This summer’s excavation on Mount Zion begins soon. Here’s how you can help even if you can’t be in Jerusalem.

Leen Riitmeyer reports on a second arch of Titus uncovered in Rome. And he describes how his search to find the Dedicatory Inscription in the Colosseum ultimately succeeded.

If you’ve ever wondered how they raised animals from underneath the floor of the Colosseum, the

Telegraph has an illustrated article showing a reconstruction of the elevators. A 2-minute video shows the process. This is part of a government project to restore the floor of the Colosseum.

James H. Charlesworth has written a lengthy and informative review rebutting David Stacey and
Gregory Doudna, Qumran Revisited: A Reassessment of the Archaeology of the Site and its Texts.

Wayne Stiles explains how the four quarters of Jerusalem will be united.

“Wilderness” is the title of a symposium of Biblical scholars from the Universities of Manchester, Sheffield and Lausanne University of Lausanne.

The British Museum is lending 500 artifacts to a new museum in Abu Dhabi for five years. This includes “the world’s finest single Assyrian panel: the Banquet Scene (645-635BC).”

There is fear in Iraq for the safety of the traditional tomb of the prophet Nahum.

The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review includes articles on Solomon’s temple, Akhenaten’s monotheism, the Gospel of  Thomas, and the missing pages of the Aleppo Codex.

Congress has passed legislation making it illegal to sell looted artifacts from Syria.

The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. hosted a Tyre Day Symposium to raise awareness about the city’s history.

“Of Kings and Prophets” is a new series beginning this fall on ABC.

A clumsy tourist fell and smashed a 4,000-year-old vase in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum on the island of Crete.

Barry Britnell is sharing photos of last year’s trip as he prepares to lead next year’s trip. Today: Northern Galilee and the Hula Valley.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Joseph Lauer

The lighthouse of Alexandria is to be rebuilt near its original location.

An ancient Egyptian temple has been discovered at the Gabal Al-Silsela quarries.

One of the earliest complete copies of the Ten Commandments (from the Dead Sea Scrolls) will be on display at the Israel Museum two days a month for the next seven months.

Wayne Stiles: The Mount of Olives—Where to Stand and What to Read

A PEF lecture by James L. Starkey’s son: Not for the Greed of Gold: A Tribute and Biography of the Life and Career of J.L. Starkey, Director of the Wellcome-Marston Archaeological Expedition to Palestine, 1932-1938.

A new aerial panoramic photo from SourceFlix: Where David fought Goliath.

The Museum Center at 5ive Points in Cleveland, Tennessee, is hosting an exhibition with artifacts from Khirbet el-Maqatir.

Vandals have painted Palestinian flags on the ruins of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Haluza in southern Israel.

The Israeli government has approved a five-year plan to upgrade the Western Wall plaza.

HT: Agade, Paleojudaica

The Institute of Archaeology at Ariel University will be holding an international seminar on May 10-12 in Jerusalem and Ariel entitled: “Archaeology and Text: Toward Establishing a Meaningful Dialogue between Written Sources and Material Finds.”

Participation is by prior arrangement only; please contact Dr. Yonatan Adler: [email protected]


Seminar Schedule

Sunday, May 10 – National Library of Israel, Jerusalem

09:00-09:15 Reception
09:15-09:30 Greetings, Dr. Itzhaq Shai (Ariel University) and Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed (Ministry of Science, Technology and Space)
Session 1: Chair: Dr. Matthew J. Adams (W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research)
09:30-10:00 Literary and Archaeological Sources: “Can [the] Two Walk Together?” (Amos 3:3), Prof. Lee I. Levine (Hebrew University)
10:00-10:30 Casually Reading the Finds? Towards a Methodologically Sound Relationship between Text and Archaeology in Phoenician Colonization, Dr. Eleftheria Pappa (University of California, Santa Barbara)
10:30-11:00 Midian in Moab: Do the Historical Sources refer to the Mudayna Sites near the Arnon River?, Prof. Haim Ben David (Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee)
11:00-11:20 Coffee
Session 2: Chair: Prof. David Ussishkin (Tel Aviv University)
11:20-11:50 Herod’s Royal Portico on the Temple Mount – Between Josephus’ Text and the Archaeological Finds, Dr. Orit Peleg-Barkat (Hebrew University)
11:50-12:20 Purity Observance among Diaspora Jews, Prof. Jodi Magness (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
12:20-12:50 Josephus Flavius in the Galilee: Text and Archaeology, Dr. Mordecai Aviam (Institute for Galilean Archaeology and Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee)
12:50-14:00 Lunch
Session 3: Chair: Prof. Israel Finkelstein (Tel Aviv University)
14:00-14:30 Text and Archaeology: The Case of Tel Rehov in the 10-9th Centuries BCE, Prof. Amihai Mazar (Hebrew University)
14:30-15:00 Iconographic Exegesis: One Interpretative Nexus of Archaeology and Text, Dr. Izaak J. de Hulster (University of Helsinki and Georg-August Universität Göttingen)
15:00-15:30 Archaeology and Dating the Messiah: Establishing the Historical Background of Isaiah 10:28-34, Dr. Shawn Zelig Aster (Bar-Ilan University)
15:30-15:50 Coffee
Session 4: Chair: Prof. Ronny Reich (Haifa University)
15:50-16:20 The Migdal Synagogue in the Context of Late Second Temple Synagogues in the Land of Israel, Prof. Lutz Doering (University of Münster)
16:20-16:50 Cultic Items and Epigraphic Material: What is the Connection?, Dr. Ian Stern (Hebrew Union College) and Prof. Esther Eshel (Bar-Ilan University)
16:50-17:20 Reading Between the Lines: Late Ancient Jewish Mortuary Practices in Text and Archaeology, Dr. Karen B. Stern (City University of New York, Brooklyn College)
17:20-17:50 Hagiographical Holy-Man and Archaeological Monk: Holiness and Mundane Life in the Countryside of the Levant in Late Antiquity, Dr. Jacob Ashkenazi (Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee)
Dinner


Monday, May 11 – Ariel University, Ariel

09:00-09:15 Reception
09:15-09:30 Greetings, Prof. Michael Zinigrad (Ariel University – Rector)
Session 1: Chair: Dr. Alexander Fantalkin (Tel Aviv University)
09:30-10:00 Texts, Master Narratives, and the Non-Textual Archaeological Record, Prof. David Small (Lehigh University)
10:00-10:30 The Interface between Text and Artifact: Back to Basics? Some thoughts on “Bible and Spade, Prof. Aren M. Maeir (Bar-Ilan University)
10:30-11:00 Wood there be Context? Dendroprovenance & Ancient Texts, Dr. Sara Rich (Maritime Archaeology Trust)
11:00-11:20 Coffee
Session 2: Chair: Prof. Joseph Patrich (Hebrew University)
11:20-11:50 Purity and Purification in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Mikva’ot of Qumran: The Convergence of Archaeology and Text, Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman (New York University)
11:50-12:20 Praxis versus Theory: Greek Papyrus Amulets and the Instructions for their Preparation, Laura Willer (Heidelberg University)
12:20-12:50 Toward an “Archaeology of Halakhah”: Prospects and Pitfalls of Reading Early Jewish Ritual Law into the Ancient Material Record, Dr. Yonatan Adler (Ariel University)
12:50-14:00 Lunch
Session 3: Chair: Prof. Gunnar Lehmann (Ben-Gurion University)
14:00-14:30 “And there was Peace between Israel and the Amorites” (1 Sam. 7:14) – Israelites and Canaanites in Late Iron I, Dr. Yigal Levin (Bar-Ilan University)
14:30-15:00 Samaria’s Role in the Days of Ahab and His Sons: History, Bible and Archaeology, Dr. Amitai Baruchi-Unna (Hebrew University)
15:00-15:30 “Now there was no Smith Found throughout all the Land of Israel…”: 1 Samuel 13:19-23 in Light of the Accumulating Evidence for the Transition from Bronze to Iron Production, Dr. Naama Yahalom-Mack (Hebrew University) and Dr. Itzhaq Shai (Ariel University)
15:30-15:50 Coffee
Session 4: Chair: Prof. David Small (Lehigh University)
15:50-16:20 Heroes in the Post-Classical Polis: On Interpreting Archaeological and Written Sources, Dr. Lucia Novakova (Trnava University)
16:20-16:50 Traditions of the Rock: Discerning and Defining Ancient Jewish Burial Grounds in Rome, Jessica Dello Russo (International Catacomb Society and the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology)
16:50-17:20 Monumental Building Projects of Late Second Temple Jerusalem in Light of Historical Sources and Recent Archaeological Excavations, Dr. Joe Uziel (Israel Antiquities Authority), Mr. Nahshon Szanton (IAA), and Mr. Moran Hagbi (IAA)
Dinner


Tuesday, May 12 – Israel Museum, Jerusalem

09:00-10:00 Visit to the Dead Sea Scrolls Laboratory, Israel Antiquities Authority, Guided by Mrs. Pnina Shor (Director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Projects Unit of the IAA)
10:00-10:30 Coffee and Farewells

The seminar is jointly sponsored by Ariel University and The Ministry of Science, Technology and Space.

Emek Shaveh has submitted a petition to Israel’s Supreme Court asking that Elad not be allowed to operate the City of David Archaeological Park.

The Museum of Biblical Art in NYC will permanently close on June 14. The American Bible Society could not find a new location for its rare Bible collection when it sold its building recently.

May 5 in NYC: By the Rivers of Babylon – A Symposium Exploring New Evidence from Ancient Texts about the Jewish Exiles

Here is a silent film segment of the Good Samaritan, re-enacted in Palestine in the 1920s.

The Independent has a lengthy profile of the antiquities trade long going on in Syria.

No one is visiting the pyramids of Sudan at Meroe.

Aren Maeir recommends The Archaeology of Jerusalem: From the Origins to the Ottomans as a worthy introductory textbook to the subject.

If you liked the drone video of Herodium, you can see more from Amir Aloni here.

HT: Ted Weis, Joseph Lauer, Agade

The latest from SourceFlix: The Bible as a Tool in Archaeology (4 min)

Not long ago we created a list of U.S. museums with artifacts related to the biblical world. Bible
Gateway has produced a list of museums and exhibits on the Bible itself.

The River Jordan is the subject of this summer’s ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies Forty First International Conference at Oxford. Presenters include Yigal Levin, Amihai Mazar, Gerald Mattingly, Joan Taylor, and many others.

Eric Cline’s lecture on 1177 BC at the Oriental Institute is now online. At the beginning he shares his “over the top” book trailer.

Haaretz has a feature written by Mike Rogoff entitled “What is a City Gate?

Ferrell Jenkins illuminates the story of the man being lowered through the roof.

An Arutz-7 article describes the relations between the Jewish and Samaritan communities on Mount Gerizim.

Registration for MEMRA 2015 is now open. Courses include beginning biblical Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Ugaritic.

Maney Online has opened up all of its online content from archaeology, conservation, and heritage journals for free through today. Journals include Palestine Exploration Quarterly, Levant, and Tel Aviv. If you don’t know where to start, try a search for Jerusalem.

BibleWorks 10 has been released.

HT: Agade, James Joyner

John Beck is a guest on Our Daily Bread: Exploring the Land of the Story: Unlocking Biblical Geography. Beck’s Discovery House Bible Atlas has just been released. Beck is interviewed about his atlas on the Good Book Blog.

The Museum of the Bible is hosting a series of lectures in Oklahoma City twice a month through July. The final event is a first-century meal.

Here’s an impressive collection of photographs of medieval stained glass illustrating the Bible.

The Palestine Exploration Fund shares some photos of field books that belonged to Charles Wilson.

There’s a new website for the Sardis Expedition.

The Israel Post has issued a stamp featuring the Cyrus Cylinder.

Juan Manuel Tebes has a lengthy summary of the debate over David and Solomon on the ASOR Blog.

Gabriel Barkay will be lecturing in Kentucky on April 30.

Hershel Shanks is on The Book and the Spade discussing the 2015 excavation season.

HT: Steven Anderson, Agade, Charles Savelle