Archaeologists excavating a commercial market in Baalbek found a mosaic from the Roman period.

Though archaeologists have found some 80 thermopolia in Pompeii, they have only now (apparently) completely excavated an entire one. This article has lots of photos.

The Dead Cities, also called the ‘Forgotten Cities,’ are a series of ancient towns, monuments, and settlements located in North-Western Syria on the Aleppo plateau.”

A study has determined that Egyptian mummied baboons came from the area of modern Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Yemen, suggesting that this was the area of ancient Punt.

In photos: The forgotten Nubian pyramids of Sudan

“Hidden beneath the sands of the Arabian Peninsula lie secrets dating back thousands of years that tell the story of the people of Arabia.”

Epic Iran is an exhibit opening in London in February that will showcase 5,000 years of Iranian culture.

The latest British Museum ancient city travel guide features the amazing Persepolis in the year 500 BC.

CNN looks at the history of the mausoleum of Augustus as preparations are made to open it as a tourist site in March.

New: The Royal Inscriptions of Sargon II, King of Assyria (721–705 BC), by Grant Frame. Use NR20 for 30% off.

New: The Restoration of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem, edited By Claudio Alessandri.

Aren Maeir’s recent lecture on Philistine Gath is online.

Daniel Master will be lecturing on Jan 7 by Zoom on the Philistines in an event hosted by The Museum of the Bible.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Explorator, Ted Weis

Archaeologists are excavating a large defensive moat at an 9th-8th century BC Phoenicia colony in Spain.

“Curator St John Simpson reveals what happened after he saw a rare plaque from ancient Iraq on an online auction site.”

“Researchers have found evidence of the oldest gynaecological treatment on record, performed on a woman who lived in Ancient Egypt some 4,000 years ago.”

The first-ever archaeological replicas factory in Egypt is under construction.

Preparations are underway for transporting 22 royal mummies to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

A neurologist in Iraq has spent more than 15 years photographing his country and sharing those pictures with the world.

Don McNeeley reports on the annual meeting of the Near East Archaeological Society held last month.

Michaeline Wilkins divided the Hebrew of the Song of Songs into male and female parts and then she and her husband read the text.

Zoom webinar on Dec 22: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament, by Lawrence H. Schiffman. Registration required.

Zoom lecture on Dec 23: Writing on the Wall: Graffiti and the Forgotten Jews of Antiquity, by Karen Stern

Thin End of the Wedge podcast: Nicolò Marchetti: Nineveh 2020. How and why archaeology?

A Roman warship is the latest Legos Ideas project to reach 10,000 supporters.

Susan Masten identifies the 10 most important ancient coins ever minted.

Ferrell Jenkins looks at three strata of paganism at Pergamum, the city “where Satan dwells.”

Tutku Tours has a few spots left for familiarization trips for professors this spring to Turkey and Jordan. Two great reasons to consider joining: (1) Mark Wilson is leading; (2) $1,990 includes air. (It costs almost that much just for the entrance ticket to Petra!)

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Joseph Lauer, Mark Hoffman, Explorator

More than 100 sarcophagi from the Ptolemaic period have been discovered at Saqqara in Egypt.

“More than 200 years after the rediscovery of an Egyptian temple [at Esna], a German-Egyptian research team has uncovered the original colors of inscriptions that are around 2,000 years old.”

CT scans are providing new information about two Egyptian mummies buried in the Roman period.

The American Research Center in Egypt has released two new virtual tours: the C-Ware Vessel and the KV 55 Coffin.

A 17 million euro renovation at the Giza Pyramids includes a new visitor center, an electric bus, and a restaurant.

Archaeologists working in southern Turkey have dubbed a newly discovered mosaic “the Mona Lisa of Kadirli.”

Mathematical models to determine the missing lengths of ancient scrolls are untrustworthy. The underlying journal article is here.

On this week’s The Book and the Spade, Jeffrey Kloha provides a virtual tour of the revised Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Museum of the Bible.

Logos has released an audio version of the Hebrew Bible, read by Abraham Shmuelof, available for free.

Ferrell Jenkins shares a map and photographs illustrating the island of Patmos, the place of John’s exile when he wrote the book of Revelation.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis

Sinclair Bell writes about Imperial Rome’s passion for chariot racing. The article includes some beautiful illustrations, some of which come from a new documentary on the subject.

A new study shows that ancient Egyptian scribes added lead to their inks to help their writing dry.

“An Egyptian archaeological mission working in the ​​al-Ghuraifah area in Minya Governorate has uncovered the tomb of a royal treasury supervisor.”

Free lecture on YouTube: “Tutankhamun’s Life, Death, and Afterlife: New Evidence from Thebes,” by W. Raymond Johnson (available until Nov 21).

Zoom lecture on Nov 10: “Citron Detectives, Nomadic Acacias, and Pomegranate Physics: Some Puzzles and Solutions in Biblical Ethnobotany,” by Jon Greenberg, a Biblical and Talmudic ethnobotanist.

The Israeli TV series “The Holy Land in the Eyes of History” is now available online in some countries (but not the US), with subtitles in English.

Smithsonian Magazine explains the Athenian background of ostracism, in which inscribed potsherds (ostraca) were cast to exile a political candidate from the city for the next decade.

Newly launched: PEACE: a Portal of Epigraphy, Archaeology, Conservation and Education on Jewish Funerary Culture, covering from antiquity to the 20th century.

The Winter 2020 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review includes articles on Herod’s throne niche at Macherus and a private archive discovered at Maresha.

Denny Sissom’s The Bridge to the New Testament is on sale now with discount code WINTER2020.

Tutku has announced its list of tours in 2021 and 2022, including discounted trips for professors to Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and Jordan.

Claude Mariottini provides an introduction to the city of Susa.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Mark Hoffman

“Excavation works will start within two weeks to prepare for construction of the controversial cable car planned to connect West Jerusalem with the Old City.”

Daily Life in an Ancient Judean Town is now online, being adapted from the Badè Museum’s long-running traveling exhibit of the same name. The exhibit was designed as a remote-teaching resource, and a teaching kit is available.

An Israeli team is using artificial intelligence to fill in the gaps in fragmentary cuneiform tablets.

‘Atiqot 100 is now online. It includes dozens of articles related to excavations in Jaffa.

Members of The Times of Israel Community will be treated to a peek into Israel’s vault of ancient coins on a tour with Donald T. Ariel.

CoinWeek has a post about the rare coin that features Aristobulus IV on one side and the infamous Salome on the reverse.

Alex Wosford discusses the use of landscapes and people in the photo collection of James Graham, taken in Palestine and Syria between 1853 and 1860.

The latest in the Discussions with the Diggers series features  Dale W. Manor, the Field Director of the excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh.

The Jerusalem University College is offering online classes for the 2021 semester to anyone who wants to apply.

New book: Where God Came Down: The Archaeological Evidence, by Joel P. Kramer. “Using Scripture as his primary ancient text and interpretive tool, author Joel Kramer examines the archaeological record for ten locations recorded in the Bible.”

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Mark Hoffman

“For the first time, scientists and archaeologists believe that they have decrypted symbols denoting numerical fractions in the Linear A writing system.”

An elegant summer palace once belonging to the Minoan aristocracy at Zominthos on Crete, first discovered in 1982, has yielded many more of its priceless secrets in a recent dig.”

The number of sealed wooden coffins discovered in Saqqara is now up to 59.

Excavations at Patara in Turkey have uncovered a kitchen from the time of Alexander the Great.

In Rome, an ancient villa with outstanding mosaics will soon be open to visitors.

The acropolis of Athens has all-new lighting.

Allison Thomason explores the archaeology of clothing in the ancient Near East.

A rare Roman gold coin minted in 42 BC celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar will soon be auctioned.

A new Center for Epigraphical Studies has been established at Persepolis.

If you’re looking for a name for your baby that avoids the new and trendy, check out the Hittite Name Finder.

In a Getty Villa podcast, the museum director discusses Assyrian culture in view of the reliefs currently on loan from the British Museum.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Explorator