Hirbet Madras: History Underneath Our Feet
What would you do if, one day you we're walking down an unassuming street, and the next say, that street was all dug up by archaelogists, revealing an ancient church that was resting quietly beneath our feet!
Well, thats exactly what was going on in Israel, at the Hirbet Madras site, located just outside of Jerusalem. There we're rumors of this Byzantine church being underneath the ground in the 1980's, when an arch was found, but archaelogists couldn't do much about it at the time because there was an influx of looting and site desecration at the time (who knew?) plans for excavation had to be put on hold.
 |
| Just chilling in some ruins. |
Fast forward thirt years, and theres a brand new, 1,500 year old church smack dab in the middle of Israel, which has excavators salivating over its unique architecture. Israel has alwasys had Greek, Roman, Arabic, Jewish, Byzantine, and Christian burial grounds and holy sites, so this is just another great find for a nation as culturally rich as Israel. The site was open for about two months, but is now closed until funds can obtained for further investigation.
This brings up the question of looting, as if theres no archaelogists at the site, then, whos there to guard them? Theres already been some desecration and looting in the past, and all the archaelogists have really done was to "cover it again with soil for its own protection". But a little bit of dirt isn't really enough for protection, especially since we've seen what looters are capapble of doing, in our studies of Egyptian sites. Shouldn't there be some more protection against these looters? This is history here, not some national park thats barely protected. There should be some more notice of it.
See these beautiful mosaics? Imagine them not being there anymore. It would just be a waste of space, stolen by looters, and getting cashed out, never to be seen again. Without a little preservation, no one can enjoy these works anymore. They archaelogists have made measures to protect them from the elements, but not from humans.
http://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/2011/02/1500-year-old-church-found-in-holy-land.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142103
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41390020/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/-year-old-church-found-israel/
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/08/31/article-2032155-0DA2BCF800000578-181_964x639.jpg
Where in Israel is Hirbet Madrasa located? So why do you think there is not as much attention to this particular site? Do you think there's just not enough public interest in a non-Jewish site in Israel outside of the cities of Jersusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem ? How does politics figure into how sites are protected?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I do beleive that theres some interest, but not as much as the places you just named. Its hard to create interest in places that literally just popped out of the ground a couple monhts ago.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the church is located in the mountains outside of Jerusalem.
ReplyDelete