Antiquities Trade Archives - BiblePlaces.com

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The NY Times has a well-illustrated story about the exhibits in the Egypt’s newly opened Grand Museum (gift link). The AP reports on the grand opening event.

There is no evidence that the short-lived capital of Akhetaten was abandoned because of a catastrophic plague.

A new study indicates that ancient Egypt’s gold production was much higher than previously believed.

Did the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid with a hidden pulley system?

“Egyptian authorities opened a criminal investigation after a 4,000-year-old limestone relief vanished from the Sixth-Dynasty mastaba of Khentika in the Saqqara necropolis.”

The Netherlands will return a statue of Thutmose III that was apparently stolen from Egypt during the 2011 Arab Spring.

“A tablet made in ancient Babylon around 1500 B.C.E. may be the earliest known depiction of a ghost.”

A large and intricate Roman-era mosaic has been discovered in Iznik, Turkey.

Turkish Archaeological News rounds up the top stories for the month of October, including:

The authentic restoration of tombs in the northern necropolis of Hierapolis
The opening to the public of a cave with a fresco of St. Paul opening near Antalya
The remains of a hippodrome discovered in Kayseri in Cappadocia
On-going discoveries by the American archaeologists working at Sardis

“The top three reports in biblical archaeology in October 2025 featured a tomb in Egypt, a necropolis in Turkey, and an inscription in Israel.”

BibleStock has released a new coaching video for Thanksgiving based on Psalm 100.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Ted Weis, Explorator

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Museums, Tourism, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

The cargoes of three superimposed shipwrecks dating to the 11th, 9th, and 7th/6th centuries BC have been retrieved from the ancient harbor of Dor.

“Researchers excavating Yehudiya Nature Reserve in the central Golan Heights uncovered an ancient synagogue whose location had remained unknown for decades.”

Joshua N. Tilton has released a new ebook on Jaffa Gate and its Place in the History of Jerusalem ($10).

Jim Parker is interviewed about a new book to which he contributed, “The Canaanite Water System at Gezer.”

Aren Maeir tells a story about a dead cow and the cost of obeying Exodus 21:33-34.

The Jerusalem Post has a story on various archaeological finds made in Israel over the years.

NY Times: “There are good reasons to be drawn to antiquities, but also many reasons to hesitate before buying, starting with concerns about illicit trade” (gift link).

Erin Hill asks, “Are the religious practices of the northern Kingdom of Israel adopted from Phoenician elements or reflected of a broader Canaanite continuity?”

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Explorator, Ted Weis

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Golan Heights, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Resources, Samaria, Shephelah, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“Iraq has uncovered the largest winged bull in Assyrian history, measuring about 6 meters tall” in the royal hall of Ashurbanipal’s palace.

After fear that the world’s oldest synagogue paintings may have been destroyed in Syria’s civil war, scholar Jill Joshowitz was thrilled to see the 3rd-century Dura-Europos paintings well-preserved in the National Museum of Damascus.

Archaeologists have discovered a “waiting bench” outside the entrance to the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii.

“Egyptians reacted with outrage this week after officials said that a 3,000-year-old bracelet that had belonged to an ancient pharaoh [Amenemope] was stolen from Cairo’s famed Egyptian Museum and then melted down for gold.”

“The ancient theater in Myra, one of the six most important cities of the Lycian League, is set to regain its original appearance through the reconstruction of its stage building with original stones.”

The ancient Egyptians did not use booby traps in the Giza pyramids.

Jason Borges has published an article on “The City of Philomelium and the Occasion of the Martyrdom of Polycarp.”

Registration is now open for the “Year in Review in 2025 in Biblical Archaeology” with Glenn Corbett and Chris McKinny, on December 2 ($10).

The Tel Dan Inscription is on display at the Museum of the Bible until November 3. No entrance fee is required to see this exhibit or the Megiddo Mosaic. In November, a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit will open (for a double charge).

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Joseph Lauer, Explorator

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Egypt, Italy, Mesopotamia, Museums, New Exhibits, Syria, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

The Israel Antiquities Authority: “To the best of our knowledge, no damage has been caused thus far to archaeological artifacts under the responsibility of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and no reports have been received regarding damage to exhibits in museums.” Some precautions have been taken.

The opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum will be delayed until later in the year due to the Israel-Iran war.

The Garden of Hercules in Pompeii has been restored and reopened to the public following “the planting of 800 ancient roses, 1,200 violets, 1,000 ruscus plants, cherry trees, vines, and quince trees.”

A team of researchers is working to recreate Egyptian blue, and they created 12 different recipes for the endeavor.

Officials in Rome have unveiled a new piazza around the Mausoleum of Augustus.

Looting and trafficking of ancient artifacts has increased in Syria since the fall of the government.

Bible History Daily asked a few scholars for their perspective on a new study dating the Dead Sea Scrolls earlier than previously believed. Rollston, for example, knows that the calibrated dates are in error since we know that Daniel 8-11 cannot be dated to earlier than the events occurred in 167 BC.

New website: Iron Age Hebrew Ostraca in the Silicon Age – Computerized Paleography – “our research in the last few years has focused on solving some problems, avoiding others and shedding new light on literacy in biblical Israel and Judah through statistical analysis.”

Conference on June 25-27: “Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective,” at UC San Diego, with a YouTube livestream.

New from Preserving Bible Times: Encounters with Jesus, by Doug Greenwold, in audiobook format

Preston Sprinkle invited me on to his Theology in the Raw podcast to talk about archaeology and the Bible, including Jericho, David, and Hezekiah’s Tunnel (YouTube, Apple, Spotify). He kicked it off by recalling comments I wrote on his archaeology paper 25 years ago.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Alexander Schick, Explorator

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Dead Sea Scrolls, Egypt, Exodus-Conquest, Italy, Lectures, Museums, Syria, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Excavation work continues at Khirbat Balu’a, a Moabite site with a monumental Iron Age structure.

The digging of a well in western Syria resulted in the discovery of a Roman mosaic depicting Tyche.

Archaeologists in Rome have found evidence of a bath complex that was transformed into an early church.

Glenn J. Corbett writes about the threats to the heritage of ancient Cush.

Aaron Koller explains how and why post-exilic Judeans adopted the Aramaic script for writing in Hebrew.

In a new pdf resource, John DeLancey explains how Jesus used remez in the Gospels.

“YodAlpha is a search engine exclusively dedicated to Religious, Theological, and Biblical Studies. Its index is built from crawling the websites of various academic institutions that support open access scholarship.”

New release: Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ, by T. C. Schmidt (Oxford University Press, $130; Amazon; free download).

Should have taken an Uber: “A German tourist has been arrested in Rome on Wednesday after being caught riding down the street on a rented electric scooter with the marble base of a Roman column on the footplate.”

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Alexander Schick, Mark V. Hoffman, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Italy, Jordan, Resources, Syria, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Archaeologists uncovered portions of a monumental relief of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in the throne room of his palace in Nineveh.

Christopher Jones explores questions related to Sennacherib’s assassination.

Scientists have discovered the evidence for leprosy that dates to the third millennium BC.

In a new study on Pompeii, “scientists documented events at one home in the doomed city where a family sought refuge inside a back room by pushing a wooden bed against a door in a vain attempt to stop a flood of volcanic rocks from the sky.”

Turkish authorities arrested four individuals who had discovered a Roman mosaic during illegal excavations at their house.

“Gojko Barjamovic, a lecturer at Yale University, along with a team from Harvard, deciphered and even attempted to recreate some of the dishes detailed on Babylonian clay tablets dating back nearly 4,000 years.”

David M. Pritchard explains why “sport in ancient Athens was much more than the Olympics.”

Aish.com has published a primer on the Cairo Geniza.

“The ancient bilingual inscriptions of Karatepe Aslantas Open-Air Museum in Osmaniye, Türkiye, have been officially inscribed into the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register.”

“Friends of ASOR is pleased to announce its first tour of some of Chicago’s greatest museums on September 18 and 19 for an exclusive behind-the-scenes experience.”

Live Science explains how archaeologists can determine the sex of a skeleton.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Italy, Museums, Turkey, Weekend Roundup