The old becomes new ish

A tel is, to quote our friend Abraham, "town upon town upon town upon town." If time or natural disaster or war destroyed a city, the people who remained simply rebuilt upon the ruins. I mean, why waste the rubble? Use it. Use whatever foundations remain and rebuild. It's what they did.

Remember the synagogue at Capernaum? And, when you go to Israel, take a look at the walls in the old city. Newer built upon older.

Archeologists are all over Israel. Digging. Here we are at Beit Lehi (by the way, beit means house), an archeological dig. We have been down.

Underground in the olive press at Beit Lehi

The columbarium (dovecote) at Beit Lehi. Underground.

And we have been up.

Ann at the church at Beit Lehi, or what they have found of it. 

The church is not underground. So, what do you suppose is under it?

Mosaic, one of many, at the Beit Lehi church.

But a tel could also be a mound or hill, under which lie the ruins of who knows how many cities. Which means if you like to dig, you could be happy for many years. Well, no doubt you'd want to find something.

Pablo. He's an archeologist from Argentina.

Here is our friend Pablo at Beit Lehi, telling us to look around at the hills, then telling us that there are ruins beneath all, that's ALL, of those hills. He knows. He's been here for seven years, has advanced degrees in archeology from U of Buenos Aires. That pretty much makes him an authority.

Lots of people take pictures of flowers. I don't. But this time I did. They were right at my feet as I listened to Pablo.

Some of the hills Pablo spoke about.

Next post, we go to Tel Dan. The name lets us know the place was built upon an older city, or two.

Remember, I'm not going in order. Do you care?