A recent excavation at the Tower of David and Kishleh police station revealed a mikveh from Herod’s palace and an earlier wall from the time of Hezekiah. The site is to open to the public next week. (I don’t have any more information at this time.)

An Italian archaeologist wants to restore the Colosseum’s floor.

Wayne Stiles explains why hymn writers use the Jordan River as a metaphor for transitions in the spiritual life.

Part 3 of Mary Magdalene and Magdala is up at the Book and the Spade, with an interview of Father Eamon Kelly, assistant director of the Magdala Center.

Exploring Bible Lands reports on their recent visit to Magdala, a site now extensively open to tourists.

The spoils of Jerusalem on the Arch of Titus are the subject of a Khan Academy video narrated by Steven Fine and Beth Harris.

The first volume of the Gath excavation report is now on sale for an amazingly low price. This is the same work that won the 2013 BAS Award for Best Scholarly Book in Archaeology.

Ferrell Jenkins has great photos of the Cove of the Sower, from land, sea, and air.

William Hallo writes about the fragment of the Cyrus Cylinder that was found in Yale’s Babylonian Collection.

Abram K-J has just posted an extensive review of The Sacred Bridge, arguing that it is the best Bible atlas ever. (I would add that it may be the best ever, but not the best for you, your class, or your church. But you’ll figure out whether it’s for you very quickly from his excellent review of both the print and Accordance versions.)

HT: Paleojudaica

A Digital Reconstruction of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud, Assyria is a 3-minute video posted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s very good.

Steve Green’s museum in Washington, DC now has a name: museum of the Bible.

Some of Josephus’s works are available in audio format for free.

Shimon Gibson and James D. Tabor summarize their 2014 excavations on Mount Zion.

The Times of Israel: “Beneath the houses of Old Jerusalem’s Cotton Market neighborhood, a massive series of ancient buildings excavated by Israeli archaeologists is set to open to the public.”

ArtDaily: “The huge flat-topped rock on which the ancient Parthenon sits in the centre of Athens is starting to give way.”


Haaretz reports on large-scale animal sacrifice related to the Early Bronze temples at Megiddo.

Science 2.0: The enemy of archaeology is not people, it’s salt.

A Polish team has begun a new archaeological project near Tafilah in southern Jordan.

Filming has begun for a movie about four women whose lives intersect in the siege of Masada. “The Dovekeepers” is being produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett and is based on a historical novel by Alice Hoffman.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Joseph Lauer

Tafileh, possible Tophel, from north, tb061404220
The area of Tafileh, Jordan
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

SourceFlix has produced a short video illustrating Psalm 23.

Wayne Stiles has everything you want to know about Timna Park, including photos, a time-lapse video, Google Street View, and a map.

“Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered the deepest cave in Israel, reaching a depth of 187 meters below ground.”

The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names is now online for free.

If you’re thinking about visiting the Pergamum Museum in Berlin anytime soon, read Ferrell Jenkins’ recent post.

A copper awl discovered not far from Beth Shean is now believed to be the oldest metal object known from the Middle East. The University of Haifa press release is online here.

“The Iraqi National Museum inaugurated two renovated halls adorned with life-size stone statues on Thursday.”

The new editors of BASOR have penned an inaugural letter describing their plans and offering an invitation.

Jordan’s Tourism Board has launched a new online chat service.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson, Charles Savelle, A.D. Riddle

A replica of Solomon’s Temple has now opened in Sao Paulo. But since it has the capacity to seat 10,000 people (and Solomon’s could seat exactly zero), one has to wonder in what sense it is a “replica.” This Forbes article has more info and a computer image. Google has more images.

Results of excavations at Tell Jemmeh in southern Israel from 1970 to 1990 have now been published.

G. M. Grena shares a list of lectures and abstracts of interest from the ASOR 2014 meeting in San Diego in November.

Wayne Stiles highlights some ancient tombs in Israel that you can visit.

Bible History Daily has a roundup of articles related to summer excavations.


The Times of Israel has a good collection of photos of mosaics from the Huqoq synagogue.

The NY Times has more on the destruction of the tomb of Jonah in Iraq.

ArtDaily: “Scientists at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia have re-discovered an important find in their own storage rooms, a complete human skeleton about 6,500 years old.”


Haaretz runs a profile on 5,000 years of strife in Gaza: “Gaza’s history reads like an encyclopedia of misery – war, destruction, earthquakes, plagues and floods. It has been destroyed and rebuilt, conquered again and again. But it also enjoyed periods of prosperity, when pagan, Jew and others lived together in harmony.”

Last call for the lowest price on Logos’ Archaeological and Theological Studies of Jerusalem (10 vols.) Some of the works I’m not familiar with, but the two Warren volumes are classics. The  more
who order, the lower the price goes for all of us.

I recommended ScrollTag several years ago, but if you missed it then, you should check it out now.

The program now includes the Trainer, a unique tool that will help you learn (and remember!) Greek
and Hebrew word forms. The package price is a great deal.

HT: Jack Sasson, Charles Savelle

Tell Jemmeh and Nahal Besor view northwest, tb050701349
Tell Jemmeh and Nahal Basor
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands,
volume 5

What do you do when your summer excavation site turns out to be less than 5 miles from a war zone?
The Ashkelon team had to figure matters out on the fly.

Mark Hoffman is inviting everyone to join his free, online course, “Survey of the Lands of the Bible.”

This MOOC begins in September and you can participate as much and as little as desired.

Wayne Stiles has a well-written and well-illustrated article about Ein Parath, where Jeremiah buried his loincloth.

How did archaeologists come to reject the biblical description of Joshua’s conquest? Henry Smith explains. He is interviewed briefly about the article here.

Leon Mauldin takes his readers to the Mamertine Prison in Rome.

ISIS Is About to Destroy Biblical History in Iraq.

Cleopatra’s Needle in New York City is getting a laser cleaning. “In nanoseconds, the soot particles are turned into white-hot plasma.”

The latest issue of ‘Atiqot is online and it includes several articles about an excavation in the Kidron Valley.

Göbekli Tepe excavator Klaus Schmidt died last week.

Amnon Rosenfeld—In Memoriam, by Howard R. Feldman.

HT: Charles Savelle, G. M. Grena, Craig Dunning

110724879tb Egyptian obelisk, aka Cleopatra's Needle
Cleopatra’s Needle, New York City

A new museum has opened at Hisham’s palace (Khirbet al-Mafjar) in Jericho.

A temple to the Urartian god Haldi has been discovered in northern Iraq.

A painting from the tomb of a priest in the Old Kingdom was discovered near the Giza pyramids.

You can read an update on the recent developments at the Temple Mount Sifting Project. The summary includes a series of photos of various sets of objects found.

The Tel Burna team ended their season by taking photos from a helicopter drone. The post shows the whole process.

Roman roads and milestones in Judaea and Palaestina are the focus of a new website produced by the Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee and the Israeli Milestone Committee.

Raphael Golb will spend two months in the slammer for his crimes of criminal impersonation and forgery.

“The Archaeology of Music” is the subject on this week’s episode of The Book and the Spade.

Biblical Archaeology Society has a summer sale, including the entire BAR Archive on DVD for $99.95.

HT: Jack Sasson, Ted Weis

Hisham's palace gate from east, tb051106670
Hisham’s palace gate
Photo from Samaria and the Center