Temple Mount Archives - Page 23 of 59

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

In work to construct a mikveh in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, archaeologists discovered a Roman bathhouse and below that a cistern connected to the aqueduct from Bethlehem.

Hundreds of Roman fresco fragments from a large building, dating to the 2nd century, have been excavated in Zippori National Park (Sepphoris).

A journalist gets a rare chance to visit Mount Ebal and its “altar.”

A site proposed as one of the Gilgals of the Bible is in danger because of the establishment of a new garbage dump.

Nadav Shragai asks why the media ignores illegal Muslim activity on the Temple Mount.

A new music video by Michael W. Smith was filmed entirely in Israel and includes some beautiful drone footage.

The Baptist News interviews a zooarchaeologist who excavated in the Philistine cemetery of Ashkelon.

A collection of Dead Sea Scroll fragments owned by the Museum of the Bible have been published in a book edited by Emanuel Tov, Kipp Davis, and Robert Duke.

It’s not just the words, but where they were spoken, argues Wayne Stiles.

Dan Warner is on the Book and the Spade this week talking about his excavation of the Canaanite water system at Gezer.

Seth Rodriquez appreciates the support he received for his trip to teach biblical backgrounds at the
Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe and he reports on his time there.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis, Agade, Charles Savelle

Mount Ebal altar from northwest, ws092213002

Proposed altar on Mount Ebal
Photo by Bill Schlegel

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Museums, Samaria, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

The Israeli police arrested five members of the Waqf for erecting scaffolding and carrying out structural changes on the Dome of the Rock without authorization.

A new study suggests that there was widespread literacy in the kingdom of Judah in the 6th century BC. The full study is available for purchase or free through Academia.

The Temple Institute is planning to open the first school for training priests to serve in the Jerusalem temple.

Jeremy Smoak compares the silver amulets from Jerusalem with the Ekron temple inscription.

Wayne Stiles: “God inspired metaphors of biblical geography and botany to highlight one of the most important aspects in any healthy marriage.”

The Winter 2016 issue of DigSight is now online and includes stories on Qeiyafa finds, past lectures, and a new exhibit.

An article on the Inspiration Cruises website gives a little history of a Finnish moshav established in Israel in the 1970s and named in memory of Jews surrendered to the Nazis in World War II.

Frank L. Benz, longtime professor at Wartburg Seminary, died last week. Several years ago, we mentioned here his little-known New Testament marking guide to the Student Map Manual.

Martin Bachmann, the German Archaeology Institute’s deputy Istanbul director and the head of the Pergamon excavations, died this week at the age of 52.

George Mendenhall died yesterday, 8 days shy of his 100th birthday.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade

Tagged Jerusalem, Judah, Philistines, Sad News, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A youth group working alongside archaeologists in Ibillin in northern Israel have uncovered a Canaanite fortress.

A pottery workshop from the Roman period has been excavated in western Galilee. High-res photos are available here.

After a four-year break, excavators are back at work at Tel Dan.

Jodi Magness provides an update on this summer’s excavations of Huqoq on The Book and the Spade.

Israel’s only mummy is now on display in a special exhibit at the Israel Museum that opened this week.

A project featuring ten mosaic replicas was unveiled in Jerusalem’s Cardo this week. A Jerusalem Post article indicates that the project will take a year to complete.

A group of Israeli archaeologists was attacked when touring the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount Sifting Project has a firsthand report.

Israel’s High Court is allowing the transfer of the ancient library at the Rockefeller Museum to the new IAA headquarters.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project is looking for help in identifying some of their finds.

Wayne Stiles explains the King’s Garden in Jerusalem, past and present.

CBD has a good deal going on the New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Get the original four volumes for $148, or get all five for $260. The update volume is available separately as well for $111. (Used sets at Amazon are a little more and new are $400+228.)

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade

Tagged Egypt, Galilee, Jerusalem, Museums, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Repairs inside the Dome of the Rock are complete, and when they took photos this week, it was revealed that the reconstruction of the tile floor proposed by the Temple Mount Sifting Project is accurate.

The study of fish bones found in a 7th-century AD shipwreck near Dor indicates that a now-extinct subspecies of St. Peter’s fish was being transported on the boat (Haaretz premium).

Scholars are offering competing explanations for the massive trash dump in the Kidron Valley from the first century AD (Haaretz premium).

A jogger along the shore of Ashkelon discovered a 12th-century AD oil lamp.

Aren Maeir is providing daily updates of the excavation of Gath.

The Tel Burna team gives an update from the first two weeks of their season. Chris McKinny’s work on the LB cultic building looks particularly promising in the remaining two weeks.

Jennie Ebeling and Norma Franklin discuss several important facets of their excavations at Jezreel.

Luke Chandler discusses the possibility of a Judahite water system at Lachish and the need for funds to excavate it.

If you’re interested in a brief, well-illustrated study of the world’s largest stones used in construction projects, check out Tom Powers’s latest post.

Felicity Cobbing of the PEF was present at the opening of the Palestine Museum in Ramallah and shares her perspective.

The senior staff of the Ashkelon excavations is wrapping up their final season this month and beginning a new project at Tel Shimron with a geophysical survey this summer.

Appian Media was recently filming in Israel for their upcoming Following the Messiah video series.

They are posting updates on the project and their travels on their blog.

The Fifth Gospel is a new iBook that explores the land, the culture, and the archaeology of the Bible. It was designed for high school students and features maps, interactive quizzes, photos, and short film clips. Check it out on iTunes.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Movies, Philistines, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The Temple Mount Sifting Project has released a new video showing dozens of their discoveries.

Another video released this month features David Hendin explaining the coins of the Jewish War.

Egyptian officials are re-opening the tombs of Queen Nefertari and King Seti I in Luxor, but the cost for a ticket will be steep (about $113).

Researchers suggest that King Tut’s dagger was made from a meteorite.

The BBC has the latest “the Dead Sea is dying” story, including an impressive photo of Mineral Beach.

The ASOR Archive Photo of the Month shows archaeologists and local workers at Qumran in 1952.

In terms of visitors, the Louvre is the most popular museum in the world. The British Museum is #5 and the Vatican Museums are #7.

The Google Cultural Institute “contains more than six million artworks, photos, videos and documents from 1,000 institutions including the British Museum and MoMA.”

The lavish lifestyle of the Roman Empire elite is on exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.

The Getty Museum has acquired a valuable Greek funeral vase and a Roman marble head.

“The Penn Museum’s ongoing exhibition, ‘In the Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies,’ offers visitors an insider’s look at efforts to document, preserve, and restore ancient objects in the
Museum’s extensive collection.”

A new exhibit at the Met in New York City focuses on Jerusalem between the years 1000 and 1400.

Ashkelon: A Retrospective: 30 Years of the Leon Levy Expedition is a new exhibit running at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem until the end of the year.

Haaretz ran a profile of Geza Vermes on the anniversary of his birthday.

The Israel Antiquities Authority raided a shop in the Mamilla Mall on suspicions of selling looted antiquities.

“For the first time in history the texts and images of all the Dead Sea Scrolls are available in their totality on the Internet.” From Brill for a purchase price of $5,940.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Steven Anderson, Agade, Explorator, Daniel Wright,
G. M. Grena, Rebekah Dutton

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Dead Sea, Egypt, Jerusalem, Museums, Philistines, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

An in-depth article by the Atlantic Monthly has uncovered the original source for the fake Jesus wife papyrus. The Harvard professor who published the artifact now believes that it is probably a modern forgery.

With the help of Google Earth and drones, researchers have discovered a massive ceremonial platform in Petra.

The Jerusalem Post has an update on the on-going renovations at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity.

One of the discoveries is a mosaic of an angel.

A $1.3 million gift has launched the restoration of the Edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

People are speculating on what they will find.

“Some 1,800 years ago, Roman troops used ‘whistling’ sling bullets as a ‘terror weapon’ against their barbarian foes.”

Israeli authorities have ordered the Jordanian Waqf to halt construction of toilets just outside the Temple Mount.

A collection of 16 coins from the Hasmonean period were discovered in excavations in Modiin.

A Greek archaeologist thinks he may have found the tomb of Aristotle. Others disagree.

“Massive fortifications and sunken ship-sheds thousands of years old have been found in Piraeus, the harbor city of Athens.”

Canaanites living in Gath in the Early Bronze Age were sacrificing animals imported from Egypt.

The journal article is available here.

The Giza pyramid is not square. The ancients were off by about 5 inches (14 cm).

The Guardian has posted a dozen photos of excavations in Egypt in the 1910s, including several of John Garstang.

The Bible and Interpretation has posted an important new article: Addressing Survey Methodology in the Southern Levant, by Aaron Tavger, Joe Uziel, Dvir Raviv, and Itzhaq Shai.

Scott Stripling is on The Book and the Spade this week talking about the latest from his excavations at Khirbet el-Maqatir.

Wayne Stiles traces the geography of God’s dwelling place on earth.

You don’t see this for sale very often: Survey of Western Palestine, 1881 – 1888, 9 vols and 78 maps/plates (set) & The Survey of Eastern Palestine 1889. $10k.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Steven Anderson, Agade, Explorator, Daniel Wright

Tagged Egypt, Forgery, Greece, Jerusalem, Jordan, Judah, Resources, Samaria, Temple Mount