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

Leen Ritmeyer suggests that a couple of recently discovered arches on the Temple Mount may belong to a gate leading from the Court of the Women into the Music Room.

Archaeologists have discovered a copper-ore smelting furnace in Beersheba from the Chalcolithic period, making it the oldest known to date.

Opposition is increasing toward Jerusalem’s plan for a cable car to the Old City.

Tourism to the Holy Land has completely stopped for the first time since the Franco-Prussian War. This article in Haaretz (premium) describes the effects on the industry, renovation projects underway, and prospects for the future.

John DeLancey’s newest video provides a tour of the Jerusalem model at the Israel Museum.

GTI Tours has begun a new podcast, with interviews with Gary Burge on the Fifth Gospel, Brad Gray on Jesus’s baptism, and more.

Eric Cline talks about the story of the excavations at Megiddo in the 1920s and 1930s on The Times of Israel podcast.

Bryan Windle pulls together a lot of detail and good photographs in his archaeological biography of King Jehu.

Wayne Stiles looks at Israel’s journey through the Red Sea and to Mount Sinai to see how God works through painful journeys.

Ginger Caessens will be leading an intensive study tour of Jordan in June. I have recommended this many times in the past and continue to do so.

New: A Christian’s Guide to Evidence for the Bible: 101 Proofs from History and Archaeology, by J. Daniel Hays.

Steven Anderson’s research on the identifications of Darius the Mede is now posted online in a very easy-to-read format, presenting the major views and objections to each.

HT: Agade, Explorator, Carl Rasmussen

Excavations have begun to unearth mosaics in a church built in AD 396 in Göktaş in southeastern Turkey.

27 wooden sarcophagi buried 2,500 years ago have been discovered in the ancient Saqqara necropolis near Cairo.

Alex Winston asks, What was life like for Jews under Byzantine rule?

In light of the ongoing excavations of Domus Aurea, Smithsonian Magazine considers whether Nero was as bad as people think.

A tourist crashed his drone inside of Rome’s Colosseum.

Zoom workshop: Reconsidering Babylon’s Ishtar Gate, with Helen Gries, Olof Pedersén, May-Sarah Zeßin, Kai Kaniuth, Emad Matin, Anastasia Amrhein, and Elizabeth Knott. Free registration is required.

Accordance has a couple of outstanding deals (60% or 97% off) for those crossing over from Wordsearch.

Leon Mauldin shares photos from his visits to Hebron.

Ferrell Jenkins captured a photo of Colossae that is probably the best I’ve ever seen.

Carl Rasmussen shares a photo of the Erastus Inscription at Corinth, along with another inscription still filled with metal.

HT: Keith Keyser, Agade, Joseph Lauer, Explorator

A rare 7th-8th century masthead from a shipwreck off northern Israel sheds light on sailing and shipbuilding. The underlying journal article is here.

Israel has 320 open-air archaeological gardens and exhibits that are free and accessible 24/7. (Send me an email when you’ve seen them all!)

A collector has donated 130,000 “Postcards of Palestine” from the 19th and 20th centuries to the Hebrew University.

John DeLancey’s latest video tour focuses on Jericho.

I agree with the choices Bryan Windle has made for the “Top Three Reports in Biblical Archaeology” this month.

Free webinar: “The Archaeology of Israel: Where Are We Today?,” with Eric Cline, J. P. Dessel, Jennie Ebeling, and James Hardin, moderated by Rachel Hallote, on Oct 13, 4:00pm Eastern. Free registration is required.

Wendy Slaninka, the granddaughter of James Leslie Starkey, has written several posts about her family’s experiences in Lachish and Egypt.

Just released: CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible, with 1,200+ images and maps. Details and sample (of Ruth) here. The Amazon listing includes my endorsement.

HT: G. M. Grena, Agade, Joseph Lauer, Explorator

A trove of Phoenician artifacts was long ascribed to a single shipwreck. More likely they were tossed overboard [as votive offerings], and over centuries [7th-3rd c BC], a new study suggests.”

A wildfire recently threatened the Bronze Age site of Mycenae in Greece.

Annie Attia writes about what we know about epidemics in ancient Mesopotamia.

A team of researchers is using new technology to discover erased texts in the library of St. Catherine’s Monastery.

Some scholars are ridiculing Yosef Garfinkel’s theory that an anthropomorphic clay head from Khirbet Qeiyafa depicts the face of God.

Foy Scalf will be lecturing on Tuesday, Sept 8, on “Measuring Time: The Ancient Egyptian Invention of the Clock,” using artifacts from the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute Museum.

New: A Classical Archaeologist’s Life: The Story so Far: An Autobiography, by John Boardman

The full-length production of “Caesarea by the Sea: Rome’s Capital in Israel” has just been released. As you may recall from the trailers, the video features 3D digital models of King Herod’s city. You can watch the 20-minute documentary for free at the Bible Land Passages website as well as on YouTube.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Joseph Lauer

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