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“A five-year dig into the side of Rome’s Palatine Hill yielded treasure last week when archaeologists discovered a deluxe banquet room dating from around the first or second century BC, featuring a sizable, intact and brightly colored wall mosaic.” Very impressive.

“About 3,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, brickmakers imprinted the names of their kings into clay bricks. Now, an analysis of the metal grains in those bricks has confirmed a mysterious anomaly in Earth’s magnetic field.”

Terracotta figurines discovered in Pompeii may resemble a Christian nativity scene but they were used in an ancient cult ritual.

Nadav Shragai writes about the continuing search for the Second Temple menorah in the Vatican.

The first issue of the Journal of Music Archaeology has been released. The articles are available as free pdfs.

New release: Excavations, Surveys and Heritage. Essays on Southwest Asian Archaeology in Honour of Zeidan Kafafi, edited by Susanne Kerner, Omar al-Ghul and Hani Hayajneh (Zaphon, €110)

Join a virtual tour of the ancient Appian Way on Feb 5, 3:00 pm Eastern.

Bryan Windle identifies the top ten historical references to Jesus outside the Bible on the latest episode of Digging for Truth.

I’ll post a Top 10 of 2023 list this week, but there will be no roundup next weekend.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Gordon Dickson, Arne Halbakken, Paleojudaica

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“Archaeologists in Turkey have unearthed more than 2,000 clay seal impressions that ancient [Roman] officials once used to fasten government documents.”

The Imhotep Museum in Saqqara has reopened after a year of renovations.

“An ancient clay tablet at Yale has shed light on how the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ has evolved over the ages.

Expedition Bible’s latest video goes to Nineveh in Iraq to explore the site and understand its significance for the Bible.

“A team of German researchers has figured out a new way to train computers to recognize cuneiform and even make the contents of millennia-old tablets searchable like a website, making it possible to digitize and assemble larger libraries of these ancient texts.”

“Authorities in New York have been accused by leading academics in France and Britain of repatriating fake Roman artefacts to Lebanon.” Does this mean that ancient mosaics were never stolen in the first place?

ASOR webinar on Dec 14: “The Wheat from the Chaff: What we can Learn from Studying Plants in Antiquity,” by Jennifer Ramsay ($13).

The world’s only intact Roman shield will be part of an exhibit at the British Museum opening in February.

eHammurabi provides a digital version of the Law Code of Hammurabi, including cuneiform, transliteration, normalization, English translation, some comments, and a brief bibliography.

Konstantinos Politis recalls the impact that Jonathan Tubb had in his career as an archaeologist, working at Tell es-Sa’idiyeh, the Palestine Exploration Fund, and the British Museum. A festschrift was released shortly before his death.

Will Varner explains why Hannukah is not the Jewish Christmas.

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis

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A new study suggests that the Great Sphinx of Giza was carved out of natural ridge in the bedrock.

Nathan Steinmeyer summarizes a new reconstruction of the events behind the assassination of Sennacherib, king of Assyria.

BBC: “For millennia, Tyrian purple was the most valuable colour on the planet. Then the recipe to make it was lost. By piecing together ancient clues, could one man bring it back?”

New release: Color and Meaning in the Art of Achaemenid Persia, by Alexander Nagel (Cambridge University Press, $110)

Seetheholyland.net has a new article on the holy family in Egypt, sifting through various myths, legends and might-be-facts. The list of sites with strong traditions is longer than I expected.

Darla Martin Tucker reviews the recently held 15th Annual Archaeology Discovery Weekend hosted by La Sierra University and focused on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Tracking Colour website “is dedicated to the research on the use of colour on sculptures and buildings in the ancient Mediterranean world carried out at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.”

Arim Hawsho has created an hour-long documentary on Ashurbanipal, “the librarian king.” He is also working on a cookbook inspired by recipes from ancient Mesopotamia.

Robert D. Miller died last week.

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken

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“Archaeologists uncovered signs that Alexander the Great was worshipped as a divine figure in an ancient temple in Iraq.”

“A Sumerian ‘sacred code’ has been deciphered, revealing divinely inspired building instructions echoed in the Bible.”

The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review includes stories on archaeology in Midian, the location of Peter’s house, and mosaic pavements of biblical scenes at Huqoq.

“Brazil Adventist University [in São Paulo] inaugurated the Museum of Biblical Archaeology (MAB), the first museum of its kind in South America.”

Bryan Windle recommends five YouTube channels related to biblical archaeology.

Leon Mauldin shares a photo of an Ammonite deity and a map showing the area of ancient Ammon.

New release: William Kennett Loftus: A 19th-Century Archaeologist in Mesopotamia: Letters transcribed and introduced by John Curtis (The British Institute for the Study of Iraq, £15; Amazon)

Two new releases: Scribal Culture in Ancient Egypt, by Niv Allon and Hana Navratilova. Hieroglyphs, Pseudo-Scripts and Alphabets, by Ben Haring. Both books are in the Cambridge Elements series on Ancient Egypt in Context. Both are available as free ebooks until December 6.

New release: Trade and Seafaring in Antiquity: Red Sea – Persian Gulf – Indian Ocean, edited by Stefan Baumann, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe, Sebastian Fink, Sven Günther and Patrick Reinard (Zaphon, 90 EUR).

The Associates for Biblical Research has a Christmas book sale, with free shipping on book purchases over $60 with code Christmas2023. Books on sale include:

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Keith Keyser, Charles Savelle, Paleojudaica

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Nearly 400 Roman forts across the northern Fertile Crescent have been identified through declassified satellite images.

Greg Beyer has written a short illustrated biography of King Sennacherib.

Nathan Steinmeyer explains what Akkadian is.

Three thousand photographs taken of Palmyra before its destruction by ISIS are being used in a UCSD project to create a digital model of the site.

Wayne Stiles is leading a 13-day tour of biblical Turkey that, unlike most such trips, visits all of the sites Paul traveled to on his first journey.

What route did Paul take when he left Berea in a hurry and went “to the coast” and on to Athens (Acts 17:14)? Mark Hoffman has scouted out the area and provides walking instructions for the possible paths. You can also use his maps to find your way in a car.

Breakthrough has produced a 20-minute documentary on the quest to decipher the scrolls from Herculaneum.

Jonathan Klawans makes a case that a relief of a goddess on display at the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East is a forgery.

New release: Weights and Measures as a Window on Ancient Near Eastern Societies, edited by Grégory Chambon and Adelheid Otto (PeWe-Verlag, €65; free pdf).

A YouTube channel is using AI to recreate the sound of ancient languages.

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis, Keith Keyser, Explorator

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A lamassu from the reign of Sargon II was discovered at ancient Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad).

“Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered an ancient cemetery that has stone sarcophagi, coptic jars and even a ‘Book of the Dead’ scroll.”

Study of an ancient Egyptian papyrus reveals that there were more venomous snakes in ancient Egypt than when Indiana Jones visited.

Michael Denis Higgins gives a history of the Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria, from present-day to the 4th century BC.

New release: Animals in Religion, Economy and Daily Life of Ancient Egypt and Beyond, by R. Pirelli, M. D. Pubblico, and S. Ikram (free pdf)

Rock and soil samples taken from the area where the ruins of ‘Noah’s Ark’ are believed to be located in Doğubayazıt district of Ağrı were examined, and the first results of the research were announced.”

The theater of Larissa, Greece, has been opened to the public for the first time, following two decades of restoration.

Archaeologists working on the island of Salamis discovered a partially submerged stoa along the east coast.

The British Museum will spend $12 million to update its online digital catalog.

ASOR webinar on Nov 2: “Of Statuary and State Formation: The Rise and Fall of Tell Tayinat-Kunulua,” by J. P. Dessel.

New release: Judicial Decisions in the Ancient Near East, edited by Sophie Démare-Lafont and Daniel E. Fleming (SBL Press, $50-$90)

eAkkadian is an online course book designed to help the student read Sennacherib’s prism.

“The Asia Minor Research Center is excited to announce the 2024 Biblical Field Studies in Turkey. This is a funded study trip for Bible scholars and teachers in the Majority World.”

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Charles Savelle, Ted Weis, Explorator, Paleojudaica

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