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SourceFlix has just released a great new film short on “The Potter.” The 3-minute video features a craftsman in Hebron.

Recent excavations in Hebron are briefly described in the Jewish Press.

Might el-Araj be the real Bethsaida? A five-day “shovel survey” this week suggests that it might be.

An intact burial chamber was discovered in Aswan, Egypt, with nine mummies. Luxor Times has photos.

Israel’s Ministry of Tourism is looking to boost budget tourism by providing grants for the construction of hostels in Jerusalem and around the country.

The note that Pope Francis placed in a crack of the Western Wall had the text of the Lord’s Prayer written in Spanish.

“The Western Wall Heritage Foundation unveiled on Sunday a fully excavated grand hall from the 14th century in the Western Wall Tunnels that took 10 years to restore.” (JPost) An older video shows the hall under renovation. (HT: Joseph Lauer)

Jerusalem has been chosen as the “Islamic Tourism Capital” for 2016.

Is a mosque being constructed in the Golden Gate? The Israel Antiquities Authority says no.

Exploring Bible Lands is leading a tour of Israel and just finished a visit to Northern Galilee.

What language did Jesus speak? The dispute between the pope and the prime minister has scholars weighing in.

I’m on the Book and the Spade this week, talking with Gordon Govier about Magdala and a Jerusalem inscription (direct link here). I missed noting last week’s broadcast on the latest developments in the City of David. Details on The Book & The Spade 2015 Archaeological Adventure Study Tour are now available.

Golden Gate from west, tb091306226
The Golden Gate of the Temple Mount
Photo from Jerusalem
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The Temple Mount Sifting Project is profiled at length by Ilan Ben Zion in The Times of Israel. If you’ve been following the work for the last decade, much of the report will sound familiar. But Ben Zion provides some detractors with the opportunity to showcase their ignorance.


Israel Finkelstein: “the debris could also have been brought from other locations” besides the Temple Mount.


Marwan Abu-Khalaf: whatever was in that soil may have come from the surrounding Kidron Valley.


Yonathan Mizrachi: the sifting project “doesn’t have any archaeological value.”

First, they tried to prevent archaeologists from studying the material illegally removed from the
Temple Mount. When that failed, they try to deny it has any significance. Unfortunately, news reports like this one allow them to say whatever they want, without any evidence whatsoever.

Ben Zion describes some of the discoveries made since the project began in 2004.

Most of the tens of thousands of items found in the pans by volunteers are small — an abundance of coins, innumerable fragments of clay, figurines, brightly colored mosaic tiles and beads, arrowheads, inscribed stones and bits of bone. In explaining the trove of tiny artifacts found, Barkay made regular reference to biblical and post-biblical characters in corresponding the items to time periods: clay figurines smashed during the time of the just kings of Judah, seal impressions with the names of priests mentioned in the book of Jeremiah and coins minted during the rein of King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who fought the Maccabees. The relics catalog the history of Jerusalem from antiquity through the modern era.

The full story, with many photos, is published here.

HT: Joseph Lauer

UPDATE (6/12): The director of the sifting project has responded.

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Gold mosaic pieces from the Dome of the Rock
Photo courtesy of The Temple Mount Sifting Project
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I’ll start with my favorite article of the week: a review of recent excavations at the base of the Temple Mount’s Western Wall. You already know about the chisel, but you may not have heard about the smooth stone, the use of mortar, or the exposure of the valley floor. The Israel Hayom article failed to check with expert Leen Ritmeyer, but you can see his reaction on his blog.

Wet sand is the trick for cutting the pulling power in half when dragging pyramid stones across the Egyptian desert.

One chapter at a time, Ferrell Jenkins is taking us through a series in Visualizing Isaiah. This week he arrived at Isaiah 40 and he shares a couple of shepherd illustrations.

Now online: Leen Ritmeyer’s recent lecture, “Does the Byzantine Church at Khirbet el-Maqatir Reflect the Sacred Architecture of the Temple in Jerusalem?”

The Wall Street Journal summarizes events in the last few weeks that have led scholars to recognize the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife as a modern forgery.

The BBC has a video inside the new replica of King Tut’s tomb. Not everyone is pleased.

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Syria is trying to attract investment in tourism. Aleppo, Crac des Chevaliers, and Palmyra are not accessible, but other places are perfectly safe, according to the minister of tourism.

Israel’s Ministry of Tourism plans to increase the number of campgrounds around the country.

Nazareth will be the title of a new miniseries produced by Fox about the years Jesus spent growing up in this Galilean village. The Bible records nothing of this period in Jesus’ life.

Leen Ritmeyer provides some corrections to the story about the Temple Mount chisel.

Archaeologists working in southern Egypt have discovered two tombs, including one with “a trove of artifacts including reed pens and a bronze inkwell.” They date to about 600 BC.

A cave with human remains from the first century was discovered near Ein Tzurim south of Bethlehem.

Bruce Chilton revisits the issue of the authenticity of the James Ossuary.

Paleojudaica reflects on the latest developments with the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife. Bible History Daily has a much more thorough review.

Publications of the Oriental Institute, 1906-2014: Exploring the History and Civilizations of the Near East. Edited by Thomas G. Urban and Leslie Schramer, compiled by Zuhal K. Sharp. Chicago: The
Oriental Institute, 1991, 2014. Second revised edition. 28 pages (more than 750 titles). All titles published by the Oriental Institute, with active links to their web pages, alphabetically arranged.


The Final Days of Jesus is available today for Kindle for $0.99.

The weekly ASOR roundup is here.

HT: Jack Sasson

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Archaeologists excavating in the area below Robinson’s Arch along the southern end of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount have discovered a metal chisel used to shape the stones in the first century.
The Israel Antiquities Authority has not issued a press release yet, but Haaretz has learned of the discovery.

Archaeologists have found a stonemason’s chisel that they believe may have been used by the builders of the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Actually Eli Shukron, an archaeologist working for the Israel Antiquities Authority, found the chisel last summer while digging at the lower base of the Western Wall, south of the Western Wall courtyard. However, the IAA has preferred to remain silent on the discovery, based on the need to study the tool and other evidence further before issuing any statements, it explained.
Shukron has been digging in the area of the City of David and the Western Wall together with Prof. Ronny Reich for the past 19 years, until a few months ago. In recent years Shukron had been excavating inside a tunnel found to lead from the City of David into the Old City, passing beneath its massive stone wall and ending at the Western Wall.
[…]
The chisel is just one of many archaeological treasures that Shukron and Reich reported from the area. Other finds include a Roman sword, cooking vessels from the period of the Great Rebellion, a gold bell that they think may have adorned the robe of the High Priest, and a ceramic seal apparently used to confirm the suitability of sacrifices brought to the Temple.
[…]
“People pray and kiss these holy stones every day, but somebody carved them, somebody chiseled them, somebody positioned them,” Shukron says. “They were workers, human beings, who had tools. Today for the first time we can touch a chisel that belonged to one of them.”

The full article in Haaretz (registration/subscription required) explains the basis for dating the construction of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount to one of the rulers after King Herod.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Chisel used in construction of Western Wall
Photo by Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority
Temple Mount stones of western wall below street level, tb050312314
Western Wall excavations below the ancient street level near discovery location
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Aren Maeir will be lecturing on the Philistines in Kansas City and Chicago later this month.

Carl Rasmussen ran into a pack of wild boar at Caesarea Philippi and some in his group managed to get photos. (I’ve managed the former but never the latter.)

Israeli police arrested five Jews attempting to sacrifice a goat at the Temple Mount for Passover.

A couple of tombs from the 26th Dynasty were discovered in Pr-Medjet. Luxor Times has photos.

The ruins of Palmyra have suffered from the Syrian civil war, and the New York Times provides an update.

The ASOR roundup has more stories from archaeology around the world.

Bibles-Online is a new site that allows you to view every page of rare and antique copies of the Scriptures, including the 1521 Erasmus Greek NT, the 1535 Coverdale Bible, the 1549 Matthew-Tyndale Bible, and others.

Wayne Stiles is offering a significant discount on his new audiobook this weekend before it is available at Audible.com. I’ve highly recommended the print version of Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus in the past and now the audiobook is available for less than $7.

HT: Jack Sasson, Charles Savelle

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