| From "Hadassah Magazine" Nov 1986
<reprinted without permission>
The tractor driver working in the fields of Kibbutz Kabri in
western Galilee paused suddenly; his plow had encountered an
obstruction. He looked back at the row he was plowing, eyes alert.
Jumping down for a closer look, he saw a well-shaped, symmetrical
stone bowl protruding from the ground. When he pulled it out of
the loosened earth, some ancient bones were uncovered.
The driver did not yet know it, but he had come upon an important
archeological find, dating back to the Stone Age: an obsidian mirror,
a small bone statuette, five stone vessels and a handful of beautifully
carved beads of semiprecious stones.
Kabri is not the only kibbutz to discover archeological treasures.
"Israel is a vast outdoor museum," says archeologist William G.
Dever.
The remarkable mirror discovered at Kibbutz Kabri is one of almost
200 antiquities in the exhibition "Treasures of the Holy Land:
Ancient Art From the Israel Museum" at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York through January 4, 1986. It goes to the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, April 9 to July 5, and to the Museum
of Fine Arts in Houston, October 1 to January 17, 1988. It is the
most important exhibit of ancient art from Israel to travel abroad.
The exhibit, which was to have opened in 1984, was canceled
in 1982 by the Metropolitan before it got off the ground, because
museum officials felt the inclusion of disputed artifacts from a
West Bank museum was "inappropriate" and a security risk. After
a barrage of protests against the cancellation, the Metropolitan
agreed to go ahead with the show. Critial to its presentation,
however, was the indemnification secured from the State Department
to provide protection from any lawsuits that might be filed by a
foreign government.
In 1984, a similar show to have been held at the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington was canceled by Israeli officials, because
they refused to remove the disputed items from the show...
...The exhibition goes back 12 millennia, before recorded time,
when _Homo sapiens_ stood on the edge of civilization. The eight
periods in the exhibit go from primitive paganism to the fateful
conjunction of Judaism and Christianity. The items were selected
for esthetic as well as for historic value--and they are astonishingly
beautiful...
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There is another article that serves as an introduction to the vast
time period represented by the exhibit in this magazine:
Almanac: A Publication of the Franklin Mint
Nov/Dec 1986 Vol. 17, No. 6
"In the Beginning: Israel's Ancient Treasures Evoke Our Cultual
Origins" by Isaac Asimov
The editors of "Almanac" asked Isaac Asimov to provide a special
introduction to the historical epochs represented by the artifacts.
The article includes color photographs of these items, which give
an indication of what the exhibit includes:
- balustrade from the window of Jehoiakim's palace, 8th
century b.c.e.
- detail of Habukkuk Commentary from Dead Sea Scrolls
- basalt wall relief of a lion made in Late Bronze Age,
from Hazor, in upper Jordan Valley
- scroll found during Yigael Yadin's excavation of Masada
contains 4 chapters of the Book of Psalms
- bronze pyxis with coins, the latest of which is a shekel
of Year Two of the Jewish War agains Rome,
67 c.e.
- pottery lamp from the time of Christ
- Canaanite gold repousse figurine, 16th century b.c.e.
- clay head with shell eyes made 9,000 years ago and
found in Jericho
- Cameo brooch from Jerusalem, early 3rd century c.e.
- gold glass of 4th century c.e. was discovered in Rome's
catacombs
- Philistine sarcophagus lid made of terra cotta which
dates between 1200 to 1300 b.c.e.
- gold female figurine, possibly a Canaanite deity
- limestone talisman, 5th century c.e.
- Byzantine pitcher of glass from 4th century c.e. shows
similarity to contemporary metal work
- ivory sphinx that ornamented an article of furniture
in 8th century b.c.e, from Samaria -- it wears
a curled wig, crown, and fluted kilt typical
of Egyptian design
- carved in bone, Ganymede is carried off to be Zeus'
cupbearer, 3rd-4th century c.e.
- marble Nemesis with wheel of fortune, slightly earlier
date than Ganymede
- ivory figure from Beersheba, the 4th millennium b.c.e.
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