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 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

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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

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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

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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

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The tomb of Amenhotep III has been re-opened after a 20-year restoration.

“A limestone tablet dating back more than 4,000 years has disappeared from Egypt’s Saqqara necropolis.”

“Tutankhamun quiz: How much do you know about the famous boy king from ancient Egypt?”

Zoom lecture on Oct 22: “Mapping the Jews of Ancient Egypt: From the Hellenistic Period to the Arab Conquest,” by Meron M. Piotrkowski

The tomb of “one of the wealthiest and most influential women of the ancient Mediterranean” was discovered in southern Turkey.

Excavations are continuing at the ancient city of Lystra.

“Excavations in the city of Sagalassos in southwestern Turkey have uncovered ancient Egyptian imagery in a Roman-era bathhouse.”

“During recent excavations [in Turkey], archaeologists uncovered five carbonized bread loaves dating back to the 7th–8th centuries CE, including one with a depiction of Christ and a Greek inscription translating to, ‘With our thanks to Blessed Jesus.’”

“The Red Basilica (Kızıl Avlu), a monumental Roman temple in the ancient city of Pergamon, will reopen to visitors following extensive restoration, landscaping and conservation works.”

“Greece’s Museum Council has unanimously approved plans to expand and reimagine the National Archaeological Museum (NAM) in Athens, along with the neighboring Epigraphic Museum.”

James Davila posts photos from his visit to the excavations and museum of the Roman city of Cartagena in Spain. He has also posted some images related to the Phoenician and Punic eras as well as a couple of other posts.

Now open-access: The Royal Inscriptions of Nabopolassar (625-605 BC) and Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC), Kings of Babylon, Part 1, by Jamie Novotny and Frauke Weiershäuser (Eisenbrauns, 2024).

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Explorator, Ted Weis

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“Iraq has uncovered the largest winged bull in Assyrian history, measuring about 6 meters tall” in the royal hall of Ashurbanipal’s palace.

After fear that the world’s oldest synagogue paintings may have been destroyed in Syria’s civil war, scholar Jill Joshowitz was thrilled to see the 3rd-century Dura-Europos paintings well-preserved in the National Museum of Damascus.

Archaeologists have discovered a “waiting bench” outside the entrance to the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii.

“Egyptians reacted with outrage this week after officials said that a 3,000-year-old bracelet that had belonged to an ancient pharaoh [Amenemope] was stolen from Cairo’s famed Egyptian Museum and then melted down for gold.”

“The ancient theater in Myra, one of the six most important cities of the Lycian League, is set to regain its original appearance through the reconstruction of its stage building with original stones.”

The ancient Egyptians did not use booby traps in the Giza pyramids.

Jason Borges has published an article on “The City of Philomelium and the Occasion of the Martyrdom of Polycarp.”

Registration is now open for the “Year in Review in 2025 in Biblical Archaeology” with Glenn Corbett and Chris McKinny, on December 2 ($10).

The Tel Dan Inscription is on display at the Museum of the Bible until November 3. No entrance fee is required to see this exhibit or the Megiddo Mosaic. In November, a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit will open (for a double charge).

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Joseph Lauer, Explorator

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About the BiblePlaces Blog

The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.

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