Museums Archives - Page 35 of 101

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A new study shows that individual potters have their own styles even when making standard traditional vessels.

A 100-year research project on the results and finds from Ur has concluded.

The BBC has a story and video on Mada’in Saleh, Saudi Arabia’s counterpart to Petra.

“An unparalleled collection of Judaica amassed by one of the greatest Jewish dynasties in the world and not seen in public for over a century is to be sold at auction.”

“A museum in Israel on Monday postponed its planned auction of dozens of rare Islamic antiquities after word of the sale sparked a public uproar.”

A rare EID MAR gold coin celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar became the most valuable Roman coin ever when it sold for nearly $3.5 million.

In light of the major earthquake on the Greek island of Samos, Leon Mauldin shares some biblical background, photos, and a map.

Eisenbrauns is hosting a virtual panel on November 11 with three authors discussing their new books and answering questions.

The 4th edition of Mark Wilson’s Biblical Turkey is now available.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Ted Weis

Tagged Arabia, Mediterranean Islands, Mesopotamia, Museums, Turkey

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A border stone from the Roman period was discovered in the Golan Heights with a Greek inscription reading, “A border stone between Amatiya [or Amatira] and Kfar Nafah.”

Archaeologists have uncovered remains of a Byzantine church that was constructed in Caesarea Philippi in about the year 400 on top of a Roman temple to the god Pan.

A gem stone featuring a portrait of the god Apollo was discovered in debris sifting of soil coming from an ancient drainage channel in the City of David.

$40 million will be spent to upgrade the Tower of David Museum, with a plan to double the size of the current museum, including the addition of seven new galleries, a new sunken entrance visitor center outside the Old City walls, and a multi-sensory experience in the Kishle excavations. Some photos of the renovation work are available here temporarily.

Scholars are still unconvinced by Simcha Jacobovici’s claim that nails found in Caiaphas’s ossuary were the ones used to crucify Jesus.

Some archaeologists at Tel Aviv University are interpreting some new archaeological discoveries to suggest that the Manasseh was a hugely successful king who was turned into a scapegoat by the biblical authors (Haaretz premium).

E-Strata is the new Newsletter of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society. The issues feature the latest new stories, interviews with notable figures, reports on recent publications, and more.

Bryan Windle highlights the top three reports in biblical archaeology this month.

Aren Maeir shares his experience of harvesting olives at Gath.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Ted Weis

Tagged Discoveries, Golan, Jerusalem, Museums

Weekend Roundup

Excavations at Khirbet Kafr Mer near Beit El have revealed dozens of jars and intact ceramic objects inside a repurposed underground reservoir.

“A new paper published last week in the PLOS ONE journal explains how trash mounds found in villages and agricultural settlements in the Negev from the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods show that there was a turning point in the management of herbivore livestock dung, a vital resource in the Negev.”

Egyptian artifacts in several Berlin museums have been damaged by vandals.

Pat McCarthy has written an article about reputed relics of Jesus that have undergone scientific scrutiny.

New: Go Now to Shiloh: A Biblical Theology of Sacred Space, by N. Blake Hearson

Albright Virtual Workshop: Discussions in response to:
The Archaeology of the Bronze Age Levant:
From Urban Origins to the Demise of City-States, 3700-1000 BCE,
Cambridge University Press, 2019, by Raphael Greenberg. Registration required.

The Badè Museum is hosting a series of lectures entitled “New Perspectives on Ancient Nubia.”

The Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute has posted their online program for the coming months.

UCF has compiled a list of open educational resources for the ancient Near East.

This week on the GTI Tours podcast I talk with Rich Ferreira about the value of photographs in understanding and teaching the Bible.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, G. M. Grena, Charles Savelle

Tagged Mediterranean Islands, Museums, Negev, Resources, Samaria, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“For the first time, scientists and archaeologists believe that they have decrypted symbols denoting numerical fractions in the Linear A writing system.”

“An elegant summer palace once belonging to the Minoan aristocracy at Zominthos on Crete, first discovered in 1982, has yielded many more of its priceless secrets in a recent dig.”

The number of sealed wooden coffins discovered in Saqqara is now up to 59.

Excavations at Patara in Turkey have uncovered a kitchen from the time of Alexander the Great.

In Rome, an ancient villa with outstanding mosaics will soon be open to visitors.

The acropolis of Athens has all-new lighting.

Allison Thomason explores the archaeology of clothing in the ancient Near East.

A rare Roman gold coin minted in 42 BC celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar will soon be auctioned.

A new Center for Epigraphical Studies has been established at Persepolis.

If you’re looking for a name for your baby that avoids the new and trendy, check out the Hittite Name Finder.

In a Getty Villa podcast, the museum director discusses Assyrian culture in view of the reliefs currently on loan from the British Museum.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Explorator

Tagged Egypt, Greece, Italy, Mesopotamia, Museums, Persia, Tourism, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Palm trees grown from 2,000-year-old seeds have produced more than a hundred dates, beautiful and tasty. (The father is Methuselah, the mother Hannah.)

A high-tech analysis of 18 ostraca from Arad reveals that they were written by 12 different hands, attesting to a high level of literacy in the kingdom of Judah in the late 7th century BC. The underlying journal article is here.

“A collection of more than 13 intact and sealed coffins has been unearthed in Saqqara, the first step towards a huge discovery to be announced soon on site.”

“The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE, formerly the Harvard Semitic Museum) has recently started posting 3D scans of its cuneiform collection on-line.”

With the help of some old photos of Qumran Cave 1, Brent Nongbri has identified a couple of unheralded excavators of the Dead Sea Scrolls caves.

“According to the ‘Deal of the Century’ map, hundreds of heritage and archaeology sites in Judea and Samaria are slated to be removed from Israeli control and transferred to the jurisdiction of the proposed Palestinian state.”

The Louvre is helping to restore security for the National Museum of Beirut following extensive damage in the August 4 explosion.

When Adam Henein died this spring, Egypt lost a highly regarded artist whose work included a major restoration of the Sphinx.

People who climb Egyptian antiquities “without a license” will be punished under a new law passed by the government.

Necho II, slayer of King Josiah, is the subject of the latest archaeological biography by Bryan Windle.

Steven Anderson has now finished making playlists for all of Omer Frenkel’s beautiful readings of the Hebrew Bible.

A man was detained when caught hunting gazelles in a park in Jerusalem.

Tim Challies reviews A Harvard Professor, a Con Man, and the Gospel of Jesus and draws implications for all with regard to discoveries that appear to contradict (or confirm) the Christian faith.

Jerusalem University College has announced that Dr. Oliver Hersey will become the next president when Dr. Paul Wright retires in 2021.

Jerusalem recently broke a 139-year-record for the hottest night (with a low of 88.7°F, 31.5°C).

I’ve had a chance to look more carefully at the new Biblical Israel by Air. The thumb drive includes two high-resolution video files (mp4), one narrated and one non-narrated, with 69 minutes of drone footage of beautiful sites including the Sea of Galilee, Joppa, Caesarea, Mount Carmel, Jordan River, Arbel, Capernaum, Dan, Beth Shean, Shiloh, Jericho, Masada, Mount Nebo (on a clear day!), Macherus, Petra, and 40 other sites. This remarkable collection is available at an introductory price of $45 (or $30 for the DVD).

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Keith Keyser, Wayne Stiles, Explorator

Tagged Dead Sea Scrolls, Egypt, Museums, Technology, Tourism, Weather, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Archaeologists working at Azekah may have found traces of the Assyrian siege ramp used to conquer the city in 701 BC.

“The Waqf filled in a hole that opened in the Temple Mount floor with concrete on Tuesday, raising concerns that possible archaeological findings may now be lost.” Zachi Dvira at the Temple Mount Sifting Project offers his thoughts on the possible significance of the now-filled opening, along with some rare photos of underground areas of the Temple Mount.

The Israel Museum has re-opened “with a coronavirus-safe approach that includes half-hour capsule tours of the museum’s permanent and current exhibits.”

Gordon Govier writes about the summer excavations in Israel that were not, and those that were.

Lawrence Schiffman writes on discoveries made in 2020 for Ami Magazine.

Usha, an ancient village in western Galilee, is the subject of a 6-minute news piece on Israel Daily. (Note: add “the Sanhedrin Trail” to your bucket list.)

Zvi Koenigsberg looks at the possible connection between the site(s) of Gilgal and the strange phenomenon of “footprints” on the eastern side of Israel.

Dan Warner is on The Book and the Spade this week talking about the Gezer water tunnel.

Biblical Israel Ministries and Tours has just released a brand-new resource that features beautiful aerial footage of more than 55 biblical sites in Israel and Jordan. The launch price is only $30 for the DVD and $45 for a higher-res version on a thumb drive. Individual high-res site videos are available for only $4 each.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Jerusalem, Museums, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup