Noam Chen has produced a photo essay of the “hidden gems of Jerusalem,” including the Kishle, Siebenberg House, the Italian Synagogue, Jason’s Tomb, Helena’s Well, Little Western Wall, Church of St. John the Baptist, and the Mamluk Halls inside the Western Wall Tunnels.

Israel’s Good Name recently participated in an excavation of the Upper Aqueduct south of Jerusalem.

“More than half a dozen lost Bronze Age cities have been tracked down in Turkey through a mathematical analysis of the accounts left on 12,000 clay tablets by ancient Assyrian traders.” (Registration required.)

“An international seminar about the recently discovered gap in the Great Pyramid of Giza will be held in the upcoming period.”

Golden sheets from Tutankhamun’s tomb will be on display for the first time ever at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. There are more photos here.

An exhibition of the photographs of the excavation of King Tut’s tomb has opened at The Collection in Lincoln, UK.

Michael Press challenges the notion that Palestine was “desolate” in the 19th century. (I observe that his essay does not include any photos.)

For those who have long been wondering: eggplant arrived in Jerusalem just over 1,000 years ago.

Excavations at Ein Hatzeva, home of the “Biblical Tamar Park,” are summarized.

What can we learn from the cities of refuge?

The Museum of the Bible is now open and The Times of Israel gives some highlights. The Washington Post calls it “an up-to-date version of an old-fashioned museum.” World Magazine reviews some of the controversy associated with the museum.

New release: Walking through Jordan: Essays in Honor of Burton MacDonald, edited by Michael Neeley, Geoffrey Clark, and P. M. Michèle Daviau (Equinox, 2017).

Accordance has a big sale going on now in conjunction with the annual meetings of ETS/ASOR/SBL.

Karl Katz, founding curator of the Israel Museum, died this week.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer

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Seven inscriptions were discovered in three Byzantine churches excavated in Galilee this summer. Haaretz (premium) also covers the story. Archaeologists have discovered a Hellenistic-era gymnasium in the Fayoum province of Egypt. A recently discovered Assyrian tablet provides the first-known diagnosis to determine infertility. An intact sundial from the Roman period has been discovered in the excavation of a theater near Mount Cassino in Italy. A year-long mysterious excavation with high security in Tarsus ended with no explanation of what they found or why they were excavating. A gemstone discovered in Pylos, Greece, from the 15th century BC is a “masterpiece of miniature art.” Megan Sauter describes the Terra Sancta Museum, a new stop on the Via Dolorosa. Wayne Stiles’s post this week on Lachish includes some new drone video footage he shot recently. The Museum of the Bible is the topic of discussion this week on The Book and the Spade. Israel welcomed its 3 millionth tourist of 2017 this week. A new Biblical Archaeology Review Archive provides every article from 1975 to 2016 and is on sale for $130. Or you can subscribe to All-Access Membership for $35/year. HT: Jared Clark, Agade, Charles Savelle

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Volume 8 of The Israel Museum Studies in Archaeology is available online. Several articles address a monumental Herodian Ionic capital from Jerusalem.

Detailed site plans and other materials from the Tell en-Nasbeh (Mizpah) excavations are now available online.

The exhibition “Nineveh – Heart of an Ancient Empire” has opened at the National Museum of Antiquities in the Netherlands.

The full lecture schedule for the Bible and Archaeology Fest XX has been posted.

Mount Nemrut in southeastern Turkey has attracted more than 50,000 tourists so far this year.

David Kennedy has identified nearly 400 mysterious ancient stone structures in Saudi Arabia using Google Earth.

“Is the Bible a True Story?” Nir Hasson wants you to think that there is “no evidence” for anything (Haaretz premium). Brent Nagtegaal responds here.

The September 2017 Newsletter of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities is online.

William Dever’s latest book, Beyond the Texts: An Archaeological Portrait of Ancient Israel and Judah, will be released on Friday.

Apparently there is a “Land of the Bible Park” in the Ramot forest near Jerusalem.

JewishPress.com reports on the excavations at Magdala. And Richard Bauckham is editing a book on Magdala (forthcoming fall 2018).

“Is there no balm in Gilead?” Wayne Stiles tackles this one.

HT: Charles Savelle, Agade

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The Israel Antiquities Authority has arrested looters who discovered a cave in a Galilean village that was used for storage and stables in the Roman period.

Aren Maeir reports on a “mini-season” they held this week at Gath.

The “Bible Marathon” traces the route of the Benjamite who raced to tell Eli of the death of his sons.

One month before its opening in Washington, DC, the Museum of the Bible held a press conference to address questions about the museum’s practices.

The abandoned village of Lifta, possibly the site of biblical Mei Nephtoah, has been named one of 25 Endangered World Monuments.


The New York Times has an article in its dining section on the ancient Canaanite food and wine of Tel Kabri.

The Winter 2017 issue of DigSight reports on an exhibit on seals, a seal of “Ushna, servant of Ahaz,” and more.

Carl Rasmussen has begun a series on Paul’s shipwreck on Malta.

The Lod Mosaic will have a home when the Shelby White and Leon Levy Lod Mosaic Archaeological Center opens in 2019.

Volcanic activity may have played a significant role in the demise of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty.

Israel’s Good Name describes his recent camping trip in Park HaMaayanot.

Prof. Zvi Lederman will be giving a lecture on Nov 13 at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology entitled “A Lost Queen of the Sun — Tel Beth Shemesh, the Age of Amarna, and the Mysterious ‘Mistress of the Lions.’” The lecture is free and open to the public.

Matthew Suriano will be lecturing on Nov. 16 at Brandeis University on “A Tomb with a View: What can we learn about death in the Hebrew Bible from the Silwan Necropolis in Jerusalem?”

Eisenbrauns’ Deal of the Weekend is Unearthing Jerusalem, at 60% off.

The end of an era: Penn State University Press has acquired Eisenbrauns.

HT: Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis

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Archaeologists have discovered a Jewish settlement under an abandoned military base near the town of Beit El.

Excavation of a tomb near Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo uncovered an “afterlife snack pack of nine decapitated toads.”

A lost city of Alexander the Great has been identified at Qalatga Darband, six miles from Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Yeshiva University Museum recently opened a new exhibition, “The Arch of Titus – from Jerusalem to Rome, and Back.”

The Brooklyn Museum has just opened “Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt.”

The Arab World Institute Museum in Paris is hosting through January 2018 the exhibition, “Oriental Christians: 2,000 Years of History,” featuring artifacts never before displayed in Europe.

BYU has constructed a full-size tabernacle replica.

“The Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes (CAMEL) at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago is pleased to present the Anatolian Atlas, an online resource for geographical data related to the archaeology of Anatolia (ancient Turkey).”

The IWC at Tel Aviv University has announced its lecture schedule for the fall all centered around the theme “Jerusalem.”

Malka Z. Simkovich tries to explain why Christian monks copied Jewish manuscripts.

Bill Schlegel has created a new video showing sites in Benjamin from the air.

Wayne Stiles explains the value of using maps in your Bible study.

In light of his recent visit to el-Araj, John DeLancey discusses the two proposed locations for Bethsaida.

Ferrell Jenkins has written a well-illustrated post on Barclay’s Gate in the Western Wall. I suspect that most visitors don’t even know that it exists.

New release: Qedem 57: The Temple Mount Excavations in Jerusalem 1968-1978, Directed by Benjamin Mazar. Final Reports Volume V. Herodian Architectural Decoration and King Herod’s Portico.

Eisenbrauns is selling all available volumes of Excavations and Surveys in Israel for $5 each (with a few restrictions).

The population of Israel is now 8.7 million, including 6.5 million Jews and 1.8 million Arabs.

HT: Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer, Agade

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The Biblical Archaeology Society has announced its 2017 Publication Awards.

Chris McKinny and Itzhaq Shai explain how they have implemented PlanGrid as a digital field registration system at Tel Burna.

New evidence reveals how the Egyptians transported limestone and granite along the Nile River in order to build the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Ferrell Jenkins notes some of the latest books published by Carta.

Josette Elayi writes about “Sargon II, ‘King of the World’” at The Bible and Interpretation.

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit that has been touring the country goes to Denver in March.

Carl Rasmussen has written two posts this week on the island of Patmos: The Monastery of Saint John and A Fortress on Patmos.

“Staircases, richly decorated walls and important artifacts are among the findings of this past season’s excavations at the extensive and complex Minoan palace of Zominthos.”

The Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project has found 60 ancient ships, dating from 4 B.C. to the 8th A.D., with many of them well preserved because of the anoxic conditions at the bottom of the ocean.

The Bryn Mawr Classical Review reviews Graffiti from the Basilica in the Agora of Smyrna.

The Vatican will analyze bones allegedly from St Peter that were discovered in the Church of Santa Maria in Capella in Rome.

HT: Charles Savelle, Agade, Ted Weis

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