Weekend Roundup

Fifteen marble pillars have been discovered in Gaza’s port.

There’s some question about whether the British Museum has agreed to a three-month extension of the loan of the Cyrus Cylinder.  More of the saga is explained here.

Excavations are in progress at Tell el-Hammam and director Steven Collins gives an update in a new video on location.  The project was also recently featured in a special on Jordanian TV.

The Israel Ministry of Tourism is promoting the Dead Sea in the final selection of the New7Wonders of Nature.  You can vote here, or you can visit the facebook group here.  A win for the Dead Sea would be a win for Israel and Jordan both.

The Biblical Archaeology Society has just released its annual issue of excavations.  Lots of details about 2011 digs throughout Israel and Jordan are available online.

Weekend rains raised the water level of the Sea of Galilee by one inch, but it’s still hovering at the red line.

Archaeologists are beginning preservation work on the ruins of Babylon.

Visitors to the acropolis of Pergamum in Turkey can no longer arrive there by bus, but now are
required to take a cable car.

Someday I’d like to visit the oasis of Siwa in western Egypt.

Google Labs has a Books Ngram Viewer that allows you to compare the use of words in books in the last couple of centuries.  This comparison of “Israel” and “Palestine” was not quite what I expected. 

A comparison of “Gezer” and “Megiddo” reveals the periods when the excavations have been active.

Disney is coming to Israel, with plans announced for a complex of shops and a 25-screen theater. 

Apparently there will be an amusement park but it will not be a “Disney theme park.”  I’m not sure what that means, unless we’re simply not to expect Mickey to take photos with our children.

HT: Explorator, Paleojudaica, Ferrell Jenkins