Samaria Archives - Page 26 of 36

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Leen Ritmeyer explains why the Western Wall of the Temple Mount was not destroyed by an earthquake, and he follows up a reader’s question to prove it with photos.

Snow fell in Israel this week. Arutz-7 has photos.

The story going around this week on the location of Jesus’ trial being excavated is not new. We’ve been posting on it here under the less sensational title of the Kishle excavations. We agree that this is the area of Herod’s palace, and that this is where Jesus’ trial occurred. George Athas explains further.

I’m on the Book and the Spade this week, talking with Gordon Govier about the top 10 biblical archaeology discoveries of 2014.

Many eastern Christians visited the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism on January 6.

New book: Biblical Lachish: A Tale of Construction, Destruction, Excavation and Restoration, by

David Ussishkin. I see a few mentions online with a 2014 date, but it’s not clear if the English edition is actually available. (I’ll have to remove Lachish from my pending post on “Whatever Happened to

Popular Books on Archaeological Excavations?”) UPDATE: BAS has the book in stock.

The Bible and Interpretation features an excerpt from Eric H. Cline’s book, 1177 BC: The Year
Civilization Collapsed, explaining the power vacuum that allowed Israelite and Philistine settlement.

Tourism to Israel dropped after the summer events.

Turkey has nominated Ephesus for the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Scott Stripling summarizes the recent winter excavation at Khirbet el-Maqatir (biblical Ai?).

Wayne Stiles is hosting an informal gathering on What It’s Like to Travel to Israel next weekend.
ASOR has listed its Top 10 Blog Posts of 2014.

Walking with Paul, a Lands of the Bible wall calendar, is now available for 50% off. Several of our photos are featured.

Gate of Mazaeus and Mithridates at Ephesus
Photo from Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Excavations, Exodus-Conquest, Holidays, Jerusalem, Resources, Samaria, Temple Mount, Tourism, Turkey, Weather

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A reporter visited the Kishle in Jerusalem on its recent opening. The article includes a nice photo and an audio version.

Portions of Jerusalem’s Decumanus have been uncovered near Jaffa Gate.

Leen Ritmeyer notes new building violations on the Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project is seeking volunteers who can assist them in raising money through crowd-funding.

Why should Jews and Christians be denied from praying on the Temple Mount while Muslims are
allowed?

“There is a little corner of Jerusalem that is forever India. At least, it has been for more than 800 years…”

The latest SourceFlix video short: Biblical Cities – From the Air.

A Palestinian archaeologist is claiming to have discovered the church where the martyr Stephen’s bones were buried. The site is near Ramallah (10 miles north of Jerusalem), and the claim is based on an inscription not shown in the article. Perhaps some Byzantines were trying to capitalize on the tourist trade, just as they plan to do to the site in the future.

A fortified site from the time of Persia’s conquest by Alexander the Great has been excavated near
Israel’s border with Gaza.

The laborers at the copper mines in the Timna Valley ate well, according to an analysis of bones from Slaves’ Hill.

Luke Chandler has a report on Yosi Garfinkel’s recent lecture on Khirbet Qeiyafa, including word on two more inscriptions.

Tourism in Israel was down 33% in October from the previous year.

If you can use financial help to excavate next summer at Tel Burna, check out this scholarship opportunity.

Ferrell Jenkins shares a beautiful photo of Mount Arbel and the Sea of Galilee.

HT: Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer, Keith Keyser

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Negev, Samaria, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

The Western Wall prayer plaza will have a smaller version of a museum and office building after the planning committee listened to opponents.

A Muslim crowd on the Temple Mount attacked police when they opened the site to visitors yesterday afternoon.

A Jewish journalist describes his visit to the Temple Mount with Rabbi Chaim Richman.

The first week of excavations at Tel Burna has concluded.

Luke Chandler explains how a discovery from Khirbet Qeiyafa may help us to understand some details of Solomon’s temple described in 1 Kings 6. He includes a link to the Israel Exploration Journal article by Garfinkel and Mumcuoglu.

Shmuel Browns’ photo of the week is of Nahal Zavitan in the Golan Heights.

Where did Jesus change the water into wine? And what was the purpose of this miracle? Wayne Stiles explains and illustrates.

Scott Stripling is on The Book and the Spade this week, talking about last month’s excavations at Khirbet el-Maqatir (Ai?). Direct link here.

Tourism to Israel is at record levels, with 1.5 million visits from January to May this year.

The Sacred Bridge is on sale for Father’s Day at the Biblical Archaeology Society store. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it lower than $79.95. (Amazon has it for $118 used or $125 new.) This is the standard reference for historical geography. These photos give a sense for how detailed the work is.

The Biblical Archaeology Society has a new free eBook: Masada: The Dead Sea’s Desert Fortress.

And BAR is now available for the iPad, Android, and Kindle Fire.

The ASOR Blog has more from the broader world of archaeology.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Jerusalem’s Temple Mount from the west
Photo by Barry Beitzel, from the Pictorial Library, volume 3

Tagged Excavations, Galilee, Golan, Resources, Samaria, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Leon Mauldin has photos of a restored pagan temple at Laodicea.

Luke Chandler: Canaan was not a big desert. (Someone tell the media!)

Where is the ark of the covenant? This article surveys some of the most popular views in history.

And now Ferrell Jenkins has seen Jerusalem in IMAX. Read his review here.

Leen Ritmeyer has a brief note on his recent work at Khirbet el-Maqatir, concluding that the first-century village was actually a walled city.

The Associates for Biblical Research have just released a new booklet entitled Khirbet el-Maqatir: History of a Biblical Site.

BibleX reports that all of SBL’s Ancient Near Eastern Monographs are now available as free pdfs.

A museum for the History of Medicine in the Holy Land has opened in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Hershel Shanks ponders a remaining mystery about the Dead Sea Scrolls.

We’ll have more stories in part 3 of the roundup tomorrow.

The “desert of Canaan”
Photo from Judah and the Dead Sea

Tagged Excavations, Exodus-Conquest, Jerusalem, Museums, Resources, Samaria, Shephelah, Turkey

Week One at Khirbet el-Maqatir

The first half of the season is finished at a site that may be Ai of the Bible. This year’s team is the largest ever, and most of the work is focused on remains from the first century. Gary Byers reports on some of the discoveries:

From one of these squares a second scarab at KeM was found. Last year’s scarab was considered to be the top find of Biblical archaeology in 2013 by Christianity Today Magazine (off-site link). This year’s scarab, from soil 15 feet from the first, has already been taken to an expert at Hebrew University for cleaning, restoration and analysis. Last season at KeM, we found a record total of 205 coins (See the report from 2013). This week, we found 112 coins – from every square but mine! Our numbers are impressive to archaeologists because they’re being found individually all over the site and not together in hordes. Squares led by Dr. Gene Merrill, dig Administrative Director Henry Smith, Abigail Leavitt and Dr. Brian Peterson all have cisterns (plastered and holding water) or silos (not plastered and holding storage jars). Many of our coins come from soil in these subterranean structures.

A full report with photos is here.

Tagged Excavations, Exodus-Conquest, Samaria

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A Bone to Pick: Why Did We Hear Only One Side of the Camel Argument?

In advance of the pope’s blessing of the tabernacle from the boat altar, the New York Times profiles the excavation and resort of Magdala.

Ferrell Jenkins recently visited the new excavations at Derbe.

ArtDaily: “Egypt unveiled Thursday the 3,000 year-old tombs of two senior pharaonic military men in the famed Saqqara necropolis, one of them decorated with well-preserved reliefs depicting the afterlife.”

Aren Maeir’s recent lecture at the Oriental Institute on new directions in the study of the Philistines is now online.

The only museum of biblical archaeology in Latin America is in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Haaretz: Archaeologists are protesting construction at Tel Shiloh.

“Aerial images taken by Corona satellites in 1960s help archaeologists locate unexcavated towns and roads across Middle East, but few gems remain unsurveyed in Israel.”

On Logos pre-pub discount: Biblical Archaeologist / Near Eastern Archaeology (1992–2011) (20 vols.) (74 issues)

Yale University Press launches Roman architecture enhanced e-book. $9.99 at Amazon.

HT: Ted Weis

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Galilee, Italy, Museums, Philistines, Resources, Samaria, Technology, Turkey, Weekend Roundup