Archaeologists have discovered a Crusader ship that wrecked in the harbor of Acco.

A replica of a 2,500-year-old ship discovered at Ma’agan Michael launched yesterday from Haifa.

That colossus they recently dug up belongs not to Ramses II, but to Psamtik (Psammetichus) I of the 26th Dynasty.

High-tech imaging is revealing the text of erased and recycled parchments at St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai.

Carl Rasmussen has visited the Archaeology Museum of Nazareth and shares photos of Crusader capitals that depict scenes from the New Testament.

Philippe Bohstrom considers the problem of diving thieves who are looting antiquities from the ocean floor.

The Huis Marseille Museum of Photography in Amsterdam is hosting a spring exhibition about 19th-century photography in Egypt.

A World of Emotions: Ancient Greece, 700 BC – 200 AD has opened at the Onassis Cultural Center in New York.

The founder of Elad, the City of David Foundation, has been awarded the 2017 Israel Prize.

You can get caught up on what happened in the Gezer excavations last year by watching a 16-minute video.

How do you do math in Roman numerals?

After a successful fundraiser and launch of the initial episodes of “Following the Messiah,” Appian Media kicked off a new campaign to raise funds to complete the series. In the first few days, they’ve already raised more than half of their goal. You can pitch in here.

Jodi Magness will be lecturing on “The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls” at William Jessup University on March 23. You can register here.

This week’s program on The Book and the Spade is an interview with Clyde Billington entitled, “Dead Sea Scrolls and the Sinai Inscription.”

Wayne Stiles is leading a trip to Israel this fall and there’s an early-bird discount if you sign up soon.

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

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A new McDonalds in Italy incorporates a 150-foot section of Roman road that dates to the 1st or 2nd centuries BC.

Film footage from excavations of Nineveh in the late 1920s and early 1930s has been digitized by the Royal Asiatic Society.

Carl Rasmussen asks if the house of Jesus has been found in Nazareth.

Shmuel Browns provides the history of Naharayim and its short-lived hydroelectric plant. Naharayim gets its name from the junction of two rivers: the Jordan and the Yarmuk.

Israel’s Good Name took a walking tour of the abandoned village of Lifta and shares many photos.

John DeLancey, director of Biblical Israel Ministries & Tours, is now offering a “Physical Settings of the Bible” weekend seminar for local churches.

Aren Maeir has posted the schedule for this week’s conference at Tel Aviv University entitled, “From
Nomadism to Monarchy? ‘The Archaeology of the Settlement Period’—30 Years Later.”

The director of the Met has apparently been forced to resign.

ASOR’s March Fellowship Madness is underway and they are only $5,300 short of their $50,000
goal.

The Associates for Biblical Research have a $10,000 matching gift for the Shiloh Excavations for donations made this month.

We post a photo and verse/caption every weekday on Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram. If you’re on any of those, we invite you to follow us.

HT: Explorator, Joseph Lauer, Agade

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Archaeologists have excavated a dolmen on the Golan Heights that is unique because of its large size and artistic decorations. The capstone weighs about 50 tons. You can watch a 2-minute video here.

Two large pharaonic statues, believed to be from the 19th dynasty, have been found near the ruins of Ramses II’s temple in Heliopolis. Zahi Hawass has responded to criticism of the rescue work.


Haaretz (premium): “The long-lost wreck of a Crusader ship and sunken cargos dating to the 13th century C.E. have been found in the bay of the crusader stronghold city Acre, in northern Israel.”

The Sea of Galilee is at its lowest level in a century, and it’s only March.

Here’s a short video of the Assyrian palace remains beneath the destroyed Tomb of Jonah.

Jordan’s Department of Antiquities has announced that the lead codices discovered in 2010 have “not been proven to be authentic so far.” James Davila provides a good review of why he (and others) rejects their authenticity.


The New York Times offers a guide to “make the most of the British Museum,” including sections on

“5 Must-Sees,” “Off the Beaten Path,” and “Tips for Visiting.”

The Grand Egyptian Museum is scheduled to open in the middle of next year.

ISD has a sale on two multi-volume archaeology works: The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Archaeology, ed. Daniel M. Master (was $395; now $150); The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, ed. Neil Asher Silberman (was $595; now $99; sold out?).

The new Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible is for sale on Kindle now for $3.99.

Purim begins at sundown. You might want to grab the kids and read them the book of Esther. Or check out the Maccabeats’ interpretation.

HT: Explorator, Joseph Lauer, Agade, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Bill Soper

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The New York Times recounts the recent destruction of Palmyra and reviews a new online exhibit by The Getty Research Institute, “The Legacy of Ancient Palmyra.”

The search for hidden chambers in King Tut’s tomb continues this year.

A Japanese team has discovered the tomb of a royal scribe of Amenhotep III.

Ferrell Jenkins has posted on an attractive display of ossuaries at the Hecht Museum in Haifa.

Seth Rodriquez explains what happened to Judah after they were exiled.

Thomas Kiely of the British Museum reviews The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant c. 8000-332 BCE in the Oxford Handbooks in Archaeology series.

On the ASOR Blog, Anna-Latifa Mourad argues that the Hyksos were foreigners but not invaders.

Since 1833 there has been no mosque in Athens. Until this year.

Daniel Falk will be lecturing on “The Myth of the Dead Sea Scrolls” at Baylor University on Tuesday, February 21.

Alexander Schick will be lecturing at The Jordan Museum in Amman on Thursday, February 23, 5:00 pm, on “Uncovering the Scrolls: The Early and Late History of the Dead Sea Scrolls.” All are welcome.

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

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In light of the recent revival of the half-shekel temple tax, John Delancey looks at the biblical background of this coin.

Wayne Stiles shows how the Hinnom Valley is not only a picture of evil, but also one of redemption.

And, as usual, he shares some great visuals.

Ferrell Jenkins has created an index of his articles on the Romans and Jesus’s ministry.

If you’ve ever wondered what the building looked like from which Eutychus fell out of the window, Carl Rasmussen has an idea.

Where did Jesus speak the words of John 15-17? Leon Mauldin looks at the options.

Juliette Desplat describes the history of the Philae island and temple that were partially submerged for years before the temple was relocated.

The Met has moved its large image collection from OASC to public domain.

Free article from BASOR this week: “Back to Solomon’s Era: Results of the First Excavations at
“Slaves’ Hill” (Site 34, Timna, Israel),” by Erez Ben-Yosef.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Joseph Lauer, Paleojudaica

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Scott Stripling provides an account of the 21st and final season of excavations at Khirbet el-Maqatir, possible location of biblical Ai. They found a Bronze Age stele in the final week of excavations.

Breaking Israel News provides an illustrated report of Noam Arnon’s exploration of the caves below Hebron’s Machpelah 35 years ago.

A medieval building constructed atop the Byzantine-era synagogue at Huqoq may also have served as a synagogue.

Carl Rasmussen links to some new excavations in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Shem Tov Sasson brings his readers along on the annual two-day Bar Ilan University’s Archaeology tour, this year to the Aravah (part 1, part 2).

A large display of Greek ceramics is now on display at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem.

The Louvre is planning to display some of its antiquities in Iran this spring.

“The European police have arrested 75 people and recovered about 3,500 stolen archaeological artifacts and other artworks as part of the dismantling of an international network of art traffickers.”

Iraqi authorities discovered more than 100 Assyrian artifacts in the home of an ISIS leader.
Critical Perspectives on the Practice of Digital Archaeology” is the title of a conference being held
on Friday and Saturday at Harvard.

The Center for the Study of Christianity at the Hebrew University is sponsoring a conference in June with the theme, “Origen’s Legacy in the Holy Land—A Tale of Three Cities: Jerusalem, Caesarea and Bethlehem.”

“Students should study Egyptology and Assyriology.”

If Israel was compared to the playing board of Monopoly, Wayne Stiles identifies “Boardwalk” as Tel Megiddo.

I recently returned from a great study tour led by Dr. Mark Wilson. If you’re looking for an outstanding opportunity to learn the biblical lands outside of Israel, he’s leading a May walking tour in Turkey and a September-October tour of Malta and Italy.

The latest episodes at The Book and the Spade include The Library at Herculaneum, with Brent Seales; Jesus and the Remains of His Day, with Craig Evans; and the Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Stories of 2016, with Clyde Billington.

There will be a one-night showing next month of the new documentary, “Is Genesis History?
Leen Ritmeyer notes a special offer by Carta Jerusalem that includes a discount as well as a free copy of a new biblical archaeology map of Jerusalem. I plan to post more on that map shortly.

We’re now on Instagram, posting a photo every day. We continue to do the same on Facebook and Twitter.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle

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