Philistines Archives - Page 11 of 20

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Repairs inside the Dome of the Rock are complete, and when they took photos this week, it was revealed that the reconstruction of the tile floor proposed by the Temple Mount Sifting Project is accurate.

The study of fish bones found in a 7th-century AD shipwreck near Dor indicates that a now-extinct subspecies of St. Peter’s fish was being transported on the boat (Haaretz premium).

Scholars are offering competing explanations for the massive trash dump in the Kidron Valley from the first century AD (Haaretz premium).

A jogger along the shore of Ashkelon discovered a 12th-century AD oil lamp.

Aren Maeir is providing daily updates of the excavation of Gath.

The Tel Burna team gives an update from the first two weeks of their season. Chris McKinny’s work on the LB cultic building looks particularly promising in the remaining two weeks.

Jennie Ebeling and Norma Franklin discuss several important facets of their excavations at Jezreel.

Luke Chandler discusses the possibility of a Judahite water system at Lachish and the need for funds to excavate it.

If you’re interested in a brief, well-illustrated study of the world’s largest stones used in construction projects, check out Tom Powers’s latest post.

Felicity Cobbing of the PEF was present at the opening of the Palestine Museum in Ramallah and shares her perspective.

The senior staff of the Ashkelon excavations is wrapping up their final season this month and beginning a new project at Tel Shimron with a geophysical survey this summer.

Appian Media was recently filming in Israel for their upcoming Following the Messiah video series.

They are posting updates on the project and their travels on their blog.

The Fifth Gospel is a new iBook that explores the land, the culture, and the archaeology of the Bible. It was designed for high school students and features maps, interactive quizzes, photos, and short film clips. Check it out on iTunes.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Movies, Philistines, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The Temple Mount Sifting Project has released a new video showing dozens of their discoveries.

Another video released this month features David Hendin explaining the coins of the Jewish War.

Egyptian officials are re-opening the tombs of Queen Nefertari and King Seti I in Luxor, but the cost for a ticket will be steep (about $113).

Researchers suggest that King Tut’s dagger was made from a meteorite.

The BBC has the latest “the Dead Sea is dying” story, including an impressive photo of Mineral Beach.

The ASOR Archive Photo of the Month shows archaeologists and local workers at Qumran in 1952.

In terms of visitors, the Louvre is the most popular museum in the world. The British Museum is #5 and the Vatican Museums are #7.

The Google Cultural Institute “contains more than six million artworks, photos, videos and documents from 1,000 institutions including the British Museum and MoMA.”

The lavish lifestyle of the Roman Empire elite is on exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.

The Getty Museum has acquired a valuable Greek funeral vase and a Roman marble head.

“The Penn Museum’s ongoing exhibition, ‘In the Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies,’ offers visitors an insider’s look at efforts to document, preserve, and restore ancient objects in the
Museum’s extensive collection.”

A new exhibit at the Met in New York City focuses on Jerusalem between the years 1000 and 1400.

Ashkelon: A Retrospective: 30 Years of the Leon Levy Expedition is a new exhibit running at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem until the end of the year.

Haaretz ran a profile of Geza Vermes on the anniversary of his birthday.

The Israel Antiquities Authority raided a shop in the Mamilla Mall on suspicions of selling looted antiquities.

“For the first time in history the texts and images of all the Dead Sea Scrolls are available in their totality on the Internet.” From Brill for a purchase price of $5,940.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Steven Anderson, Agade, Explorator, Daniel Wright,
G. M. Grena, Rebekah Dutton

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Dead Sea, Egypt, Jerusalem, Museums, Philistines, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup

Archaeologists have identified the oldest known quarry in Israel at Kaizer Hill near Modiin.

Some radar experts doubt the existence of hidden chambers in King Tut’s tomb. Another scan was done yesterday, but results will not be announced for at least a week. Luxor Times has photos of the scanning operation.

Mosaics from the Roman Empire, depicting scenes from mythology, daily life, nature, and arena spectacles, are on display at the Getty Museum through September. The exhibit catalog is available for free online.

Joseph Aviram, president of the Israel Exploration Society, recently celebrated his 100th birthday!

A German doctor has returned a rare coin that he found in Jerusalem 25 years ago.

A video of the memorial service and academic symposium for William W. Hallo is online.

Wayne Stiles was robbed last week on the Good Samaritan Road and he learned an expensive lesson.

An article in Haaretz tries to debunk the “biblical” notion that the Philistines were crude barbarians.

But perhaps it’s worth noting that the Bible doesn’t make the Israelites look very good at times (e.g., Judg 19; Jer 5; Ezek 16).

Archaeologists now believe that Tell Qudadi, a site in Tel Aviv, was a Neo-Assyrian fortress built in the late 8th century. The final excavation report has all of the details.

With the recapture of Palmyra, the Syrian antiquities director estimates that 80% of the site’s ruins are intact but damage to the museum is “severe.” The Syrian government is planning to restore the site.

Paleojudaica has more its Palmyra roundup.

Iraq is struggling with the looting of archaeological sites.

The Daily Tar Heel carries a brief interview with archaeologist Jodi Magness.

Heavy rains led to the closing of Petra, but adventurous tourists headed north to Little Petra.

TheIsraelBible.com “offers the 24 books of the Tanakh (Genesis to Malachi) in both English and Hebrew, transliteration of selected Hebrew verses as well as the proper Hebrew pronunciation of key biblical names and places.”

The Temple Institute is searching for priests qualified to perform animal sacrifices.

Tom Powers has an interesting and well-researched post on the visit of the Graf Zeppelin to Jerusalem.

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

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jordan, Judah, Mesopotamia, Museums, Philistines, Syria

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A woman hiking on an unnamed archaeological site in eastern Galilee picked up a gold coin with the image of Emperor Augustus. High-res images are available here.

Luke Chandler reports on a new excavation at Khirbet Arai, not far from Tel Lachish. The first week has already revealed two massive structures as well as Philistine pottery.

Douglas Petrovich has done some interesting work related to the Israelite presence in Egypt. He has started a Kickstarter project to raise funds to publish a book on it.

The lyre depicted on Israel’s half-shekel is based on a seal now known to be forged. A larger drawing of the forged seal is online here.

A 19-year-old American spent the night in Solomon’s Quarries to dig for treasure.

The publication of Yadin’s final report from his Megiddo excavations will be celebrated at an event at Hebrew U on April 5.

In Photos: Members of an Israeli historical group dressed up in costume for a three-day hike from Jericho to Jerusalem.

The plan to enlarge the mixed prayer area in the Jerusalem Archaeological Park next to the Western Wall prayer plaza is apparently dead.

Archaeologists are opposing plans to build a hotel and apartment buildings in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor, the traditional “Hill of Evil Counsel.”

Ferrell Jenkins shares a photo of one of the best preserved stretches of Roman roads in Israel.

Ashkelon excavation veterans are invited to a closing celebration as the thirty-year project ends.

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

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Forgery, Galilee, Jerusalem, Judah, Philistines, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup

Several Aramaic and Greek inscriptions with the word “rabbi” have been found in the cemetery of Sepphoris at the time when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was alive.

A large church in the underground city of Nevşehir in Cappadocia has been discovered with many colorful frescoes. They estimate that the church dates to the 5th century.

Turkey is planning to restore Göbekli Tepe in order to boost tourism.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is using lighting to restore the original colors to the Temple of Dendur.

The botching of the repair job on King Tut’s beard has resulted in a disciplinary hearing for eight officials.

Egypt is trying to revive tourism with 3-D scans of the pyramids, opening of new museums, and a highly publicized radar study of King Tut’s tomb.

Photography is once again permitted in the Egyptian Museum with purchase of a camera ticket.

Trude Dothan, long-time excavator of Philistine sites, died this week.

Lost photos of Lawrence of Arabia have been discovered in the archives of the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland.

A short piece at the Jerusalem Post remembers Edward Robinson on the anniversary of his death in 1863.

Clay tablets suggest that the Babylonians invented astronomical geometry long before the Europeans did.

Can you identify these “mystery objects” discovered in the PEF collection?

Dale Manor is on The Book and the Spade this week talking about his on-going excavations of Tel Beth Shemesh.

Tim Frank’s Daughter of Lachish is now available on Kindle. I really enjoyed this work of historical fiction set in the biblical world. (I explain why in my review on Amazon.)

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

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Galilee, Museums, Philistines, Sad News, Shephelah, Turkey

Weekend Roundup

A Japanese team is excavating Tel Rekhesh, a city that may be biblical Anaharath.

Wayne Stiles explains what the apparently contradictory lessons of suffering and glory that Jesus revealed on the slopes of Mount Hermon mean for us today.

Muslims are conducting unauthorized excavations on the Temple Mount, again. The Temple Mount Sifting Project has more links.

Another view on ISIS and antiquities: “Actual examples of ISIS-looted antiquities on the market are slim to none.”

Popular Archaeology has a feature story on the new exhibition on King Midas at the Penn Museum.

The city of Knossos was larger in the early Iron Age than archaeologists previously believed.

Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira post a summary of their efforts to use crowd-funding to support the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

Carl Laney identifies his five favorite Bible atlases.

Bill Schlegel has posted a short flyover video of the Philistine city of Gath.

Who were the idols that the Thessalonian believers used to worship? Ferrell Jenkins shares photos from the museum in Thessaloniki.

HT: Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer, Agade, BibleX

Our most liked photo this week on Facebook was this image of the Ecce Homo arch, standing in Jerusalem since the year 130.

Tagged Galilee, Greece, Jerusalem, Museums, Philistines, Resources, Temple Mount