BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

LiDAR at the Jezreel Expedition

Bible and archaeology news

Update: Jezreel Expedition directors Norma Franklin and Jennie Ebeling discuss the results of the LiDAR survey in the May/June 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Read more about the Jezreel survey in Bible History Daily. BAS Library Members: Read Norma Franklin and Jennie Ebeling, Archaeological Views, “Returning to Jezreel.”

The online archaeological community is abuzz about advances in LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology after a report on the web site Ars Technica compared the archaeological significance of LiDAR usage in Belize and western Mexico with the advent of radiocarbon dating. The phenomenon, however, is not restricted to Mesoamerica. The Jezreel Expedition, focused around the important site of Jezreel in northern Israel, has just released three-dimensional LiDAR models detailing the site’s architecture and ancient landscape taken from recently collected LiDAR data. The LiDAR scan collected data across 7.5 square miles surrounding the excavations, which have focused primarily on the site’s prominent Iron Age remains, including a ninth-century B.C.E. fortress likely built during the reign of Omri and used by subsequent Israelite kings.*

The Jezreel expedition recently released three-dimensional models produced with LiDAR scans, an exciting new archaeological technology.

* See David Ussishkin, “Jezreel—Where Jezebel Was Thrown to the Dogs,” Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 2010.