On Sunday 23 April, fifteen Diggings travellers left Australia for Beirut, Lebanon to begin their annual tour, this year led by assistant editor, David Coltheart.

The morning after our arrival, we visited the ruins of ancient Tyre, in antiquity an important Phoenician port, whose king, Hiram, supplied Solomon of Israel with building material and craftsmen to build the temple in Jerusalem.

The city was built on the mainland opposite an island to which the inhabitants retreated whenever their city was besieged. During his attack in 332 BC Alexander the Great destroyed the ancient mainland city and threw its building materials into the sea to make a causeway out to the island. The tour group was most interested in this aspect of Tyre's history and we found a good place on the causeway from which to photograph not only the former island, but also the site of ancient Tyre. The causeway has now silted over and is a peninsula several hundred metres wide with a good proportion of the population of modern Tyre living on it.

The city of island Tyre was rebuilt after Alexander and the ruins visible today are from Roman and Byzantine times. We walked along a marble-paved street once lined with columns to the harbour. Outside the Roman city we explored the Street of Tombs flanked by huge Roman sarcophagi and walked through the 2nd century AD "Gate of Alexander". Not far away are the remains of what was the largest hippodrome in the Roman world. Chariot races took place around the central "spina" made up of columns and monumen ts.

From Tyre we drove north to Sidon. After looking at the 17th century caravansarai that is being restored by the antiquities department, we wandered through the suq or market. The noisy and crowded narrow lanes, with their exotic aromas of spices, dates and coffee, combined with the smell of the open drains, altogether made an overwhelming experience for our first tourers! We then explored the ruined Crusader castle that is all that is left of ancient Sidon.

The Dog River and Byblos

The following day we travelled north from Beirut, stopping at the mouth of the Dog River to view the ancient inscriptions left by army generals both ancient and modern. Because the mountains rise straight up from the coast at this point, the narrow bea ch has been the route for invaders for millennia. We saw monuments commemorating the Assyrian invasion, the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and even of Napoleon III who in 1860 obliterated an inscription of Rameses II of Egypt to write his own deeds of greatness. At Byblos, we climbed to the top of the Crusader castle for a panoramic view of the excavated city. Buildings from all periods of the city's history were laid out like a map below us. Clearly in view were the Phoenician ramparts, and outside the wall, a Middle Bronze Age glacis, or sloping ramp, which made it difficult for invaders to attack the walls. The semi-circular Roman theatre, relocated from its original site, now overlooks the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean.

Of particular interest to Biblical scholars was the discovery of the temple of the obelisks. Here are a group of about 30 standing stones, known as "matseboth" in Hebrew and condemned by the Bible prophets because they were cultic symbols of fertility worship. Some of the stones are two metres high, others are as small as 25 cm. In the central chapel stood one tall obelisk, symbol of the god Reshef, all-powerful in matters of war.

The temples of Baalbek

A two-hour drive east over the Lebanon Mountains brought us to the massive ruins of Baalbek. Here the remains of three Roman temples lie side by side: the badly ruined temple of Venus and the better-preserved temples of Jupiter and Bacchus. The group members were suitably impressed with the gigantic stones of which the temples were constructed, including the richly decorated 1200 ton monolith held up 20 metres up in the air by the six remaining columns in the Temple of Jupiter. Even larger was the 1400-ton stone still in its quarry nearby, rejected because of a fault that developed in the rock. With the influx of tourists to Lebanon, work is continuing here to provide visitor facilities. We were also impressed with the beautiful new museum built into the foundations underneath the temple of Jupiter.

Damascus and St Paul

On arrival in Damascus, we walked to the bazaar, located in what is still called the "Street Called Straight". Somewhere on this street, St Paul, then named Saul, was staying with Ananias after his conversion. For the ladies in our group, the bazaar was a chance to catch some late night shopping. Next morning our bus drove us around the walls of old Damascus. No one knows the exact site where Paul was let down on a basket when he escaped from Damascus (2 Corinthians 11:32-33) but all the walls were so photogenic, especially where the houses were built on top of the ancient walls, that no one seemed to care which section of wall dated from Paul's time.

The ruins of Jerash

Next day we crossed into Jordan, stopping at the Roman city of Jerash. I was interested to notice the continuing restoration work going on in the oval forum. Originally surrounded by a beautiful colonnade, more of the columns have been re-erected and a decorated plinth from some long gone statue now stands in the centre of the paved plaza. However, doubt has been expressed whether this was a forum after all. Scholars now suggest that it was not a forum but merely an open square for the people of ancient Jerash. Only one of the ten cities of the Decapolis in New Testament times, the ruins visible today mostly date from the 2nd century AD. The most impressive reconstruction since my last visit is that of the nymphaem, or public fountain, on one side of the Street of Columns.

Petra and Mummy II

The real highlight of our journey to Jordan was our visit to Petra on the following day. The walk through the cleared Siq is now easy on the flat paving stones that once formed the Roman road - quite a contrast to the slipping and falling that was normal in former years. During the half hour hike into Petra, our group had their brush with fame, passing a film crew who were using the twisted and pink-swirled rocks as a location for the new movie "Mummy II".

Obeying my instructions, the group members closed their eyes as they rounded the last curve in the Siq, to open them with gasps of awe and surprise as the first temple, el-Khazneh, the treasury, met their delighted view. After time for photographs and explanations, the group split up, some to shop in the ever-present bazaar, others to wander along the Street of Tombs, while the energetic climbed up to the High Place where one of our fair maidens offered to be a sacrifice on the altar. (As we had forgotten to bring the ceremonial dagger, we had to decline her offer.) After a brisk walk along the colonnaded Roman road we stood beside the temple known as Kasr el-Bint. Although it is now being suggested as a palace, I found it hard to visualise it in that capacity. Nearby are the recent excavations reported in earlier magazines (Archaeological Diggings Feb/Mar 2000; April/May 2000) that have uncovered the "paradise garden" complex.

The land of the pyramids

In Cairo, two more members joined our group: Leonid and Yuri, both Bible teachers at the Zagorsky Theological Seminary near Moscow. For them, to tour the lands where the events of Bible history took place was the dream of a lifetime and their experiences and photographs will provide them with invaluable teaching resources.

Our first stop in Cairo was at the pyramids. After photographing the Sphinx, the ladies were delighted to be taken to a perfume factory. Here, inside a room decorated like a sheikh's tent, and entertained by the "sheikh" himself, the ladies swooned as scent after delectable scent swathed their arms, legs and necks as they rapidly ran out of spare skin on which to sample the eastern delights.

Memphis and Saqqara

Sunday was our first full day of sightseeing in Egypt. Led by Magda, our Diggings correspondent in Egypt, our group visited Memphis, the ancient capital of the Old Kingdom. Nothing has changed in this area, but the huge reclining statue of Ramse s II, enclosed in a museum, impressed our group. At nearby Saqqara King Zoser, first king of the third dynasty erected the Step Pyramid and our group walked around the base of the famous structure. The group got their first taste of exploring the interior of tombs when we entered the mastaba of Mereruka. This multi-roomed building was erected above the tomb chamber deep in the desert sand. The walls of the mastaba are covered in reliefs showing Mereruka in various earthly pursuits - fishing, hunting, feasting - all of which were believed to be recreated in the next world.

We entered the nearby pyramid of Teti, made of mud-bricks and originally faced with stone, all of which has been robbed over the centuries. Since this was my first time inside this small pyramid of the 6th dynasty king, I was intrigued to explore its interior. A granite lined passage slopes down to a horizontal corridor in which three portcullises were originally fitted with rock doors which slid down to protect the inner chambers. Directly under the centre of the pyramid is the antechamber with two doorways on opposite sides. The left door opened into a room with three niches, while the right door led into the burial chamber. Inside the latter is a large basalt sarcophagus, well preserved and inscribed with a single band of "Pyramid Texts", magical inscriptions for the safe arrival of the soul in the after life. Robbers had penetrated the tomb and only a few mummy fragments survived. The antechamber and the burial chamber were decorated with hieroglyphics on the walls, while the ceiling was painted with golden stars on a blue sky, similar to the interior of the nearby pyramid of Unas that has been closed for restoration for some years.

Khufu's pyramid restricted

We travelled by bus to Giza, grateful for the air conditioning that by this time of day was imperative. Magda had earlier warned us that only 300 people a day are being allowed into the Great Pyramid of Khufu - the ticket office opens at 8:00 am and all the tickets for that day are sold in a few minutes, most going in blocks to tour groups whose leaders had queued for hours, while other tickets no doubt went to ticket touts. In any event, entry to Khufu's pyramid was out of the question for our group, and as the second pyramid of Khafre is closed this year, the only pyramid left open for us to view was the third one, that of Menkaure. Consequently, there were enormous crowds of people queuing up to gain admission. Our group managed to battle their way inside.

Menkaure's pyramid is unique - after filing down the entry passage to the antechamber, there are two passages to the burial chamber. The upper passage leads to the burial chamber. But looking in, we saw that another, smaller chamber was built inside. The inner chamber was in the shape of a sarcophagus with a gabled roof - a tomb within a tomb. Entrance to the inner chamber was through a second passage, built into the floor of the antechamber, and emerging several metres lower down. The burial chamber is lined with granite slabs while the ceiling was carved as a rounded barrel roof into the undersides of huge slabs of granite above. In the chamber, Howard Vyse found a beautiful dark stone sarcophagus carved with niches and panelling. Removed to be taken to England, the sarcophagus was lost when the ship carrying it sank.

Southern Egypt

By the time we arrived at Aswan, several members of our group were laden with souvenirs, items of clothing, replicas of ancient monuments and various other tourist paraphernalia acquired in the local bazaars. Kathy and Kerry also acquired that rare art - the ability to bargain. When our itinerary called for a boat ride on the Nile River, I gave up trying to negotiate the correct price - I'm not very good at that sort of thing anyway. I simply handed the job over to the ladies, who with great charm (assisted by their natural beauty) and their newly acquired negotiating skills soon had the young Egyptian boat driver almost begging us to come aboard for nothing.

Although we would have preferred a felucca for a nice quiet sail, the afternoon was hot and still. We didn't fancy rowing our way against the swift current and so secured a motorboat for a one hour cruise around the picturesque Elephantine Island, named for the elephant-like appearance of the eroded granite boulders in the water. Not only did we see the ancient Nilometer, used for measuring the rise and fall of the water, but also the excavations of the ancient town on the island.

Luxor and Karnak

Next day we flew to Luxor to explore the temples and tombs on the West Bank of the Nile River at the ancient capital of the New Kingdom. We were fortunate in our timing - the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri was empty of tourists and we were able to observe and photograph the famous reliefs of the Queen's expedition to the Land of Punt. To cap off an exciting day, the Valley of the Kings was equally deserted, and we visited the magnificently decorated tombs of Merneptah, Rameses III and Rameses IV. But the group voted the tomb of Tutankhamen as the highlight of the day. Although it is tiny and has only one chamber decorated with paintings, our group was able to stand in the tomb for about 20 minutes, alone and unhurried. The mummy of Tutankhamen still lies in one of his three golden coffins inside the stone sarcophagus in the tomb.

After a morning tour of the temples of Karnak and Luxor, the group enjoyed an afternoon of shopping in the bazaars of Luxor. This year's tour featured more shopping stops (both scheduled and unscheduled) than any previous trip, and several of the party made good use of the time! We won't mention how much Kerry's baggage weighed by the time she returned to Australia - we will only tell you that she had brought two suitcases with her from Sydney, one inside the other, and that was still insufficient. She bought yet another bag as "hand luggage" and that weighed 20 kg alone! Needless to say, Kerry was delighted with her purchases.

The Pharaonic Village Pharaonic Village website

Back in Cairo, the next morning was spent in the Cairo Museum, where nothing has changed, except that the crowds trying to get in past the security check at the entrance seemed bigger and more impatient at the long delay. In the afternoon, our group was taken to the Pharaonic Village. This is the first year our itinerary has included this interesting feature. Our "water theatre" (a platform of seats on a motorised barge) conveyed us through papyrus-lined canals past vivid scenes of ancient Egyptian life, depicted by costumed actors with live animals. After a tour of the model temple, we were escorted into the recreated nobleman's palace to meet him, his wife and servants. We watched wheat being ground into flour in the peasant's mud-brick house and saw scale models of the pyramids of Giza along with explanations of how (probably) they were built. The highlight of the Village is the full-size replica of the Tomb of Tutankhamen. Openings in the walls and roof of the tomb allowed us to look inside and see the four chambers, filled with golden treasures, just as Howard Carter found them in 1922.

New excavations at Jericho

The next day, we flew from Cairo to Tel Aviv. After a free day in Jerusalem, during which some of the group enjoyed the magnificent singing in the Great Synagogue, our group travelled down the Wadi Qelt along the old "Jericho Road" and the probable scene of the story of the Good Samaritan. After viewing Herod's winter palace across the wadi, we moved on to Tel es-Sultan, the site of ancient Jericho. Several new excavation areas have been opened up. On top of the mound archaeologists have excavated some more Early Bronze Age houses, the foundations of which showed clearly. According to the revised chronology, the Early Bronze Age was the era of the Canaanite city destroyed by Joshua. At the bottom of the tel on the south side, outside the walls, another new excavation area has unearthed Middle Bronze Age construction. The Middle Bronze Age, by the same chronology, would be the era of the Israelite monarchy. Above our heads zoomed the new cable car built to convey tourists halfway up the nearby "Mount of Temptation", the traditional place of Jesus' temptation, where the monastery has opened its doors for visitors to explore.

Our group enjoyed their unreal swim in the Dead Sea at Ein Gedi. At least one person in our group was taking samples of water from different places - the Dead Sea sample joined similar small bottles containing water from the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile River, and later the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.

Construction at Masada

At Masada, the most obvious new feature was the second, much larger, cable car that has now been completed. Conveying up to 80 people at a time, the new cable car not only travels faster, but also arrives closer to the summit of the fortress, avoiding the 100 or so steps to the top. In Herod's Palace, we noticed a lot of restoration and reconstruction work, especially on the lower terraces. The famous bathhouse was closed for restoration. Inside the bathhouse, hundreds of tiny pillars support a false floor under which hot water and steam was forced to create an ancient sauna.

A huge new tourist complex, bigger than the whole of Herod's palace, is under construction at the bottom of Masada. Evidently the enormous number of people who visit Masada each year has necessitated enlarged and improved shopping and restaurant facilities to cope with the crowds.

Herod's palace open

The following day we travelled north to Galilee. At Caesarea we were delighted to find that Herod's palace, the scene of much excavation over recent years, has now been opened to the public. The palace was built on a rocky promontory, with the sea on three sides. Within the colonnaded courtyard of the palace was a large pool, while the view over the blue Mediterranean must have been one that Herod often enjoyed - if he wasn't too paranoid about being assassinated to have noticed. Again the number of tourists coming to Caesarea has led the authorities to construct a large new building at the entrance gate. When completed, I am sure it too will consist of souvenir shops and a restaurant. Due to the construction works, the replica of the Pilate Inscription, mentioning the famous governor of Palestine from 26-36 AD, has been moved to a temporary location.

Not having visited Caesarea for several years, I was delighted to see the amount of beautification that has taken place in the ruins. In place of dust and rubble, grassy areas and trees have been established, making a stroll through the Crusader city a happier experience. Many more of the ruins have been "restored" - which makes for splendid photography, but has taken away a little of the "archaeological" flavour.

Galilee experience

No new developments have taken place at Megiddo although debate continues about dating. We were all impressed by the deep shaft and tunnel that comprise the water system. At Nazareth, we passed the square next to the Church of the Annunciation where Moslems want to build a mosque and which was the scene of riots recently. All was quiet but large signs in English presented the Moslem case. We ended our day at our luxury hotel overlooking the Sea of Galilee. It was the eve of Memorial Day in honour of Is rael's war dead, and at 8pm the whole country resounded to the wail of sirens to mark the occasion.

Next morning the good ship Matthew (one of the fleet of "Jesus boats") conveyed us across the lake to the Ein Gev kibbutz. The rest of the day consisted of a bus tour to such famous sites as Kursi (where it is believed the herd of pigs drowned in the sea after Jesus healed the two demoniacs) and Capernaum. Since we had time on our side, we also stopped at the beautiful Church of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha before travelling to Hazor.

The highlight of our trip to Hazor was exploring yet another water system. Although recent excavations have taken place at Hazor, they are still covered by sheets of black plastic and we could not see much. But we did see plenty in the museum at Kibbutz Ginnosar. In a beautiful modern building, the "Jesus Boat", or more correctly, first century AD fishing boat found in the nearby mud of the Sea of Galilee, has been installed. Surrounded by artificial rocks, and suspended in a special cradle that allows visitors to see but not touch the ancient wood, the restoration and conservation of this 2,000-year-old boat took ten years. Although our groups have viewed the boat in previous years, this year's tour was the first to see the boat in its splendid - and final - home.

South through Samaria

Our journey the next day took us from Galilee to Samaria, right through territory now assigned to the Palestinian Authority. After stopping briefly at Tel Dothan, where Joseph was sold into Egyptian slavery, our next major site was Sebastye, the Greek word meaning Augustus, the city named by Herod the Great in honour of the Roman emperor Augustus. In Bible times this was the city of Samaria. Although no excavation work has been done here for years, our group walked around the ruins of Herod's temple and theatre, and the palace of the 9th century BC king of Israel, Ahab.

Construction work continues at the Greek church at Sychar, just outside the modern town of Nablus. The workmen told us that they expect to have the church finished by next year, but I have my doubts - the church has been under construction since 1914. Beneath the church is Jacob's Well, probably the well at which Jesus spoke to the woman of Samaria (John chapter 4).

We have reported on the improvements at Shiloh already but for me it was a thrill to see for the first time the terrace cut into the hill below the tel where the ancient Israelite sanctuary was probably located in the time of the Judges. Excavations of the Middle Bronze Age fortifications found that a large wall surrounded the tel and that pilgrims from all over the country had visited the city, bringing with them objects identified as items used in worship. This discovery tends to confirm, not only the existence of the Israelite sanctuary on the site first suggested by Charles Wilson in 1873, but also the general correctness of the revised chronological scheme suggested by Diggings.

Jerusalem and Hezekiah's tunnel

Our last full day together as a group was spent wandering the streets of the old city of Jerusalem, visiting the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock mosque. After a tour of the Israel Museum in the afternoon, we returned, suitably attired, to explore Warren's Shaft and Hezekiah's tunnel. Judging by the excited oohs and aahs of the group as we waded through the knee-deep icy cold water in the pitch-black tunnel, this experience was undoubtedly another highlight of the trip.

The following day, the group divided into two. Half travelled to Istanbul where UK Diggings correspondent, Kendall Down, met them to conduct their tour of Turkey. The remainder, including David Down who joined us from Australia, chose to work for a week on an archaeological dig. You can read David's report of our archaeological adventures in our next issue of Diggings.

David Coltheart, tour leader

Reprinted from Diggings, the monthly journal