Discoveries Archives - Page 50 of 158

Weekend Roundup

Two discoveries were announced this week that will both likely make the “top 10” list for 2021: a Jerubbaal inscription and a city wall of Jerusalem. Those will summarized at greater length here tomorrow and Monday.

Archaeologists have discovered remains of an uneaten pig in a house in the City of David dating to about 700 BC. The underlying journal article is here.

Two coins from the First and Second Jewish Revolts were discovered in an archaeological survey in eastern Benjamin. The survey report was published in the Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin.

Week 2 has concluded at the Tell es-Safi/Gath excavations, and Aren Maeir is faithful as always to post updates and photos. The most recent is here.

Eve Harow interviewed Aren Maeir on the Rejuvenation podcast.

Gordon Govier reviews the discoveries and developments in biblical archaeology this summer on The Book and the Spade podcast.

Once again, Bryan Windle has a post that you could adapt for a lecture or lesson, with his Top 10 Discoveries Related to Abraham.

“In ‘Legend of Destruction,’ Gidi Dar’s new film about the destruction of the Second Temple, artists David Polonsky and Michael Faust faced a serious challenge: make an animation movie composed entirely of still paintings. It took them eight years to complete” (Haaretz premium).

Glenn Schwartz believes that “the world’s first fully developed alphabetic writing arrived on the scene some 500 years earlier than what archaeologists have long believed.” Christopher Rollston offers his reflections.

New release: Ramat Raḥel VI: The Renewed Excavations by the Tel Aviv–Heidelberg Expedition (2005–2010). The Babylonian-Persian Pit, by Oded Lipschits, Liora Freud, Manfred Oeming, and Yuval Gadot. Save 30% with code NR21.

Excavation of the second Khufu Boat has concluded, and final restoration work is now being done at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

David Ian Lightbody writes about the origin of the cartouche in Old Kingdom Egypt.

Italian authorities have recovered 782 ancient artifacts stolen by a Belgian art collector.

“The Colosseum Archaeological Park reopens the House of the Vestal Virgins to the public fully on 6 July following an extensive restoration that began in 2013.”

The Museum with No Frontiers has launched a new website.

Here are some recent episodes on Digging for Truth:

Temple Mount Revisionism: A Response (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Pharaoh Shishak, with Bryan Windle
King David’s Fortified City of Khirbet Qeiyafa, with Michael Hasel

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken, Steven Anderson, Charles Savelle, Roger Schmidgall, Explorator

Tagged 10th Century, Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Egypt, Jerusalem, Judah, Museums, Philistines, Samaria, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Several dozen fossilized shark teeth were discovered in the City of David.

The first week of excavations has ended at Tell es-Safi. Here’s the most recent update.

The IAA announced the discovery of a “city council building” near the Western Wall. But this same building has been open to tourists for several decades, so I think the story is more properly that additional facts have been learned about this building, such as that it was used as a triclinium, featured a fountain, and was built in AD 20 (and not in the Hasmonean era). Or maybe the story is that a new tourist route is opening.

A new study has found that Egypt’s primary source of copper during the Third Intermediate Period was the Arabah, in turn suggesting that this was a significant motivation for Shishak’s campaign (underlying journal article here).

Bible History Daily introduces a recent BAR article by Jeffrey P. Garcia by describing the three pilgrimage paths from Galilee to Jerusalem.

Brian Blum describes his hike on the new Emmaus Trail which runs from Abu Ghosh to Canada Park. The trail begins near a new visitor center that includes a museum dedicated to the life of Jesus.

The Bethsaida (et-Tell) Excavations Project website has been updated with the latest publications, including field reports.

New release: The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel – Samuel, edited by David Arnovitz. Contributors include Aren Maier, Yosef Garfinkel, Erez Ben-Yosef, and Chris McKinny (publisher’s website; Amazon). An early enthusiastic review is here; the previously released Exodus volume is available here.

Free download: Beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Jerusalem: The Archaeology and Early History of Traditional Golgotha, by Shimon Gibson & Joan E. Taylor (Palestine Exploration Fund, 1994)

Ram Gophna, Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University, died on Monday.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken, Charles Savelle, Explorator

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Galilee, Jerusalem, Negev, Resources, Sad News

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Notice to email subscribers: our previous service (feedburner) is shutting down, and we have migrated all existing subscribers to the follow.it service. You do not need to do anything to continue your subscription, but if you wish to modify it or take advantage of some new features, you now have more options.

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence for the earthquake from the time of King Uzziah at a site in the Jezreel Valley.

The six-chambered Solomonic gate at Megiddo has been restored, including its second half. If you have good eyes, you can see a small photo on the cover of a special issue of Eretz.

The BBC has created an 8-minute video on Methuselah, the date palm tree grown from an ancient seed.

Bryan Windle rounds up the top three reports in biblical archaeology in the month of June.

Available next month: The Road Taken: An Archaeologist’s Journey to the Land of the Bible, by Seymour (Sy) Gitin.

Jerusalem University has announced its online offerings for the fall semester, including courses on Jerusalem, the geographical contexts of the prophets, and the literature of Israel’s neighbors (with professors Chandler Collins, Cyndi Parker, and Bryan Beyer).

Iron Age female figurines are the topic of discussion on the latest podcast on This Week in the Ancient Near East.

The site onomasticon.net has been updated to include newly published personal names from the Iron Age II southern Levant.

Pnina Arad believes that the Medeba Map was designed to emphasize the fulfillment of the Old Testament in Christ (Haaretz premium or the author’s Academia page).

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken, Ferrell Jenkins, Gordon Franz, Charles Savelle, Alexander Schick, Explorator, Paleojudaica, Chris McKinny

Tagged Discoveries, Jezreel Valley, Jordan, Lectures, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

An Egyptian farmer discovered a well-preserved stele dating to the reign of Pharaoh Hophra (Apries), ruler of Egypt at the time of Jerusalem’s destruction in 586 BC (Jer 44:30). There is a nice photo here.

An artist in Brazil has created an impressive Lego model of the city of Jerusalem in the 1st century.

“Egyptian-Levantine copper trade was going strong during the Early Iron Age since the analysis of royal Egyptian artifacts of the Third Intermediate Period showed that copper used there was coming from the Arabah region.”

Margreet L. Steiner writes about temples and cult places in Iron Age Transjordan, including some likely dedicated to Milkom, Chemosh, and Qos.

The Jordan Times reports on a recent conference on Edom in the Iron Age.

There is conflict between Israelis and Palestinians at the ancient Israelite capital of Samaria (modern Sebastia).

Italy’s museums have made changes after Covid.

New from Brill: The Arch of Titus: From Jerusalem to Rome—and Back, edited by Steven Fine. This volume is the “final statement of the Yeshiva University Arch of Titus Project.”

In a new podcast episode, Chris McKinny and Oliver Hersey discuss the cultural backgrounds for studying the Bible with several specific examples.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Steven Anderson, Arne Halbakken, Explorator

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Italy, Jerusalem, Jordan, Museums, Resources, Samaria, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“Archaeologists believe that a 2,300-year-old jar from Ancient Greece containing the bones of a dismembered chicken was likely used as part of a curse to paralyze and kill 55 people in Athens.”

“A multinational team of archaeologists and scientists is reassessing the history of sea-level change in the Eastern Mediterranean based on underwater excavation and photogrammetry at sites on Israel’s Carmel coast.”

“An Egyptian archaeological mission is preparing to launch an excavation project in Saudi Arabia after several discoveries showed that ancient Egyptian King Ramses III had a presence in the Arabian Peninsula.”

Turkish Archaeological News has a roundup of stories from the month of May.

“The Covid-19 pandemic, however, has offered these thieves new opportunities to raid closed archeological sites, churches and museums [in Italy] for priceless artifacts while police are reassigned to enforce lockdowns.”

First discovered in 2015, a cache of Roman coins dating from 200 BCE to 27 BCE are now on display at the Santa Maria della Scala Museum in Siena, Italy.

A replica of Noah’s Ark has been deemed unseaworthy and is prohibited from leaving port.

Charles Aling is on The Book and the Spade discussing “Post-Exodus Disruptions in Egypt.”

Carl Rasmussen shares photos from “The Grotto of Paul” at Ephesus, including ancient paintings of Paul and Thecla.

If you’ll be at the Infusion Bible Conference this week, stop by the BiblePlaces table and say hi to Kris Udd and me. I haven’t had a chance to meet many roundup readers this past year, but our team has used the time to create some great new photo collections.

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis, Explorator, Charles Savelle, Paleojudaica

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Arabia, Discoveries, Egypt, Greece, Israel's Coast, Lectures, Museums, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Archaeologists discovered a stone anchor in an underwater dig at Tel Dor.

Archaeologists have announced the discovery of 150 clay sealings from a Neolithic site in the Beth Shean Valley.

The Israeli team excavating el-Araj (Bethsaida?) signed a collaboration agreement with an Italian university for the exchange of researchers and students.

Five suspects were arrested after they were caught carrying out an illegal excavation in Galilee.

“Israel has opened its first underwater national park at the ancient port city of Caesarea, where divers can tour the 2,000-year-old remains of what was once a major complex extending into the sea.”

Israel will begin allowing individual tourists to arrive on July 1.

Jodi Magness discussed toilet issues at Qumran in a recent lecture.

The June issue of Near Eastern Archaeology includes a study from Gath on bone projectiles.

The three-day “Caesarea Maritima Conference” will begin on June 13 at 3:15 pm and continue through June 15 at 9:00 pm (Israel Time).

Eilat Mazar will be honored on July 1 with an evening of lectures by Amihai Mazar, Gabriel Barkay, Yitzhak Dvira, and Reut Ben Aryeh (in Hebrew).

“The years of archaeological excavations Israel has conducted at the Temple Mount have yielded no proof that the Temple ever existed in Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Monday evening.”

Bryan Windle has put together a very impressive list of “Top Ten Discoveries Related to David.”

Israel’s Good Name spent a day on Mount Hermon after it snowed.

New: Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple, 4th edition, edited by John Merrill and Hershel Shanks.

If you get Wayne Stiles and me in a room together, we’ll end up talking about the top 10 discoveries in Israel’s archaeology.

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis, Explorator, Charles Savelle, Paleojudaica

Tagged 10th Century, Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Lectures, Resources, Temple Mount, Tourism, Weekend Roundup