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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“Archaeologists in Gölyazı, Turkey, have uncovered a Greek inscription carved into a seat in a Roman-era theater, revealing the name of a female priestess who lived nearly two thousand years ago.”

“Examination of an ancient alabaster vase in the Yale Peabody Museum’s Babylonian Collection has revealed traces of opiates, providing the clearest evidence to date of broad opium use in ancient Egyptian society.”

Six archaeological artifacts were stolen in a burglary of the Damascus National Museum.

“One hundred years after Tutankhamun’s body was first unwrapped, the Griffith Institute at the University of Oxford launches a new database bringing together every archaeological record from the tomb’s discovery.”

Itiner-e is a new digital atlas of Roman roads. “Itiner-e aims to host the most detailed open digital dataset of roads in the entire Roman Empire. The data creation is a collaborative ongoing project edited by a scholarly community. Itiner-e allows you to view, query and download roads.” The Times of Israel and Gizmodo have stories about this new resource.

New release: Scenes from a Provincial Life: Memoirs of a Biblical Scholar, by David J.A. Clines (Sheffield Phoenix Press, $30)

New release: Contacts of Languages and Peoples in the Hittite and Post-Hittite World, Volume 2, The 1st Millennium and the Eastern Mediterranean Interface, edited by F. Giusfredi, A. Matessi, S. Merlin and V. Pisaniello ($109; free pdf)

New article: “The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition: The 2023 and 2024 excavations at the Late Bronze Age cemetery of Hala Sultan Tekke,” by Peter M. Fischer and many others (free pdf).

The latest DigSight, a newsletter from the Southern Adventist University Institute of Archaeology, reports on the museum’s 25th anniversary, a study tour to Cyprus and Greece, the temple model from Khirbet Qeiyafa, and more.

The AP has many nice photos of the Parthenon without scaffolding.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Ted Weis

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Greece, Mediterranean Islands, Museums, Resources, Syria, Tourism, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Israel has begun pumping desalinated water into the Sea of Galilee, making it the first such effort anywhere in the world. They expect the effort to raise the lake’s level by 0.2 inches per month. The lake is currently only 1 foot above the lower red line.

“A 4,300-year-old silver goblet featuring the earliest depiction of the Creation narrative from the Near East tradition echoes the struggle between chaos and order from the book of Genesis, a new study published on Thursday suggests.” The authors of the underlying journal article have written a short piece for ANE Today.

“Ivory from sub-Saharan Africa was imported to the Land of Israel between 1600- 600 BCE, overcoming geopolitical changes in both arenas, a new study analyzing over 1,500 artifacts and fragments excavated at 46 sites in the region has shown.”

A recent study analyzed hundreds of Chalcolithic cornets from Teleilat Ghassul and concluded that they were lamps used for ceremonial fire processions.

Lawrence Schiffman has written a short article for Ami Magazine explaining the significance of recent research on Masada, including the overturning of some common views.

Winners have been announced for the BAS 2025 Publication Awards.

I’ve learned that the exhibition of the Great Isaiah Scroll has been postponed due to issues of climate control and will now open in February 2026. Perhaps they will extend the exhibit into the summer to compensate.

A bill introduced in the Israeli parliament would transfer control of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron to Israeli authorities.

Jerusalem University College has announced its lineup of spring online courses, including:

Biblical Archaeology II, taught by Kyle Keimer
The Book of Revelation and the Seven Cities of the Apocalypse, taught by Chris Vlachos
Cultural Backgrounds of the Bible, taught by Oliver Hersey
The Parables of Jesus and the Rabbinic Meshalim, taught by Steven Notley

Israel’s Good Name reports on a summer excursion to the Sharon Beach Nature Reserve.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Paleojudaica

Tagged Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jordan Rift, Judah, Lectures, Museums, Resources, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The NY Times has a well-illustrated story about the exhibits in the Egypt’s newly opened Grand Museum (gift link). The AP reports on the grand opening event.

There is no evidence that the short-lived capital of Akhetaten was abandoned because of a catastrophic plague.

A new study indicates that ancient Egypt’s gold production was much higher than previously believed.

Did the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid with a hidden pulley system?

“Egyptian authorities opened a criminal investigation after a 4,000-year-old limestone relief vanished from the Sixth-Dynasty mastaba of Khentika in the Saqqara necropolis.”

The Netherlands will return a statue of Thutmose III that was apparently stolen from Egypt during the 2011 Arab Spring.

“A tablet made in ancient Babylon around 1500 B.C.E. may be the earliest known depiction of a ghost.”

A large and intricate Roman-era mosaic has been discovered in Iznik, Turkey.

Turkish Archaeological News rounds up the top stories for the month of October, including:

The authentic restoration of tombs in the northern necropolis of Hierapolis
The opening to the public of a cave with a fresco of St. Paul opening near Antalya
The remains of a hippodrome discovered in Kayseri in Cappadocia
On-going discoveries by the American archaeologists working at Sardis

“The top three reports in biblical archaeology in October 2025 featured a tomb in Egypt, a necropolis in Turkey, and an inscription in Israel.”

BibleStock has released a new coaching video for Thanksgiving based on Psalm 100.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Ted Weis, Explorator

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Museums, Tourism, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

“A 5,000-year-old wine press has been unearthed next to the iconic archaeological site of Tel Megiddo, providing the earliest evidence of wine production in the Land of Israel.” There are more photos here.

After years of survey work, a couple of Israeli archaeologists identified the probable location of the ancient synagogue in the Syrian village of Yehudiya in the Golan Heights. Then they confirmed it with excavations.

Archaeologists discovered red fox tracks in the fresh plaster of a Byzantine wall at Bethsaida (el-Araj).

Chandler Collins has written an excellent summary and analysis of the newly discovered “Siloam Dam” in Jerusalem.

Work is underway on a Visitor Education Center on the Mount of Olives. The story includes other details about the area, such as the cost of a burial plot in the cemetery.

The entire Great Isaiah Scroll will be on display at the Israel Museum to mark the museum’s 60th anniversary.

Iran is not happy about the British Museum’s plan to loan the Cyrus Cylinder to the National Library of Israel. [EDIT: This story is from early 2024. The Cyrus Cylinder has not been in Israel since this story was written, as far as I know.]

New from IAA Reports: Khirbat ‘Amra: A Rural Site from the Hellenistic to Early Islamic Periods in the Beʼer Sheva‘ Valley, by Itamar Taxel and Noé D. Michael (open-access).

Hybrid lecture at the Albright on Dec 3: “The Legacy of Hansen House in Jerusalem,” by Susan Kennedy-Arenz. “This talk will describe the living conditions of Jerusalem’s leper community prior to the establishment of the first leper hospice in the mid-19th century.”

Hybrid lecture at the Albright on Dec 10: “The Rise of Christianity in Galilee: A Perspective from the Jewish Cities of Sepphoris and Tiberias,” by Shulamit Miller

Hybrid lecture at the Albright on Dec 17: “Albright 2025: The Year in Review,” by Director James Fraser

Preserving Bible Times is streaming Digging Deeper I (The Great Commission) and Digging Deeper II (The Jewish Mind of Jesus’ Day), free on YouTube.

Leon Mauldin shares several photos of the ancient city of Jokneam.

Logos subscribers can purchase Holman Illustrated Guide to Biblical Geography: Reading the Land, by Paul H. Wright, for about $8.

Alumni of Jerusalem University College are invited to an alumni gathering in Boston during the Annual Meetings.

Wayne Stiles is hosting an advanced tour of Israel next year, with visits to places that most groups never visit (including Dothan, Samaria, Solomon’s Pools, Bethany, Temple Mount, an optional 10-mile hike and river rafting, and more).

The new Job volume in the Photo Companion to the Bible includes 1,600 photos. The introductory sale ends in a few days.

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

Tagged Dead Sea Scrolls, Galilee, Golan Heights, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Lectures, Museums, Photo Resources, Resources, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The Grand Egyptian Museum officially opened yesterday. The $1 billion project began in 2005.

There are no threatening cracks in King Tut’s tomb, according to the Egyptian authorities.

The sun lit up King Ramses II’s statue at Abu Simbel for 22 minutes last week.

Egyptian emergency personnel carried out “one of the most complex rescue missions carried out in closed archaeological sites” in rescuing an injured woman inside the Bent Pyramid.

A tourist fell off the perimeter wall of the Pantheon in Rome and died.

Erosion is a risk to monuments in southern Iraq, including the Ziggurat of Ur.

The International Association for Assyriology has posted links to a number of video and audio presentations related to ANE archaeology, history, culture, and cuneiform.

New release: Yearning for Immortality: The European Invention of the Ancient Egyptian Afterlife, by Rune Nyord (University of Chicago Press, $115; open-access)

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Explorator

Tagged Egypt, Italy, Mesopotamia, Museums, Resources, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Archaeologists have found remains of 95 dolmens from the Early Bronze Age in the Madaba region of Jordan.

“Archaeologists have discovered a 3,500-year-old military fortress with a zigzag-style wall in the north Sinai Desert of Egypt.”

Egyptian officials are worried about a ceiling crack in the tomb of King Tutankhamun.

“Greece said on Thursday it had agreed with Egypt on the future of St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Egypt’s Mount Sinai.”

Archaeological work is progressing on a large, “circular, labyrinthine building [that] has no known parallel in prehistoric Crete or the wider Aegean region.”

Expedition Bible’s latest video is about the Amarna Letters, which Joel Kramer states in the introduction are “the most powerful evidence outside of the Bible for the Israelite conquest of the Promised Land.”

Clinton Arnold and Sean McDowell discuss the recent excavations at Colossae on the Think Biblically podcast. Fox News has some new photos of the excavation.

The first results have been published from “Pompeii Reset, a non-invasive program that used three-dimensional recording and modeling to re-examine the House of the Tiaso.”

“3D models of the Sela inscription of the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus (556-539 BCE) can be seen at the Sketchfab’s page of the GRACPE-UB research group.”

Hybrid lecture at Harvard on Nov 12: “Decoding the Pyramid Statues of King Menkaure,” by Florence Dunn Friedman

The ESV Archaeology Study Bible Notes are available for pre-order at Logos.

Amazon is listing for pre-order two long-awaited volumes in the Lexham Geographic Commentary series – Historical Books, volume 1 (Joshua–Ruth) and volume 2 (1 Samuel–Esther). They are also available for pre-order on Logos (vol 1, vol 2).

Open-access: The South Palace Archives in Babylon: Administrative Records in the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, by Olof Pedersén (Harrassowitz)

The Johns Hopkins University Archaeological Museum has re-opened after a three-year renovation.

HT: Agade, Explorator

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Italy, Lectures, Mediterranean Islands, Museums, Resources, Turkey, Weekend Roundup