Biblical Archaeology/history

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Christina

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Earliest Appearance ofAbbreviation for the Israelite God By Hershel Shanks As Tom McCollough and Beth Glazier-McDonald note in the accompanying article, the silver amulet they describe contains several theophoric elements representing the ineffable name of the Israelite God, usually written in scholarly literature as Yahweh and referred to as the Tetragrammaton, for the four Hebrew letters of which it is comprised, YHWH. These theophoric elements in the amulet at YAY, YH, YHW and, they add, perhaps YYY and YY (see translation in amulets article). In this context, these theophoric elements are abbreviations of the divine name. If this name is too holy to be pronounced – as it was (and is); the high priest uttered it only once a year, in the Holy of Holies of the Temple on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement). -- it was also too sacred to be written in full. Hence, the abbreviations. Even in prayers and in scriptural recitations, the divine name remains unpronounced. Instead, the word Adonai (Lord) is substituted for the four consonants with which Yahweh is spelled. But among observant Jews, even Adonai is considered too sacred to be used outside of prayer. When not praying, observant Jews refer to ha-shem, “the Name,” rather than Adonai.Similarly, in Hebrew prayer books to this day, the divine name is frequently abbreviated simply by two Y’s (or yods, as this letter is called in Hebrew). In prayer, the two yods are automatically pronounced Adonai by worshipers.The two yods on the silver amulet appear to be the earliest documented use of this abbreviation! In the Talmud, three different abbreviations of the divine name are used: The first letter (Y) the last letter (H) and the first and last letters together (YH) – all common ways of abbreviating words at the time The latter abbreviation also appears in the silver amulet.But the standard abbreviation used today in Hebrew prayer books and other ritual publications is two YY’s, which does not appear in the Talmud.No one seems to have asked how this abbreviation came about (at least since 1931), and he was wrong)It now seems that it was first used in a magical context. From one to at least seven Y’s were used as abbreviations for the divine name in Aramaic magic incantation bowls from Mesopotamia. None of the hundreds of these magic incantation bowls was stratigraphically excavated, however, so their date is somewhat conjectural. They probably date a century or so later that our late-fourth/early fifth century amulet. And none of these bowls comes from Palestine, the source of our amuletSo far, I have not found, even with the help of my expert sources, another double yod in the amulets that I have come from Palestine. The amulet from Sepphoris seems to be the first.Unless someone can provide us with information to the contrary, it appears that this silver amulet from Sepphoris contains the earliest attestation of the common abbreviation for the divine name used in Jewish texts to this day. Apparently, the source of this abbreviation was in magical formulas. But we have no idea how it came to be almost universally adopted in Jewish texts
 

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I'm not quite sure here, but this article seems to be a little in conflict with how I under the use of God's name. YHWH was used, to my knowledge, because the Hebrew alphabet doesn't have vowels in the sense that we have. This, of course, translates in English to "I am."Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.However, they hit the nail on the head about how Holy his name was/is. It was not mentioned but that one time a year by the Chief Priest and while he read aloud he said the name in a whisper. He was allowed in to read the scrolls only for as long as a candle burned so it was truly a sacred ritual in many senses.http://www.hiscovenantministries.org/images/yhwh_5.gif(This being the actual Hebrew.)
 

Christina

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Many Ancient Documents May Confirm Biblical Events The most documented Biblical event is the world-wide flood described in Gen.6-9. A number of Babylonian documents have been discovered which describe the same flood. The Sumerian King List , for example, lists kings who reigned for long periods of time. Then a great flood came. Following the flood, Sumerian kings ruled for much shorter periods of time. This is the same pattern found in the Bible. Men had long life spans before the flood and shorter life spans after the flood. The 11th tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic speaks of an ark, animals taken on the ark, birds sent out during the course of the flood, the ark landing on a mountain, and a sacrifice offered after the ark landed. The Story of Adapa tells of a test for immortality involving food, similar to the story ofAdam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Sumerian tablets record the confusion of language as we have in the Biblical account of theTower of BabelGenesis 11:1-9 There was a golden age when all mankind spoke the same language. Speech was then confused by the god Enki, lord of wisdom. The Babylonians had a similar account in which the gods destroyed a temple tower and "scattered them abroad
 

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"Angel Scroll" Authentic or a Hoax?Copies of a manuscript known by scholars as the “Angel Scroll” surfaced in Jerusalem in recent years. Seeking authentication of the manuscript, the owners clandestinely provided a hand-written copy of the original text. Purported to be a missing Dead Sea Scroll manuscript, the text is entitled The Book of the Visions of Yeshua ben Padiah. Without an original manuscript, the text cannot be authenticated, but analysis of the handwritten copy conducted by Professor Stephen Pfann of Jerusalem can be viewed at the following site: http://www.csec.ac.uk/benpadia.html
 

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Bedouin wanders across Biblical manuscriptFragments of a Biblical manuscript dating back to the last Jewish revolt against Roman rule in 135 AD Judaea, have been uncovered near the Dead Sea.After four decades with a dearth of new finds, archaeologists had resigned themselves to believing the desert caves in the modern-day West Bank had already yielded all their secrets from the Roman era. "It's simply sensational, a dream come true," archaeology professor Hanan Eshel, a Biblical specialist at Israel's Bar Ilan University, said.For the past 20 years, he has scoured the Judaean desert around the Dead Sea, overturning stone after stone in search of Biblical parchments.He has been trumped by Bedouin, who stumbled across the miniature fragments last August. Only a few centimetres long, the pieces contain extracts in Hebrew from the Biblical Book of Leviticus. Damaged by bat droppings and lying under a film of dirt in a cave near the Ein Gedi oasis, the Bedouin pocketed the manuscripts and began an arduous bidding process with Professor Eshel. "Thanks to this find, we now know a little more about the troubled period that gave rise to the Jewish revolt against the Romans," the Professor said.Jewish revoltThe second Jewish revolt against Roman occupation, which was led by Simeon Bar Koshba, saw 900 Jewish towns and villages pillaged, 10,000 Romans killed, Jerusalem recaptured and Jews banned from entering its confines. "We know these parchments came from a Torah scroll used by Jews in the spring of 135 during Passover, which they then hid in the caves to save it from the Roman legions," Professor Eshel said.Historians believed Jews managed to hide 14 Torah scrolls in the caves, but Professor Eshel says the latest manuscripts prove there is a 15th such scroll. The fragments have been further damaged by the Bedouin, who glued them together and stowed the whole thing in aluminium foil. It was in this state that Professor Esher found and bought them for $US3,000, beating down the Bedouins' original asking price of $US20,000."Despite all this, we can identify the Hebrew letters," he said.He points out words from Leviticus that relate to the escape of the Israelites from Egypt and the building of temporary shanty houses in the desert. Manuscripts dating from the same period were discovered between 1952 and 1961 in the same area near the Dead Sea. In 1947, the famous Dead Sea scrolls, dated to the first century BC, were discovered by chance in Qumran by an Arab shepherd. - AFPPrint Email
 

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Is there any evidence to prove the existence of the prophet, Balaam?In an unprecedented discovery, an ancient text found at Deir Alla, Jordan, in 1967 tells about the activities of a prophet named Balaam. Could this be the Balaam of the Old Testament? The text makes it clear that it is. Three times in the first four lines he is referred to as "Balaam son of Beor," exactly as in the Bible. This represents the first Old Testament prophet to be dug up in Bible lands - not his tomb or his skeleton, but a text about him. The text also represents the first prophecy of any scope from the ancient West Semitic world to be found outside the Old Testament, and the first extra-Biblical example of a prophet proclaiming doom to his own people.Balaam was not an Israelite. He was hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the Israelites. They were camped on the east side of the Jordan river, about to make their historic entry into the promised land. Through God's intervention Balaam was obliged to bless the Israelites rather than curse them (Num 22-24). Afterwards, Balaam seems to have been the cause of the Israelites' sin in Numbers 25 when they took Moabite and Midianite women and worshipped the Moabite god Baal-peor (Num 31:16). Balaam was eventually killed when Moses sent the Israelites against the Midianites (Num 31). He is further condemned in Scripture in 2 Peter 2:15 (he loved the wages of unrighteousness), Jude 11 (ungodly men ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward) and Revelation 2:14 (he taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication).The remarkable text found at Deir Alla consists of 119 fragments of plaster inscribed with black and red ink. It was among the rubble of a building destroyed in an earthquake. It seems to have been one long column with at least 50 lines, displayed on a plastered wall. According to the excavators' dating, the disaster was most likely the severe earthquake which occurred in the time of King Uzziah (Azariah) and the prophet Amos in about 760 BC (Amos 1:1; Zec 14:5). The lower part of the text shows signs of wear, indicating that it had been on the wall for some time prior to the earthquake.Written in Aramaic, the text begins with the title "Warnings from the Book of Balaam the son of Beor. He was a seer of the gods." It is in red ink, as are other portions of the text where emphasis is desired. The reference to the "Book of Balaam" indicates that the text was part of a pre-existing document and therefore the original date of the material is much earlier than the plaster text itself. Balaam goes on to relate a vision concerning impending judgment from the gods, and enters into a dispute with his listeners.There are a number of similarities between the text and the account of Balaam in the book of Numbers. To begin with, the events described in Numbers 22-24 took place in the same general area where the text was found. At the time of the Numbers 22-24 incident, the Israelites were camped on the Plains of Moab, across the Jordan river from Jericho. Deir Alla is located about 25 miles north of this area, where the Jabbok river flows into the Jordan valley. Balaam was from Pethor, near "the river" (Num 22:5), in "Aram" (Num 23:7; Dt 23:4). The reference to Aram has led most scholars to conclude that Balaam was from northern Syria, in the vicinity of the Euphrates river. That does not fit well with the Biblical account, however, since Balaam's home seems to have been close to where the Israelites were camped (Num 22:1-22; 31:7-8).In view of Balaam being revered at Deir Alla, one would expect that Deir Alla was his home. This is exactly what William Shea has proposed, based on his reading of the name Pethor in an inscribed clay tablet found at Deir Alla (1989:108-11). In this case, the river of Numbers 22:5 would be the Jabbok river and the naharaim (two rivers) of Deuteronomy 23:4 would be the Jabbok and Jordan rivers. With regard to the references to Aram, Shea suggests that the original place name was Adam, with the "d" being miscopied as "r," since the two letters are nearly identical in ancient Hebrew. Adam was a town about eight mi southwest of Deir Alla, on the east bank of the Jordan river, where the Jabbok meets the Jordan.Balaam evidently was well known as a "cursing prophet," for Balak specifically summoned Balaam for the purpose of cursing Israel (Num 22:6). Much of the Deir Alla text was given to curses uttered by the prophet. The term "shadday-gods" is used on two occasions in the text. Shadday is one of the names for God in the Old Testament, used mainly in the book of Job. Since the account of Job is set in Transjordan (Job 1:1-3), it seems that Shadday was a name used for deity in this region. Balaam used the name twice in his blessing speeches where it is translated "Almighty" (Num 24:4, 16).The Deir Alla text presents a problem to those who dismiss the Biblical account of the Exodus, Wilderness Wanderings and Conquest as legendary, as is the trend in scholarship today. It is clear that Balaam was a real person who operated on the east side of the Jordan river. He was known as a cursing prophet and continued to be revered hundreds of years after his death. His persona as revealed in the Deir Alla text precisely matches that of the Balaam of Numbers 22-24. If Balaam was a real person, what about Balak, Moses, Joshua and all of the other persons named in the Biblical narrative? They must have been real as well, and the events described authentic.RECOMMENDED FOR FURTHER READING:Dijkstra, M. "Is Balaam Also Among the Prophets?" Journal of Biblical Literature. 1995. 114: 43-64.Shea, W.H. "The Inscribed Tablets From Tell Deir `Alla". Andrews University Seminary Studies. 1989. 27: 21-37; 97-119.Wood, B.G. "Prophecy of Balaam Found in Jordan". Bible and Spade. 1977. 6: 121-24.Author: Bryant G. Wood of Associates for Biblical Research
 

Christina

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Caiaphas Ossuary:Discovered ossuary:From the Caiaphas family tomb in Jerusalem, this ossuary bears the inscription "Yehosef bar Qafa: (Joseph, son of Caiaphas), and it is dated to the Second Temple Period. Caiaphas is the name of the High Priest who presided over the trial of Jesus.
 

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Tsunami reveals ancient temple sites By Paddy Maguire BBC News, Madras Archaeologists say they have discovered the site of an ancient temple in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the latest in a series of archaeological discoveries in the area struck by December's tsunami, which desilted large areas of the coastline. The brick temple dates back more than 2,000 years to the late Tamil Sangam period and was discovered on the beachfront near Saluvankuppam, just north of a famous World Heritage site at Mahabalipuram. The discovery lends more weight to growing evidence that a huge tsunami hit the east coast of India during this period, obliterating large habitations along the coastline. Two periods The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) made the discovery while looking for a 9th Century Pallava temple. We are looking at the remains of a brick temple that was destroyed by a tsunami approximately 2,200 years ago Badrinarayanan S, rtd director, Geological Survey of India "The tsunami exposed inscriptions on a huge rock that had previously been protected as a site of importance," said T Satyamurthy of the ASI. "These inscriptions dated back to 935 AD and said that Krishna the Third, from the Rashtrakuda Dynasty in Karnataka, had given gold to a temple to pay for keeping an eternal flame alight. "This led us to dig further. Near the surface we found coins, pottery, stucco figurines and bronze lamps and so we knew there must be something more. Soon we discovered the remains of the 9th century Pallava temple." As they continued to excavate they came across the earlier Sangam temple. The distinctive shift from courses of brickwork to large granite slabs indicates the different periods. "The Pallavas just built on the brick foundations left behind after the Sangam temple was levelled. The two periods are there, clear to see," said Dr Satyamurthy. Tsunami deposits But it is the question of how these two temples were destroyed rather than their age that has fired the interest of the teams involved. Layers of sea shells and debris in the sand show that tsunami activity had twice levelled the temple complex. "The Pallava structure was destroyed by waves some time in the 13th Century and evidence suggests that beneath it, we are looking at the remains of a brick temple that was destroyed by a tsunami approximately 2,200 years ago," said Badrinarayanan S, a retired director of the Geological Survey of India. Another archaeologist from the ASI, G Thirumoorthy, said: "We can see these tsunami deposits in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. We've found that devastation happened along about 1,200km (750 miles) of India's eastern coastline. "The discovery of this Sangam temple will lead us to other geological sites along the coast and teach us more about the pre-Pallavan period." Since the tsunami on 26 December, marine archaeologists have also discovered evidence of large structures on the seabed up to 1km out to sea. They think the structures may be part of a former, legendary city of Mahabalipuram. Myths state the city was destroyed by a flood sent by gods envious of its beauty. Story from BBC NEWS:
 

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MexicoArchaeologists and Mexican Catholics alike were shocked to discover that a reenactment of the crucifixion of Christ, a popular Good Friday tradition dating back to the 1830s, takes place on a hill covering a 1,500-year-old pyramid.
 

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Noah's Ark theories Scientists believe the Black Sea was previously a smaller freshwater lake that was flooded by the Mediterranean Sea 7,000 years ago, when European glaciers melted. In 1997, two geologists from Columbia University published a book arguing that Noah's Flood took place around the Black Sea, not the Middle East. Dr Ballard said, however, it was too early to make a link with the Black Sea's flood and the Biblical story of Noah. What we don't know is who these people are Dr Robert Ballard "What we are trying to do is gather facts," he said. "We are testing that theory and so far we have not found any holes in it." Many ancient Middle Eastern cultures also have legends of a great flood. The team left the relics untouched and captured sonar pictures taken by a mobile machine called Argus. Dr Ballard said the wood had been preserved to an unusual degree because of the Black Sea's deep, oxygen-free waters. The team hope to do precise mapping and photo documentation as well as recover human remains for DNA studies to learn more about the ancestry of the people. WORLD NEWS SUMMARY
 

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Experts seek to find famous wreck Experts have expressed confidence that they can find the sunken wreck of the ship made famous by legendary Solway born sailor John Paul Jones next month. The Bonhomme Richard went down in 1779 off Flamborough Head in East Yorkshire as Jones famously said: "Surrender - I have not yet begun to fight." Several bids have been made to recover the ship captained by a man credited as the founding father of the US Navy. Now underwater archaeology experts will use hi-tech methods to try to find it. Dr Robert Neyland, head of the underwater archaeology unit at the US Navy Historical Centre, will head a team of six on a three-week search. "We thought that one way to go about it would be to take the last historical information for locations of the fleet and the ship itself," he said. "We put that together with the weather and tide information for that time period which have been recreated very well. 'Relatively deep' "We then used modern computers to create a predictive model of where the ship went down," he added. Dr Neyland is confident the wreck can be found despite the depth of waters involved. "It is going to be in waters that are relatively deep - probably 150 to 200ft," he said. "Divers are able to work in those waters - and archaeologists too." Jones, a native of Arbigland on the Solway coast, engaged the British ship Serapis off Flamborough Head. He captured Serapis but had to watch his own ship sink into the North Sea. The battle on 23 September, 1779 is counted as one of the most memorable battles of the American Revolution Story from BBC NEWS:© BBC MMVI
 

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Giants: Fact, Legend, or Myth? From North America to Europe and the Near East, myth and legends of giants are found in almost every archaic culture. Some are fanciful fables of mythical monsters, but others hint of real history such as the wars of the Israelites during the 1st millennium BC. Giants were almost always on the frontline with the Philistine army. According to the first century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus (37-100 AD), giants were real: "For which reason they removed their camp to Hebron; and when they had taken it, they slew all the inhabitants. There were till then left the race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the site, and terrible to the hearing. The bones of these men are still shown to this very day, unlike to any credible relations of other men." - Antiquities of the Jews, Book V, Chapter 2, Section 3 Stories and Legends of Giants Stories of giants are found on the west side of the Atlantic. From the Iroquois Nation of the East to the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest, tales of giants are found in almost every Native American culture. According to legends of the Oglala Sioux giant white men lived in the northern areas. (Black Elk Speaks, John G. Neihardt, 1932) In Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations, David Cusick writes that “…after a time some of the people become giants and committed outrages upon the inhabitants”. A tribe of giants whose origin was in the north and of considerable population, launched raids against the Eagwehowe (original people), typically to pillage. In his article “The Discovery of fossil vertebrates in North America” (Journal of Paleontology, 1943), George Gaylord Simpson writes of a letter dated August 22, 1762, from James Wright to John Bartram. It tells of mammoth remains and relates an Indian legend of giant men: "The bones were of enormous size and were accompanied by tusks ten or twelve feet long. No such creatures as these had ever been seen alive by the Indians, but legend said they had once been hunted through the forests by men of gigantic stature and that when the last of these men had died, God had destroyed their mighty prey in order to protect the present race of Indians." Stories and legends of giants are relegated to tales of mythical times. Yet, as settlers moved across the Appalacians into the Ohio Valley evidence of their existence became apparent. As farmers cleared the land to plant their crop, they encountered burial mounds of which comtemporary natives knew nothing about. Some of these mounds entombed the remains of giant men. As time marked the passing of the 19th century mounds were found in almost every state east of the Mississippi. Some people believed the survivors of Atlantis built the mounds. Others beleived they were the constructs of Phoenicians, Vikings, and even the lost ten tribes of Israel. Eventually the USGS became involved to debunk that the mounds were built by anyone but Native Americans. They accomplished their goal, but also corroborated the finds of earlier settlers by the excavation of giant skeletons. There finds are documented in the 12th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1894. The general understanding of Native American beliefs is that they were primitive, pagan, and wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although there is no evidence that Native Americans believed in a personalized Hebrew-Christian style God, they did believe in one God and often referred to as the ‘Great Spirit’, ‘Old-One’, or ‘Man in the Sky’. They also believed other ‘spirits’ existed, not all that different than Jewish and Christian traditions. In a general way, some Indian stories parallel those of the biblical Genesis. According to the Okanogan tribe of Northwest Washington, man was created from the soil and animated by the breath of God. The Old-One made mud-balls, the first of which became the animals, and the later ones, he rolled over and over and shaped like Indians. And when he blew on them, they became alive. Did giants exist during ancient times? It appears the concept that mankind evolved sequentially over millions of years may no longer be the case for evolutionary thinkers. Rather, there were a number of different species of Homo that had to compete socially and economically for territory. Of those various species paleoanthropologists generally believe that Homo erectus was the ancestor to anatomically modern humans whose origins were in Africa but expanded its territorial homeland into parts of Europe and Asia beginning close to two million years ago. In Africa, skeletal remains of Homo erectus have been discovered suggesting that when alive this individual were more than six feet tall. Nicknamed “Goliath” by the writers of National Geographic’s Search for the Ultimate Survivor television documentary, anthropologists Lee Berger and Steve Churchill claim that this type of human didn’t make it as a result of a changing climate in Africa... Or, maybe they did?
 

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Pharaoh's chariots found in Red Sea?'Physical evidence' of ancient Exodus prompting new look at Old TestamentBy Joe Kovacs"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." (Exodus 14:21) One of the most famous stories of the Bible is God's parting of the Red Sea to save the Israelites from the Egyptian army and the subsequent drowning of soldiers and horses in hot pursuit. But is there evidence that such an event did in fact happen – and if so, precisely where did it take place? The issue is surfacing some 3,500 years after the event is said to have taken place with reports of Egyptian chariot wheels found in the Red Sea, photographs to document it and new books by scientists that could lead to a whole remapping of the Exodus route and a fresh look at ancient biblical accounts. "I am 99.9 percent sure I picked up a chariot wheel," Peter Elmer tells WorldNetDaily after two diving trips to the Gulf of Aqaba branch of the sea. "It was covered in coral." The 38-year-old forklift mechanic from Keynsham, England, traveled to the region with his brother, Mark, after being inspired by videos of explorers Ron Wyatt and Jonathan Gray, who have documented artifacts that in at least one case authorities have confirmed to be a chariot wheel dating to the time of the Exodus. "I believe I actually sat in an ancient chariot cab," Elmer said, referring to his time exploring a submerged item in what he describes as an underwater scrapyard. "Without question, it is most definitely the remains of the Egyptian army." But despite all of Elmer's excitement, others who have been to the same location are not so sure what is being viewed underwater are the remnants of the great chase and urge extreme caution regarding the unsubstantiated claims. "All kinds of people are finding coral and calling it chariot parts," says Richard Rives, president of Wyatt Archaeological Research in Tennessee. "It's most likely coral covered with coral. ... Opportunists are combining false things with the true things that are found. These people are making it up as they go to be TV stars." Rives was a longtime partner of Ron Wyatt, an anesthetist and amateur archaeologist who died of cancer in 1999. Before passing away, Wyatt devoted years searching for and documenting physical evidence for events mentioned in the Bible. In addition to chariot wheels, Wyatt claimed to have found Noah's Ark on the mountain next to Ararat in Turkey, the "true" Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia and the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments near the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion. Among those who accompanied Wyatt on many of his excursions is his wife, Mary Nell. She's concerned about over-exuberance regarding new claims, but the Spring Hill, Tenn., woman tells WorldNetDaily she's "convinced" there are chariot parts located on a subsurface "land bridge" connecting Egypt to Saudi Arabia through the Gulf of Aqaba. She cites Ron's discovery of a wheel hub that he brought to the surface in the late 1970s as proof. The hub had the remains of eight spokes radiating outward and was examined by Nassif Mohammed Hassan, director of Antiquities in Cairo. Hassan declared it to be from the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, explaining the eight-spoked wheel was used only during that dynasty around 1400 B.C. Curiously, no one can account for the precise whereabouts of that eight-spoked wheel today, though Hassan is on videotape stating his conclusion regarding authenticity. When Mary Nell went diving with Ron, she says it was very easy to assume (wrongly) that every item on the flat bottom had historical significance. "[At first] I thought everything was a chariot wheel!" Mrs. Wyatt exclaimed, noting how difficult it is for the untrained eye to distinguish an artifact from a piece of coral. "I'm just trying to be cautious about over-identifying too much. ... It is God's truth, and we can't hype it up. We can't add to it." However, she notes a big problem for explorers and scientists is that the Egyptian government no longer allows items to be removed from the protected region. Thus, someone claiming to find an artifact will have a hard – if not impossible – time verifying its authenticity, a classic catch-22. The watery grave "And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them." (Exodus 14:28) The Bible account makes it clear that once the Israelites had marched through the parted sea on dry ground, that the waters rushed back to completely engulf the doomed army of ancient Egypt. With that in mind, many of the items being seen in the Gulf of Aqaba have been photographed by divers for comparison to the Exodus story. Many other photographs show formations in a circular pattern with projections that could be spokes, but those items remain at the bottom and have not been authenticated. Another issue is the route of the Exodus, and which body of water the Israelites crossed. Many travel maps and Bibles indicate a crossing point in the Gulf of Suez, the western branch of the Red Sea. But those may have to be updated if the Aqaba location is confirmed as the true location for the miraculous event. "The truth is, no one really knows where the crossing of the Red Sea took place," says Carl Rasmussen, a biblical geographer and professor of Old Testament at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minn. Rasmussen compiled the "Zondervan NIV Atlas of the Bible" and personally thinks the crossing took place somewhere along what is now the Suez Canal. Some scientists from Europe say the current maps are wrong, and the Wyatts are right – that the crossing began at the Nuweiba beachhead, went through the Gulf of Aqaba, and then into what is now Saudi Arabia where they claim the "true" Mount Sinai is located. For years, scholars have speculated as to the location of the actual Mount Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. At least 13 sites have actually been claimed on the Sinai peninsula as being the correct spot. But Ron Wyatt believed it was in Arabia, even referenced as "mount Sinai in Arabia" by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 4:25. So he and his sons made their way to "Jebel a Lawz," the mountain of the Law, which is known by the locals as "Jebel Musa" – Moses' mountain. Unfortunately for the Wyatts, they were arrested and held in prison. His wife says someone had phoned embassy authorities for the Muslim country, claiming that Ron was spying for Israel. They were released after spending 78 days behind bars. Rasmussen doesn't agree with the Arabian Mount Sinai theory. "I believe the strongest candidate is Jebel Sin Bisher," he told WorldNetDaily. "The sites in Saudi Arabia have very, very weak scriptural backing, in spite of the hype." Now, a new book by Cambridge University physicist Colin Humphreys titled "The Miracles of Exodus" supports not only the claim for an Aqaba crossing, but also the location of Mount Sinai in Arabia. "If my book is correct, and I believe the evidence is very strong," says Humphreys, "then world maps will need to be redrawn to relocate Mount Sinai. History books, travel guides and biblical commentaries will need to be rewritten." Throughout his work, Humphreys provides scientific explanations to corroborate the accounts of the Old Testament. "'The waters piled up, the surging waters stood firm like a wall,' is a remarkable description of what the mathematics reveals to be the case for water pushed back by a very strong wind," he writes. "What I have found is that the events of the Exodus are even more dramatic than is generally believed," Humphreys said. "The Exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt really is one of the greatest true stories ever told." A Swedish scientist who believes the Red Sea was split says while Humphreys is correct about the Aqaba crossing, there are no natural, scientific explanations for the parting miracle described in Scripture. "The wind did not separate the water," says Lennart Moller of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. "No person could be in that wind and survive. ... If God has created all the Earth, it's no problem for Him to separate the water for a while." Speaking to WorldNetDaily from the isle of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, Moller, the author of "The Exodus Case," says the key in finding the correct route of the Israelites is to understand that the Hebrew reference to "yum suph" does not mean "sea of reeds" as many scholars have claimed. Moller says it refers specifically to the Gulf of Aqaba, and while he's not formally affiliated with the Wyatts, he agrees with them that a host of other evidence can be found on the Arabian side of the water, including remains of the golden calf, pillars, altars and the even the rock the Bible says Moses split to bring forth water for the Israelites. Regarding the items found beneath the waters, Moller believes there are remnants not only of chariots and wheels, but also human and animal skeletons. "There was a disaster [there] a long time ago," he said. "Whatever that is, it's open to interpretation." He also notes that the downward and upward slope of the Aqaba crossing path actually falls within current U.S. standards for handicapped ramps. And while Mary Nell Wyatt warns overstating the claims by divers and authors could do more harm than good, she does believe there's a reason why her husband was led to discover what Ron called "God's attention-getters." "God preserved all these evidences," she said, "[otherwise] there would have been nothing left. ... God has been lost today. Even Christians still can't believe this all happened. ... We need to pray for the Lord to help us get people to see it." Back in England, Peter Elmer says people have mockingly asked "Why should a forklift mechanic from Keynsham be able to go to the same place Moses was?" He takes the criticism in stride, pointing out "Jesus used fishermen, tax collectors and publicans. Why not a forklift mechanic?"
 

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The Evidences for a Recent Dating for Adam,about 14,000 to 15,000 years Before PresentA recent genetic study of human genes related to the brain concluded that possibly there appeared a "microcephalin variant (that) could have arisen anywhere from 14,000 to 60,000 years ago" and an "ASPM variant ranged from 500 to 14,000 years" ago and "roughly correlating with the development of written language, spread of agriculture and development of cities" (see more) http://www.accuracyingenesis.com/adam.htmlNow if one assumes that the "microcephalin variant could have arisen anywhere from 14,000 to 60,000 years ago", possibly could correspond to the "Big Bang" or "Fortuitous Mutation" that Richard G. Klein refers to in his book "The Dawn of Human Culture" and says occurred about 50,000 years ago. Then, what about the "ASPM variant ranged from 500 to 14,000 years" ago and "roughly correlating with the development of written language, spread of agriculture and development of cities" as proposed
 

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Wandlebury has long provided a rich vein of legend and lore, usually focussing upon the gods of Gog and Magog, from whom the hills take their name. In the early 1900s, local children were told that the gods themselves were buried nearby. And somewhere on Fleam Dyke, or even at Wandlebury itself, a golden chariot lies. One theory has it that Wandlebury is a far-flung outpost of Helen of Troy; another that it was one of King Arthur's domains … a kind of Cambridge Camelot!One ghostly tale comes from Gervase of Tilbury who, in 1219, told that Wandlebury was once ruled by a dark night-rider who seemingly no mortal could defeat. Anyone brave enough to test his prowess had to ride up into the camp on a moonlit night and cry 'knight to knight, come forth!' The warrior would appear on horseback, ready to fight until he or his opponent was dismounted. One day a brave Norman knight called Osbert took up the challenge. He rode alone into the camp in full armour, shouting out loud the required defiance, and as predicted the warrior appeared. Shields and levelled lances clashed and blows were parried, and eventually Osbert managed to unseat his opponent. In triumph, Osbert seized the steed of the stricken knight, a token of victory. But as he led his prize away the fallen warrior picked up a lance and with an almighty effort hurled it at Osbert, piercing his thigh. Hardly noticing his wound, and with his adversary now defeated, Osbert returned to his friends and family, to display his prize and receive his applause. However, the following morning the horse broke free from its reins and vanished without trace …. and upon each anniversary of the moonlight tournament, Osbert's thigh wound, though apparently cured, would open up again!In more modern times we make our own legends. In 1955 the archaeologist, TC Lethbridge had become convinced that at one time there had been an ancient hill-figure at Wandlebury, cut into the chalk - and went in search. Tales of a giant having been cut into the chalk had existed for some time: in 1605 Bishop Joseph Hall described a 'picture the Schollers of Cambridge goe to see at Hogmagog Hills', of a giant called 'All Paunch'. In 1640 historian John Layer wrote of a giant 'within the trench of Wandlebury Camp', cut there by students at the University. And in the 1720s a Dr Dale found a gigantic figure 'cut on the turf in middle camp' and William Cole, the antiquary, remembered seeing 'the figure of a giant carved on the turf at Wandlebury'. Lethbridge set to work and soon made his 'discovery'. His technique was to drive a heavy bar into the ground, attempting to find areas of disturbed chalk; soft patches indicating the trench formerly outlining the giant. A curious pattern gradually emerged, showing a three-breasted female astride two horses pulling a chariot, a gigantic sword-wielding warrior, and a sun-god, all three of distinctly Celtic style. Lethbridge offered a date for their construction of around 200 BC and from his findings built a new explanation of the foundations of Celtic Art, reported in his book 'Gogmagog: the buried gods' published in 1957. Lethbridge's findings have subsequently fallen out of favour and are now much chided and criticised by archaeologists and historians. Lethbridge seems to have been led astray by plough marks, water gullies, pits caused by fallen trees and geological features that really created the pattern of chalk trenches he found. What Lethbridge discovered was more likely to have been the product of a fertile imagination and a desperate wish to unearth what he wanted to find, than the result of firm evidence and sound scientific investigation. But like all legends … perhaps there is always an element of truth in what is said?!For more on the myths and legends of Wandlebury see Wendy Clark's book, 'Once around Wandlebury' (Cambridge Preservation Society, 2000) or Paul Newman's 'Lost Gods of Albion' (Sutton, 1997).http://www.cpswandlebury.org/page4.htmlIs there a clue here in this legend of who the biblical Gog Magog is?
 

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Statement:I post this Pagon Viking Legend on a Christain website because You can clearly see shades of the book of Revelation in it.Just as there are many civilizations that have various stories of Noahs flood lately it seems many legends of the End of the World are surficing.I think we should see in these legends of pagan civilizations how loving our God is that he has clearly warned the entire world for thousands of years of their fate to come as there is nothing new under the sun.Man has formed his own gods and relgions around these truths and they continue to do today.I would hope that seeing the way this was done in history would serve to streghthen our resolve to stay in Gods true word of the Bible and be always skeptical of Mans words no matter how holy they may sound.kriss---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Norse Legend of th End of the WorldIn Norse mythology, Ragnarok ( "fate of the gods") is the battle at the end of the world. It will be waged between the gods (the Aesir, led by Odin) and the evils (the fire giants, the Jotuns and various monsters, led by Loki). Not only will the gods, giants, and monsters perish in this apocalyptic conflagration, but almost everything in the universe will be torn asunder.In the Viking warrior societies, dying in battles was a fate to admire, and this was carried over into the worship of a pantheon in which the gods themselves were not everlasting, but would one day be overthrown, at Ragnarok.Exactly what would happen, who would fight whom, and the fates of the participants in this battle were well known to the Norse peoples from their own sagas and skaldic poetry. The Voluspa (Prophesy of the Völva (shaman)), the first lay of the Poetic (or Elder) Edda, dating from about 1000 AD, spans the history of the gods, from the beginning of time to Ragnarok, in 65 stanzas.The Prose (or Younger) Edda, written two centuries later by Snorri Sturluson, describes in detail what would take place before, during, and even after the battle.What is unique about Ragnarok as an armageddon tale is that the gods already know through prophesy what is going to happen: when the event will occur, who will be slain by whom, and so forth. They even realize that they are powerless to prevent Ragnarok. But they will still bravely and defiantly face their bleak destiny.PortentsRagnarok will be preceded by the Fimbulwinter, the winter of winters. Three such winters will follow each other with no summer in between. As a result, conflicts and feuds will break out, and all morality will disappear.The wolf Skoll and his brother Hati will finally devour Sol and her brother Mani respectively, after a perpetual chase. The stars will vanish from the sky, plunging the earth into darkness.The earth will shudder, so violently that trees will be uprooted, and mountains will fall, and every bond and fetter will snap and sever, freeing Loki and his son Fenrir. This terrible wolf's slavering mouth will gape wide open, so wide that his lower jaw scrapes against the ground and his upper jaw presses against the sky. He will gape even more widely if there is room. Flames will dance in his eye and leap from his nostrils.Eggther, watchman of the Jotuns, will sit on his grave mound and strum his harp, smiling grimly. The red cock Fjalar will crow to the giants and the golden cock Gullinkambi will crow to the gods. A third cock, rust red, will raise the dead in Hel.Jormungand, the Midgard serpent, will rise from the deep ocean bed to proceed towards the land, twisting and writhing in fury on his way, causing the seas to rear up and lash against the land. With every breath, the serpent will spew venom, staining the earth and the sky in poison.From the east, the army of Jotuns, led by Hrym, will leave their home in Jotunheim and sail the grisly ship Naglfar, which will be set free by the tsunami and flooding, towards the battlefield of Vigrid.From the north, a second ship will set sail towards Vigrid, with Loki, now unbound, as the helmsman, and the ghastly inhabitants of Hel as the deadweight.The world will be in uproar, the air will quake with booms, blares and echoes. Amid this turmoil, the fire giants of Muspelheim, led by Surt, will advance from the south and tear apart the sky itself as they too, close in on Vigrid, leaving everything in their path going up in flames. As they ride over Bifrost, the rainbow bridge will crack and break behind them. Garm, the hellhound bound in front of Gnipahellir, will also get free. He will join the fire giants in their way towards Vigrid.So all the Jotuns and all the inmates of Hel, Fenrir, Jormungand, Garm, Surt and the blazing sons of Muspelheim, will gather on Vigrid. They will all but fill that plain that stretches one hundred and twenty leagues in every direction.Meanwhile, Heimdall, being the first of the gods to see the enemies approaching, will blow his Giallar horn, sounding such a blast that it will be heard throughout the nine worlds. All the Gods will wake and at once meet in council. Then Odin will mount Sleipnir and gallop to Mimir's spring and consult Mimir on his own and his people's behalf.Then, Yggdrasil, the world ash, will shake from root to summit. Everything in earth and heaven and Hel will quiver. All Aesir and Einherjar will don their battle dresses. This vast host will march towards Vigrid and Odin will ride at their head, wearing a golden helmet and a shining corselet, brandishing Gungnir.The Final BattleOdin will make straight for Fenrir; and Thor, right beside him, will be unable to help because Jormungand, his old enemy, will at once attack him. Freyr will fight the fire giant Surt, but will become the first of all gods to lose as he has given his own good sword to his servant Skirnir. It will still be a long struggle though, before Freyr will succumb. Tyr will manage to kill Garm, but will be so severely wounded that he will die shortly after the hound. Heimdall will encounter Loki, and neither survive the evenly-matched encounter. Thor will kill Jormungand with his hammer Mjollnir, but only be able to stagger back nine steps before falling dead himself, poisoned by the venom that Jormungand spews over him. Odin will fight with his mighty spear Gungnir against Fenrir but will finally be eaten by the wolf after a long battle. To avenge his father, Vidar will immediately come forward and place one foot on the wolf's lower jaw. On this foot he will be wearing the shoe which he has been making since the beginning of time; it consists of the strips of leather which men pare off at the toes and heels of their shoes. With one hand he will grasp the wolf's upper jaw and tear its throat asunder, killing it at last.Then, Surt will burn the whole world with fire. Death will come to all manner of things. The sun will go black and the stars will cast down from the heavens. Fumes will reek and flames will burst, scorching the sky with fire. The earth will sink into the sea.AftermathAfter the destruction, a new earth will arise out of the sea, green and fair. Corn will ripen in fields that were never sown. The meadow Idavoll, in the now-destroyed Asgard, will have been spared. The sun will reappear as Sol, before being swallowed by Skoll, give birth to a daughter as fair as she herself. This maiden daughter will pursue her mother's road in the new sky.A few gods will survive the ordeal: Odin's brother Vili, Odin's sons Vidar and Vali, Thor's sons Modi and Magni, who will inherit their father's magic hammer Mjollnir, and Honir, who will hold the wand and foretell what is to come. Balder and his brother Hod, who dies prior to Ragnarok, will come up from Hel and dwell in Odin's former hall, Valhalla, in the heavens. Meeting at Idavoll, these gods will sit down together, discuss their hidden lore, and talk over many things that had happened, including the evil of Jormungand and Fenrir. In the waving grass, they will find the golden chessboards that the Aesir used to own, and gaze at them in wonder. (None of the goddesses were mentioned in various accounts of the aftermath of Ragnarok, but there are assumptions that Frigg, Freya and the other goddesses had survived.)Two humans will also escape the destruction of the world by hiding themselves deep within Yggdrasil—some say Hodmimir's Wood— where Surt's sword cannot destroy. They will be called Lif and Lifthrasir. Emerging from their shelter, they will live on morning dew and will repopulate the human world. They will worship their new pantheon of gods, led by Balder.There will still be many halls to house the souls of the dead. According to the 'Prose Edda', another heaven exists south of and above Asgard, called Andlang, and a third heaven further above that, called Vidblain; and these places will offer protection while Surt's fire burns the world. According to both 'Eddas', after Ragnarok, the best place of all will be Gimli, a building fairer than the sun, roofed with gold, in the heaven. There, the gods will live at peace with themselves and each other. There will be Brimir, a hall on Okolnir ("never cold"), where plenty of good drink will be served. And there will be Sindri, an excellent hall made wholly of red gold, on Nidafjoll ("dark mountains"). The souls of the good and virtuous will live in these halls.The 'Prose Edda' also mentions another hall called Nastrond ("corpse strand"). That place in the underworld will be as vile as it is vast: no sunlight will reach it; all its doors will face north; its walls and roof will be made of wattled snakes, with their heads facing inward, spewing so much poison that it runs in rivers in the hall. Here, oath breakers, murderers, and philanderers will wade through those rivers forever.And, in the worst place of all, Hvergelmir, Nidhogg, also a survivor of Ragnarok, will bedevil the bodies of the dead, sucking blood from them.After all, in this new world, wickedness and misery no longer exist and gods and men will live together in peace and harmony. The descendants of Lif and Lifthrasir will inhabit Midgard.Copyright: ragnarok.kccricket.net