Lettersvitae interview Meir Edrey chairman of The Foundation for Archaeological Research of the Land of Israel (FARLI)
fonte: lettersvitae.com
Name: Meir Edrey
Age: 32
Reside: Mainz, Germany
With an intensive research in this area and also attracts considerable international interest due to the region which is connected to the Bible, The Foundation for Archaeological Research of the Land of Israel (FARLI) has aimed with great significance..
They have developed and promoted new technological tools in the service of archeology, their efforts are recognized worldwide. The LettersVitae was the first Brazilian media to interview them.
LV: Meir, thank you for the opportunity to have this interview with you today. Archeology has been quite busy in Israel, and attracting great international interest due to its relationship with the Holy Bible. In all these years of excavations, what was the most important artifact found, in the eyes of the people of Israel?
Well Oscar, first I want to thank you for this opportunity and your passionate interest with the land of Israel and its history and archaeology.
You ask a hard question because I believe there is no one important archaeological artifact. As you well know the Holy land was occupied by many different cultures throughout the ages starting from prehistoric times. Therefore I believe this question is subjective, and you will get different answers from people of different interests. For example the site of Ubadiya, located some 3 km south of the Sea of Galilee is one of the earliest known sites of the migration of Homo erectus out of Africa, over 1.5 million years ago.
If you are most interested in Biblical Archaeology such finds as the Mesha stele, which was the first outer biblical source that can verify biblical texts. The Tel Dan inscription, which is the first outer source for the ‘House of David’ is also very important. If you are most interested in the New Testament, the discovery of a tomb in Jerusalem in which the name of Caiaphas – or Kayafah, who served as the high priest in the Temple during the crucifixion of Jesus, might be most important to you. I could go on and on.
LV: In relation to the temple that was destructed a second time in the 1st Century by the Roman Legions, is there any governmental plan to, in a partnership with the archeologists, rebuild the temple? Or is there any future plan to make that happen?
That is a very touchy subject due to the political nature of the Temple Mount which now houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The site is holy for all three religions however today entrance to the temple mount is somewhat restricted for non Muslims. The temple mount is frequently the focus of conflict between Muslims and Israelis.
It is generally believed that any attempt to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem will bring on not only riots of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, but also a severe reaction from the entire Muslim world. Therefore there are no official plans to rebuild the temple. Although there are some small groups, which most people deem as extremists that do attempt to bring about the reconstruction of the third temple.
From an archaeological point of view it is important to say that while some Muslims claim the state of Israel is trying to “Judaize” the temple mount with archaeological excavations, it is fact the Waqf that time and time again performs illegal renovations and other types of unsupervised work that destroys the archaeology of the mount. This is how and why the Temple Mount Sifting Project was born.
LV: You published in the FARLI website that the Israel Government does not completely understand the potential of the “natural resources” available under their feet, that is, that the earth in Israel is an archeological “gold mine”. What is stopping the government from effectively helping?
I believe it is first of all a lack of awareness. While many countries in the region put a very strong emphasis on their archaeological heritage, Israel does not. If you look at tourist attraction commercial from countries such as Turkey or Cyprus you will see not only sandy sunny beaches but also roman theaters, aqueducts, ancient cities and much more. Due to the problematic security status that Israel had over the years, tourism was neglected. And Israeli tourism lived mainly on pilgrimage. And therefore fewer budgets got to national parks, archaeological sites and other non religious heritage sites. We at FARLI believe that development of our archaeological sites, not just biblical, will draw a whole new wave of tourism that will in turn, help the economy, improve Israel’s image in the world and create more archaeological work which will further develop the research of the land.
LV: Meir, please tell us about the Apollonia-Arsuf archeological project and what is the role of UFRGS (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul), in Brazil, in this project?
The Apollonia-Arsuf Archaeological Project is an ongoing excavations project currently led by Prof. Oren Tal of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University. The project started in the late 1970′s under the late Prof. Israel Roll. Today the project is also used as a training excavation for Tel Aviv University archaeology students. The site in situated on a beautiful ridge overlooking the Mediterranean. It was founded by Phoenicians during the Persian period and continued to be inhabited until the destruction of the Crusader’s castle by the Muslim invaders in the mid 13th century.
The UFRGS took part in the 1998-2000 seasons of excavation during which the roman villa at the site was unearthed. Unfortunately the UFRGS no longer participates in the excavations due to lack of budget.
LV: Is there a project today related to the search of any special artifact in Israel, one eagerly sought by the archeologists and the Israel people?
The modern archaeological method is not the search for artifacts. We leave that to Indiana Jones or Simcha Jacobovici. Archaeology is meant to answer a research question. An archaeologist chooses a site that he thinks would answer questions he is interested in. For example if I am interested in the Phoenicians during the Iron Age, I would excavate a site in the north of Israel situated in the coastal plain. And whatever special artifacts I find, they are an added bonus to the scientific research.
I should however say that this is usually only a nice theory because the reality of archaeology in Israel is that the vast majority of archaeological excavations are salvage excavations, which means no one chooses the excavation site but rather it is chosen for development and therefore an archaeological excavation must first take place so that the data that site holds won’t be destroyed by the developers. And that in an archaeological project that is going on for many years, every season of excavation brings more questions than answers.
LV: Meir, I need to ask you this question. The city of David, which was the core of Ancient Jerusalem, became at the time the center of the spiritual capital of Israel and developed a great relationship with its neighborhoods. Now Israel’s neighbors are no longer tolerant. Some archeological sites belong to the Ancient Israel, which is no longer part of the country. In this case, do archeologists have free access to make their excavations?
Excavating in areas that are under political conflict is always problematic. Archaeology in the city of David is heavily politicized by both sides. Currently there is no Arab-Israeli archaeological joint project that I know of. It is very unlikely that an Israeli university would be given permission to excavate a site in one of our neighboring countries. The main reason is again, the attempt to enlist archaeology for political propaganda. In most areas of the land that are under dispute, the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) has no jurisdiction. Archaeology in those areas is supervised by a military branch.
If a future agreement with the Palestinians will be signed the antiquities found in that area might be handed over to the Palestinians. Israel is the only country in the world that has ever returned archaeological artifacts to another country. After the signing of the peace agreement with Egypt finds from numerous excavations and surveys were given to the Egyptians.
LV: FARLI has been helping and contributing a lot to Israel’s history, becoming an valuable tool to all archeologists, students and archeology enthusiasts, all around the world. What are your plans for the years to come?
Well the Foundation for Archaeological Research of the Land of Israel has many aspirations. We are always developing our Ancient Pottery Database –http://apd.farli.org, adding pictures, drawings and references. We are still working on software to be used in archaeological excavations. But most of all we would like to start more tangible archaeological projects such as excavations, surveys and other archaeology related projects. The problem with that is obviously lack of funding. Archaeological excavations are very expensive; a month of excavation is estimated to cost around 200,000 INS, which is over 50,000 USD.
Our organization is a non-profit, and all of our members are volunteers. However in the future, we hope to be able to raise enough funds so we can accomplish at least some of our ideas for the benefit of the archaeological research and the land of Israel.
For those who want to learn more about the work of FARLI can access the site:
http://www.farli.org/
http://www.facebook.com/farli.org
edrey@farli.org
or
The Foundation for Archaeological Research of the Land of Israel (R.A.) Lo’a HaAri 14 Modi’in, 71705 Israel
fonte: lettersvitae.com
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