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Testament Archaeology Book ProjectAfter years of guiding, teaching and collecting material about the New Testament and its archaeology, In 2007 I started creating an illustrative guide book that will provide the main information for every site and find mentioned in the New Testament. Find out more here |
Testimonials Here is a recent testimonial of a guest of Intercure, an Israeli high tech company: I want to thank you for a wonderfully enjoyable and intellectually rich tour through ancient Jerusalem on Saturday. It was truly one of the best tours I've experienced (and I've traveled all over the world). Much more on the testimonials page. |
Travel If you are planning to visit the Holy Land, you are welcome to contact me with a request for a specific itinerary; or allow me to suggest to you a schedule. Click here for some suggested destinations for a single day trip |
Archaeological Newsletters (Australia) Here you can see scans of my reports over the last decade to Diggings, a periodical devoted to Biblical Archaeology, published in Australia. |
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My Publications and Experience Being an archaeologist with over 15 years of experience of guiding tours, lecturing, writing, and consulting, I can offer various services in the field: I am the guide of the main public relations office and the Institute of Advanced studies of the Hebrew University; I teach at the national tour guide course; I have a column in Australian periodical Diggings devoted to Biblical Archaeology and more... |
Articles These are links to a set of articles reporting on sites and artifacts related to the New Testament, as much as possible according to a Chronological order. They are all off-prints from DIGGINGS. |
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Photo and Video Gallery Visit my photo gallery to see highlights of my tours, as well as videos from around Israel |
Prices and Contact Find out prices for an archaeological tour, a lecture or consultation to production, as well as contact information. |
News From Jerusalem
Danny Herman's Newsletter 2009/7-8
Who moved thy mosaic? (*)
In 1996 I was a young student of archaeology, and to make a living I also worked as a guide on behalf of the IAA (Israel antiquities Authority). Most of my job was conducting the Friday tour of the southern wall archaeological park in Jerusalem. It became a routine after a while, but helped pay the bills.. One day I got a phone call from my boss. With excitement he told me of a grand mosaic floor from Roman times which was discovered in Lod, not far from Israel's main International Airport. However no budget was found to restore the mosaic, and so unfortunately the IAA and the municipality of Lod decided the best way to protect the mosaic is – well, to cover it again.
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| An image of the Lod mosaic when first revealed in a salvage excavation by the IAA in 1996, and presented to the public. (c) Michal Moran (my beloved sister..) |
But before the mosaic was to be concealed, a decision was made to enable the public to view the mosaic
for one last time, during one week-end. Expecting large crowds, I was asked to aid guiding at the site.
With enthusiasm I happily joined the guiding team, and indeed during that week-end I spent hours, with my
colleagues, explaining the find to an endless flow of curious visitors. The police estimated some 30,000
people came to get a last peek at the mosaic over that week-end.
And indeed in the following week sand was poured on the mosaic, concealing it till further notice. The further notice was made last month (July 2009). The Leon Levy and foundation, and Shelby White, Chairman of the friends of the IAA, kindly provided the necessary funding to expose again the mosaic, take it out, conserve it, and finally it display it back insitu (where it was originally found), in an attractive setting, like a small archaeological park.
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| The central panel of the Lod mosaic (nicknamed "the Lion king Panel"). The panel will be displayed at the Metropolitan museum of art in New York until the completion of the archaeological park in Lod. (c) Israel Antiquities Authority. |
Furthermore, during the construction of the archaeological park, the main
panel of the mosaic (nicknamed "lion king" panel), will be presented at the Metropolitan Museum of art in New-York. And so this month the mosaic was exposed again. This time "only" 5000 people came to see its re-exposition, and now the site is closed again while preparations are made to extract the mosaic. Visiting this site while the preparations for the removal of the mosaic were undertaken, I met with Zaque Nagar, the head of the mosaic conservation department in the IAA. He was busy monitoring tests done on the mosaic stones to figure out the best way to insure its safe removal. While such a task seems impossible to me, Jacque seemed confident at was he was doing.
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| (c) Israel Antiquities Authority. |
The removal took place a short time after my visit, and the completion of the project is scheduled to "more or less two and a half years" according to Jacque. Until then, the New-Yorkers among you will be able to appreciate part of the mosaic at the Met.
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Shalom
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