Could the biblical flood actually have happened and is Noah’s Ark still at the site where it rested on Mount Ararat? The legend of Noah’s Ark is one of the oldest and most enduring flood myths in human history. It appears in the Bible, the Quran, and earlier Mesopotamian texts, suggesting deep cultural and symbolic roots across civilizations.

In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), God sees that humanity has become wicked and corrupt, and decides to cleanse the Earth with a great flood. But one man, Noah, is found righteous:

“Make yourself an ark of cypress wood… This is how you are to make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.” – Genesis 6:14–15

Researchers from California are investigating the mystery in the rugged terrain of eastern Turkey, a formation long shrouded in mystery is once again capturing global attention. The Durupınar site, a 160-meter-long, boat-shaped geological structure buried near Mount Ararat, is at the heart of renewed investigations by the California-based research group, Noah’s Ark Scans.

Their mission: to determine whether this enigmatic formation could be the remnants of the biblical Noah’s Ark.

The Durupınar formation’s dimensions strikingly mirror the biblical description of Noah’s Ark, as detailed in Genesis 6:15. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys have revealed internal features, including rectangular shapes and what appears to be a central chamber, located approximately 22 feet beneath the surface. These findings suggest the possibility of man-made structures within the formation.

Related: Meet the mountain people of the Middle East

Soil analyses have further intrigued researchers. Samples from within the formation exhibit lower pH levels and higher concentrations of organic matter and potassium compared to surrounding areas. Such characteristics are consistent with the decomposition of wooden materials, potentially indicating the presence of ancient timber.

Discovered in 1959 by Turkish Army Captain İlhan Durupınar, the site has been a focal point for both scientific inquiry and speculative theories. While some early studies dismissed the formation as a natural geological occurrence, others have posited that it could be the fossilized remains of Noah’s Ark.

The current research endeavors aim to apply modern scientific techniques to this age-old question. Sometimes archeologists wait until scientific tools can catch up with the questions –– to make sure they don’t harm what should be preserved.

Noah’s Ark Scans is proceeding with caution. “Excavations at the ‘boat site’ haven’t started yet because we first need more geophysical surveys, core drilling, and careful planning,” the team stated. “The location lies in an active earth flow with harsh winters, so protecting the area is our top priority”.

Collaborations with Turkish universities are underway to ensure that any future excavations are conducted responsibly and with respect for the site’s integrity.

Beyond its potential archaeological significance, the Durupınar site resonates deeply with themes of survival and renewal found in the story of Noah’s Ark. As researchers delve deeper into the formation’s secrets, they not only seek answers to a historical enigma but also engage with a narrative that as inspired countless generations.

::Noah’s Ark Scans

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The researchers have identified a series of correlations between the designs engraved on these cylinders, dating back around 6,000 years, and some of the signs in the proto-cuneiform script that emerged in the city of Uruk, located in what is now southern Iraq, around 3000 BCE.

The study, published in Antiquity, opens new perspectives on understanding the birth of writing and may help researchers not only to gain new insights into the meanings of the designs on cylinder seals but also to decipher many still-unknown signs in proto-cuneiform on pottery vessels.

Related: restoring the original garden of Eden

“The conceptual leap from pre-writing symbolism to writing is a significant development in human cognitive technologies,” explains Silvia Ferrara, professor in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna.

Related: Read more sustainable news from Iraq here

“The invention of writing marks the transition between prehistory and history, and the findings of this study bridge this divide by illustrating how some late prehistoric images were incorporated into one of the earliest invented writing systems.”

Among the first cities to emerge in Mesopotamia, Uruk was an immensely important center throughout the fourth millennium BCE, exerting influence over a large region extending from southwestern Iran to southeastern Turkey.

In this region, cylinder seals were created. Typically made of stone and engraved with a series of designs, these cylinders were rolled onto clay tablets, leaving a stamped impression of the design.

Starting in the mid-fourth millennium BCE, cylinder seals were used as part of an accounting system to track the production, storage, and transport of various consumer goods, particularly agricultural and textile products.

It is in this context that proto-cuneiform appeared: an archaic form of writing made up of hundreds of pictographic signs, more than half of which remain undeciphered to this day. Like cylinder seals, proto-cuneiform was used for accounting, though its use is primarily documented in southern Iraq.

“The close relationship between ancient sealing and the invention of writing in southwest Asia has long been recognized, but the relationship between specific seal images and sign shapes has hardly been explored,” says Ferrara. “This was our starting question: did seal imagery contribute significantly to the invention of signs in the first writing in the region?”

To find an answer, the researchers systematically compared the designs on the cylinders with proto-cuneiform signs, looking for correlations that might reveal direct relationships in both graphic form and meaning.

“We focused on seal imagery that originated before the invention of writing, while continuing to develop into the proto-literate period,” add Kathryn Kelley and Mattia Cartolano, both researchers at the University of Bologna and co-authors of the study.

“This approach allowed us to identify a series of designs related to the transport of textiles and pottery, which later evolved into corresponding proto-cuneiform signs.”

This discovery reveals, for the first time, a direct link between the cylinder seal system and the invention of writing, offering new perspectives for studying the evolution of symbolic and writing systems.

“Our findings demonstrate that the designs engraved on cylinder seals are directly connected to the development of proto-cuneiform in southern Iraq,” confirms Silvia Ferrara. “They also show how the meaning originally associated with these designs was integrated into a writing system.”

What is cuneiform?

Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era.

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Scarlet red, a pigment made from insects, is used to make frappacinos pink at Starbucks but it was the dye of choice to make the color scarlet in ancient Biblical times. A piece of ancient scarlet-colored cloth was found in a cave in Israel and was recently studied.

The color of the rare 3,800-year-old textile was produced from the oak scale insects, which the researchers identify with the biblical “Tola‛at Hashani” (scarlet worm).

The color scarlet worm is mentioned 25 times in the Bible, often alongside blue (holy Tekhelet) and purple (Argaman – see King Davi’d cloth), which are considered the most precious and prestigious colors in the ancient world.

It is mentioned in the context of luxurious clothing, in the use of Tabernacle textiles, and in other cultic contexts.

The rare textile, which is less than 2cm in size was discovered in 2016 in the “Cave of Skulls” during excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Hebrew University as part of a broad Heritage Project to save heritage finds in the Judean Desert caves from antiquities theft.

The excavation, led by Dr. Eitan Klein, Dr. Uri Davidovich, Roi Porat and Amir Ganor, uncovered a tiny red textile, which was sent for further research along with dozens of other textiles found in the cave. Despite its small size, the textile’s color caught the researchers’ attention.

Using analytical equipment, they identified the origin of the dye, finding that oak-scale insects produced the red dye used for the woolen weft threads while the warp threads, made of linen, remained uncolored. The textile was dated to the Middle Bronze Age (1767-1954 BCE) using carbon-14 analysis.

The research was led by Naama Sukenik from the Israel Antiquities Authority, Prof. Zohar Amar and Prof. David Iluz from Bar-Ilan University. Like most archaeological research, it takes years to sift through findings and analyze results: The research results were published this week in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Related: how to join an archeology dig

“In ancient times, the dye was produced from the female scale insect, which lives on the kermes oak tree (Quercus coccifera),” said Sukenik: “Collecting these kermes was done in a very short window of time – one month out of the year, in the summer, after the female laid her eggs but before they hatched— when the amount of dye was greatest.

The short period in which the kermes could be collected, the difficulty in finding them due to their small size (between 3–8 mm), and their camouflage colors, that make it difficult to locate them, as well as the small amount of dye that can be produced from them — and on the other hand, the beautiful red hue (scarlet) that can be produced from them for dyeing textiles, made their use highly prestigious.”

The red dye from kermes was mentioned in ancient trade documents, such as in cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, dating back to 1425 BCE.

“In the Bible, the dye extracted from oak scale insects is referred to as “scarlet worm,” says Amar of Bar-Ilan University. The term “worm” in ancient times was a general term for various insects and their developmental stages. The biblical association of this color with a living creature demonstrates impressive zoological knowledge, considering that female scale insects lack legs and wings, to the extent that some Greek and Roman naturalists even mistook them for plant granules.

Throughout history, various species of scale insects have been used to produce red dye. To this day, in South America, another species of cochineal scale insect, which lives on certain species of cacti, is used for dyeing textiles.

According to Prof. David Iluz from Bar-Ilan University: “Although it was discovered that Israel has a native species of scale insect living on Palestinian oak (Quercus calliprinos), capable of producing a red-orange color, the analytical results indicate that in the case at hand, the species of scale insects is Kermes vermilio which lives on the kermes oak tree (Quercus coccifera).

Related: 10 eco tourism trips in Israel

“This tree species is common in the central and eastern Mediterranean region, including Spain, France, and other areas, but is not found in the Land of Israel.”

Despite the wealth of written historical evidence about the widespread use of dyeing with scale insects in the ancient world, until today, very few textiles dyed with kermes insects that predate the Roman period have been found worldwide.

The red textile from the “Cave of the Skulls” in the Judean Desert represents, as far as we know, the earliest evidence of woolen textile dyed with kermes.

“Although it is difficult to know how this textile arrived in this desert cave, it is significant evidence of ancient knowledge in dyeing wool fibers using scale insects to achieve the red color as early as the Middle Bronze Age — about 3,800 years ago,” says Uri Davidovich, an excavation director at the Cave of the Skulls on behalf of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

More articles on Biblical dye:

King David’s Purple Discovered

Ancient blue recreated in Portugal

The lost biblical blue “techelet” is found

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Israel is a land of ancient and Biblical-era antiquities shedding light on our past. There is no place richer for archeological evidence of the past as Israel, an area located in the Fertile Crescent. A recent archeological find was discovered by a child hiking on the Carmel Mountains in Haifa. Yair Whiteson found an ancient bronze ring carve with the image of Minerva, the Roman Goddess of War. The ring was handed over to Israel’s Antiquity Authority. 

“I am curious about fossils and rocks and love to collect them,” said Whiteson: “While hiking I noticed a small green item and picked it up. It was corroded, and at first, I thought it was just a rusty bolt. I thought about heating it, but then fortunately I understood it was a ring. At home, I saw it had an image on it. At first glance, I thought it
was a warrior.”

HIs family contacted Nir Distelfeld, Inspector at the theft Prevention unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who transferred the ring to the National Treasures Department. It was examined and researched by the Israel Antiquities Authority with the assistance of Prof. Shua Amorai-Stark, an expert on ancient rings and amulets.

“On this beautiful ring, preserved in its entirety, is the image of a helmeted naked figure. In one hand she holds a shield, and a spear in the other,” said Distelfeld.

The figure is the goddess Minerva from Roman mythology, known also as Athena in Greek mythology. This goddess, who was very popular during the Roman period in the Land of Israel, was considered, among other things, as the goddess of war and military strategy, and also as the goddess of wisdom.

The small ring probably belonged to a woman or girl during the Late Roman Period (2nd to 3rd Century CE) and its location was below Khirbet Shalala on a hilltop where there are Roman period farmstead remains – and near
an ancient rock quarry. There are two burial caves on the quarry’s edge.

“The ring may have belonged to a woman who lived on this farm. Or, it might have fallen from a quarry
worker, or it may have been a burial offering from these nearby graves. There are many
possibilities,” say the researchers.

Khirbet Shalala, the archaeological site near to where the ring was found, sits on a hilltop in the center of the Carmel Mountains. On three sides it is bounded by Nahal Oren, and nearby is Ein Alon, an ancient water source.

The ring will be displayed to visitors as part of archeology summer tours at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, in
Jerusalem.

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Maybe King David’s palace was a temporary shelter in nature? Finding kingly cloth from the time sheds light on traditions and state of mind of Jewish king. 

A rare bit of royal robe dyed in ancient purple was unearthed in a mine in southern Israel recently. Thousands of years ago Jews wore threads of this blueish purple on shawls to remind them to pray, a tradition carried on until today. The blue-purple cloth was used in the day in the robes of kings and priests. And the rare bit just found is monumental to archeologists, historians, and religious observers. 

The cloth was found in Timna, an ancient copper mine from the time of King Solomon where it was mentioned. 

“The color immediately attracted our attention, but we found it hard to believe,” one of the archeologists from the dig reported.  

If you look to the Song of Songs, love poems to God written by King Solomon, you will see mention of the cloth: “King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he made it of wood from Lebanon. Its posts he made of silver, its base of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple, its interior inlaid with love.” 

Remnants of this mythical cloth has been sought after for generations. What is this secret blue – purple dye called tehelet? 

Direct radiocarbon dating confirms that the finds date from approximately 1000 BCE, corresponding to the biblical monarchies of David and Solomon in Jerusalem.

The dye was produced from species of mollusks found in the Mediterranean, over 200 miles from the Timna site and it is often mentioned in the Bible and appears in various Jewish and Christian contexts.

This is the first time that purple-dyed Iron Age textiles have been found in Israel, or anywhere in the Levant. Ancient blue isn’t just an Israel thing. See how scientists in Spain tried to recreate their ancient blue. 

The research was carried out by Naama Sukenik from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Erez Ben-Yosef, from Tel Aviv University. The unexpected finds were published in the PLOS ONE journal.

“This is a very exciting and important discovery,” explains Sukenik, curator of organic finds at the Israel Antiquities Authority. “This is the first piece of textile ever found from the time of David and Solomon that is dyed with the prestigious purple dye,” she says.

The cloth of ancient nobility

“In antiquity, purple attire was associated with the nobility, with priests, and of course with royalty. The gorgeous shade of the purple, the fact that it does not fade, and the difficulty in producing the dye, which is found in minute quantities in the body of mollusks, all made it the most highly valued of the dyes, which often cost more than gold.

“Until the current discovery, we had only encountered mollusk-shell waste and potsherds with patches of dye, which provided evidence of the purple industry in the Iron Age. Now, for the first time, we have direct evidence of the dyed fabrics themselves, preserved for some 3000 years.”

Ben-Yosef from Tel Aviv University’s Archaeology Department says it’s the dryness of the region that helped preserve the fabric. “If we excavated for another hundred years in Jerusalem, we would not discover textiles from 3000 years ago. The state of preservation at Timna is exceptional and it is paralleled only by that at much later sites such as Masada and the Judean Desert Caves.

“We found it hard to believe that we had found true purple from such an ancient period”.

According to the researchers, true purple [argaman] was produced from three species of mollusk indigenous to the Mediterranean Sea: The Banded Dye-Murex (Hexaplex trunculus), the Spiny Dye-Murex (Bolinus brandaris) and the Red-Mouthed Rock-Shell (Stramonita haemastoma).

The dye was produced from a gland located within the body of the mollusk by means of a complex chemical process that lasted several days. Today, most scholars agree that the two precious dyes, purple [argaman] and light blue, or azure [tekhelet] were produced from the purple dye mollusk under different conditions of exposure to light.

When exposed to light, azure is obtained whereas without light exposure, a purple hue is obtained. These colors are often mentioned together in the ancient sources, and both have symbolic and religious significance to this day. The Temple priests, David and Solomon, and Jesus are all described as having worn clothing colored with purple.

In order to reconstruct the mollusk dyeing process, one researcher traveled to Italy where he cracked thousands of mollusks (which the Italians eat) and produced raw material from their dye glands that was used in hundreds of attempts to reconstruct ancient dyeing. 

The dye was identified with an advanced analytical tool (HPLC) that indicated the presence of unique dye molecules, originating only in certain species of mollusk. According to Sukenik, “Most of the colored textiles found at Timna, and in archaeological research in general, were dyed using various plant-based dyes that were readily available and easier to dye with.

Described by Pliny The Elder

“The use of animal-based dyes is regarded as much more prestigious, and served as an important indicator for the wearer’s high economic and social status. The remnants of the purple-dyed cloth that we found are not only the most ancient in Israel, but in the Southern Levant in general.

“We also believe that we have succeeded in identifying the double-dyeing method in one of the fragments, in which two species of mollusk were used in a sophisticated way, to enrich the dye. This technology is described by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, from the first century CE, and the dye it produced was considered the most prestigious.”

Ben-Yosef identifies the copper-production center at Timna as part of the biblical Kingdom of Edom, which bordered the kingdom of Israel to the south. According to him, the dramatic finds should revolutionize our concepts of nomadic societies in the Iron Age.

Was David a king without a palace?

“The new finds reinforce our assumption that there was an elite at Timna, attesting to a stratified society,” he says.

“In addition, since the mollusks are indigenous to the Mediterranean, this society obviously maintained trade relations with other peoples who lived on the coastal plain.

“However, we do not have evidence of any permanent settlements in the Edomite territory. The Edomite Kingdom was a kingdom of nomads. When we think of nomads, it is difficult for us to free ourselves from comparisons with contemporary Bedouins, and we therefore find it hard to imagine kings without magnificent stone palaces and walled cities.

“Yet in certain circumstances, nomads can also create a complex socio-political structure, one that the biblical writers could identify as a kingdom. Of course, this whole debate has repercussions for our understanding of Jerusalem. We know that the Tribes of Israel were originally nomadic and that the process of settlement was gradual and prolonged. Archaeologists are looking for King David’s palace.

“However, David may not have expressed his wealth in splendid buildings, but with objects more suited to a nomadic heritage such as textiles and artifacts.”

According to Ben-Yosef, “It is wrong to assume that if no grand buildings and fortresses have been found, then biblical descriptions of the United Kingdom in Jerusalem must be literary fiction.

“Our new research at Timna has showed us that even without such buildings, there were kings in our region who ruled over complex societies, formed alliances and trade relations, and waged war on each other.

“The wealth of a nomadic society was not measured in palaces and monuments made of stone, but in things that were no less valued in the ancient world – such as the copper produced at Timna and the purple dye that was traded with its copper smelters.”

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Somewhere halfway between Jerusalem and Ashkelon, there is a place known as Tell es-Safi and it represents a multi-period site – where numerous cultures over time lived and overlapped and built again. It teaches us that history was never black and white, and that interactions between different cultures has never been a smooth ride, but always in motion, as shown unearthed in ancient dig sites.

Although Philistine and Judahite states have been perceived as rivals, recent finds highlighted very complex religious, mundane, linguistic and commercial ties in the Iron Age found at Gath, also believed to be the hometown of the biblical giant Goliath.

In the Bible the settlement was known as Gath and scholars have reference to the site in various biblical sources as well as in Egypt’s Amarna letters and Assyrian texts, notes Professor Aren Maeir from Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel who leads The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project.

Goliath, the giant who was overtaken by King David’s slingshot, is described in the biblical Book of Samuel as a Philistine giant defeated by the young David in single combat. It is believed that Goliath was originally from Gath.

Tell es-Safi had an extensive population in the Early Bronze Age III (2700 to 2200 BCE), the Late Bronze Age (1550 to 1200 BCE) and the Iron Ages. The site was  one of the most significant pre-classical settlements in the southern Levant.

Three notable groups lived there: the Israelites, the Canaanites and the Philistines lived in the area and their relations were complex: “At times friendly, at times less. There were differences between the cultures but also similarities,” Maeir underlined.

As a testimony of turbulent political times, Gath was destroyed in 830 BC by King Hazael of Aram-Damascus, “and this event is mentioned in the Bible  – II Kings 12:17/18 –  and on the site is evidenced by a massive siege system and a sitewide destruction,” Professor Maeir elaborated, adding that the site was again destroyed in the Iron II B (late 8th century BCE) most probably by the Assyrians.

In Iron Age, Gath was one of five cities of the Philistine “Pentapolis”, and Hazael’s demolition of the site can be interpreted as consolidation of his political power in the southern Levant.

A pentapolis is a geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities. Like the boroughs of New York. Cities in the ancient world probably formed such groups for political, commercial and military reasons, as happened later with the Cinque Ports in England.

According to Maeir, the evidence of the conquest and destruction of Tell es-Safi by Aramean forces is supplemented by a large siege system that is connected to this campaign.

He expands: “The system included a deep trench and a berm that surround Gath, clear evidence of which was found on the eastern, southern, and western sides of the site. In addition, at least two, and perhaps three, towers that are associated with the trench and berm have been noted, as well as hints to the possible existence of other features, such as camps, in other nearby locations.”

“The trench itself was dug into the bedrock to a depth of about eight meters and a width of up to five meters, and the materials from the trench were consistently piled up on the side away from the city, forming a berm/embankment. All of these elements formed a siege system, similar to a Roman circumvallation, constructed to enclose the besieged city, preventing the defenders from escaping and receiving supplies, and from attacking the besieging forces,” Maeir emphasized.

The mention of a similar siege by Bir-Hadad, Hazael’s son, in the Aramaic Zakkur Inscription from northern Syria, strengthens this interpretation, the archaeologist said.

Pottery found at the site is a testimony of the interregional trade and intercultural links between Gath and other states and cities of the region. The socio-economic and geopolitical relations are manifested by trade and cultural influences between the Philistines and other peoples of the area.

While in the past it was often assumed that during the early Iron Age, after the initial appearance of the Philistine culture, there was little foreign connections with Philistia, in recent years, more and more evidence of various types of connections have emerged and the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath have provided relevant evidence for these connections from different stages of the Iron I and Iron IIA, Dr.Maeir stressed, adding that this includes exchange of decorated pottery between Gath and other cities in Philistia as well as an ivory bowl similar to bowls found in Megiddo.

On the other hand, the copper found in Tell es-Safi originated from Wadi Faynan in Arabah region on the East Bank while pottery forms had been imported from Judahite-controlled territories.

“These and other finds are an indication of the different levels of inter-regional trade and inter-cultural connections that went on during the Iron I and Iron IIA, including the close connections between Gath and the Judahite region,” Maeir pointed out, noting that Gath was a center of copper trade between Arabah and the coastal area.

Although Philistine and Judahite states have been perceived as rivals, recent finds highlighted very complex religious, mundane, linguistic and commercial ties in the Iron Age. The peak of the copper trade in Wadi Faynan corresponds with the zenith of Gath as the most eastern Philistine city, Maeir underscored.

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Jonah is my favorite biblical story, I was saddened to learn that ISIS, a radical Sunni Islam group blew up Jonah’s tomb with complete disregard to human heritage.

Left, right and center the militant group is imposing Sharia law and with that blowing up whatever holy sites it can find. Jonah’s tomb was bombed this past July.

Jonah is considered a biblical prophet. He was challenged by God to go from the port of Jaffa, sail up the sea and then travel to the city of Nineveh (now in present day Iraq) to ask the people to repent for their sins. Jonah, for the most part didn’t really want the job, as it seems, and spent a part of his journey inside the mouth of a whale. Even surviving that ordeal he still wasn’t running to Nineveh.

Blowing up Jonah’s tomb is like blowing up our collective past and future.

According to reports militants from Islamic State (known formerly and now commonly as ISIS) destroyed the Shrine of Yunus (Tomb of Jonah) Mosque in Mosul, Iraq on July 24. They also blew up the Biblical town of Nineveh.

At first residents were told that they were barred to enter there to pray. The militants laid down explosives and detonated the tomb. Not only are the ISIS savages destroying good people, they are ripping human history to shreds.

Video shows the destruction of Jonah’s tomb:

The mosque with Jonah’s tomb after it was destroyed:

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Tucked away in the sleepy village of Bechealeh, Lebanon, 16 olive trees have witnessed 6000 years of political unrest, plagues, diseases, varying climatic conditions and changing civilizations.

In fact these “trees of Noah” are considered by locals to be a living miracle because nature, as we all know, is often silent and passive in the face of hardship, greed and violence so the fact that these arcane olive trees have managed to skirt 6000 years of climatic shifts, hacking axes and diseases makes me believe that, as improbable as this may sound, that there has been some mystical or divine providence watching over and protecting those trees for Bechealeh, for Lebanon and – who knows – maybe even for all the rest of us.

More endangered than Bengal tigers or wild pandas, “the Sisters” olive trees, as locals call them, should be regarded as a precious national asset.

And although the ministry of tourism and culture have recognized the sister olive trees as a site of national importance and the olive trees have earned a spot on Lebanese stamps, and are on their way to be commemorated on the currency notes of the Lebanese Lira; governmental support to actively protect the trees and the heritage of Bechealeh has been shy at best.

Local populations have worked very hard together to maintain the trees and historical structures, yet financial support is greatly needed to ensure that the sites are being preserved fully and correctly and to valorize the area through different projects such as; creating a wildlife preserve, enforcing hunting bans, connecting the historical sites with the modern trails, christening the olive oil open air museum mill as well as creating Bechealeh’s first cultural and library center.

“The Sisters” olive trees of Noah  (as of Feb. 2020 the site was down, and we suspect the NGO too) is a non- profit organization, which has been set up in Bechaleh in order to safeguard its rare ecological and historic gift for generations to come.

Currently the organization is producing and selling top of the line olive oil from its ancient trees to ensure a sustainable source of revenue for the community owned groves and to establish a stable financial inflow to develop the above mentioned projects.

When interviewing George Billing, CEO of The Sisters Olive Trees of Noah, he described to me an olive oil that has been lovingly produced through cold crushing, 4 hours after picking the olives.

The result is unfiltered liquid gold with very low acidity of 0.18°- 0.24°, very high in polyphenols and a unique taste which include notes of pepper, Herbes de Provence and almonds: the goal for the organization is to produce the best olive oil in the Mediterranean Basin.

“The Sisters” olive trees remain one of the great unresolved and virtually unexplored pre-Biblical mysteries; common folklore and a few Biblical Scholars believe that these are the trees from which the dove took the branch back to Noah when the deluge subsided.

This is a plausible theory if you consider that during that great flood when the whole of the Middle East was underwater, “The Sisters” perched at 1300 meters in altitude made them the de facto highest ever planted olive trees from antiquity till our modern day era.

But what we really want to know is…

Are olives a fruit?

Olives are, indeed, small fruits that grow on olive trees (Olea europaea). They belong to a group of fruit called drupes, or stone fruits, and olives are related to mangoes, cherries, peaches, almonds, and pistachios.

Olives are very high in vitamin E and other powerful antioxidants. We started eating them only after discovering their oil. Olives are a key component of the human diet, culinary culture, and economy of the Mediterranean region. Archeological findings and written testimony shows that olive oil was used extensively for consumption, lighting, worship, hygiene, and cosmetic purposes in ancient times. However, the date when olives began to be eaten has remained a mystery. But this story suggests it has the answers.

The post The World’s Oldest Olive Trees are Lebanese appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Cedar of Lebanon, Cedrus Libani, is an evergreen coniferous plant native to Lebanon, Syria and southern Turkey. Cedar forests once covered the entire Mount Lebanon chain but the cedar,an emblem of Lebanese patriotism, now represents only 2,000 hectares (0.4% of original estimated forest cover).

The history of Lebanon’s cedar tree decline is long. The superb quality of the cedar wood in terms of color, hardness, fragrance, resistance to insects humidity and temperature has made it one of the most sought after raw materials, resulting in mass deforestation. The sheer significance of the cedar of Lebanon to various civilizations and religions can be illustrated through its uses.

The Egyptians used its resin in the mummification process and thus called it the “life of death”, furthermore cedar sawdust was found in the tombs of the Pharaohs because the aromatic hydrocarbons (phenols) that are given off by the sawdust repel fleas, moths and poison rats.

Pharaohs and Pagans would burn the cedar coming from Lebanon in their ceremonies. According to Jews, priests were ordered by Moses to use the peel of the Lebanese Cedar in circumcision and treatment of leprosy. The Talmud suggests Jews used to burn Lebanese cedar wood on the mountain of olives announcing the beginning of the New Year (Rosh Hashannah coming up next week).

The Phoenicians built their trade ships and military fleets from cedar wood as well as the roofs of their temples, houses and doorsills. Kings of neighboring and distant countries used this hardy wood to build their religious and civil constructions: the most famous of which are the temple of Jerusalem and David’s and Solomon’s palaces.

In recent years degradation has intensified and between 1990 and 1995 more than 30 percent of the Lebanese forests are estimated to have disappeared leading to fragmentation and loss of the integrity of forest ecosystems.

Deforestation aside, a relatively more uncontrollable phenomenon – climate change will reduce the remaining cedar populations by even more.

Cedars need a minimum amount of snow and rain for natural regeneration, in Lebanon they grow best at elevations of 1300 m to 2100 m, in deep soil on slopes facing the sea. The trees require a lot of light and about 40 inches (1000 mm) of rain a year.

But global warming has meant Lebanon’s cedars are being subjected to shorter winters and less snow, the Lebanese government estimates that snow cover could be cut by 40% by 2040 and maximum temperatures will rise by 1 degree celsius on the coast and 2 degree celsius inland. T

he cedars thus suddenly face harsher and more unsuitable climatic conditions with little time to adapt resulting in lower uptake rates for younger seedlings. A secondary problem is that, whereas previously subzero conditions and cold snowy winters contained the development of insects such as Cephalcia tannourinensis, now these insects have greater windows of opportunity to become more active and have faster development rates. This means there are more frequent outbreaks of insect related diseases which further weaken the cedar tree and makes them more susceptible to other diseases and insects which ultimately kill the tree.

Although there are plenty of reforestation projects, which have helped maintain the situation under control, Lebanon (as well as the rest of the world) need to endorse climate mitigation and adaptation practices in order to seriously tackle this issue.

Unfortunately it might already be too late, in the last ten years shorter ski seasons in Lebanon already indicate a changed climate pattern. It is perhaps time that the IUCN red list of threatened species recategorizes the Cedrus Libani from “lower risk/least concern” to “vulnerable”.

Image via Layal Boustany

The post The Lebanese Cedar Survival Passes Tipping Point? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Perhaps you are not aware of a major storm brewing, one that will affect many people living in Israel. Precious time is running out. If we act immediately maybe, just maybe we can halt the construction of an enormous airport in the Megiddo Junction of the Jezreel Valley. With the Hebrew holidays of Yom Kippur past and Sukkot in our midst, many Jews celebrate our ancient ties to ancient Israel. Nowhere are these bonds to the land more intimately felt than in the fertile Jezre’el Valley. Yet this tranquility may soon be eradicated by the constant blast of jet engines.

This month the Israeli government will allegedly make a final decision about constructing an enormous international airport next to the Megiddo Junction (known as the biblical Armageddon).

The Jezreel Valley has seen constant bloodshed for thousands of years between numerous different armies. Now another battle is raging between innocent citizens and the “powers that be,” as all protests fall on deaf ears.

If the proposal for this international airport is given a green light, it will lead to appalling detriment to the residents’ quality of life, and even greater damage to the environment as a whole. This airport could eradicate our rustic existence in ways that will soon become a worst-case scenario.

NATBAG 2, as it has been labeled, is to be constructed off the Kvish HaSargel in the same fields which attract thousands of visitors annually to see a stunning carpet of flowers. Besides the abundant flora here, literally millions of birds migrate through a bottleneck from one continent to the next. Planes and destroyed habitat will severely disrupt their migration routes. Human tragedies may also occur from collisions as documented by Dr. Yossi Leshem from Tel Aviv University.

I met with Azaria Alon, 93, the icon of environmental protection in Israel. He is the founder of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (the SPNI) and has published countless volumes about nature. Alon is best known as a radio announcer on a weekly program on the Voice of Israel (Kol Israel). He was also the leader of a public protest against the building of NATBAG 2 that traveled in a motorcade last July throughout the designated area. As he explained to radio audiences regarding the airport (translation is mine):

“A landscape like this is a precious commodity in a densely populated, urban place like Israel. It blossomed slowly over a period of 100 years, since the founding of Kibbutz Merhavia, almost ninety years since “the Valley” was created with the vision of encompassing the area from Beit Alfa to Nahalal…This time, the objection to building an airport is not simply a matter of the “green” movement which supposedly wishes to obstruct any development or progress.

“All residents of the region, starting from the kibbutzim in the area and ending with the people of Afula see the construction of this airport as a disturbance which will cause only destruction… We can only hope that the rational mind and the economic costs in addition to the social protests will bring the decision-makers of this project to cancel this idea of an airport, and leave this tranquil Valley in peace.”

As someone with a lifelong commitment to environmental issues in Israel, I see this whole airport scheme as futile. To hear of these plans for this monstrosity close to my home is heart-wrenching.

Can we still halt the construction of the new airport in the North? Can this outrageous idea be transferred instead to the relatively uninhabited region of Nevatim, whose residents are in favor of an airport? Doesn’t it seem more feasible in the South, where it would cost less and do only a fraction of the environmental damage? While nearly all residents agree, unfortunately, the army does not approve of such a plan.

Miki Lifshitz , the Environmental Director for the Israeli Regional Councils created a Hebrew website called Amakim u’ Merhavim to convey this catastrophic plan to as many people as possible.

Concerned citizens should visit this website and are urged to write letters to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (pniot@sviva.gov.il).

(This post was written by environmental activist Hadas Marcus h_marcus@netvision.net.il) Image via KKL

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