississippi River as a museum at St. Louis before it was torn away by floodwaters two decades ago, has become visible — rusted but intact.

Perhaps most interesting, a rock containing what is believed to be an ancient map has emerged in the Mississippi River in southeast Missouri.

The rock contains etchings believed to be up to 1,200 years old. It was not in the river a millennium ago, but the changing course of the waterway now normally puts it under water — exposed only in periods of extreme drought. Experts are wary of giving a specific location out of fear that looters will take a chunk of the rock or scribble graffiti on it.

"It appears to be a map of prehistoric Indian villages," said Steve Dasovich, an anthropology professor at Lindenwood University in St. Charles. "What's really fascinating is that it shows village sites we don't yet know about."

Old boats are turning up in several locations, including sunken steamboats dating to the 19th century.

That's not surprising considering the volume of steamboat traffic that once traversed the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Dasovich said it wasn't uncommon in the 1800s to have hundreds of steamboats pass by St. Louis each day, given the fact that St. Louis was once among the world's busiest inland ports. The boats, sometimes lined up two miles deep and four boats wide in both directions, carried not only people from town to town but goods and supplies up and down the rivers.

Sinkings were common among the wooden vessels, which often were poorly constructed.
"The average lifespan of a steamboat on the Missouri River was five years," Dasovich said. "They were made quickly. If you could make one run from St. Louis to Fort Benton, Mont., and back, you've paid for your boat and probably made a profit. After that, it's almost like they didn't care what happened."
What often happened, at least on the Missouri River, was the boat would strike an underwater tree that had been uprooted and become lodged in the river bottom, tearing a hole that would sink the ship. Dasovich estimated that the remains of 500 to 700 steamboats sit at the bottom of the Missouri River, scattered from its mouth in Montana to its convergence with the Mississippi near St. Louis.
The number of sunken steamboats on the Mississippi River is likely about the same, Dasovich said. Steamboat traffic was far heavier on the Mississippi, but traffic there was and is less susceptible to river debris.
Boiler explosions, lightning strikes and accidents also sunk many a steamboat. One of the grander ones, the Montana, turned up this fall on the Missouri River near St. Charles. The elaborate steamer was as long as a football field with lavish touches aimed at pleasing its mostly wealthy clientele. It went to its watery grave after striking a tree below the surface in 1884.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers urge sightseers to stay away from any shipwreck sites. Sandbars leading to them can be unstable and dangerous, and the rusted hulks can pose dangers for those sifting through them.
Plus, taking anything from them is illegal. By law, sunken ships and their goods belong to the state where they went down.
While unusual, it's not unprecedented for low water levels to reveal historic artifacts.
Last year, an officer who patrols an East Texas lake discovered a piece of the space shuttle Columbia, which broke apart and burned on re-entry in 2003, killing all seven astronauts aboard. And the remains of a wooden steamer built 125 years ago recently were uncovered in a Michigan waterway because of low levels in the Great Lakes.
But treasure hunters expecting to find Titanic-like souvenirs in rivers will likely be disappointed if they risk exploring the lost boats.
"It's not like these wrecks are full of bottles, dishes, things like that," said Mark Wagner, an archaeologist at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. "If there was anything on there in the first place, the river current pretty much stripped things out of these wrecks."
Such was the case with the USS Inaugural, a World War II minesweeper that for years served as a docked museum on the Mississippi River at St. Louis. The Great Flood of 1993 ripped the Inaugural from its mooring near the Gateway Arch. It crashed into the Poplar Street bridge, and then sank.

In September, the rusted Inaugural became visible again, though now nothing more than an empty, orange-rusted hulk lying on its side not far from a south St. Louis casino.

New posting schedule

Now that I've got this new full-time job, I'll be posting in this blog twice a week - on Monday's and Wednesdays.

So the next post for this blog will be on Monday.

Thanks for your patience.

Posts resume this Wednesday

I'm a freelance writer and I am way behind on a job I have to do, so I won't be posting here until Wednesday..

Thanks for your patience!

Archeological travel with Gilles Cohen

From Art Media Agency:  Archeological travel with Gilles Cohen

Auction  house  Delorme Collin du Boccage on 19 December 2012 organises an archeological sale of Pre-Columbian and Asian art titled “Tribute to Michel Cohen”. Art Media Agency had the pleasure to meet with Gilles Cohen, his son, and ask him some questions about his father, his collection and the archeological objects’ market.
Art Media Agency (AMA): Can you briefly present the sale scheduled for 19 December 2012?
Gilles Cohen (GC): The 19 December sale will gather around 300 pieces (to be exact 326) coming from prestigious private collections including the ones of Claude Vérité, Lord Kitchener, Charles Bouché, Azzarro, Cazeneuve, Paul Malon, Sevadjian, Barbier Mueller, Jean Lions, Labre, Arthur Sambon, as well as other less known private collections.
Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Asian art will be presented. Objects date from the VI to IV millennium BC to the 19th century with a marble work stylised on Roman period. Price estimations range from some hundreds euro to €400,000 for a marble bust of the Roman Empire period believed to be the portrait of Agrippina.
My father, Michel Cohen, thought this would have been his last Autumn auction, which is why, despite of his death, a team of experts was gathered in order to fulfill his will and pay him a tribute.
The objects will be shown by appointment only, 10 rue Petit, 75019, Paris, until 14 December, and later on at  the Hôtel Drouot, room 14, the 18 and 19 December.
AMA: Olivier Collin du Bocage, auctioneer of the sale, describes your father as a “time traveller”. Who really was Michel Cohen?
GC: My father was first of all, an antique dealer, than he established his first gallery in place de Vosges in 1968. He was  an expert in archeology but also in Medieval furniture and objects, including other periods, up to the 17th century. He was one of the first to publish a catalogue with object descriptions, photos and prices. He was also one of the first to use scientific methods as thermoluminescence, which allows to date terracotta.
Than he opened numerous galleries,  in rue de l’Université, rue de Sévigné, place des Vosges and bought back the Reine Margot in quai de Conti. As you can see my father liked to play Monopoly.
AMA: How did you become the head of Reine Margot?
GC: After studying management, sciences and attending the École du Louvre, my father entrusted me  the management of his gallery. He could not take care of everything that is why in 1980s I took over. Since then I organised numerous exhibitions accompanied with catalogues, notably events devoted to wine, antiquity clothes and glasses which are among my specialities. During the sale a very beautiful set of glasses made before the blow molding technique and dated around the 1st century BC will be on offer (lots 139-150).
The next exhibition will be held from 14 December to 30 March 2013, titled “Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas…” and concerning the subject of cabinet of curiosities.
AMA: Let’s go back to the sale on 19 December, what is the origin of the objects?
GC: Some of them come from my father’s collection. I also asked my friends in France and abroad to send me some objects for this sale. The most important contribution is the one of Claude Vérité, known for his three or four former sales.
This is a variegated collection with objects of high quality, as for example the gilt wood statue of Oushebti, a very beautiful set of ceramics and Pre-Columbian objects such as a Vera-Cruz terracotta depicting a Shaman (lot 174) issued from the Yvon Collet collection.
AMA: Experts and scientists’ role is very important when treating this kind of objects. How did you organise it?
GC: A dozen of experts and specialists worked during the preparation of this sale. Three of them contributed particularly: Alexandre Aspa, my expertise staff - Ancient Art Expertise - and an expert in Far Eastern art. Each person consulted two or three specialists and executed scientific analysis. We are as well capable of presenting a condition report. 
For example, in case of Romain portraits, numerous French scholars were consulted. The greatest expert in Greek vases, a Princeton scholar, who is able to attribute any kind of vase, was consulted as well.
AMA: How do you proceed with such objects?
GC: This is a question of method. When I see an object, at first I always assume that it is fake and then I try to find the proof that it is not.
This is a very challenging way but the main advantage is that I resist the temptation of identifying an object without being truly convinced of its originality.  If I am not convinced without the slightest doubt, I abstain.
AMA: Which lot is the most expensive?
GC: It is the presumed portrait of Agrippina from the Romain period. This marble bust comes from a private Parisian collection and its price is estimated between €400,000 and €500,000.
AMA: Who buys items like this nowadays? 
GC: There are connoisseurs and collectors from around the world. More precisely, some people from Qatar or Mr Jean Claude Gandur, who is an exceptional collector and is about to donate his collection to the Museum of Art and History in Geneva. These are people with very good taste who are well advised.
These objects are filled with history and I think that in times lacking stability, like nowadays, these precious items bring reassurance and comfort. Buyers are aware that these objects depict history.
AMA: Are the collectors nationalists?
GC: This is very common. The Chinese, for example, they buy a lot of their patrimony.
AMA: The export regulations of these kind of items are very strict. How to reassure buyers?
GC: Yes, beyond a certain value and age of the object it is necessary to have a passport from the Ministry of Culture in order to export it. We have a number of passports for the items offered on the sale, others in waiting of validation.
Until now, no object has been refused a passport.
AMA: Why are the big archeological sales so rare?
GC: Important Anglo-Saxon auction houses such as, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonham’s manage to organise two or three sales of this kind a year. There are as well French auction houses and Gorny&Mosch in Munich.
AMA: Why did you choose Collin du Bocage auction house?
GC: My father worked with them and since a very long time we have good relations with its director, a young auctioneer. Apart from publishing a catalogue, he did everything it was possible in order to organise this sale-tribute to my father, Michel Cohen, notably in allowing us to exhibit almost all the lots at the office of the Mythes et Légendes, 10 rue Petit, in Paris.
AMA: How does the market looks like in your domain?
GC: Taking into account that archeology is a field one can less speculate about, price variations are minuscule. I have a habit of saying that art pays us back every time we look at it.

 

Most detailed examination of Nazca lines ever seen reported

From Examiner.com:  Most detailed examination of Nazca lines ever seen reported

Professor Clive Ruggles of the University of Leicester's School of Archaeology and Ancient History and Dr. Nicholas Saunders of the University of Bristol’s Department of Archaeology and Anthropology have walked 1,500 km of desert in southern Peru, tracing the lines and geometric figures created by the Nazca people between 100 BC and AD 700. The research was reported in the December 10, 2012, issue of the journal Antiquity.

Originally begun in 1984 and halted the expedition examined the full extent of the Nazca lines by walking them.

View slideshow: Nazca Lines

Nazca Lines by SPOT Satellite

 

 

Spot Image This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Most importantly the scientists have established that the labyrinth originally discovered by Ruggles in 1984. The 4.4 kilometer path was designed specifically to be walked. The circuity and the angularity of the construction may have a ceremonial or religious aspect that has to date not been explained but the researchers are certain that the path was definitely originally designed for walking. The most likely reason for the construction was a single file processional associated with some unknown Nazca custom.
The entire labyrinth cannot be seen from any area of the surface.

The researchers conclude that the entire creation of the Nazca lines may have been simply the accomplishment of something extraordinary rather than having a highly religious context.

Photos of the labyrinth and the Nazca lines can be seen at Ruggles’ website here.: http://www.cliveruggles.net/

 

WWII era plane found at bottom of lake

From WZZM31: WWII era plane found at bottom of lake

CHICAGO (WFLD/CNN) -- On this 71st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a World War II-era plane has been brought back to the surface of Lake Michigan on Friday.
The plane has been lying on the bottom of the lake for nearly 70 years. The Naval Aviation Museum Foundation is sponsoring the recovery.
The aircraft crashed during training near Waukegan, IL in December 1944.

World War II-era plan found at the bottom of Lake Michigan. (Courtesy: WFLD/CNN)

 

Belize archeologist sues over Indiana Jones skull

This is just another example of why you'll never see a poor lawyer. This lawsuit against a movie using a REPLICA of a skull has no merit, yet there's actually a lawyer who is taking the case - and you may be sure he's being paid big bucks  - and a judge somewhere who said, "Ah, sure, we'll let you take this to court. You might be able to get a settlement from the movie folk (because settling is cheaper than fighting this ridiculous thing, because they still ahve to pay *their* lawyers)  and it's just ridiculous!

From Google News: Belize archeologist sues over Indiana Jones skull

LOS ANGELES — A Belize archeologist is suing the makers of a blockbuster "Indiana Jones" film for using a likeness of a so-called Crystal Skull, which he says is a stolen national treasure.
Dr. Jaime Awe claims the skull was stolen from Belize 88 years ago, and that filmmakers had no right to use a model of it in 2008's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," according to the Hollywood Reporter.
In a lawsuit filed in Illinois this week, Awe is demanding the return of the Crystal Skull, which he says is a national treasure, from a treasure-hunting family who allegedly stole it, said the industry journal Friday.
But the legal action also targets Lucasfilm, its new owner the Walt Disney Co. and Paramount Pictures which released the film by Steven Spielberg, for allegedly using a replica "likeness" of the skull.
Awe, head of the Institute of Archeology of Belize, claims that the skull was found by the daughter of an adventurer named F.A. Mitchell-Hedges under a collapsed altar in temple ruins in Belize, and taken to the US in 1930.
The family is said to have made money exhibiting the skull, described as 5 inches high, 7 inches long and 5 inches wide, which Awe says was used as a model for the Indiana Jones movie.
"LucasFilm never sought, nor was given permission to utilize the Mitchell-Hedges Skull or its likeness in the film," says the lawsuit, a copy of which was published by the Hollywood Reporter.
"To date, Belize has not participated in any of the profits derived from the sale of the film or the rights thereto," it added. The movie grossed about $786 million worldwide.
The skull is one of four valuable Crystal skulls seized from Belize -- the others are on display in London, Paris and Washington.
"Belize was .. an epicenter for nineteenth and early twentieth-century treasure hunters plundering the nation's Maya ruins under the guise of 'archaeology'," said the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is seeking the return of the original skull, which it describes as the "most notable" of the four. It added that Belize has a "right, title and interest in and to the Mitchell-Hedges Skull and its likeness."
The Hollywood Reporter described Awe as a "real-life Indiana Jones," and his legal action as "one of the most entertaining lawsuits of the year."
Neither Lucasfilm -- which its founder and "Star Wars" creator George Lucas sold to Disney in October for over $4 billion -- nor Paramount reacted immediately to news of the lawsuit.

Pakistan: Historical treasures: Coins dating back to 200 BC given to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

From the Express Tribune:  Historical treasures: Coins dating back to 200 BC given to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

The coins date back from 200 BC during the Indo-Greek period to the Sikhs in the 19th century and were probably recovered in raids aimed to foil smuggling.

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Directorate of Archeology has taken custody of about 26,000 rare coins, some of which date back to 200 BC. 
For the past two months, the coins were being sorted and catalogued by officials of the archeology department.
An official, who requested not to be named, told The Express Tribune that these coins were dumped in a storage facility of the federal archeology department in Peshawar. The details of 2,800 coins have so far been documented, while 14,000 others have been counted.
“These coins were packed in four boxes at this storage facility when we took them from the federal archeology following the 18th Amendment,” the official said. They were stuffed in bags, some of them weighing 70 kilogrammes, he added.
Each coin is being measured, weighed, and their time periods are being examined. They are also being photographed and a number is allotted to them before being packed in plastic sheets. This is the first time the coins have been properly documented.

The coins date back from 200 BC during the Indo-Greek period to the Sikhs in the 19th century and were probably recovered in raids aimed to foil smuggling. The verification and paperwork is a long task and could take months to complete, the official said.
Dr Naeem Qazi, an archeologist at the University of Peshawar, said that the proper way to deal with confiscated items is to document them first. He praised the archeology department for the initiative and their professionalism in dealing with this historical treasure.
Dr Qazi cautioned, however, that storage of such items is a constant process and should not be treated as a onetime exercise.
“In our region, humidity increases in summer and we cannot protect the coins against the weather,” he said.

Sri Lanka: Protest in front of Archeological Dept.

From Sri Lankan Daily Mirror:  Protest in front of Archeological Dept.

“Bodu Bala Sena” an organization of Buddhist monks and laymen today came to the Department of Archeology to urge the authorities to protect the archeological sites in the Eastern Province.

National Heritage Minister Mahinda Balasuriya and Archeology Department Director General Senerath Dissanayake assured the Buddhist monks they would do everything possible to secure the sites by January next year. Pix by Pradeep Pathirana

Head Start learns archeology

From Daily Sentinel.com:  Head Start learns archeology

Dr. George Avery, resident archeologist at Stephen F. Austin State University, shows students from the GETCAP Head Start school a brick while pointing out nearby brick buildings adjacent tot he dig at the former Super Gym site on Friday. Avery and his crew are excavating the site for historic items and relics prior to the county constructing a parking lot.

 

Israel: Digging deep: archaeology for everyone

From Times of Israel:  Digging deep: archaeology for everyone

Shaul Gefen grew up in a miniscule apartment in Dorot, the first kibbutz to be founded in the Negev. On one side of the only sink in the one-and-a-half-room dwelling stood a box of caustic soda for cleaning metal; on the other, a container with paraffin oil for restoration. Both items belonged to his father, Yekutiel, who like many others of his generation was obsessed with the past and spent his free time combing the nearby fields, tels, and wadis for artifacts left behind by long-ago Negev settlers.

As a child, Gefen often tagged along with his dad — but not because he was interested in archeology. It was the joy of picking things up off the ground and seeing the look on his father’s face when they turned out to be special, he says. “Once I brought him what I thought was a tiny bead,” relates Gefen. “My father was thrilled, and told me I had discovered a scarab — an ancient Egyptian amulet decorated with a beetle.”

Antiquities on display in Dorot, the first kibbutz to be founded in the Negev (photo: courtesy Shmuel Bar-Am)

Today, in addition to his other kibbutz duties, Gefen is in charge of Dorot’s marvelous archeological exhibit. Like dozens of other little-known archeological exhibits scattered throughout Israel, Dorot’s is free to all comers.

Scattered throughout Israel are dozens of archeological exhibits, indoor and outdoor, that anyone can visit at no charge. Each has its own particular charm, history and landscape, and all display their artifacts courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority. That’s because every relic found in this country that is more than 312 years old (dating back to before 1700) belongs to the State.

Each and every ancient object, no matter how small, is catalogued by the IAA, which holds a million or so artifacts in storerooms that are bursting at the seams. Delighted when antiquities are put on display for the general public to enjoy, professionals at the IAA assist in setting up the exhibits, provide historical and technical information, and offer unending encouragement to local staff.

Here are three wonderful exhibits — in Israel’s north, center and south!

South: Kibbutz Dorot was established in 1941. The founders, idealistic young people from Germany, Czechoslovakia and Latvia, had been waiting impatiently at a farming center in Hadera for half a decade. Imagine their joy when informed that land had been purchased for them to settle in the Negev.

Their new little kibbutz, surrounded by Arab villages, was 20 kilometers south of the southernmost Jewish settlement. Nearby stood several man-made hills (tels) where communities flourished thousands of years ago. One of them was Tel el-Hesi, excavated in 1890 by Flinders Petrie; it’s the site of the very first scientific archeological dig in the Land of Israel. (Petrie’s body, by the way, is buried in Jerusalem. But his wife thought his genius deserved analysis, and sent his head to the Royal Surgeons of London for study).

Capitals and pillars at the entrance to Dorot are from a huge Byzantine monastery that stood on a hill only minutes away. (photo: courtesy Shmuel Bar-Am)

Dorot’s archeology exhibit is found inside half of the kibbutz baby house (beit hatinokot), the only building left from the original settlement. Standing outside is the bottom of a marble chancel screen, or lattice, used to separate priests from simple worshippers in Byzantine churches. Capitals and pillars at the entrance are from a huge Byzantine monastery that stood on a hill only minutes away.

Inside, antiquities are displayed according to the site at which they were discovered, with English descriptions: animal figurines and oil lamps from the Israelite period, flint from the Paleolithic era, human figurines dating back to the Greeks, iron-age cooking pots and Chalcolithic relics such as basalt tools, and flint scrapers.

Dorot Museum (photo: courtesy Shmuel Bar-Am)

Among the exhibits on view is an exciting coin collection. It includes a whole package of coins that Yekutiel Gefen’s dad put into the kibbutz safe 25 years ago: it was completely forgotten until recently. Take a look with the magnifying glass, as Gefen explains how the entire history of a city can be read from an ancient coin.

The collection includes a penny from 1896, probably left near the kibbutz in 1917. That’s when the British relentlessly pursued the Turks right through this very area and pushed them out of Palestine. Gefen jokes that the penny probably fell out of the pocket of a British soldier who, when he went to the canteen for a drink, would have been devastated to find he was missing a coin!

Center: During the War of Independence, when former president Ezer Weizman flew airplanes into the fray, he often took off from a little army base in Herzliyah. That army base, including a few of its (renovated) barracks, today hosts the first private institution of higher education in Israel: the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, also known as the IDC, established in 1994 by Tel Aviv law professor Uriel Reichman.

On the IDC campus in Herzliya, a sarcophagus from Tul Kerem in the Roman Period, decorated with a tabula ensata – a rectangular frame with an inscription or artistic design within. (photo: courtesy Shmuel Bar-Am)

Looking very much like a kibbutz, with mostly low buildings, lots of gardens and a pastoral atmosphere, the IDC offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in six different areas: international law, business, government diplomacy and strategy, computer science, communications (in a state-of-the-art environment new to Israel) and psychology. The IDC’s international school — also unique to this country — offers the same degrees, but classes are taught in English.

Stressing the importance of mixing the present with the past, Professor Reichman decided students at the IDC should come into daily contact with archeology. It all started small, with a capital or sarcophagus here and there borrowed from the IAA and placed strategically outside of buildings and along the sidewalks. But when construction began on the School of Business, the IDC began methodically planning what kind of relics to display and where to place them.

Soon antiquities relating to trade and government — such as ancient weights, certificates of contract and milestones naming long ago governors of Israel began to appear. And as the concept took wings, more and more artifacts began showing up on the campus, exposing Israeli students daily to their past. The displays also provide foreign students walking through the grounds with a whole new idea of what Israel is all about.

Visitors may enjoy both antiquities and modern art by strolling through the IDC any time that the school is open. Don’t miss the permanent exhibition in the Business School, which includes an authentic letter written by Shimon Bar Kochba to one of his generals, a bronze coin from the Hasmonean era, and a 9^th century limestone capital from Samaria.

Look for an enormous ornamental sarcophagus (the largest I have ever seen), and a beautifully sculpted second century bust of Apollo that once stood in Roman Ashkelon. Examine basalt and limestone sarcophagi, granite shafts, parts of a Byzantine oil press, and my favorite: a decorative basalt door to a burial cave that dates back to the Roman era. Next to every relic are  outstanding, detailed explanations in English.

North:  If I could meet anyone at all from the not-too-distant past, I would probably choose David Torrance. Doctor and missionary, he was an extraordinary man. Indeed, after his death in 1946 the Chief Rabbi of Tiberias remarked that the town had been triply blessed: it had a glorious lake, healing hot springs, and David Torrance!

Utensils used in food preparation — apparently from the Talmudic period, Scots Hotel, Tiberias (photo: courtesy Shmuel Bar-Am)

Torrance got his first look at Tiberias in 1884 when he was part of a Scottish fact-finding delegation to the Holy Land. The young doctor was appalled to find the town falling apart: Israel’s spiritual and intellectual center for hundreds of years and one of her four holiest cities, Tiberias in the 19th century was awash with sewage and disease. Soon afterwards Torrance returned as head of the Scottish Church’s Mission to the Jews. He planned to preach the Gospel, of course, but he would also heal the townspeople.

Immediately, Torrance began treating patients with the tools he had available: Epsom salts, cod liver oil, and his magically healing hands. Ten years later he erected the town’s first medical facility, where he continued to care tenderly for everyone in need regardless of his or her faith. Despite a series of horrendous personal tragedies, and the fact that he failed miserably in his mission to convert the Jews, Dr. Torrance provided half a century of selfless service to the city and was universally revered.

The hospital eventually became a maternity unit which closed down in 1950 when no longer needed. For several decades afterwards the complex operated as a simple pilgrims’ hostel, but a few years ago it was renovated and re-opened as Tiberias’ unique and utterly exquisite Scots Hotel.

Scattered around the grounds are fascinating antiquities from the lake region, items that the doctor would discover when driving around in his horse and buggy. A number of the artifacts were actually gifts from grateful Arab patients, who knew of the doctor’s penchant for archeology.

Visitors are welcome to walk around the gardens on weekdays, viewing and learning about ancient stone utensils used for food preparation, anchors, ossuaries, pillars and other antiquities. Excellent signs in English describe each item and explain its historical background. And, while you are there, why not enjoy a cup of tea in the elegant, second-story lounge?