Weekend Roundup, Part 1

More than 1,000 Hellenistic-era seal impressions were recently discovered in excavations at Maresha.

Underwater archaeologists are searching the sea near Dor in advance of the construction of a gas pipeline.

US military veterans are participating in excavations at Beth Shearim in a program providing therapy for PTSD.

A plan to build a cable car to transport visitors to the Western Wall in Jerusalem is not making everyone happy.

The Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem now offers a virtual reality tour that visits nine vantage points in the Old City.

The IAA is opposed to plans by the Temple Mount Faithful to hold a concert in the excavations area south of the Temple Mount.

The 12th annual conference on “New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Vicinity” will be held next month. Aren Maeir has posted the program.

Joel Kramer has announced the dates of his next study tour in Israel.

Carl Rasmussen links to two videos from Kathleen Kenyon’s excavations of Jericho.

The Methuselah date palm tree is male, but six more ancient date seeds have been planted in hopes of raising a female for Methuselah to pollinate.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Joseph Lauer

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Weekend Roundup

Scholars are studying sites in the Jordan Valley to see if they are related to early Israelite settlement.

Zahi Hawass tells the story of the discovery of the Solar Boat of Khufu.

An 10-year-old boy hiking in Galilee discovered an ancient stone figure.

Aren Maeir has written an initial summary of this summer’s excavations of Gath. They found quite a bit related to Hazael’s destruction of the city.

Israel’s Good Name describes his excavation experience at Gath.

Gonzalo Rubio explains how eclipses were regarded as omens in the ancient world.

Yosef Garfinkel is lecturing on Khirbet Qeiyafa and Khirbet al-Ra’i on September 15 at the Lanier Theological Library in Houston.

Jerusalem Perspective has posted a lecture by Ronny Reich on “The Mikveh and Ritual Immersion in Jesus’ Day.” Reich is the leading expert on ancient Jewish ritual baths.

The J. Paul Getty Museum has posted a catalog of 630 ancient lamps in their collections.

“Tomb of Christ: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre Experience” will open on November 15 at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC. The website includes a digital guide for the exhibition.

Biblical Israel Ministries & Tours has launched an updated website, including a list of their upcoming Israel tours.

The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible releases on Tuesday. This is a revision of the NIV Zondervan Study Bible, and one major improvement is the more-readable font. We contributed many of the photos, and I wrote the notes for 2 Kings. Westminster Bookstore has it on sale.

Accordance has many graphics collections for sale, including the American Colony Collection and Cultural Images of the Holy Land.

Wipf and Stock are offering 40% off their catalog with code LABOR40.

Now available in the US (from Biblical Archaeology Society):

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, A.D. Riddle, Alexander Schick, Paleojudica

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Weekend Roundup

A ceramic pomegranate was discovered at Shiloh this past summer. (The news release gives no indication of a date.)

Scientists are learning more about the three people buried in the 30-ton, black granite sarcophagus recently discovered in Alexandria. The presence of a woman indicates all were not soldiers, and a hole in a skull suggests trepanation. One researcher comments on the inscriptions.

An ancient DNA study is shedding light on the Chalcolithic culture in the Upper Galilee. More than 600 people were buried in the Peqi’in Cave.

The presence of a large number gazelle bones in a Galilean village suggests that Shikhin was a production center for parchment (Haaretz premium).

Archaeologists believe they have uncovered a “pleasure-garden” atop Masada.

“Can Caesarea become the acropolis of Israeli tourism?” Haaretz (premium) looks at the large-scale restoration project currently underway.

Plans continue to be made for an underwater museum in Iznik, Turkey.

The Bible Lands Museum is loaning a cuneiform tablet with the name “Benayahu son of Netanyahu” to the office of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Next month Harvard Art Museums opens a special exhibition, “Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World: Feasting with Gods, Heroes, and Kings.”

Tel Aviv University’s Institute of Archaeology is hosting its annual conference, “News from the Trenches,” on October 18. There’s a schedule in Hebrew here; I haven’t found one online in English yet.

Robert Mullins will be lecturing on Abel Beth Maacah at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School on Sept. 10 at 7 pm in Hinkson Hall. This is the inaugural lecture in the Claris Nystrom Lecture Series in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology.

“The land God chose was not arbitrary, for He designed even the land itself to develop the spiritual lives of His people.” Wayne Stiles explains what that means.

Is there any significance to the mention of Zaccheus climbing a sycamore-fig tree? Brad Gray shows how it recalls the prophecy of Amos in his latest Walking the Text video.
Megan Sauter shares her experience in creating date pastries from an ancient recipe from Mari.
HT: Agade, Ted Weis, A.D. Riddle, Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer
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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A British Museum team excavating in Sidon has discovered the remains of a Canaanite child and its funerary jar.

“A Hellenistic era temple which dates back to more than 2,000 years has been unearthed in archeological excavations in central Turkey.”

Electricians working near the Tiber River may have uncovered remains of one of the earliest churches in Rome.

Students at the University of Pennsylvania are studying the human remains of the ancient Gibeonites unearthed in the excavations of James Pritchard.

The founder of the Sinai Peninsula Research describes the recent survey project in light of the 150-year history of mapping the region.

A $1.2 million ancient Persian bas-relief must be returned to Iran, the New York Supreme Court ruled this week.

The Dunes Center in Guadalupe, CA, excavates and preserves “Egyptian artifacts” left in the desert by Cecil B. DeMille after filming The Ten Commandments in 1923.

Wayne Stiles explains why the Tel Dan Stele is so significant.

David Hansen addresses the difficult problems of biblical texts that speak of the tribe of Zebulun having seafront property.

Ferrell Jenkins notes the passing of Jack P. Lewis.

Leen Ritmeyer recommends a new video entitled “Solomon’s Temple Explained.”

Carl Rasmussen shares photos of the little-known “Tomb of the Royal Steward” in Jerusalem.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

The big story of the week was that a stone in the Western Wall came crashing down near the prayer area by Robinson’s Arch. There’s a video here. The whole wall is a “danger zone” and no one should be allowed near, says Zachi Dvira. The public needs to do some serious “soul searching,” insists one rabbi. No need to worry, says a geologist.

A crane has now removed this fallen stone. Joseph Lauer remarks, “In watching the videos showing the stone’s removal by the special crane, imagine what it took 2,000 years ago to place that stone and all of the other ones in the Wall.

Before the stone fell, archaeologist Dan Bahat petitioned Israel’s supreme court to halt construction of the egalitarian prayer area here.

The archaeologist directing the dig at el-Araj believes that the case for identifying it as Bethsaida is strengthened by the discovery of a reliquary, which may not be a reliquary, but which may just as well be the reliquary of Peter, Philip, and Andrew, at the Church of the Apostles. The stone box was discovered in the debris of a 19th-century house at the site (Haaretz premium).

Marc Turnage is interviewed by OnScript about his participation in the excavations of el-Araj (Bethsaida?).

Researchers are bringing the ancient city of Beit Lehi in the Shephelah to life by launching a digital guide to this restricted-access archaeological site. (Did the archaeologist really say that this site is a “gold mine”?!)

Walking the Text (with Brad Gray) began a new series on Zacchaeus, focusing this week on the background of the story and including many photos of the geographical context.

The Institute of Biblical Culture is now offering free study groups in several areas, including

Inscriptions from Ancient Israel, Dead Sea Scrolls, The Book of Jonah, and more. All study groups are live and online.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis, Alexander Schick, Lois Tverberg

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Archaeologists working at et-Tell (aka Bethsaida) have been uncovering an 11th-10th century BC wall with towers this season.

The excavation season has concluded at el-Araj (aka Bethsaida) and daily updates have been posted here. An excerpt from the last day: “This year we demonstrated that the settlement was widespread, and not limited to a small area. This was no mean city. What began around 30 CE as Herod Philip’s transformation of a Jewish fishing village into a polis, evolved over the centuries into a wealthy community.”

Excavations this summer at Huqoq revealed mosaics in the synagogue’s north aisle, including a scene of the Israelite spies, a youth leading an animal, and a fragmentary Hebrew inscription reading
“Amen selah.”

Archaeologists are drawing conclusions on Christian-Muslim relations in the 7th century on the basis of a brass weight discovered at Hippos (Sussita).

The work at Tel Burna is still humming along.

From Aren Maeir’s posts, the excavators at Gath keep having one great day after another.

The wheeled cart depicted at the Capernaum synagogue is not the ark of the covenant.

Sixteen images of Qumran taken by Philip R. Davies in 1970–71 are posted online.

A new exhibit focused on life in New Testament times has opened in the Terra Sancta Museum in Jerusalem.

A rare coin from the fourth year of the Jewish Revolt has been discovered in debris from the City of David.

A complex rescue operation salvaged pottery from the Second Temple period in western Galilee.
Israel’s Good Name visited the Carmel region, with stops at Ramat HaNadiv, the Carmel Caves, Dor HaBonim, Tel Dor, and more.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project is running out of funds, and they now have a quadruple match grant.

New: A Walk to Caesarea, by Joseph Patrich. (Available only in Israel, apparently.)

Ephraim Stern’s life is remembered by Hillel Geva in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

Ada Yardeni died recently.

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

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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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