In case you haven’t noticed, postings have been scant lately. End of term marking has been followed by preparations for a May wedding, as well as a move to a new home (priorities). So although there will not be many postings in the next month or so, I will be back (and I will avoid blog-death once again — nine lives, and in this case a happy life).

Apparently based on a report by Haaretz (”Researcher: We have found Herod’s tomb“, “Hebrew University: Herod’s tomb and grave found at Herodium“), certain news agencies (at least Reuters, as on abc.com’s site) are reporting that the archeologist Ehud Netzer has located the tomb of Herod the Great within the palace-fortress known as Herodium (see the aerial photo and description of Herodium here). We’ll have to wait and see what has actually happened but, if the initial reports are true, this will be quite the story.

Thanks to Steve Mason for giving me the heads up in an email.

UPDATE (Tues. May 8):

A more official press release is now available on the Hebrew University website: “Tomb of King Herod discovered at Herodium by Hebrew University archaeologist.”  The article claims that “The location and unique nature of the findings, as well as the historical record, leave no doubt that this was Herod’s burial site, said Prof. Netzer.”  As is to be expected in such an initial announcement, the article does not yet dispel possibilities of doubt.  Among the findings that are mentioned are: a “group of decorated urns” and  “pieces of a large, unique sarcophagus (close to 2.5 meters long), made of a Jerusalemite reddish limestone, which was decorated by rosettes” (they mention  that it was broken into hundreds of pieces).  No inscriptions were found.

It will be interesting to see what other interpretations of the archeological evidence, if any, come forward in the future, but at least it seems more likely now that this is indeed the tomb of Herod the Great.