Luke Chandler reports on the first week of excavations at Lachish. They made some significant finds in his square on each of the first three days.

They had a fantastic third week of excavations at Tel Burna.

A Roman theater (or amphitheater?) has been discovered in ancient Smyrna as the municipality demolishes a poor neighborhood. This may have been the place where Polycarp was martyred.

Beit Guvrin National Park has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Wayne Stiles captures the beauty and historic significance of Nahal Zin with photos, a video, and Google Street View.

“The truth about Jesus’ tomb, romance and the Holocaust” is a rather flashy title for an update of Simcha Jacobovici’s lawsuit against Joe Zias.

ABR has created a new video series, Is It Time To Throw Away Your Bible? They have now shared a couple of free episodes: King David and Solomon: Men or Myths? Part One and Part Two. The video set is on sale for only $20.

Robert Cargill reflects on the passing of Yuval Peleg.

Bet Guvrin cave with view to sky, tb022807541
Cave at Beit Guvrin National Park
Photo from Judah and the Dead Sea
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Wayne Stiles recommends 3 Sites To See Along the Mediterranean and 3 High Points to Visit in the Golan. As always, he has lots of photos.

Lois Tverberg has a new e-book out: 5 Hebrew Words That Every Christian Should Know. Only $3.99 and a free sample is available.

After Israel, the next country Bible students should visit is Turkey. Why? Ferrell Jenkins explains.

Tom Powers provides the history of “the bridge that never was.” His post includes illustrations of Robinson’s arch and inaccurate reconstructions.

The Bible and Interpretation features a well-illustrated summary of crucifixion in the ancient Mediterranean world based on a recent monograph by John Granger Cook.

This article explains why museums hate ancient coins.

The “endless archaeological park” also known as Greece is now on Google Street View after overcoming five years of government resistance.

Bible History Daily has a new post on Map Quests: Geography, Digital Humanities and the Ancient World.

Satellite imagery is helping officials monitor looting of sites in Egypt. The New York Times reports on other actions the Egyptian government is taking against antiquities theft.

Work continues in the effort to establish an archaeology park at Carchemish.

For more, see the ASOR Archaeology Weekly Roundup.

HT: Explorator, Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Termessos Hadrian propylon and Artemis temple, tb062506813

Temple of Artemis in Termessos, Turkey
Photo from Western Turkey
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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.

Judean hills near Debir, Khirbet Rabud, tb030407777
The “desert of Canaan”
Photo from Judah and the Dead Sea
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Aren Maeir reports on the highlights of the 2013 excavation season at Gath (Tell es-Safi).

A statue of a Phoenician priest dating to the 6th century BC has been discovered in Sidon.

The Pope has arrived in Jordan and heads to Israel soon.

Some religious Jews are afraid that if Catholic mass is permitted in the Upper Room that they will be unable to pray at the Tomb of David downstairs.

A new study suggests that some of Petra’s structures were intended to align with the solstices and equinoxes.

Archaeological work in Jerusalem indicates that it was the Roman construction of Aelia Capitolina that triggered the Bar Kochba Revolt (and not the other way around).

Have you ever wondered how Jonathan defeated the Philistines by climbing the cliff of Michmash?

Wayne Stiles explains it all with maps and photos.

Ferrell Jenkins and Leon Mauldin are traveling in eastern Turkey. They have recently visited Haran
and the Zeugma Mosaic Museum.

Muslims in eastern Syria have apparently destroyed a statue from the Neo-Assyrian period looted from Tell Ajaja.

The 2014 excavation season has begun at Tel Jezreel.

The PACE (Project on Ancient Cultural Engagement) online database has moved.

Judith McKenzie’s black and white photographs taken in 1982-1986 for The Architecture of Petra
(1990) are now all available online at the Petra Digital Archive. Other collections are also online, in high-resolution and free for use in educational and academic publications and research.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

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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

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A bust of Alexander the Great has been discovered in a church on the island of Cyprus.

The recent claim that the Polish Center of Archaeology had found the tomb of Alexander the Great in Alexandria, Egypt, is a hoax.

The new museum in Antioch on the Orontes will open soon with the world’s largest display of mosaics.

The “Roads of Arabia” exhibit is now in Kansas City at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Until July 6.

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology has launched an interactive online 3D object library. Direct link here.

Logos has three new collections available at pre-publication discount for those interested in seals of the biblical world:

The ASOR Weekly Roundup is here.

HT: Jack Sasson, Ted Weis

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