“Israel on Monday began long-delayed renovation and maintenance work at the Little Western Wall, a lesser-known section of the Western Wall located in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.”

A flash flood on Sunday caused severe damage to the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve. The park is now closed for restoration.

Also on Sunday, a brushfire broke out at Tell es-Safi/Gath.

Ruth Schuster has written a lengthy article about the excavations at Chorazin, including the “pay to dig” opportunity that’s been running there for more than a decade now.

Newly released: Bet Shean V: Hellenistic Nysa-Scythopolis Part 1: Stratigraphy and Architectureand Part 2: The Finds and Conclusion (IAA Reports; free download)

Hybrid lecture at the Albright on July 2: “Amorites, Their Origins, and Their Legacy,” by Aaron A. Burke

“A leading archaeology journal [Palestine Exploration Quarterly] has effectively barred submissions by Israelis on Judea and Samaria unless they ‘have cooperated with the relevant Palestinian authorities.’”

Bryan Windle interviews Joan Taylor in the latest installment of the “Scholar’s Chair” series. Among other things, she discusses her new book, Boy Jesus.

The Biblical Museum of Natural History sells archaeology-themed board games and a kosher box of locusts.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Explorator

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A limestone capital from ca. AD 600 discovered in the Jerusalem area is decorated with menorahs.

Greek authorities dismantled a smuggling ring on the island of Crete.

The Sassoon Codex, the oldest and most complete Hebrew Bible, will be going on display in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

Bryan Windle discusses archaeological discoveries related to Darius the Great on Digging for Truth.

Bible Archaeology Report highlights the top three stories from the month of April.

The first volume of Archaeology of Western Anatolia is now online.

New release: The World of Middle Kingdom Egypt (2000- 1550 BCE). Contributions on Archaeology, Art, Religion, and Written Sources – Vol. III, edited by Gianluca Miniaci and Wolfram Grajetzki (Golden House, free pdf)

New release: Triumph and Betrayal: Assyria’s Path to Empire, 935–745 BC, by Alexander Johannes Edmonds (DeGruyter Brill; $189; open access)

Available for pre-order from Logos: Jesus and the Remains of His Day: Studies in Jesus and the Evidence of Material Culture, by Craig A. Evans

Zoom lecture on May 14: “The Queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace: Beauty, Power, and Presence in the Neo-Assyrian World, c. 865–705 BCE,” by Amy Gansell

The BAS Summer Seminar this year will focus on “Fakes, Mistakes, and Media Misrepresentations in Biblical Archaeology,” with Eric Cline, Jennie Ebeling, Elizabeth Schrader Polczer, and Chris Rollston. You can attend the conference in DC or register to watch online.

Mary Buck is hosting a new series about the Second Temple period on the Biblical World podcast.

BibleStock has released a new coaching video, this one focused on how to use a lesson from Psalm 121 for Mother’s Day.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz

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A new study contrasts the construction of hundreds of churches in Israel in the Byzantine period with the building of synagogues. “Christian elites built numerous private churches, while Jewish donors appeared to pool their resources in a communal synagogue.”

In Approaching Jerusalem, Chandler Collins looks at four cases where Jerusalem’s terrain was reshaped by the cutting of vertical bedrock scarps.

Authorities seized hundreds of antiquities, including coins, arrowheads, and jewelry, from a private home in southern Israel.

Andrew Lawler writes about the origin of the pork taboo.

The final episode in the Biblical Images of God series is the “Humble King.”

The Biblical Archaeology Society provides highlights from their recent Spring Bible & Archaeology Fest.

Olive Tree Bible Software is offering the 7-volume Baker Illustrated Collection on sale for $100 (list price: $280).

New release: Ethics in Archaeological Practice, edited by Sarah Kielt Costello and Sarah Lepinski (Annual of ASOR 78, $30-$75)

Nancy Lapp died last month.

You don’t hear too many wedding stories where the archaeologist walks the bride down the aisle (a balk) and the guest book is a large potsherd.

It’s not archaeology or geography, but I think the articles by my students in the second volume of The Master’s University Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies are quite good.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Keith Keyser, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken, Explorator, Paleojudaica

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Researchers have uncovered graffiti from the Middle Ages in the traditional Upper Room in Jerusalem.

Bryan Windle has written an archaeological biography for Caiaphas the high priest.

Leen Ritmeyer shares photos of the cave of Gethsemane where Jesus may have spent the night with his disciples.

Jeffrey P. Arroyo García wonders whether Jesus was hung from the cross, not nailed.

On a double episode on Digging for Truth, Dr. Jonathan Moore discusses the anatomy of crucifixion and especially how their feet were positioned on the cross.

Biblical Backgrounds has announced the “Gospel Companion,” a 44-page book with unique 3D maps and interactive map marking illustrating the Way of the Cross. They also have released new wall maps.

The latest episode of This Week in the Ancient Near East looks at the recent excavations at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Ynetnews suggests five excursions in Israel that recall the twelve tribes’ departure from Egypt.

A royal purple dye was being produced at Tel Shiqmona at industrial levels during the time of the Israel’s monarchy, according to a new study.

A new article “examines how vassal kingdoms, elite consumption, and imported luxury goods shaped Iron Age Lachish and Jerusalem.” And I’m not sure what’s going on at The Jerusalem Post, when the headline on the article, now more than a week old, misspells Jerusalem.

The NY Times runs a story on the recently deciphered Bar Kochba-era papyrus that documents a “tax-evasion scheme involved the falsification of documents and the illicit sale and manumission, or freeing, of slaves — all to avoid paying duties in the far-flung Roman provinces of Judea and Arabia.”

Jacob Sivak addresses two frequently asked questions about Roman-era synagogues: how were Jews able to thrive under Roman oppression, and why were the synagogues decorated with pagan iconography?

“Hezekiah” is a new documentary miniseries, and its first episode premieres this weekend.

In Jerusalem in Brief, Chandler Collins writes about two pools that have been filled in and two books of interest.

Archaeologists have discovered a quarry that may have supplied the construction of Darius’s palace in Susa.

Reconstruction of the 87-foot tall Roman lighthouse at Patara has been completed. AI was used to identify the original locations of the 2,500 stones.

Construction will begin next year on an Alexander the Great theme park at Amphipolis in northern Greece.

Italian authorities levied $22 million in fines on ticketing agencies for buying up tickets for the Colosseum to resell to tourists.

A new study suggests that the gears of the Antikythera Mechanism jammed frequently, making the device not very useful.

Aaron Burke writes about avoiding the ethnicity trap in a new article entitled “The Amorites: Rethinking Approaches to Corporate Identity in Antiquity.”

A new exhibition opened this week at the ISAC Museum: “Staging the East: Orientalist Photography in Chicago Collections”

Members of the American Oriental Society have voted to change the society’s name to “American Society for Premodern Asia” (ASPA).

John Van Seters, a biblical scholar known for his minimalist approach, died last week.

HT: Agade, Keith Keyser, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken, Explorator

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The six-chambered Iron Age gate at Ashdod was recently re-excavated so that it can be conserved and opened to the public in a new Israeli national park.

The IDF will allow Israelis a rare opportunity to visit “Solomon’s Pools,” south of Bethlehem, on one day during Passover.

Doron Spielman has been involved in excavations in the City of David for more than 20 years, and he has stories to tell. Mosaic Magazine (registration req’d) has published an excerpt from a forthcoming book that describes a crawl through a long tunnel and the drama concerning the purchase of the Givati Parking Lot.

The latest video in the Biblical Images of God series looks at the metaphor of “Rock of Refuge.”

Zoom webinar on April 16: “The Dying Child: Death and Personhood of Children in Ancient Israel,” by Kristine Garroway

Conference on April 27-29: “Jerusalem through the Ages: New Perspectives.” The conference will be held at Schloss Beuggen, Rheinfelden, Germany, and broadcast on Zoom.

Hybrid lecture at the Albright on April 28: “A Biography of an Excavation: The Austrian-German Expedition to Tell Balata/Shechem 1913–1939,” by Felix Höflmayer and Agnes Woitzuck

Avi Hurvitz, longtime professor of Ancient Semitic Languages at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, died last week.

Jerusalem University College’s Online Summer Institute has announced this year’s classes:

  • Deuteronomy’s Place, taught by Cyndi Parker
  • Exodus: From the River to the Mountain, taught by Oliver Hersey
  • Geographical Voices in the Psalms, taught by Paul Wright
  • Holy People, Holy Land: A Journey through Leviticus, taught by Christine Palmer
  • The Historical and Literary Development of Shabbat, taught by Rabbi Moshe Silberschein

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Wayne Stiles, Ted Weis, Explorator

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Recent excavations of a pyramid-like structure south of Masada suggest that it was a Hellenistic fortress that was later reused as a monumental tomb.

Excavations at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem have uncovered the presence of a garden in approximately the first century.

A monastery and farmhouse have been discovered and excavated at a site north of Beersheba. The underlying journal articles are published in ‘Atiqot.

“A 1,200-year-old clay jug painted in bright colors and ringed with camels and a mystery beast was unearthed by archaeologists at the Horvat Anim site in the Yatir Forest.” There are more photos here.

Aren Maeir visited Tel Ashdod to see the new excavations which will lead to a restoration of the six-chambered gate.

Scott Stripling explains what they have found in the favissa at Shiloh on Digging for Truth.

The IAA is not giving into the Western Wall Rabbi’s demand to return the 5-ton stone to its original location.

Zoom lecture on April 2: “Political Landscapes in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age,” by Andrea Titolo and Alessio Palmisano (Zoom link; recording will be available a few days later on YouTube)

Recently declassified CIA documents reveal that an experiment was conducted in 1988 to locate the ark of the covenant.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Ted Weis, Explorator

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