Monday, December 8, 2008

Using digital mapping tools: Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim

Todd Bolen has a neat posting on "The Acoustics of Mounts Gerizim and Ebal." In reference to the account in Joshua 8:30-35, Todd cites an acoustic experiment conducted in 1879 by McGarvey and retold in his book, Lands of the Bible. Based on his description and on the picture provided by Todd, I wanted to see what this would look like in one of the 3D digital tools now available. Above is a screen shot from Google Earth with Ebal on the left and Gerizim on the right, looking east. Below is the same view using HolyLand 3D with contour tinting enabled, and at the bottom is one from Microsoft Virtual Earth.
All three views clearly show the amphitheather-like nature of the location, but GoogleEarth looks to have the most detailed data/imagery.
UPDATE: Be sure to check out Ferrell's Travel Blog with this post on McGarvey's book and the Gerizim/Ebal incident. His post also has a link to McGarvey's Lands of the Bible book entirely online. Thanks!

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