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A report by Jordan answers questions about the work being done on the Temple Mount. From the Jerusalem Post:

Israelis got a rare glimpse of the planned renovations on the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, in a Jordanian report given to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The report was issued ahead of a UNESCO conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, which starts on June 24.
UNESCO characterizes Jerusalem as a separate entity administered by both Israel and Jordan. The Wakf Muslim religious trust, a body under the auspices of the Jordanian government, retains administrative control over the city’s Muslim holy sites while Israel runs everything else.
Because the Temple Mount is administered by the wakf, it is difficult to discern exactly what work is being conducted. Both Jordan and Israel submitted plans and ongoing work in the Old City ahead of the St. Petersburg conference.
According to Jordanian authorities, workers are restoring the plastering and mosaics inside the Dome of the Rock, laying lead sheet over the roof of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, renovating the Al-Marwani mosque, and renovating the Khanatanyah School and library below the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The full story is here.

Lead sheets on Temple Mount, tb010112098
Lead sheets for roof of Al-Aqsa Mosque
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Ferrell Jenkins describes the biblical significance of the Black Sea coast of Turkey, his visit to the city of Sinop, and some famous Sinopeans.

Dorothy D. Resig provides an introduction to the newest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

The current issue of Near Eastern Archaeology is free for a limited time, with a Facebook account and a MyJSTOR account.

Israel is still on a record pace for number of tourists this year.

Finding the Dead Sea Scrolls Isn’t Enough, says Wayne Stiles.

Antiquities thieves caught in the act were arrested near Modi’in.

The Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem is celebrating its 20th anniversary with an exhibit entitled “Pure Gold.”

The James Ossuary and its trial was the subject of several stories this week. Matthew Kalman describes his experience as the only journalist at the seven-year-long trial as a way of introduction to his article in The Jerusalem Report (subscription required). Hershel Shanks declares the ossuary inscription authentic and observes that opposition seems motivated by politics, not scholarship. One of the figures in the case, Yuval Goren, is interviewed on the LandMinds show (Part 1, Part 2). A small survey of evangelical archaeologists and biblical scholars polled by Christianity Today shows that half believe the inscription authentic with most others unsure.

The best article of the week is an interview with the director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the controversial Shuka Dorfman. Among other matters, he addresses charges made against Elad and how left-wingers hurt the people they claim to help.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

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According to the schedule here, excavations this summer have already concluded at Qumran, Tel Achziv, Tell Jalul, Abel Beth Maacah, Tel Megiddo East, Khirbet el-Maqatir (Ai?), and Gezer. We noted the Gezer water system discovery yesterday and you can view other videos at their Youtube channel. Excavations at Khirbet el-Maqatir revealed the third arch in the Byzantine church, dozens of coins from the first-century house, and houses from the time of the Judges.

Excavations are currently underway at Hurvat Eres, Omrit, Shikhin/Asochis, Ashkelon, Tel Burna, and Abila. The crew at Tel Burna has posted about Day 1, Day 2, and the first week, having already found a collection of flint tools, an amulet of Bes, and a scarab of Thutmose III. The Ashkelon blog is alive as well, describing workshops, walking tours, discoveries, photos, and more. Omrit has an Official Student Blog, and you also might want to take a look at the beautiful 18-page park brochure for the site.

Excavations begin next week at Megiddo, Bethsaida, and Tel Dan, with half a dozen others beginning on June 24. If you know of any online reports of these or other excavations, please let us know.

We’ll try to have a roundup of the week’s other stories here tomorrow.

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This week a team excavating the ancient water system at Gezer discovered a natural cavern that measures 26 by 30 feet with a height of up to 7 feet. The date of the system is still under discussion, but it may belong to the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 BC). From Baptist Press:

The team, under the direction of the NOBTS Center for Archaeological Research, located a large open section in the cave at the eastern end of the ancient water system at Tel Gezer in Israel…. The team still plans to locate the water source for the system and explore the entire cave, seeking a possible rear exit and pottery evidence to help date its construction in future digs. […] "We’re able to see a part of the cave that Macalister never saw," Parker said. "This leaves the possibility that there is another entrance [to the cave] from another location off the tel…." "We did some sound tests to see if we could hear inside the cavern from outside on the tel," Parker said. "The sound was very clear, which leads us to believe that it leads to some sort of opening or fissure in the rock that in ancient days the water may have traveled outside the tel." At the start of this dig season the team intended to open the entire mouth of the cave. However, the left side of the mouth was blocked with boulders and the rest of the cave was filled with silt and dirt. So the team continued a probe along the southern wall that they began in 2011. About 26 feet into the probe, Warner and Parker made a crucial decision. With time running out on this year’s dig, Warner and Parker wanted to expose more of the interior of the cave.

The full story is here. The team has posted a five-minute video with the archaeologists chatting in the cave. Gezer breakthrough from Baptist Press on Vimeo. HT: Joseph Lauer

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Until June 20, Accordance Bible Software has reduced prices on some of their most popular photo resources.

The Accordance Graphics Bundle includes the Bible Atlas 2.2, the Timeline and the Bible Lands Photo Guide Version 3.

The Biblical World in Pictures is a collection of more than 1300 images from 10 different slide sets produced by the Biblical Archaeology Society. It includes photos of archaeological sites, artifacts, inscriptions, ancient manuscripts, and architecture. The photos are accompanied by extensive captions written by world-renowned scholars.

The American Colony Collection contains over 4,000 high-resolution black and white photos that were taken from matson_dvd_front_200approximately 1898 to 1945. These images are of sites and scenes from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. They are combined with searchable captions, descriptions, bibliography and Scripture links.  The collection is of great value because the photos are of the land prior to many of the modern alterations and represent a more traditional way of life.  For example, would it not be wonderful when teaching on the topic of “shepherds” to have a few of the pictures below at your fingertips? This is one of the outstanding benefits of owning the American Colony Collection.

The last one is my favorite! Follow the links above to take advantage of the deals before Wednesday.

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Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary opens an exhibit next month entitled “Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible.” In addition to the display of 16 fragments, the Fort Worth school is also hosting a weekly lecture series on Tuesday evenings. Tickets for the lectures are $20 and details are available at the exhibition website.

July 10: Shalom Paul, “The Ever-Alive Dead Sea Scrolls and their Significance for the Understanding of the Bible, Early Judaism and the Birth of Christianity

July 17: Steven Ortiz, “The Search for Solomon: Recent Excavations at Tel Gezer

July 24: Matthias Henze, “A Dead Sea Scroll on Stone? The Gabriel Revelation and its Significance?

July 31: Randall Price, “Evangelicals and the Dead Sea Scrolls

August 7: Peter Flint, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible: Ancient Texts and New Readings

August 14: Lawrence H. Schiffman, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism

August 21: Ryan Stokes, “Satan in the Dead Sea Scrolls

August 28: Steven Collins, “Sodom: Discovery of a Lost City

September 4: Ziad Al-Saad, “The Lost Archaeological Treasures of Jordan

September 11: Emmanuel Tov, “The Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls

September 18: Jim Hoffmeier, “Where is Mt. Sinai and Why It Does Not Matter

September 25: Bruce Zuckerman, “New Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls

October 2: Yosef Garfinkel, “Khirbet Qeiyafa Excavations: New Light on King David

October 9: Kenneth Mathews, “The Living Among the Dead: The Dead Sea Scrolls

October 23: Martin Abegg, “The Influence of the Modern New International Version of the Bible on the Ancient Jewish Scribes

October 30: Tom Davis, “Archaeology, Cyprus and the Apostle Paul: New Evidence on the Transformation of Christianity

November 27: Amnon Ben-Tor, “Archaeology (Hazor)-Bible-Politics—the Unholy Trinity

December 4: Weston Fields, “100 New Dead Sea Scroll fragments from Qumran Cave 4: How Did It Happen?

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