We enjoyed a pleasant visit from Yossi Garfinkel Tuesday evening on the Florida College campus. He gave a lecture on Khirbet Qeiyafa to a full auditorium plus a summary of the first Tel Lachish season for a private dinner group. Here are a few interesting updates from his presentations:
- As mentioned before, volume II of the Khirbet Qeiyafa excavation report is out. (I already have my copy.) Six more Qeiyafa volumes are scheduled to be published in the near future.
- A second inscription from Qeiyafa (discovered in the 2012 season) is the subject of an article submitted a few months ago to one of the peer-reiewed journals. Word on its publication is still pending.
- There is a third inscription from Qeiyafa (Hershel Shanks was right) that will be published in Kh. Qeiyafa Vol. 4..
- A few new inscriptions were discovered at Lachish at the 2014 season. The expedition has begun work on their publication.
- The 2014 excavation at Lachish found a candidate city wall for the elusive Level 5. (The character and date of the level 5 city are currently disputed.) The dating of this wall shall be ascertained over the next couple of excavation seasons.
Yossi Garfinkel is now in San Diego to present on both Qeiyafa and Lachish at Thursday’s ASOR sessions.
Yossi Garfinkel presenting on Khirbet Qeiyafa at Florida College in Temple Terrace, FL. (Photo by Luke Chandler)
We had a special cake for his reception at Florida College. How much detail can you notice? Feel free to zoom in and investigate.
How much detail can you make out from the “excavation” on top of this cake? The inside had three strata plus a “burn layer” of crushed Oreo cookies. (Photo by Melanie Chandler)
Bible, Archaeology, and Travel with Luke Chandler 
The cake is amazing. A lot of detail. I would definitely dig into the cake 🙂
I can affirm his statement about “2 more” ostraca, & will summarize his San Diego lecture on my blog in December (via my copious audio recording!). I was very impressed by the way in which he proved that the 2 Qeiyafa gates are actually gates (i.e., the direction of the casemate openings), & intrigued by what he speculates future excavators might find in one of the walls. I also admired the straight-forward way in which he contrasted his beliefs with maximalists & minimalists.