Several Aramaic and Greek inscriptions with the word “rabbi” have been found in the cemetery of Sepphoris at the time when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was alive.

A large church in the underground city of Nevşehir in Cappadocia has been discovered with many colorful frescoes. They estimate that the church dates to the 5th century.

Turkey is planning to restore Göbekli Tepe in order to boost tourism.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is using lighting to restore the original colors to the Temple of Dendur.

The botching of the repair job on King Tut’s beard has resulted in a disciplinary hearing for eight officials.

Egypt is trying to revive tourism with 3-D scans of the pyramids, opening of new museums, and a highly publicized radar study of King Tut’s tomb.

Photography is once again permitted in the Egyptian Museum with purchase of a camera ticket.

Trude Dothan, long-time excavator of Philistine sites, died this week.

Lost photos of Lawrence of Arabia have been discovered in the archives of the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland.

A short piece at the Jerusalem Post remembers Edward Robinson on the anniversary of his death in 1863.

Clay tablets suggest that the Babylonians invented astronomical geometry long before the Europeans did.

Can you identify these “mystery objects” discovered in the PEF collection?

Dale Manor is on The Book and the Spade this week talking about his on-going excavations of Tel Beth Shemesh.

Tim Frank’s Daughter of Lachish is now available on Kindle. I really enjoyed this work of historical fiction set in the biblical world. (I explain why in my review on Amazon.)

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

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Have archaeologists identified some of the pilgrimage roads that led up to Jerusalem?

The Dead Sea is a fascinating place, as Wayne Stiles shows from his research and with some good visual aids.

@PalExFund shares a great photo from 1903 of the “PEF Observation Rock” along the shore of the Dead Sea.

Though the winter season at Khirbet el-Maqatir was cancelled, Scott Stripling led a small group to Israel and he shares his diary of the places they saw and the friends they met.

You can listen to part 2 of my discussion with Gordon Govier of 2016 excavations as well as other recent programs at The Book and the Spade.

Shmuel Browns shares some beautiful photos from Makhtesh Gadol. And he is co-leading the Great Makhtesh Photograph Adventure next month.

ABR is introducing a new archaeology curriculum for children.

Test your knowledge of Jericho with a new quiz at the ASOR Blog.

Eisenbrauns has a sale on Israel Exploration Society publications for 30 to 50% off.

Ken Dark concludes that satellite imagery is less useful for discovering new features around the Sea of Galilee than fieldwalking and surface surveys.

Leen Ritmeyer notes that Jerusalem the IMAX movie is currently available for free on Youtube.

Threshing floor in Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah, with Ambassador Hotel, mat23102
Threshing floor in Jerusalem near the Ambassador Hotel, 1953
Source: Library of Congress, LC-matpc-23102/www.LifeintheHolyLand.com
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A Japanese team is excavating Tel Rekhesh, a city that may be biblical Anaharath.

Wayne Stiles explains what the apparently contradictory lessons of suffering and glory that Jesus revealed on the slopes of Mount Hermon mean for us today.

Muslims are conducting unauthorized excavations on the Temple Mount, again. The Temple Mount Sifting Project has more links.

Another view on ISIS and antiquities: “Actual examples of ISIS-looted antiquities on the market are slim to none.”

Popular Archaeology has a feature story on the new exhibition on King Midas at the Penn Museum.

The city of Knossos was larger in the early Iron Age than archaeologists previously believed.

Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira post a summary of their efforts to use crowd-funding to support the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

Carl Laney identifies his five favorite Bible atlases.

Bill Schlegel has posted a short flyover video of the Philistine city of Gath.

Who were the idols that the Thessalonian believers used to worship? Ferrell Jenkins shares photos from the museum in Thessaloniki.

HT: Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer, Agade, BibleX

Our most liked photo this week on Facebook was this image of the Ecce Homo arch, standing in Jerusalem since the year 130.

Jerusalem Ecce Homo arch, pcm02696
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A 12th-century BC inscription from Lachish is shedding light on the
development of the alphabet.

The BASOR article is available through JStor (subscription required).

The New York Times reports on questions raised by the Magdala Stone.

The city of Beit Shemesh has discarded plans to build a neighborhood near Khirbet Qeiyafa.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project is seeking suggestions for the significance
of a design
incised on an ancient potsherd.

A golden medallion with a depiction of a menorah is on display at the Israel
Museum for the first time.

The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review includes articles on upcoming excavations, a Jewish building in Turkey, and the Jerusalem model’s 50th anniversary.

The latest Near Eastern Archaeology is a special issue on “Crime and Punishment in the Bible and the Near East.”

Carl Rasmussen recommends some websites he checks each day.

Ginger Caessens is teaching Historical Geography of Jordan this summer. This is the best way to learn about “the other half” of the biblical lands.

The Palestine Exploration Fund Blog is beginning a series on Duncan
Mackenzie’s work at Beth Shemesh
.

Wayne Stiles shows how a Bible story at Ein Kerem helps us to wait
on God
.

New Inscriptions and Seals Relating to the Biblical World, edited by Meir
Lubetski and Edith Lubetski is positively reviewed in the RBL.

Amazon is offering 25% off any one book (up to $10 off), good through Sunday.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis

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A papyrus with lines from the Gospel of John and dated to circa AD 300 was discovered on eBay.

Excavations at Khirbet el-Eika suggest a pagan population lived at this Hellenistic site near the Horns of Hattin.

A new exhibit with finds from Gath (Tell es-Safi) is on display at the University of Kansas.

Eisenbrauns is offering all four volumes of Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (RINAP) at a discount of 40% off retail price until Nov 27.

The second volume on excavations at Yavneh covers 7,000 cultic items from the 9th-8th centuries BC discovered in a repository.

Carta has released a 2nd updated and expanded edition of The Raging Torrent, by Michael Cogan.

The New Yorker: Can digital technology make the Herculaneum scrolls legible after two thousand years?

Hurriyet Daily News profiles Gaza resident Nafez Abed, a specialist in preservation and reproductions.

Colorized photos of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb are now on exhibit in New York City.

The Chicago Hittite Dictionary Project now has a website.

You can have your tweet preserved on a cuneiform tablet.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer

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The Mountain to Valley Relay is a 215 km relay race in northern Israel. Registration opens in January.

A beautiful mosaic from the Roman and Byzantine periods excavated in Lod went on display this week.

A hoard of 3rd century Roman coins has been found in Switzerland.

You can now visit every gallery in the British Museum with Google Street View.

Reuters revisits Rujm el-Hiri in the Golan Heights.

Wayne Stiles observes the irony that a “seat of Moses” was discovered at Chorazin.

An ornately decorated 1st century A.D. basilica once used by a pagan cult is now open to tourists in Rome.

Now on pre-pub pricing for Logos: AR151 Archaeology in Action: Jesus and Archaeology, with Craig Evans.

The Ancient Semitic Languages Youtube Channel has a reading of the Mesha Stele in Moabite.

Urban Legends of the New Testament is on sale for $4.99 for Kindle.

Ferrell Jenkins has announced his 50th Anniversary Tour to Israel.

I’ve never heard of a modern-day “tour of Palestine,” but Felicity Cobbing reports on her annual tour to sites in the West Bank.

Leen Ritmeyer responds to the recent Popular Archaeology claim that the Jewish people are praying
at the wrong wall.

HT: Ted Weis, Vik Menon

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