An Israeli team began excavations of Samaria-Sebaste this week. Some consider the excavation of ancient Israel’s capital to be a hostile takeover of Palestinian heritage.
Archaeologists working at the Roman cemetery at Legio near Megiddo have uncovered the jaws of thirteen pigs in what they believe was remains of a funerary banquet.
“Jewish veterans from the Roman army — and not Shimon Bar Kochba — may have initially led the 2nd-century Jewish rebellion against the Romans commonly known as the ‘Bar Kochba Revolt.’”
“Two enigmatic 1,500-year-old human figurines carved in rare ebony wood from India or Sri Lanka and likely made in Africa have been uncovered in the Negev.” The underlying journal article is here.
A new study has found that “the Kingdom of Israel had much greater name variety than the southern kingdom, hinting at deeper social differences.” The underlying journal article is here.
“Police arrested nine Jewish men who tried to smuggle a sacrificial goat onto the Temple Mount in Jerusalem Monday afternoon.”
The Jerusalem Post runs a short article about the road between the Pool of Siloam and the Temple Mount.
New release: Readers of the Lost Ark: Imagining the Ark of the Covenant from Ancient Times to the Present, by Kevin M. McGeough (Oxford University Press, $35; Amazon). Free chapter here.
Bible Mapper Atlas has created a (free) poster map of the tribe of Manasseh (west of the Jordan) and its surroundings, circa 1200 BC.
HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken
