Weekend Roundup Archives - Page 157 of 171

Wednesday Roundup

Luke Chandler reports on the discovery of three cultic rooms at Khirbet Qeiyafa. The evidence revealed thus far is limited, and I’ve posted a few questions that I’d like to see answered in a comment on Luke’s post.

The first-ever Crusader inscription in Arabic has been discovered in Jaffa. The inscription mentions the name of the Emperor Frederick II and the date “1229 of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.”

A new Bible museum will be built in Israel. Though the Haaretz article reports that the cabinet decided on a location in Jerusalem, it also identifies possible locations as the Adullam Nature Reserve, Neot Kedumim, and a place in Jerusalem near the Israel Museum.

The Boğazköy Sphinx has been transported from the Berlin Pergamon Museum to Turkey where it will go on display with its counterpart on November 26 in Boğazkale. (For background, see here.)

Ferrell Jenkins names some photos that are worth 1000 words each. In addition to our Pictorial
Library, he recommends the free resources at Holy Land Photos and David Padfield’s website.

The largest Paleo-Hebrew inscription in the history of the world is now on a rooftop in southern California.

Israeli government officials have figured out a positive way to spin their defeat in the campaign to have the Dead Sea named as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

HT: Jack Sasson

Tagged Dead Sea, Discoveries, Jerusalem, Shephelah, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Wednesday Roundup

ABR is putting the word out for volunteers to join them for the 10th season of excavations at Khirbet el-Maqatir, a possible location of Joshua’s Ai.

IBEX students discovered a beautiful seal this week in excavations at Tel Burna (Libnah?).

Excavations have resumed in Egypt at Tell el-Amarna.

One place that most tourists to Israel never visit is the southern wilderness where the Israelites wandered. Wayne Stiles gives his readers a good feel for the landscape, with several scenic photographs, in his weekly column at the Jerusalem Post.

CITYsights takes viewers on a four-minute video tour of the Herodium in search of Herod’s tomb.

Satellite imagery is being used to identify ancient settlements in the Libyan desert.

Elsewhere in Libya, thieves drilled through a concrete ceiling in the National Commercial Bank and carried off the Treasure of Benghazi. An expert described the loss as “one of the greatest thefts in archaeological history.”

Carl Rasmussen has been uploading photos from his excellent Zondervan Atlas of the Bible to the Holy Land Photos website where they can be downloaded for free.

The Book and the Spade radio program features an interview with Eilat Mazar (and a forthcoming profile in Christianity Today). To listen, go here.

A hyena was caught in an illegal trap near Modiin (about halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv). Aren Maeir has the details, a video and some advice.

Now that it has been admitted to UNESCO, the PA is going to sue Israel “for systematically destroying and forging Arab and Islamic culture in Jerusalem.”

It’s been a year now since the American consulate in Jerusalem relocated from East Jerusalem, but since I missed it, someone else may have also. If you lose your passport or need a birth certificate, you’ll need to head to the new facility in Arnona, south of the Old City not far from Ramat Rahel.

Friday (11/11/11) is the last day to vote for the Dead Sea as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. The lowest and saltiest body of water on earth is in the top ten but the Israeli Tourism Ministry is asking everyone to vote.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Dead Sea, Discoveries, Excavations, Herod's Tomb, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Ancient Israel: Highlights from the Collections of the Oriental Institute University of Chicago is a new 127-page publication written by Gabrielle Vera Novacek and illustrated with 66 beautiful photographs and diagrams. The book is available for pre-order from Amazon or as a free download (pdf).

Six lectures in Hebrew are now online from the 12th Studies of Ancient Jerusalem conference held in September in the City of David. The speakers included Israel Finkelstein, Ronny Reich, Gabriel Barkay, Asher Grossberg, Eli Shukron, and Yosef Garfinkel.

“Libya’s famed ancient Roman sites, including the sprawling seaside ruins of Leptis Magna, were spared damage by NATO during the recent airstrikes, says a London-based Libyan archaeologist.”

Muslims continue to bury their dead next to the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, according to the Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Temple Mount Antiquities.

The head of the Supreme Committee of the Grand Egyptian Museum was fired this week.

“Ultra-Orthodox young men curse and spit at Christian clergymen in the streets of Jerusalem’s Old City as a matter of routine.” Last week a judge ruled in favor of an Armenian seminary student who fought back.

HT: Daniel Wright, Jack Sasson, ANE-2, AWOL

Tagged Egypt, Jerusalem, Lectures, Museums, Resources, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

A miniature prayer box from the 6th-7th centuries was discovered recently in the excavations in the Central Valley south of the Dung Gate of Jerusalem.

Haaretz: “The High Court of Justice yesterday criticized the agreement by which a private association, Elad, operates the City of David national park in Jerusalem, but said the agreement was legal.” One potential change to the agreement would open the site to tourists on Shabbat. The Jerusalem Post covers the story here.

A local watchman of the lower Herodium sued archaeologist Ehud Netzer days before his death.

Recent court proceedings rejected all of the plaintiff’s claims and observed that the watchman had been extorting the archaeologist for years. The article is in Hebrew, with a Google translation here.

China will help build a railway to Eilat. Israeli officials hope that this boosts tourism to the Red Sea resort city.

Time Magazine gives five reasons to visit Beirut.

“The largest collection of biblical artifacts ever displayed outside Israel” opened yesterday in New York City.

Shmuel Browns gives readers a tour of the four sites run by the East Jerusalem Development Company: Ramparts Walk, Roman Plaza, Zedekiah’s Cave, and the Davidson Archaeological Park.

Joe Yudin recommends hiking to Ein Akev in the Negev Highlands. (Am I the only one offended that the Jerusalem Post publishes material with very basic mistakes in English grammar?)

Peter Williams’ lecture on “New Evidences the Gospels Were Based on Eyewitness Accounts” primarily discusses data from recent studies of names, but he also includes a geographical section in minutes 36-42 of this Lanier Library Lecture now posted at Youtube. (He shares a photo from BiblePlaces.com, but by using a low-res web version his viewers have a hard time making out what he’s trying to show.)

HT: Joseph Lauer, Yitzhak Sapir, A.D. Riddle

Tagged Discoveries, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Lectures, Museums, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Wednesday Roundup

Writing on the Malta Independent Online, Mark Gatt reviews Robert Cornuke’s The Lost Shipwreck of Paul and concludes that it is “fraught with mistakes and manipulated facts.”

Alan R. Millard will speak on “Are there Anachronisms in the Books of Samuel?” at Trinity
Evangelical Divinity School on Monday, Nov. 14. For details, see this flyer (pdf).

The International Women’s Club English Lecture Series at Tel Aviv University has some interesting topics slated for the coming months. The semester theme is “From Copper to Bronze: the
Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages.”

The Israel Exploration Journal is among a new group of journals available in JSTOR.

A Swiss architect is trying to save the mosaics of Hisham’s Palace near Jericho.

Work has resumed in the project to lower the ground water threatening five Egyptian temples in Luxor.

Wayne Stiles’ weekly column explains how Scripture uses water imagery to teach valuable lessons.

Eisenbrauns has conference discounts posted online for the benefit of all. Among the deals are two books by Eilat Mazar and one by Ronny Reich. Amnon Ben-Tor’s Back to Masada is 20% off.

Logos Bible Software is taking bids for Austen Henry Layard’s Nineveh and Its Remains (2 vols). Projected price is currently $20.

El Al is quietly cutting their luggage limit on international flights to one bag.

HT: A.D. Riddle, Jack Sasson, Gordon Franz

Tagged Lectures, Resources, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

The seal impressions of the biblical figures Gedaliah and Jehucal excavated by Eilat Mazar in the City of David will be on display for the first time ever in Edmond, Oklahoma from January to August, 2012.

The excellent Zondervan Atlas of the Bible (Revised Edition) is now in electronic format for Android, BlackBerry (with card), iPad, iPhone, and Symbian Series 60 v5.

Egypt has requested a loan of the Rosetta Stone for the opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum. The British Museum is studying the request.

All of the Emar texts are now included in the Middle Euphrates Digital Archive.

Changing your money to shekels at the airport in Israel will now cost you more.

I was planning to write this week a summary and response to a new article (not online) by Ronny Reich and Eli Shukrun arguing that Hezekiah’s Tunnel was not built by Hezekiah. As this roundup is about to be finalized, I see that Tom Powers has tackled the issue. I have not yet read his analysis, but I’m happy to see that he is not convinced by the article either.

HT: Jack Sasson, Charles Savelle

Tagged Jerusalem, Resources, Tourism, Weekend Roundup