News:

Plans are being made for a renovation of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, beginning with a long-delayed replacement of the roof.

Paleobabble gives a summary of Randall Price’s recent presentation on the 2011 search for Noah’s Ark.

The Israeli government is planning to relocate 30,000 Bedouin in the Negev.

The seed of the date palm discovered at Masada has now grown to a 8-foot (2.5 m) tall tree after more than five years. The tree was planted last week at Kibbutz Ketura in the Arabah. Previous updates were posted in 2006 and 2008.

A new study of textiles has determined that the Qumran inhabitants differentiated themselves from their contemporaries by what they wore.

“Moammar Gadhafi’s forces tried to flee Tripoli with a sack of ancient Roman artifacts in hopes of selling them abroad to help fund their doomed fight, Libya’s new leaders said Saturday as they displayed the recovered objects for the first time.”

The Jerusalem Post has added a two-minute video on the dating of the southwestern corner of the
Temple Mount, including sound bites from Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron.

Joseph Naveh passed away this week. His life and publications are remembered by Christopher Rollston.

HT: Biblical Flora, Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson