Wednesday Roundup

Mount Arbel does indeed provide a panorama of Jesus’ ministry. Wayne Stiles shares photos and a video. I certainly agree with his conclusion: “No visit to Mount Arbel is ever long enough. It remains one of the most beautiful, inspiring, and instructive sites in Israel.”

Exploring Bible Lands marvels at the many biblical events that occurred within the frame of one photo of Jezreel and the Harod Valley. (By the way, you can get that photo and a thousand others for pennies each here.)

Ferrell Jenkins visits the Beit Sturman Museum at Ein Harod and describes its large collection of Roman milestones.

The highest and lowest places of dry ground on the planet are being united by an exchange of stones from Mount Everest and the Dead Sea.

The Gabriel Stone goes on display today at the Israel Museum.

The pyramid complex of Dashur is being threated by looting and construction.

The website of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is reviewed in the CSA Newsletter.

Archaeology programs from the BBC are now online for free viewing.

The recent back-and-forth between Turkish and German authorities over the return of antiquities is reviewed in DW.

HT: Jack Sasson

Dashur Red Pyramid with Bent Pyramid, tb110400454
The Red and Bent Pyramids of Dashur
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands
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Weekend Roundup

Plans to reconstruct Herod’s tomb at the Herodium have been scrapped.

The same article reports that the Herod exhibition at the Israel Museum has been extended to January 2014.

Tuesday’s Samaritan Passover ceremony is described in a Haaretz article. (I believe the first photo caption is wrong, for the animal is not slain until sunset.)

105 million euros is not enough to save Pompeii from deterioration, according to a New York Times video.

Ferrell Jenkins is back in Israel and he recently spent a morning with Shmuel Browns.

The Spring 2013 season at Tel Burna is over and they have found evidence of a destruction in the 9th century. There are still a few days left to sign up for the summer season.


Haaretz’s “Tourist Tip #218” describes the significance of the Broad Wall of Jerusalem.

The temporary bridge to the Mughrabi Gate next to the Western Wall still stands, but next month a committee is going to meet in Paris to discuss its replacement.

FoxNews reports on apps for archaeology.

Berlin’s Pergamon Museum has a new exhibition on the Mesopotamian city of Uruk. Better photos are available here.

Christianbook.com is now selling The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols.) for only $99.99. (That’s 75% the $400 list.)

A rare, original set of the 13 volumes of the Survey of Western Palestine has just been listed by a UK bookseller for $6,400. For $35 more, you can pick up a digital copy of the oversized maps.

HT: Jack Sasson

Key Map for the Survey of Western Palestine. All 26 maps (plus one from Transjordan) are for sale here.
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Weekend Roundup

A sonar survey has identified a large stone structure on the floor of the Sea of Galilee. It may be related to the contemporary third-millennium BC site of nearby Beth Yerah (Khirbet Kerak). The scientific article includes illustrations.

Archaeologists have discovered a port on the Red Sea from the time of Pharaoh Cheops.

Admission to the Israel Museum is free on Independence Day, April 16.

Sharks are rare in the Mediterranean Sea but not in the Red Sea. One came close to swimmers in Eilat last week.

Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, has inaugurated its Archaeology Museum Gallery.

If Israel was ever mapped out on the game of Monopoly, Megiddo would be Boardwalk.

Kyle Pope has written a good article on “The Hinnom Valley and Jesus’ Teaching on Final Punishment.” Barry Britnell shares a photo of the valley.

Details for volunteers for this summer’s dig at Tel Burna are now available. Apply before May 1.
zmetro has four 360-degree panoramas of Laodicea. The excavators and restorers are making great progress at the site.

HT: Charles Savelle, Tony Lawrence, Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

ijna12005-fig-0004
Stone structure under the Sea of Galilee 
Illustration by Shmuel Marco
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Wednesday Roundup

Wayne Stiles wonders why the largest ancient site in Israel has been largely forgotten today.

Leen Ritmeyer provides context to the recent excavations of the “gate of hell” in Hierapolis.

On April 1, Luke Chandler revealed a stunning new translation of the Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon.

Few tourists are visiting Egypt these days and it’s hurting many who work in the industry.

Travel Weekly recommends how to spend a day visiting the harbor city of Jaffa (biblical Joppa).

A review of the new excavations of Azekah is available in a professionally-made 12-minute video.

HT: Charles Savelle, Jack Sasson

Azekah from northeast, tb030407700
Azekah from the northeast
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands
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Weekend Roundup

The Israel Prize for the Land of Israel, Geography, and Archaeology “will not be given because the prize committee attempted to award it to two candidates, in violation of ministry rules which state that each prize may be given to only one winner.”

The Garden Tomb is now suggesting a $5 donation.

The Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem is recommended for children, according to this article in Haaretz.

A couple of Russian tourists climbed to the top of the Great Pyramid and took some photos.

Ted Weis (Living the Biblios) has written a Garden of Gethsemane Devotional and illustrated it with a number of helpful photos.

New excavations at Ur in southern Iraq have revealed a palace or temple.

David Amit, deputy director of the Excavations and Surveys Department of the Israel Antiquities
Authority, died last week.

The Vatican has asked Israel’s Chief of Police to protect Christians in Israel after criminals halted restoration work of the chapel in Nain.

Jerome Murphy-O’Connor’s new book, Keys to Jerusalem: Collected Essays, is reviewed by Joshua Schwartz in the Review of Biblical Literature.

The commercial heart of the ancient city of Thessalonica is in the way of a new subway station and
that’s a big problem.

Give SourceFlix two minutes and they’ll give you “Passion Week Archaeology.”

HT: Jack Sasson, Explorator

Garden Tomb at night, tb123005430
The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands
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Weekend Roundup

The last week of ASOR’s March Fellowship Madness is here, and one donor be randomly selected to receive a copy of The Photographs of the American Palestine Exploration Society, which features over 150 pictures taken at sites around the Near East in 1875.

Here’s a very high-resolution panoramic shot of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.


Popular Mechanics has a story on the value of 3-D modeling for archaeology.

A 3-D model of the Temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak has been created with the help of the UCLA team who created one of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

Archaeologists working at Tel Habuwa east of the Suez Canal have found evidence for battles between the Egyptians and Hyksos.
A well-preserved sundial from the 13th century BC was discovered in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor.
Turkey is demanding Germany return more ancient artifacts.
The 1862 Middle East tour of the future King Edward VII is the subject of a new exhibition in 
Edinburgh.
HT: Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle, Explorator
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About the BiblePlaces Blog

The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.

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