Louisville, Ky. (special) --Nothing much is known about "Jericho Joe," who lived approximately 7,500 years ago, except for the fact that his relatives liked to keep him around.

A photograph of his skull, which had been decorated for more then seven millennia with plaster and cowry shells, is among the permanent exhibits at the Joseph A. Callaway Archaeological Museum at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary here.

Callaway, who was a professor of Old Testament and Biblical Archaeology at the seminary prior to his death in 1988, had discovered the skull during one of the many excavations that brought him back again and again to Israel and environs.

No record was left of "Jericho Joe's" real name because he died 2,500 years before the invention of writing, Callaway said in notes prepared for the exhibit. 

"When Joe died his friends and relatives buried him beneath the floor of the small rectangular house in which he had lived.... When his flesh had decomposed, the grave was opened and the skull pictured above was removed from the skeleton. An artist who lived then mixed plaster and modeled the features you see in the photograph on the skull. Even to cowry shells for eyes. And presumably a wig was placed on the head for hair."

The legend for the exhibit conceded "we do not know what purpose the reconstructed head of Joe served, but it may have been put up in the house like grandfather's picture in our houses."

The museum in the Honeycutt Campus Center (where the student bookstore also is located) has exhibits on various ancient cultures, complete with a mummy nicknamed "Sheri" in its Egyptian section. Of specific interest for Jewish visitors are exhibits on two freedom fighters, Judah Maccabee (called "Judas the Maccabee" in this museum) and Simon Bar Kochba.

The exhibit on Judah Maccabee, the central figure of Chanukah, focuses on the military campaign against the Syrian-Greeks rather than upon the miracle at the Temple recalled by Jews today.

The story is taught this way at the Baptist seminary: "Judas, called the Maccabee, was chosen by Mattathias, his father, to lead the Jews in guerrilla warfare against the heavily armed forces of Antiochus IV, king of Syria in 167 BC..." The Baptists use the dating designation "BC'-for "before Christ"--whereas Jewish scholars typically use the designation BCE for "before (the) common era."

"In one memorable episode, Eliazer, a brother of Judas, was in the forefront of a battle against thousands of Syrian soldiers organized in ranks around war elephants like the ones depicted on the right," the exhibit's legend continues. "Seeing the beast equipped with royal armor, Eliazer supposed the king was on it and courageously rushed into the phalanx of soldiers killing them right and left with a sword until he fought his way to the elephant. Standing underneath the elephant, he stabbed it with a spear and died as the elephant fell upon him, mortally wounded by stab wounds.

"Heroic fighting of this kind led to religious freedom for the Jews in 165 BC when they rededicated the Temple and to political freedom a few years later. Simon, the last of the brothers of Judas, gained political freedom and set up the state that was ruled by the Hasmonean kings until the time of Herod the Great."

Coins from the Hasmonean era of Judea's history are included in this portion of the exhibit, just as coins minted later during the era of Simon Bar Kochba (132-135) help to tell the story of the revolt he led against Roman rule.

"Orthodox Jews regarded the image of Hadrian as idolatry and they would not defile their hands by using the coin," according to this exhibit's narrative. "This led to the striking of Jewish coins...as one way of lifting Roman domination. Another abomination to the Jews was the stamping of mythical figures on every day utensils such as the oil lamp below. The deities are molded on the lamp around the oil filler hole...."

The exhibit on Simon Bar Kochba includes a picture of caves near the Dead Sea where his rebels holed up, and a cooking pot found at one such hiding spot. The museum noted that Bar Kochba's revolution "is called the Second Jewish Revolt, the first being the struggle of AD 66-70, which was put down by Titus and resulted in the fall of Masada in AD 73 where 960 diehard rebels made their last stand." The designation "AD" derived from a Latin phrase, anno Domini, meaning "year of our Lord" is the equivalent of "CE" for "common era" used by Jewish scholars.

"The rebels following Simon took refuge in the desert hills around the Dead Sea near Ein Gedi and Masada," the narrative continues. "A recent Israeli expedition found remains of the freedom fighters in nearly inaccessible caves high on the sides of the cliffs, reached only by long rope ladders thrown over the tops of the cliffs. Remains of Roman camps along the cliffs tell the sad story: The Jews were discovered and bottled up in the dry caves until they died."

Other exhibits in the museum--designed principally for the education of the future Baptist ministers being trained at the seminary--include a remnant of a 16th century Torah from Safad, which had been stored in a genizah after it was damaged in an earthquake of 1837. According to the museum: "The scroll is written in a beautiful Sephardic hand. The wooden rollers while not originally belonging to the scroll are approximately of the same age. Likewise the Torah scroll cover (mantle) did not belong to the scroll but dates from the same period."

A megillah, or Scroll of Esther, displayed in another case, illustrates for the theological students "how a scroll was made. Strips of sheepskin were sewn together as is evident here to make scrolls up to 25-30 feet long," according to the narrative. "Furthermore the Hebrew script of the scroll has changed remarkably little from the script (of Dead Sea scrolls) at Qumram 2000 years ago."

One of the most interesting exhibits from a visual standpoint is a diorama of what the Baptists describe as an "Old Testament" dwelling. As "old" suggests something that is replaced by something else which is "new," Jewish scholars refer to the Torah and later sacred Jewish books simply as "Hebrew Scriptures." 

The diorama is divided into three sections. One is a workroom, in which are found an ox yoke, a plow, a rake, mallet, hammer and storage jar among other artifacts. The second area depicts a courtyard, including an oven with a cooking pot on top, a large stone mortar, the upper part of a grind stone, and other stones. There also is a ladder to a second story. The third area represents a living space, apparently occupied by a Canaanite or a non-believing Jew. In a wall niche is a teraphin, or household god. Other artifacts include a rolled up sleeping mat, a broom, a basket handled from the ceiling, a four handled bowl, and other, smaller bowls.

The compact museum, to which admission is free, is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You may explore on your own, with an attendant downstairs handing you a key to the museum room. It is also possible to arrange a guided tour two weeks in advance. The seminary is located at 2825 Lexington Road.