Bryant Wood made the case that Khirbet el-Maqatir is biblical Ai in a lecture he gave at the recent symposium held at Houston Baptist University.

Biblical Archaeology Review has posted online the documentation for this month’s cover story,

“Archaeology Confirms 50 Real People in the Bible.” This is a valuable resource, and more easily accessible than the author’s monograph.

An alabaster statue of a New Kingdom princess has been discovered in excavations near Luxor. The 6-foot statue was once part of a 56-foot-tall statue that guarded the entrance to a temple.

“Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province is ‘a global museum of antiquities,’ dotted with hundreds of unexcavated ancient cities whose archeological treasures could rival those of the great Sumerian capital of Ur, experts say.”

BibleX points to an article on the time and cost of Paul’s missionary journeys.

Israel experienced a very bad dust storm earlier this week, resulting in the closure of a number of the country’s airports.

Mark Hoffman explains how to make a custom Bible map using Accordance as well as other options.

The ASOR Archaeology Weekly Roundup links to stories about Pompeii, the Apostle Philip, and more.

I’m on this week’s edition of The Book and the Spade with Gordon Govier, discussing the upcoming summer excavations in Israel. (Here’s a direct link.)

Luke Chandler invites you to join him on a tour of Israel. At $3,300, it is one of the most affordable trips I know of.

Wayne Stiles flew out to Israel yesterday and will be blogging about his trip daily. He also will be posting new pictures on his Instagram feed. I’m heading over as well, but I don’t expect to have much time to write on this blog while I am away.

HT: Jack Sasson