Our Explorations in Antiquity

Last Friday we visited this fabulous place called the Explorations in Antiquity Center in LaGrange, GA. I've wanted to check it out for a few years, and found that it was so terrific that we did not allow enough time. We will just have to go back!!!

They have living displays of life in Ancient Israel. They also have a lecture room, an area that kids can go on an archeological dig, and a dining room where they serve Last Supper style Passover meals. We loved it all.

This depicts 'living water' or water that moves and comes up from the ground.

The rooster in the corner was quite friendly. He is trained to crow when you get to the crucifix display.

This camel hair tent was handsewn by Bedoins. The roof and side walls are attached by nails. The sides are rolled up to allow breezes through, or battened down when you want it more tight.

The tent dwellers make temporary sheepfolds like this. Though a predator, like a lion or bear or wolk can jump in, it can't get out over the sticks. And of course it keeps the sheep or goats inside.


This is a permanent sheepfold found in a village.

Inside the sheepfold are mangers - perfect size for an infant to sleep in!

This is a typical new tomb, built for a family, like the one Jesus would have been buried in.

The body is taken here and laid on a shelf by men. Then women would enter and dress it with herbs and spices and linens. In this tomb there are several shelves. The body stays on a shelf for 4 years and drains (notice holes) and dries.

Under the shelves are openings where the dried bones are placed in reliquaries and 'gathered home to their ancestors' after the 4 years. Remember when the Israelites carried bones back from Egypt to be buried with the fathers?

This is what a crucifixion cross would have looked like.

This is an actual foot (behind the glass, which reflects) from a person that was crucified. That is a real nail going through the bone and is bent at the end (which is why it was still there). Notice that they put a small piece of wood between the nail head and the foot to keep it from tearing through the foot.

I know, gross!!!!

On to a more savory subject...
This is a watchtower - probably a bit smaller than an actual one. They had no police force to protect against vandals, and husbandmen often had many fields, so they built watchtowers to watch over their lands. The family lived inside.

You can see our rooster friend again.

There is very little level land in Israel, so vineyards and other crops were planted on terraces. The ripening grapes have to be elevated off the ground, so they placed large rocks in the field to hold up the vines.

This depicts 2 wells. There were troughs by the wells to pour water for animals. The foreground has stumps for people to sit on while being lectured to.

This is a threshing floor for beating grain from the stalks.

This is an altar build of unhewn stones. Notice that it has the 4 horns on the corners. By holding onto the end of a horn, a fugitive could find safety.

This is an olive press. They had them on the Mt. of Olives in the garden of Gethsemane. Inside the circle of rocks, they placed olives in baskets. One end of the big log was on top of the baskets and firmly weighted down with a stone. To make the press go down, they tied large rocks to the end of the log that hangs out. There were 4 notches.

The oil that came out of the baskets wnet into the stone vat below. The oil that is pressed out with the rock in the first notch is virgin olive oil. It is used for cooking. The oil pressed out when they added a second or third rock along the notches was used for light in oil lamps. The fourth notch was the oil used for soap.

The 4 notches can symbolize the atonement. Nourishment, light, cleansing. (I can't remember it all - sorry.)

This is the entry to a 4 room house. To the left is where the animals would be kept. The family lived in the tiny rooms in the back.

This is one of the rooms in the back, more like a hallway. They ate and slept in the same space.

Fortunately, the houses had roofs. This one abutts the city walls.

This is a gate of the city. The word for city or town is feminine. The walls were referred to as 'skirts.' The people who lived on the 'outskirts' were called 'daughters,' like children clinging to the mother's skirts. Daughters of Israel and daughters of Zion are people living outside the protective walls.

3 judges sat in the city gate to monitor who came in and out and how much grain was stored. The notch shown in the city gate is for one of the judges. Another sits on the chair.

That's all folks!!!

We learned a lot.