The first season of excavations have begun at Ashdod. Aren Maeir visited and notes that the focus is on understanding the gate’s function, dating, and plan. Abigail Van Huss reports on her experiences as a volunteer in week 1 and week 2.

“The ‘Secrets of Huqoq’ exhibition is now featured at the Yigal Allon Center Museum at Kibbutz Ginosar. The Samson mosaic is on display along with photographs of other mosaics.

Aren Maeir gives an update on two controversial matters related to archaeological authority in Israel.

Rafi Glick proposes that two tunnels in the Judean wilderness were designed to manage flash floods and recharge local groundwater reserves.

Jo Elizabeth tells the story of how the Great Isaiah Scroll (and three others) traveled 12,000 miles on its way from a Qumran cave to a Jerusalem museum.

Homeland Security agents in Tampa seized 12,000 ancient artifacts that came from the eastern Mediterranean.

Open-access: Ancient Technologies, Methods of Production and Installations in Israel—Essays in Honor of Rafael Frankel, edited by M. Eisenberg, U. ‘Ad, and E. Ayalon (Zinman Institute of Archaeology, 2025)

New release: Researching a Rigged Game: Digital Approaches to Tracing the Illicit Trade in Cultural Objects, edited by Emiline Smith and Summer Austin (Springer Nature, open-access)

New release: Thinking, Speaking and Representing Animals in Western Asia, edited by Laura Battini (Archaeopress, £16-55)

The latest issue of Tel Aviv includes a few open-access articles.

The schedule is online for this past week’s “Bringing Ancient Greek and Hebrew Literature into Conversation: An International Conference.”

Kiersten Neumann, ISAC Museum Curator, ISAC Research Associate, and Lecturer in Department of Art History, delivered this year’s commencement address for her alma mater, the Department of Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley.

HT: Agade, Wayne Stiles, Explorator, Paleojudaica