Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The latest from SourceFlix: The Bible as a Tool in Archaeology (4 min)

Not long ago we created a list of U.S. museums with artifacts related to the biblical world. Bible
Gateway has produced a list of museums and exhibits on the Bible itself.

The River Jordan is the subject of this summer’s ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies Forty First International Conference at Oxford. Presenters include Yigal Levin, Amihai Mazar, Gerald Mattingly, Joan Taylor, and many others.

Eric Cline’s lecture on 1177 BC at the Oriental Institute is now online. At the beginning he shares his “over the top” book trailer.

Haaretz has a feature written by Mike Rogoff entitled “What is a City Gate?”

Ferrell Jenkins illuminates the story of the man being lowered through the roof.

An Arutz-7 article describes the relations between the Jewish and Samaritan communities on Mount Gerizim.

Registration for MEMRA 2015 is now open. Courses include beginning biblical Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Ugaritic.

Maney Online has opened up all of its online content from archaeology, conservation, and heritage journals for free through today. Journals include Palestine Exploration Quarterly, Levant, and Tel Aviv. If you don’t know where to start, try a search for Jerusalem.

BibleWorks 10 has been released.

HT: Agade, James Joyner

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Of the latest concerning “the tomb of Jesus,” the evidence doesn’t add up, according to professors at Yale and Notre Dame. Other scholars agree.

Jeffrey Zorn’s talk on Storage Bins at Tell en-Nasbeh (biblical Mizpah) is now online (20 min).

Archaeologists from the University of Manchester are busy excavating a site in Iraq in an effort to save history from ISIS terrorists.

In fear of ISIS’s advance, monks at the Mar Matti Monastery in Iraq hid their collection of ancient manuscripts.

An opinion piece in the New York Times calls on the world to use force to stop ISIS’s campaign against historic sites and artifacts.

Should antiquities be repatriated to countries unable to protect them?

The latest podcast from Exploring Bible Times focuses on the Hill of Moreh.

Yossi Garfinkel’s talk from last fall at Florida College is now online.

HT: Agade

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Bible Marathon Traces Route of Shiloh Runner

The 26-mile race to be held on April 9 follows the path of the Benjamite who ran to tell Eli of the capture of the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 4). From the official website:

One of the first runs recorded in human history—long before the “marathon” told of in Greek mythology—is mentioned in the Bible, in the beginning of the book of Samuel. At the end of the war between the Israelites and the Philistines, the “man of Benjamin” runs from the battlefield at Eben Ezer (modern day Rosh Ha’ayin) to Shiloh, city of the shrine. His runner’s mission is to inform Eli the priest of Israel’s defeat in this war, the falling of his sons, and the capture of the Ark of the Covenant.
Many centuries later, after the Six Day War, the founder of the Maccabiah games, Yosef Yekutieli, set out to measure the length of the course from Rosh Ha’ayin to Shiloh, in the Benjamin region. He was amazed to find that the length of this historic path precisely matched that of the modern marathon – 42 kilometers (the official length of the Olympic running contest, determined in 1908 at the London Olympics). In the 1970s, Yekutieli initiated various marathons in the wake of the Biblical “man of Benjamin”. It is truly amazing, the thought that if only someone had informed the Baron de Coubertin, founder of the 42 km Olympic run, of the Biblical story, then perhaps instead of “marathon” it would be called one of the following: Shiloh Race, Man of Benjamin, or Bible Race.

More details here.

Shiloh aerial from east, bb00120068
Shiloh aerial from the east
Photo by Barry Beitzel, available in the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands
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Weekend Roundup

Chris Jones has a careful assessment of the damage at the Mosul Museum. Some of the items destroyed were replicas but many were originals.

The Iraqi Prime Minister has condemned the destruction of antiquities from Nimrud and Nineveh by IS. The United Nations Security Council has condemned the latest “barbaric terrorist acts.” Some experts see the video primarily as propaganda. Ferrell Jenkins provides some background and photos he took in 1970.

Militants have also taken control of Ezra’s tomb in Iraq.

Syria is blaming Turkey for the flow of artifacts out of the country.

What are Judean Pillar Figurines? Erin Darby explains our interest, their importance, and their use for protection and healing.

One of the divers gives his account of the discovery of the treasure of golden coins in the Caesarea harbor.

The downside of such discoveries is increased looting by everyone who thinks that they’ll be the next to find buried gold.

D. Scott Stripling: 2014 Excavations at Kh. el-Maqatir: A Proposed New Location for the Ai of Joshua 7–8 and Ephraim of John 11:53-54

The Jezreel Expedition used airborne LiDAR to prepare for an old-fashioned foot survey that showed that Jezreel is much larger than previously thought.

Dothan appears only twice in the Bible, and Wayne Stiles explains the lesson we can learn from Joseph and Elisha.

The Biblical Museum of Natural History recently opened in Beit Shemesh and it includes a skull of what they identify as behemoth.


Popular Archaeology has a profile of the recent excavations of Tel ‘Eton (biblical Eglon?).


Haaretz: What does it mean when a biblical figure “sat in the gate”?

Shmuel Ahituv has been awarded the 2015 Israel Prize for Bible Studies.

Israeli and Jordan authorities have signed a historic agreement on water sharing that includes sharing water from a desalination plant to be built in Aqaba.

The city of Jerusalem plans to build seven public swimming pools.

Newly released: I. M. Swinnen and E. Gubel, eds., From Gilead to Edom. Studies in the Archaeology and History of Jordan, in Honor of Denyse Homès-Fredericq on the Occasion of Her Eightieth Birthday. Akkadica Supplementum XII. Wetteren: Cultura, 2014.

I’ll be traveling the next couple of weekends and unable to collect stories or write round-ups. If you see anything of interest, send me an email and I’ll include it at the next opportunity.

HT: Ferrell Jenkins, Charles Savelle, Agade, Joseph Lauer

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Archaeologists working at Bethsaida have discovered a possible escape tunnel from the time of the Israelite monarchy.

Leen Ritmeyer explains the recent construction work on the Temple Mount and its potential significance for archaeology.

“The Egyptian Antiquities Ministry recently announced the excavation of a 3,000-year-old fortress at the site of Tell el-Habua (also known as Tel Habuwa and Tell Huba) near the Suez Canal in Egypt.”

Egypt’s Prime Minister recently visited the Grand Egyptian Museum to check on its progress for a slated August 2015 opening.

The works of the famous glass maker Ennion are now on display at the Met.

The Museum of Biblical Art in Dallas is hosting a temporary exhibition of old maps of the Holy Land. Wayne Stiles shows a few photos from his visit and explains the value of using maps in your
Bible study.

Monday lecture at the British Museum: Rupert Chapman, Ahab’s Ivory House: When Was It Destroyed?

Plans are underway to allow visitors inside the Erechtheion of the Acropolis.

The most visited museum in 2014 was the Louvre, with 9.3 million visitors.

HT: Explorator, Agade

Ennion's blue glass jug, 1st c AD, tb031114560
Blue glass jug made by Ennion, first century AD
From the Eretz Israel Museum
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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The William G. Dever Archaeological Fellowship for Biblical Scholars is a travel-study award for “a qualified American untenured faculty member in the field of biblical studies who wants to acquire elementary, first-hand experience in field archaeology and research in Israel.”

Wayne Stiles explains how Kadesh Barnea helps us to know God’s will.

Jerusalem’s recent snowfall: SourceFlix shares some beautiful aerial footage.

Swedish archaeologists have found near Cairo a 2,500-year-old relief depicting two pharaonic deities.
And Czech archaeologists find tomb of previously unknown pharaonic queen Khentakawess.

The original volumes of the Tell en-Nasbeh (biblical Mizpah) excavation reports are now available online for the first time. The Bade Museum website includes a couple of other downloads that may be of interest.

And now published by Gorgias Press: “As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah …”: The Tell en-Nasbeh Excavations after 85 Years, edited by Jeffrey R. Zorn & Aaron J. Brody.

The Yale Babylonian Collection now has its own website.

The open access, electronic companion to Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period, volume 3/2 (Eisenbrauns, 2014) is now online.

The authenticity of two Baruch son of Neriah bullae is rejected in a new article by Yuval Goren and
Eran Arie in BASOR vol. 372 (December 2014), pp. 147-158. (Abstract and article on JStor. And there’s free access to the entire issue via the BASOR website.)

“Patterns of Evidence: Exodus,” claims to solve the problem of lack of evidence, but it appears to do so by a major chronological revision. As far as I’m concerned, a movie showing on only one night (Jan 19, 7pm) in selected theaters doesn’t deserve much attention.

A full-scale sailing replica of the Ma‘agan Michael is now under construction. The original ship wrecked near Dor in 400 BC and was discovered in 1985.

Both portions of P46 have now been digitized and are available online.

Kevin Shillington has begun a series on Charles Warren on the Palestine Exploration Fund Blog.

Coming soon: Discovery House Bible Atlas, by John Beck.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, BibleX

Mizpah outer wall, db6604081112
Tell en-Nasbeh, biblical Mizpah, in 1966
Photo by David Bivin
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About the BiblePlaces Blog

The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.

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