Recently discovered photographs of a building underneath Hebron’s Machpelah have led to the proposal that Herod built the complex as a sacred precinct for his own tomb. A 2025 journal article is online here, and a 2026 journal article is here.
Bryan Windle just returned from supervising at the Shiloh excavations, and he shares three significant discoveries they made this year.
The Herodium was the stage for the grand opening of a conference hosted by an organization who wants to transform archaeological ruins in Judea and Samaria into “premier educational, cultural, and tourism destinations.”
“A governmental vetting committee on Thursday nixed Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu’s nominee to lead the Israel Antiquities Authority.”
The “Tracing Scribes and Scrolls” project has been awarded €2.5 million to understand the origin and creation of the Dead Sea Scrolls using analytic chemistry, AI, and paleography.
On Digging for Truth, Scott Stripling discusses the evidence from Manetho for the identity of the pharaoh of the exodus.
New release: New Studies in the Historical Geography of the Ancient Near East, edited by Kyle H. Keimer, Chris McKinny, Aharon Tavger (Archaeology of the Biblical Worlds; De Gruyter, $121; Amazon)
First time on sale on Kindle: Populus: Living and Dying in Ancient Rome, by Guy De la Bédoyère (U of Chicago Press, $2.99)
Shmuel Browns shares photos from his hike up Mt. Ebal.
Leon Mauldin shares a couple of photos of the Arbel cliffs and the Sea of Galilee.
I see that Carl Rasmussen’s useful website, HolyLandPhotos.org, has a beautiful redesign, including a new AI Search feature.
HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken, Explorator