Weekend Roundup, Part 1

“A well-preserved Greek inscription from the 5th century recording a blessing for one ‘Master Adios’” was discovered in central Israel.

Plans to convert the Golden Gate of the Temple Mount into a Muslim place of prayer are being resisted by Israeli police.

Two crews of antiquities thieves working in eastern Samaria were arrested in recent weeks. One of them was looting Alexandrium-Sartaba.

A short trailer has been released promoting this season’s excavations at Tel Shimron.

There is still time to sign up for this summer’s season at Tel Burna. Shiloh has some openings as well.

Heavy rains this week caused flooding in the Jerusalem area.

The Times of Israel shares a photo essay of wildflowers of the Dead Sea.

Israel’s Good Name recounts his recent university trip to Wadi Dalia and Sartaba in eastern Samaria.

Leon Mauldin reflects on Proverbs’ view of sluggards and ants, and he shares a photo of ants at Neot Kedumim.

The BBC visits the recently opened Terra Sancta Museum in Jerusalem.

New book: Exploring the Holy Land: 150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund, edited by David Gurevich and Anat Kidron. (Amazon)

I am on the Diligent Pastors podcast this week with Scot Chadwick, talking about the land of the Bible, photo collections, and preparing for a trip to Israel. Pastors especially may want to check out other episodes in this new podcast.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, G. M. Grena

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A tomb containing 50 mummies from the Ptolemaic era has been discovered in Minya, south of Cairo.

The latest documentary produced by Bible Passages is “The Power of Jesus in Galilee.” The 22-minute video was filmed on location.

The world’s first film in the Babylonian language has been released.

The latest video from the British Museum explains an Assyrian relief that depicts a battle with Elam.

In an 8-minute video, Luke Chandler explains Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah using the reliefs in the British Museum.

Carl Rasmussen is leading a tour that follows in the footsteps of Paul from his shipwreck on Malta to his martyrdom in Rome.

Now is the time to sign up for a summer excavation in Israel, including at Gath.

Lamia Al-Gailani Werr, one of Iraq’s first female archaeologists, died recently.

HT: Agade, Steven Anderson, Ted Weis

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The AFP was given a private tour of the “Tomb of the Kings” in Jerusalem, while discussions are ongoing with the French government on re-opening the site to the public.

Renovations of a shop in Paris revealed a large hidden painting of the city of Jerusalem.

The greatest threats to archaeology in Iraq are looting and uncontrolled building.

Carl Rasmussen shares photos of a procession of the Roman elite at Ephesus.

Wayne Stiles looks at three reminders that come from Jesus’s ministry in Galilee.

Evan McDuff describes his experience in excavating Tel Dor.

Graham Chandler provides an interesting and well-illustrated look at ivory in the ancient Near East.

The latest episodes on Digging for Truth look at the relationship between ancient child sacrifice and modern abortion (part 1, part 2, part 3).

Scattered Finds: Archaeology, Egyptology and Museums, by Alice Stevenson, is now available in print or as a free pdf.

Bryan Windle has created two top ten lists:

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Steven Anderson

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Excavations of Qumran’s “Cave 53” have concluded without discovering any scrolls. The Times of Israel provides a good summary of the efforts of recent years.

“Two clay horse figurines were discovered last month in northern Israel,” one near Kefar Ruppin and the other near Tel Akko.

Bible History Daily reports on the discovery of the Roman funerary busts in Beth Shean.

A Byzantine cistern discovered under a playground in Jerusalem may become a national site. The article references Ramla’s “Pool of Arches,” which you can read about here.

There are no parallels to the bearded male head unearthed at Abel Beth Maacah, writes Naama Yahalom-Mack in a detailed description of the object.

Following an outcry, the highway over Tel Beth Shemesh will be 20 meters wide instead of 80.

Ferrell Jenkins shares his favorite photo of a fisherman casting his net into the Sea of Galilee. 

John DeLancey has been posting daily for his current Biblical Israel Tour. For Day 12, they visited the City of David and the Old City.

An earthquake centered in Nazareth shook the Galilee region on Thursday night.

A record amount of snowfall on Mount Hermon has opened the site to a peak capacity of visitors.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

The Times of Israel reports on the excavations of Kiriath Jearim, including the large platform wall they have discovered.

The archaeologists of Abel Beth Maacah provide a lavishly illustrated account of their first six years of excavation.

Ben Witherington believes that Magdala of Galilee, edited by Richard Bauckham, should be nominated for archaeological book of the year. That post begins a series of short Q&A posts with the editor.

A preliminary excavation report for Tel Yarmuth (biblical Jarmuth) describes the massive Early Bronze walls and plans to make a new archaeological park.

Two new exhibits are opening next week at the Hecht Museum at the University of Haifa.

The Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem has announced their spring lecture schedule. I suspect that all are in Hebrew.

Erez Speiser explains the four paths to get to the top of Masada.

The latest of Ferrell’s Favorite Fotos is a blended shot of the Jezreel Valley from an airplane.

Snow fell in Jerusalem this week for the first time in several years.

Thousands of Orthodox Christians celebrated Epiphany at the Jordan River yesterday.

Eisenbrauns has a sale on its titles in the History, Archaeology, and Culture of the Levant series.

“Searching for a King” premieres on Saturday in Indianapolis, and the event will be livestreamed on Facebook.

Die Ikonographie Palästinas/Israels und der Alte Orient (IPIAO). Eine Religionsgeschichte in Bildern Band 4: Die Eisenzeit bis zum Beginn der achämenidischen Herrschaft (The Iconography of Palestine/Israel and the Ancient Near East. A History of Religion in Pictures), by Silvia Schroer (970pp), is now available for purchase or as a free pdf.

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

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Weekend Roundup

A woman taking a stroll near Tel Beth Shean discovered that winter rains had exposed two Roman statues.

New technology now makes declassified US spy photos from the 1960s more useful for research in the Middle East. LiveScience tells the story, and you can explore the amazing Corona Atlas yourself.

A team of archaeologists and climbers scaled the cliffs of Sela in order to study a relief made by the Babylonian king Nabonidus.

Ruth Schuster surveys the archaeological evidence for the earthquake in the days of Uzziah mentioned by Amos and Zechariah (Haaretz premium).

Kyle Harper attempts to trace the origins of the Nazareth Inscription.

‘Serve the Gods of Egypt’ is an exhibition focusing on the Third Intermediate Period (1069-664 BC), now showing at the Museum of Grenoble, located in southeast France. 

Now online: Maps, drawings, and photographs from the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) Sphinx Project, 1979-1983.

The Fall 2018 issue of DigSight includes stories on the seal impression of Isaiah, new publications, recent finds, and upcoming events.

The Oriental Institute 2017–18 Annual Report is now available.

On the ASOR Blog, Claudio Ottoni asks, “Where do cats come from?”

Carl Rasmussen provides illustrations for Paul’s boxing metaphor.

Wayne Stiles explains why Peter’s trip to Caesarea was apparently inefficient and yet perfectly necessary.

A 4-minute video from the Today Show explains how NASA technology is being used to decipher Dead Sea Scrolls. The video includes footage inside Cave 1.

Owen Jarus suggests five archaeological discoveries to watch for in 2019.

The editors of The Bible and Interpretation have chosen their five best articles for 2018.

In a full article posted from Biblical Archaeology Review, Robert Cargill explains what a day on a dig looks like.

Jerusalem is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world. Jordan’s tourism in 2018 was its second highest ever.

“William B. Tolar of Fort Worth, Texas, a longtime professor of biblical backgrounds and archaeology [at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary], died Dec. 29.” He apparently led 80 trips to Israel.

There will be no roundup next weekend.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Mark Hoffman, Chris McKinny, Joseph Lauer, Paleojudaica, Bryan Windle

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About the BiblePlaces Blog

The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.

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