* Astronomy

Experts prepare to take Jerusalem case to The Hague

Arab experts on Wednesday took the first steps towards taking international legal action against Israel for ongoing excavations near the old city of Jerusalem.
Arab archaeologists, conservationists and heritage experts met in Amman yesterday to gather what they claim are documented impacts of ongoing Israeli projects altering the identity of the Holy City.
The two-day gathering of the committee of experts, held under the auspices of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) at the Department of Antiquities (DoA), aims to take Israel to task for violations ranging from changing historical street names to excavations underneath Al Aqsa Mosque.
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Bedrock of a Holy City: The historical importance of Jerusalem's geology
Jerusalem's geology has been crucial in moulding it into one of the most religiously important cities on the planet, according to a new study.
It started in the year 1000 BCE, when the Jebusite city's water system proved to be its undoing. The Spring of Gihon sat just outside the city walls, a vital resource in the otherwise parched region. But King David, in tent on taking the city, sent an elite group of his soldiers into a karst limestone tunnel that fed the spring. His men climbed up through a cave system hollowed out by flowing water, infiltrated beneath the city walls, and attacked from the inside. David made the city the capital of his new kingdom, and Israel was born.
In a new analysis of historical documents and detailed geological maps, Michael Bramnik of Northern Illinois University will add new geological accents to this pivotal moment in human history in a presentation Tuesday, 20 October, at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland, Oregon, USA.

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A wall mentioned in the Bibles Book of Nehemiah and long sought by archaeologists apparently has been found, an Israeli archaeologist says.
A team of archaeologists discovered the wall in Jerusalems ancient City of David during an attempt to fix a tower that was in danger of collapse, said Eilat Mazar, head of the Institute of Archaeology at the Shalem Centre, a Jerusalem-based research and educational institute, and leader of the dig.
Artefacts including pottery shards and arrowheads found under the tower suggested that both the tower and the nearby wall are from the 5th century B.C., the time of Nehemiah, Mazar said in a statement. Scholars previously thought the wall dated to the Hasmonean period from about 142 B.C. to 37 B.C.

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Israeli archaeologists said they have discovered a quarry that provided King Herod with the stones he used to renovate the biblical Second Temple compound - offering rare insight into construction of the temple.
Large outlines of the stone cuts at the quarry indicated the site was a massive public project worked by hundreds of slaves.
Herod was the Jewish proxy ruler of Jerusalem and the surrounding area under imperial Roman occupation from 37 B.C. Herod's most famous construction project was the renovation of the Temple, replacing a smaller structure that itself replaced the First Temple, destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.
The Second Temple was levelled by the Romans in A.D. 70. The Western Wall is the surviving remnant.

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