Following reports of damage to archaeological debris on the Temple Mount, the Israeli police have closed a new observation post.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project gives an update on the damage. The Times of Israel reports on the situation.

Aren Maeir shares some of the objectives for this year’s excavations of Gath, including more work on the possible city gate.

The May newsletter of Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities is now online.

A conference entitled “Archaeology for Peace” is being held today in Leiden.

Somehow Carl Rasmussen got into the never-yet-open-to-the-public theater at Perga, and he shares his photos here. [UPDATE: I’ve learned that the theater renovation is complete and the theater is now open to visitors.]

Carl also has posted a couple of rare photos showing flood waters in the Brook of Elah.

Charles Savelle found the four-horned altar near Shiloh. (I do wish he had moved his bike before he took the picture!)

Ferrell Jenkins shares photos of his drive through Wadi Shu’ayb in Jordan.

Wayne Stiles looks at the spiritual significance of the mountains that surround Jerusalem.

Ticia Verveer gives an illustrated tour of Gamla.

Israel’s Good Name saw quite a bit of wildlife on his trip to the Beth Shean Valley and Agamon Hefer.

HT: Joseph Lauer

A candidate for prime minister of the UK promises to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece if he is elected. The British Museum has responded.

“An Italian court has ruled that this Greek bronze, known as ‘Statue of a Victorious Youth,’ rescued from the ocean decades ago and long on display at the Getty Villa, should be returned to Italy.”

Nine artifacts smuggled from Egypt have been returned by French authorities.

Russians archaeologists have applied to continue excavations of Palmyra.

A report from Week 2 of excavations in the Venus Pompeiana Project has been posted.

Bleda S. Düring explains the origins of maps in the Near East. Many nice images are included.

“Digital humanities scholars [at Penn Libraries] are orchestrating an epic crowdsourcing effort to sort and transcribe handwriting on thousands of documents discarded hundreds of years ago, known as the Cairo Geniza.”

Mark Hoffman: BibleWorks is closing; what should you do?

Leon Mauldin explains why Michelangelo’s Moses has horns.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a copy of Kitchener’s Photographs of Biblical Sites for sale, until now ($830).

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade

“Newly deciphered Egyptian symbols on a 3,400-year-old limestone ostracon from Luxor’s Tomb of Senneferi appears to be the first written evidence of the ABC letter order of the early Semitic alphabet.” The BASOR article on which this story is based is available here to subscribers.

A well-preserved Egyptian tomb at Saqqara belongs to a general who served Rameses II.

“Egyptian archeologists say they have discovered parts of a huge red brick building dating back to the Greco-Roman period north of Cairo.”

Live Science reports on how Egyptian archaeologists rescued two massive carvings from looters.

“After almost three months of study, a new geophysics survey has provided conclusive evidence that no hidden chambers exist adjacent to or inside Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.”

Cyprus returned 14 items to Egypt that were stolen in the 1980s.

Over 3,600 items illegally smuggled into the US were returned to Iraq in an official ceremony.  

The April 2018 newsletter of Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities has been published.

With the discovery of 92 cuneiform tablets, archaeologists working at an ancient Assyrian site now
know that they are excavating the lost city of Mardaman.

An Assyriologist studying cuneiform tablets taken from Hobby Lobby by the federal government discovered evidence for a lost Sumerian city.

The National Museum of Iran has contributed 1,110 inscribed objects to the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative.

Saudi Arabia has begun a new program to study archaeological sites in the region of al-Ula, including the Nabatean city of Madain Saleh.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle

A bust of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius was found in the Temple of Kom Ombo, in Aswan, Egypt.

The subway project in Thessaloniki has yielded over 300,000 artifacts and provided additional information about the city’s 2,300-year-old history.

New evidence shows that Mycenae was destroyed by violence, not by an earthquake (Haaretz premium).

“An eagle-eyed scholar has identified the shadowy outlines of passages from the Bible behind an eighth-century manuscript of the Qur’an – the only recorded palimpsest in which a Christian text has been effaced to make way for the Islamic holy text.”

Pierre Tallet will be lecturing on “The Discovery of the Oldest Papyri of Egypt in Khufu’s Harbor in Wadi el-Jarf (Red Sea)” at the Museo Egizio in Turin on April 30.

Students at Brown University reenacted the Battle of Kadesh between the Egyptians and the Hittites.

CyArk and Google Arts and Culture are partnering to create 3D models of ancient Corinth and other archaeological sites.

On sale for $0.99 for Kindle: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus, by Wayne Stiles

The Agade list is archived by SBL, and you can find subscription information here.

The new ESV Archaeology Study Bible is a tremendous resource. I hope to post on it here shortly, but in the meantime, you can listen to an interview on The Book and the Spade with John Currid, watch a short video of Currid explaining why archaeology can’t prove the Bible (and doesn’t need to), or watch the publisher’s video introduction. You’ll find the best price for a couple more days at Westminster Bookstore (their genuine leather copy is about the same price as Amazon’s hardcopy; I have a leather copy and it’s beautiful).

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Joseph Lauer, Mike Harney, BibleX

A symposium is being held this week in Jerusalem on “The Dead Sea Scrolls at Seventy: Clear a Path in the Wilderness.” The full program is here. The poster is here.

Brad Gray investigates the geographical connection between the leper healings of Naaman and the 10 lepers in the latest episode of The Teaching Series.

Ten students were killed by a flash flood when hiking in Nahal Tzafit this week.

The Druze celebrated their annual pilgrimage to Jethro’s tomb in Galilee last week.

Ferrell Jenkins has written about “the Great Rift” in preparation for a series of articles about the Aravah. His post includes several beautiful photos.

Episode Five of Digging for Truth focuses on the recent excavations of Shiloh.

The site and synagogue of Umm el-Qanatir in the Golan Heights are the subject of an article in Front Page Magazine.

Timna and its copper mines are described by the BBC.

Lyndelle Webster is profiled on the Azekah Expedition blog, and she recounts how her volunteer work changed her life direction.

Israel’s Good Name shares his experience and photos from his visit to Ein Hemed.

Wayne Stiles explains the geographical and theological significance of Kadesh Barnea.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Paleojudaica

A German-Egyptian team has discovered thousands of fragments in old Heliopolis.

Egyptian authorities have charged 70 archaeological inspectors and security officials with looting the site of Quesna.

The March 2018 edition of the Newsletter of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities reports the latest inaugurations, repatriated antiquities, temporary exhibitions, meetings, projects, and more.

Zahi Hawass is leading a crew of more than 100 Egyptian workers in excavating an area in the Valley of the Kings, but so far he is not revealing what he has found.

The site of Mari has suffered severe destruction as a result of the conflicts in Syria.

Carl Rasmussen shares photographs of the harbor of Troas where Paul set sail on his second missionary journey.

Mathilde Touillon-Ricci takes a look at “Trade and Contraband in Ancient Assyria.”

The lead “Jordan Codices” have been proven to be forged.

Margreet Steiner will be lecturing on April 23 at Tel Aviv University on “The Excavations at Khirbet al-Mudayna in Ancient Moab: Some Current Research Questions in Iron Age Archaeology.” The lecture will be held in the Gilman Building, Room 282 at 16:15.

Funerary portrait sculptures, created in Palmyra, Syria between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD are on display at the Getty Villa until May 2019.

Mosaics from Antioch on the Orontes were buried beneath the lawn of the Museum of Fine Arts in
St. Petersburg, Florida, several decades ago and only recently uncovered.

“A three-year renovation at the Penn Museum introduces a $5m collection of nearly 1,200 objects, many of which will be on public view for the first time.”

There is some new ancient world content in JStor.

Accordance is now hosting “April Showers of Archaeology” and they have up to 50% off on all kinds of great resources, including the American Colony Collection, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible,
Biblical Archaeology Review Archive, Bible Times PhotoMuseum, and more.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Mike Harney, Ted Weis, Keith Keyser, Steven Anderson