Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A lot happened while we were traveling in June, and I think it is going to take us four roundups to catch up. Today we begin with stories related to Israel.

Archaeologists have discovered a Crusader-era tunnel in Tiberias that apparently led from the fortress to the harbor.

Students excavating in Modiin discovered a collection of women’s jewelry from the Crusader period.

Excavations at the site of Huqoq in Galilee have discovered agricultural installations in use in either the Middle Bronze Age or the Roman-Byzantine period.

Weekly reports are available for ABR’s first season at Shiloh: Week 2 by Mark Hassler, Week 3 by

Andrew Kvasnica, and Week 4 by Gary Byers.

Scholars at Tel Aviv University have used multispectral imaging to reveal text on ancient “blank” potsherds from the First Temple period.

Emek Shaveh has petitioned Israel’s high court to halt excavations in the Western Wall tunnels.

An alert hiker reported suspicious activity which led to the capture of two antiquities thieves near the site of Sepphoris.

The new National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel remains unopened due to a lack of donations. This article in Apollo magazine reviews the controversy over moving archaeological material from east to west Jerusalem.

Haaretz reports on a new exhibit at the Israel Museum, “Faces of Power: Coins from the Victor Adda Collection.” These 75 gold coins depict Roman emperors and their wives and have never been publicly displayed before.

A nighttime audiovisual show at the City of David begins later this month.

The Israeli government has temporarily restricted civilians from visiting the Golan viewpoints overlooking Qunetra.

Appian Media has released a free (and downloadable), 10-minute video on Magdala.

Wayne Stiles notes the irony that “the Church of the Holy Sepulchre demonstrates the need for the place it hallows.”

There are several coming Israel tours of note. Wayne Stiles is taking a group October 26–November 6 and another March 16-27, 2018. Joel Kramer (SourceFlix) is leading a trip March 11-24.

This weekend, fans are reenacting the Battle of the Horns of Hattin in which the Muslims defeated the Crusaders in 1187.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle, Agade

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A new study suggests that the Philistines brought their pigs with them when they sailed to the coast of Israel.

The second issue of the Tel Aviv University Archaeology Newsletter has reports on projects at
Masada, Kiriath Jearim, Timna Valley, City of David, and more.

David Hendin reports on the most significant numismatic discoveries in Israel in recent years.

Wayne Stiles looks at lessons to be learned from sieges in the Bible.

Charlie Trimm explains how soldiers relieved themselves while in battle.

Lexham Geographic Commentary: The Gospels is now available as a standalone purchase in Logos.

The Acts through Revelation volume is in pre-order status.

A new database identifies 20,000 archaeological sites at severe risk of destruction.

Access the Collections is a new feature of the Oriental Institute website to encourage visitors to explore their photographic and document archives.

Recently released:

Hazor VII: The 1990–2012 Excavations: The Bronze Age, edited by Amnon Ben-Tor et al.

Socoh of the Judean Shephelah: The 2010 Survey, by Michael G. Hasel, Yosef Garfinkel, and Shifra
Weiss (Eisenbrauns)

Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Shephelah, edited by Silvia Schroer and Stefan Münger (Academic Press Fribourg)

The Twice-Told Tale: Parallels in the Bible, collated by Abba Bendavid (Carta)

  • A collation of parallel Bible texts showing the duplications, differences, and silences

We’ll have more stories in part 3 of the roundup tomorrow.

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

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Archaeologists have revealed new evidence for the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 from the excavations of the road from the Siloam Pool to the Temple Mount.

The tomb of an unknown saint has been unearthed at Hippos.

A stone slab with two indentions was used to start fires in the Neolithic period.

The Associates for Biblical Research have completed Week 1 of Season 1 in their excavations of Shiloh.

A network of caves and tunnels at Khirbet Burgin in Judah’s Shephelah has been opened to the public.

An archaeological garden has been opened in the Davidson Center south of the Temple Mount of Jerusalem.

A study to be published in Palestine Exploration Quarterly observes that the large number of reservoirs made Jerusalem unique in the Second Temple period.

International Museum Day has passed, but this is a handy list of museums in Israel.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project met their first goal of 250,000 NIS and is now working to a second, much larger goal.

Aren Maeir shares some photos from the opening of an exhibition of discoveries from Gath (Tell es-Safi) in the Bar Ilan University Library.

Ferrell Jenkins recently was able to visit inside the Dome of the Rock and take photos. He shares some.

A $14 million elevator will be built at the Western Wall Plaza to allow elderly and disabled to go to the Jewish Quarter.

A Russian lawmaker vacationing in Israel drowned in the Dead Sea.

Accordance is having a big sale on many excellent archaeological and geographical resources through Monday.

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

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Archaeologists working along Highway 1 near Abu Ghosh discovered a cache of bronze coins from the time of the Persian invasion in AD 614.

A study of a core sample from 1,500 feet below the floor of the Dead Sea points to lengthy droughts in the past.

With Easter approaching, the IAA gave reporters a tour of its storage facility. Haaretz goes with the sensational headline.

For two more articles on this week’s story about the edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, see The New York Times and National Geographic. The latter includes some terrific photos.

Carl Rasmussen highlights a video that allegedly shows the original stone wall of Jesus’s tomb inside the edicule.

“A World of Emotions: The Making of an Exhibition” describes the new exhibit at the Onassis Center in New York. Many photos are included.

Bible History Today has a preview of “Where Are the Royal Archives at Tel Hazor?” from the latest issue of BAR.

Philip F. Esler writes about the ancient Jewish woman that we know the most about: Babatha.

Timothy Lim explains what we know about the Dead Sea Scrolls 70 years after the initial discovery.

Wayne Stiles reveals how the events at Shechem teach us how to live more faithful lives.

HT: Gordon Franz, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Jared Clark, Agade, Joseph Lauer

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Weekend Roundup

Archaeologists have discovered a Crusader ship that wrecked in the harbor of Acco.

A replica of a 2,500-year-old ship discovered at Ma’agan Michael launched yesterday from Haifa.

That colossus they recently dug up belongs not to Ramses II, but to Psamtik (Psammetichus) I of the 26th Dynasty.

High-tech imaging is revealing the text of erased and recycled parchments at St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai.

Carl Rasmussen has visited the Archaeology Museum of Nazareth and shares photos of Crusader capitals that depict scenes from the New Testament.

Philippe Bohstrom considers the problem of diving thieves who are looting antiquities from the ocean floor.

The Huis Marseille Museum of Photography in Amsterdam is hosting a spring exhibition about 19th-century photography in Egypt.

A World of Emotions: Ancient Greece, 700 BC – 200 AD has opened at the Onassis Cultural Center in New York.

The founder of Elad, the City of David Foundation, has been awarded the 2017 Israel Prize.

You can get caught up on what happened in the Gezer excavations last year by watching a 16-minute video.

How do you do math in Roman numerals?

After a successful fundraiser and launch of the initial episodes of “Following the Messiah,” Appian Media kicked off a new campaign to raise funds to complete the series. In the first few days, they’ve already raised more than half of their goal. You can pitch in here.

Jodi Magness will be lecturing on “The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls” at William Jessup University on March 23. You can register here.

This week’s program on The Book and the Spade is an interview with Clyde Billington entitled, “Dead Sea Scrolls and the Sinai Inscription.”

Wayne Stiles is leading a trip to Israel this fall and there’s an early-bird discount if you sign up soon.

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

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A new McDonalds in Italy incorporates a 150-foot section of Roman road that dates to the 1st or 2nd centuries BC.

Film footage from excavations of Nineveh in the late 1920s and early 1930s has been digitized by the Royal Asiatic Society.

Carl Rasmussen asks if the house of Jesus has been found in Nazareth.

Shmuel Browns provides the history of Naharayim and its short-lived hydroelectric plant. Naharayim gets its name from the junction of two rivers: the Jordan and the Yarmuk.

Israel’s Good Name took a walking tour of the abandoned village of Lifta and shares many photos.

John DeLancey, director of Biblical Israel Ministries & Tours, is now offering a “Physical Settings of the Bible” weekend seminar for local churches.

Aren Maeir has posted the schedule for this week’s conference at Tel Aviv University entitled, “From
Nomadism to Monarchy? ‘The Archaeology of the Settlement Period’—30 Years Later.”

The director of the Met has apparently been forced to resign.

ASOR’s March Fellowship Madness is underway and they are only $5,300 short of their $50,000
goal.

The Associates for Biblical Research have a $10,000 matching gift for the Shiloh Excavations for donations made this month.

We post a photo and verse/caption every weekday on Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram. If you’re on any of those, we invite you to follow us.

HT: Explorator, Joseph Lauer, Agade

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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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