Story behind Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is located in Israel and Jordan, about 15 miles east of Jerusalem. It is extremely deep (averaging about 1,000 feet), salty (some parts containing the highest amount of salts possible), and the lowest body of water in the world. The Dead Sea is supplied by a number of smaller streams, springs, and the Jordan River.
Because of its low elevation and its position in a deep basin, the climate of the Dead Sea area is unusual. Its very high evaporation does produce a haze yet its atmospheric humidity is low. Adjacent areas to it are very arid and favorable for the preservation of materials like the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Bible's description, in Genesis 19, of a destructive earthquake near the Dead Sea area during the time of Abraham is borne out by archaeological and historic investigation. While no evidence remains of the five cities of the plain (Zeboim, Admah, Bela or Zoar, Sodom, and Gomorrah) their sites are believed to be beneath the waters at the southern end of the sea.
Archaeological sites near the Dead Sea include Masada, Ein Gedi, and Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found).

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Archaeologists Unearth Oldest Hebrew Text

Israeli archaeologists claim to have unearthed the oldest Hebrew text ever found. Discovered while excavating a fortress city, apparently it dates back from the 10th century B.C. and refers to the Bible when King David slew Goliath. Here's more on the story.

STORY:
Archaeologists uncover Israel's most foregone past near the ancient battlefield in the Valley of Elah. It is now home to wineries and a satellite station.

The professor of archaeology at the Hebrew University led the excavations.

Yosef Garfinkel, Archaeology Professor:
"This inscription...is the oldest Hebrew inscription in the world. It's pre-dated the Dead Sea Scrolls by 1,000 years."

Experts have not been able to decipher the full text as yet, but several words, including "judge", "slave" and "king," were identified. They hope the text will shed light on how alphabetic scripts developed.

Yosef Garfinkel, Archaeology Professor:
"It is written in Proto-Canaanite script which is the father and mother of all the alphabetic script in the world, the Greek, the Latin, the Hebrew, the Phoenician, the Aramein (Aramaic), all the alphabet in the world derived from this script that appears here on this specific piece of pottery."

Carbon dating of artifacts found at the site indicate the Hebrew inscription was written about 10th century B.C. This is a time when scholars believe King David ruled Jerusalem and ancient Israel.

Yosef Garfinkel, Archaeology Professor:
"This inscription was found in a site... located on the border between Judah and the Philistine. It was a fortified city from the time of King David, about 3,000 years ago."

Garfinkel says the recent findings could have wider repercussions over the future of Jerusalem.

Yosef Garfunkel, Archaeology Professor:
"Currently there is a heated debate about the historical value of the Bible-if we have historical information, or it's only theological and literary composed hundreds of years later. Our site clearly proves that already in the early 10th century B.C. there was a kingdom in Judea and that King David existed as a king and that he built fortified cities."

Modern-day Israel often mentions a biblical connection through King David to Jerusalem in supporting its claim to all of the city as its "eternal and indivisible capital."

For the Palestinians, however, the long-standing Arab population in Jerusalem takes over any biblical claims. They want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of the state they hope to establish in the West bank and Gaza trip.

Nasa talking about 2012?

Dead Sea Scrolls found in a cave near Jerusalem revealed the Earth was visited with extra-terrestrial visitors. Most religions of the world agree in the concept of Sons of Light and Sons of Darkness, good angels and evil ones, good aliens and bad.

My research has indicated there are various groups of aliens with different intentions, their motivations may be very different and they often appear to be fighting one another. "The Zadokite Document," discovered fifty years ago in an old synagogue in Cairo, confirms Genesis and mentions the landing of Spacemen, their giant offspring and immorality.


"Because they walked in the stubbornness of their hearts, the Watchers of heaven fell, yea, they were caught thereby because they kept not the Commandments of God. So too their Sons whose height was like the lofty cedars and whose bodies were as mountains. They also fell." The Scriptures of the Dead Sea Sect by Theodore H. Gaster.


Their visits have often been interpreted in religious terms, but the data is essentially truthful and often the best we have. Biologists search for protoplasm in ancient primordial soup. Archaeologists seek man's origin in the mud. I search with shining eyes for our home in the stars.