Egypt Archives - Page 54 of 93

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Robert Mullins has written an update on the major discoveries at Abel Beth Maacah after 5 years of excavation.

A head of an Akhenaten statue has been discovered in excavations at Tel el-Amarna.

Some medieval artifacts were seized in Turkey, including a gold seal attributed to Solomon. James Davila provides some commentary.

The Jerusalem Post profiles the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

Mordechai Aviam and R. Steven Notley make a case that el-Araj should now be considered the leading candidate for the site of Bethsaida-Julias.

Appian Media has released a “sneak peek” from an upcoming upside in the “Following the Messiah” series with an acoustical experiment at the Cove of the Sower.

With the water level of the Sea of Galilee nearly at an all-time low, Ferrell Jenkins illustrates the dramatic difference with several photos of Heptapegon.

David Moster will be lecturing on “The Jordan River and the Two Half-Tribes of Manasseh” in NYC on Nov 14. (We noted some of David’s work on the Jordan River here last year.)

Ben Witherington is on The Book and the Spade talking about his newest book, A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem.

HT: Paleojudaica, Joseph Lauer, Agade

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Galilee, Jerusalem, Lectures, Temple Mount, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Archaeologists have discovered a Jewish settlement under an abandoned military base near the town of Beit El.

Excavation of a tomb near Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo uncovered an “afterlife snack pack of nine decapitated toads.”

A lost city of Alexander the Great has been identified at Qalatga Darband, six miles from Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Yeshiva University Museum recently opened a new exhibition, “The Arch of Titus – from Jerusalem to Rome, and Back.”

The Brooklyn Museum has just opened “Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt.”

The Arab World Institute Museum in Paris is hosting through January 2018 the exhibition, “Oriental Christians: 2,000 Years of History,” featuring artifacts never before displayed in Europe.

BYU has constructed a full-size tabernacle replica.

“The Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes (CAMEL) at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago is pleased to present the Anatolian Atlas, an online resource for geographical data related to the archaeology of Anatolia (ancient Turkey).”

The IWC at Tel Aviv University has announced its lecture schedule for the fall all centered around the theme “Jerusalem.”

Malka Z. Simkovich tries to explain why Christian monks copied Jewish manuscripts.

Bill Schlegel has created a new video showing sites in Benjamin from the air.

Wayne Stiles explains the value of using maps in your Bible study.

In light of his recent visit to el-Araj, John DeLancey discusses the two proposed locations for Bethsaida.

Ferrell Jenkins has written a well-illustrated post on Barclay’s Gate in the Western Wall. I suspect that most visitors don’t even know that it exists.

New release: Qedem 57: The Temple Mount Excavations in Jerusalem 1968-1978, Directed by Benjamin Mazar. Final Reports Volume V. Herodian Architectural Decoration and King Herod’s Portico.

Eisenbrauns is selling all available volumes of Excavations and Surveys in Israel for $5 each (with a few restrictions).

The population of Israel is now 8.7 million, including 6.5 million Jews and 1.8 million Arabs.

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

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Galilee, Lectures, Museums, New Exhibits, Resources, Samaria, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Israel’s Tourism Ministry has approved construction of 4-mile-long cable car line connecting Upper Nazareth and the lower slopes of Mount Tabor.

Tomb raiders have vandalized the Judean desert fortress of Hyrcania.

Reader’s Digest suggests 10 sites (mostly eateries) to visit in Israel that you (probably) have never heard of before.

Leave it to Wayne Stiles to figure out a way to make good use of my photos of Horeshat Tal (and make an important application).

“All the stone inscriptions from ancient Athens in UK collections are to be presented in English translations for the first time, thanks to a new project undertaken by Cardiff University.”

The aim of Israel’s Academy of the Hebrew Language’s Historical Dictionary Project is to document and define every Hebrew word ever used.

The Times of Israel reports on Lawrence Mykytiuk’s study that confirms the historical existence of 53 individuals mentioned in the Old Testament.

The New York Metropolitan Museum has acquired a rare gold gilded Egyptian coffin from the 1st century BC.

David Moster will be lecturing on “Etrog: How a Chinese Export Became a Jewish Fruit” at Columbia University on Tuesday, 9/19.

Steven Notley will be lecturing on “Unearthing Bethsaida-Julias: Has the City of the Apostles been Found?” at Nyack College on September 28.

Aren Maeir has posted the schedule for the 11th annual conference on “New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region,” to be held Oct 18-20.

Charles E. Jones’s “Working Bibliography of Autobiographies” continues to grow.

Bible Story Map has released a new resource: Bible Story Places, a series of 12 posters of sites including Jericho, Valley of Elah, Mt. Sinai, and the Sea of Galilee.

Individual books in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Revised Edition, are available for Kindle for $4.99 until tomorrow.

HT: Charles Savelle, Ted Weis, Agade

Tagged Egypt, Galilee, Greece, Jerusalem, Judah, Lectures, Resources, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 3

Archaeologists have learned a lot in the first season of a renewed expedition to Masada, but they’re not saying much yet.

The tomb of an 18th-Dynasty goldsmith has been discovered on Luxor’s West Bank.

“Excavations at an ancient mound in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri shed light on writing from around 2,000 B.C.”

The Plutonium of Hierapolis is being restored so that it can be opened to tourists next year.

The ancient stadium of Laodicea is being restored.

Scholars are using new technology to read palimpsests at St. Catherine’s Monastery.

Israel’s Good Name describes two recent field trips to the Sorek Stalactite Caves and to Tel Burna.

After years of delay, the Louvre Abu Dhabi will open two months from today.

HT: Explorator, Agade

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Judah, Museums, Shephelah, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

An ancient cemetery has been discovered on the west bank of Luxor.

Jared Owen discusses the identity of a pharaoh’s head discovered in 1995 at Hazor.

A 2-minute video explains how Petra declined.

Underwater ruins of the lost Roman city of Neapolis, found off the coast of Tunisia, confirm its destruction by a 4th AD tsunami.

Haaretz: “Scientists have debunked the claim that prehistoric peoples living in central Turkey 8,500 years ago invented copper smelting, putting an end to one fierce controversy.”

A Turkish writer laments the situation in the land of the ancient Hittites with the lack of tourists, expulsion of German archaeologists, and deterioration of ancient sites.

The San Antonio Museum of Art examines in depth its statue of Antinous, a favorite of Roman Emperor Hadrian.

Carl Rasmussen has revised his interpretation of the “farmer’s sarcophagus.”

Most of the convictions of Raphael Golb for impersonating Dead Sea Scrolls scholars were upheld in appeals court.

The Jordan Times profiles the work of the Spanish Archaeological Mission in Jordan for the last 60 years.

Ferrell Jenkins notes the latest books published by Carta Jerusalem. All three look great!

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

Tagged Egypt, Galilee, Jordan, Museums, Resources, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A 6th-century mosaic discovered near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem has a Greek inscription mentioning Emperor Justinian. A 1.5-minute video is here.

At Neve Tzuf, an 8-year-old girl discovered a coin from the Jewish Revolt inscribed “Holy Jerusalem.” (But I’ve heard doubts that the coin is genuine.)

Haaretz: “The discovery of masks and more cultic vessels has bolstered confidence that ritual activity was taking place 3,200 years ago at Libnah, a Canaanite city that would become Judahite in the biblical era.”

Ahramonline: “An Egyptian archaeological mission from the Ministry of Antiquities has uncovered five Roman tombs during excavation works carried out in Beir Al-Shaghala site in Dakhla Oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert.”

The pottery restorer of the Gath excavations shows how to restore an ancient pot in in a 1.5-minute video (but you might want to turn the sound off first).

Authorities have frozen plans to build a new neighborhood over the abandoned Arab village of Lifta.

Those who know the history here may get a kick out of Rami Arav’s declaration that “Archaeologists should be led by the evidence, and not force the evidence into their theories.” His new piece entitled “Bethsaida Controversy” is a frontal attack on the recent el-Araj claims.

Check out the latest www.HolyLandPhotos.org Newsletter from Carl Rasmussen here.

If you like this blog and you use Facebook, you might consider joining the “Nerdy Bible Backgrounds and Bible Geography Majors” group.

“Ancient Babylonians living almost 4,000 years ago could have predicted Monday’s total solar eclipse.” Here’s how.

Two of my partners on the new Photo Companion to the Bible witnessed the eclipse in different parts of the United States. Steven Anderson shares his experience here, and the photo below was taken by A.D. Riddle.

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

Total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017
Photo by A.D. Riddle

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Galilee, Jerusalem, Mesopotamia, Shephelah, Weather, Weekend Roundup