UNO 'digs up' biblical way of life at annual conference

The 11th annual Batchelder Biblical Archeology Conference was held at UNO's Thompson Alumni Center this year from Oct. 29 to 31. Scholars came to Omaha to present their research and findings in the study of ancient worlds to a crowd of about 100. Richard Freund, director of the Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford, began the evening with a few words about the dig site at Bethsaida.

The meeting started off with the remembrance of Anne Batchelder. Known as the 'matriarch' of the Batchelder family, she and her husband gave UNO many endowments over the years after visiting the dig site at Bethsaida. They wanted to ensure that these conferences would be an annual possibility. Anne died Oct. 28.

"This season will be the 23rd year of our excavation at Bethsaida," Freund said.

In two more years, it will become one of the longest running excavation sites in Israel. The fourth book of the site's findings was just released and the department has already started on the next one.

Freund said that Bethsaida is one of the most published excavation sites that is still presently under way. On a table next to Freund was a scale model representation of what Rami Arav, UNO's director of the Bethsaida project and his team believe the dig site looked like in its prime several thousand years ago.

"I don't think we would have been able to do what we have done here at another place like Harvard or Yale or Penn State," Freund said. "UNO is known worldwide thanks to this project."

UNO Chancellor John Christensen spoke briefly before the first presentation.

"This conference is an ideal example of scholarly engagement," Christensen said. "It brings together faculty, staff, students and the community to broaden and deepen our understanding of our roots through the remarkable work of colleagues."

The first night of the conference held a keynote presentation by Oded Borowski. Born in Israel, Borowski founded and is chairman of the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Languages and Literaturesat Emory University. He is also a professor of Biblical Archaeology and the Hebrew language and director of Mediterranean Archeology.

His speech titled "Daily Life in Biblical Times" began with an overview of geography east and west of the Jordan River.

"Israel is not a complete desert, many of you do not know that," Borowski said.

Life only thrived next to the trade roads and viable sources of water. The projector screen read, "a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey," describing the land with a verse from Deuteronomy.

"What the Bible forgot to mention was that you have to work hard for all of that," Borowski said.

The agriculture was much more diverse than the Bible describes. A good portion of the landscape for the entire country was covered with grape vines for wine. Workers picked them by hand and carried them to a great stone pit to crush them.

The Gezer Calender, discovered by R.A.S. Macalister in 1907, is one of the oldest examples of Hebrew script from the 10th century BCE. Borowski said the calendar's description of dates to sow, harvest and measure food for taxes is a great example of how people back then set about making various kinds of produce.

"You have to understand that the domestication of wheat and fruit trees started around 7,000 BC," he said. "People had a lot of time to figure it out. In most cases, if you didn't grow it and you didn't raise it, you did not have it."

Livestock was also a key part of agriculture in Israel. Sheep and goats were used wholly - no part was wasted. The herd animals were used for milk, wool, meat and skins for clothing. Cattle were mostly used for pulling plows.

The only transportation aside from walking was the donkey, which Borowski described as "the ancient Jeep. He could carry a lot and was all terrain."

Mules were considered prestigious and have biblical references to being ridden exclusively by royalty. Camels, however, were one of the last animals to be domesticated and appear much later in the Bible. Horses were also rare and were reserved for pulling war chariots and cavalry.

Local trade took place in front of the city gates and is still conducted the same way today. Evidence of the great amount of trade is abundant in the form of "weight stones." Balls of stone with inscribed indications of weight were used to denote the value of objects like sacks of grain. These stones survive and appear in many sites outside city walls.

The Israelite kitchen was stocked with many kinds of drinks and food. Fish bones are found in excavations in landlocked sites. This means they must have been traded, as they are always found headless. They were captured, processed and traded many miles away from their source, most often the Nile.

"A man does not live on bread alone," Borowski said. "So they made cakes. They also may have had pancakes but these weren't of the IHOP variety."

Meat was mostly boiled, as opposed to roasting, which is only mentioned once in the Old Testament as the ritual for Passover sacrifice. The only eating utensil was the knife and it was rare. Beer was in abundance. The Philistines were constantly referred to as "those beer drinking people."

There was recreation with game pieces and toys being found, as well as references to children playing in the street.

"But most people did not have access to any baseball diamonds," Borowski said.

Ancient stone idols in the shape of a bull have been found near holy sites. One site, known as the Bull Site, was found in the Samaria Mountains and produced several small bull artifacts. Why did the Israelites have these with them in their cult centers?