Preserving Stories Carved in Time

Beit Lehi means house of the jawbone and may refer to the biblical site at which Samson slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. (The Israeli name for the site “Beit Loya” refers to a type of ornament.) The site was apparently first settled around 800 B.C. as part of the Kingdom of Judah. It was abandoned during the Babylonian conquest in 586 B.C., and soon after it was re-occupied by the pagan Idumeans who came from the southeast. Around 112 B.C. the area reverted to Jewish control under the Hasmoneans/Maccabees, remaining so into the Herodian, or Late Second Temple, period. Following the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (66-70 A.D.), the site seems to have been abandoned. It was resettled some 300 years later, in the Byzantine period, as a Christian village. Although the site remained Christian following the Arab conquest of the land of Israel ca. 636 A.D., by the late 8th century its Christian inhabitants seem to have been replaced by Muslims. During the following centuries, Beit Lehi seems to have existed as a small, modest village, finally abandoned around the 13th or 14th century. Since then, it has lain undisturbed, with centuries of rain and wind doing their best to cover the existing structures. SOLUTION Utah Valley University (UVU) , a public institution in Orem, is actively involved in digital preservation education. The university is working on an innovative project to create virtual reality captures of Beit Lehi , preserving this historic site in digital form.

” By storing these VR files in AWA, UVU is helping to ensure that these cultural relics are safeguarded for the future, allowing upcoming generations to explore and experience these sites just as we can today. “We discovered one of the earliest mosques ever found in Israel, from the ninth century CE. We’ve uncovered seven dovecotes, two of them with more than 1,100 niches; eight oil presses, an underground stable, a water system, quarries, a Hellenistic-period dwelling with a watchtower, and three ritual baths.” Oren Gutfeld, director of the Excavation Program at Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology