Issam Salsaa of Bethlehem has created a number of detailed models of Jerusalem and Bethlehem that are quite impressive. You can check out his YouTube videos to see several of them:
The Citadel of David (and a second)
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher
The Church of the Nativity (and with lights)
Archaeologists working at Kibbutz Magen near the Gaza Strip have discovered a Roman-period marble dolphin statuette.
This week, ISIL is apparently planning to turn the site of Jonah’s tomb into a park. The Iraqi authorities consider that a crime.
Israel is considering the restoration of Khirbet al-Minya, an Umayyad palace near the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Continued research has been approved for the Antikythera shipwreck.
Sites in Izmir are bringing in the tourist bucks.
The latest video from SourceFlix is an explanation of the topography of Jerusalem.
Archaeologists recently discovered a Byzantine-era mosaic floor at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth.
You can sign up for a chance to win a trip to the Grand Opening of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.
Logos users might want to grab the Ancient Context Ancient Faith set while it’s on pre-pub.
Ferrell Jenkins describes his return to the ruins of Samaria.
Luke Chandler offers some “tidbits from the tell” on his first week in digging at Lachish this year.
There will be no roundup next weekend.
HT: Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle, Agade
Last month, David Barrett released Bible Mapper 5. “Bible Mapper is a fully interactive, highly accurate Bible mapping system that helps you quickly and easily create customized maps of the Holy Lands or study a particular period and aspect of Bible history.”
Having used previous versions of Bible Mapper, the things that impress me most about Bible Mapper are:
The key features new to version 5 are:
I find that last feature to be especially convenient. For more information, visit the Bible Mapper website, read Mark Hoffman’s review, or read Todd’s review of version 4 on this blog.
Bible Mapper may be downloaded for free. Most features of the program are available to unregistered users, so you can give it a try. A registration key ($37) is required to use the program’s advanced features and to save maps that you create.
When you open the program, Bible Mapper looks like this.
Bible Mapper allows you to choose between colorized terrain (above), or a monochrome appearance (below).
The “Tools” menu allows you to calculate distances between places, find a site, or obtain coordinates for a site.
In my opinion, the real gold is the “View” menu. Here you can select what information is displayed: sites, roads, geographic features, or historical periods. Here are some of the options available.
You can import your own sites, adjust the widths and colors of lines, and adjust the appearance of dots. There are even options for repositioning labels.
A number of sample maps can be viewed at the Bible Mapper website gallery.
Bible Mapper is a Windows program. As a Mac user, I am able to use it by running Windows on a virtual machine (such as Parallels). One small issue I experienced was that Mac for some unknown reason appended .exe to the downloaded file. The file should be .msi, so Mac users may have to change the file extension manually before installing.
David Barrett also has created a Bible geography quiz just for fun.
Previous Posts:
Palmyra has fallen to ISIS. The fear now is for the safety of the monuments and museum.
This CNN slideshow features 19 monuments destroyed in the war.
“Cyber-archaeologists” are working to virtually restore what has been destroyed.
Archaeologists were baffled at a meticulously excavated Byzantine-era winepress in Jerusalem until they learned it was exposed by local teenagers.
Catacombs are being constructed in Jerusalem to bury the dead. The first stage of the underground necropolis will hold 22,000.
This weekend’s celebration of Shavuot/Pentecost may be the largest in Israel’s history.
Donald Brake is on the Land and the Book discussing Jesus: A Visual History.
A 20-year-old female tourist died at Masada after she suffered heat stroke and fell from a cliff.
UPDATE: More details here.
What would be at the top of your list of yet-to-be-discovered finds in biblical archaeology? Steven Anderson lists his top ten.
HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Ted Weis
I almost missed this, but still available through today is this great deal for every issue of Biblical Archaeology Review through 2012 for $60. That’s less than $2/year for 37 years. I suspect they may be preparing a 40th anniversary edition, but it will likely cost two or three times as much for the additional 3 years.
I have a BAR archive produced for Logos that goes through 2003 [no longer available]. This new archive has the additional years and may be easier to use because of its browser interface.
The website highlights these features:
In honor of Jerusalem Day, Noam Chen shares 25 sets of then and now photos of the city.
Biblical Archaeology Review is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a two-volume coffee table book that features one article from each year.
“The Digital Atlas of Ancient Egypt is a digital cultural map of archaeological sites in Egypt” produced by students at Michigan State University.
The Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times is calling for applicants for stipends for doctoral studies at Bar Ilan University.
Research into the heights of Egyptian mummies reveals the prevalence of incest among the families of the pharaohs.
A study of animal mummies from Egypt has revealed that a third of them were empty. “Experts believe as many as 70 million animals were ritually slaughtered by the Egyptians to foster a huge mummification industry that even drove some species extinct.”
The Indiana Jones exhibit has opened at the National Geographic Museum. Artifacts on display include the movie version of the ark of the covenant.
Mark Wilson describes what it’s like for a biblical scholar to live in Turkey (requires login). Wilson’s Biblical Turkey is now available through Amazon.
HT: Agade, Charles Savelle, Ted Weis