A cylinder seal from the Early Bronze period may depict the earliest known musical scene in Israel. The seal was found in western Galilee in the 1970s.

“A record-breaking heat wave in Israel sparked forest fires, caused flight delays and prompted a sharp increase in reported cases of dehydration and fainting.” Temperatures in Tel Aviv reached 42ºC (107ºF).

ISIS has begun destroying statues in Palmyra’s museum, says the International Business Times. Nothing has been destroyed, reports the New York Times. ISIS is promising not to destroy the site’s monuments. Reuters recounts some of Palmyra’s illustrious history. Experts fear for remains of the city’s Jewish history, including the longest biblical Hebrew inscription known from antiquity.

If you want to preserve the Dead Sea Scrolls, it’s best to leave them in a dark cave. Do not use tape or glass panels, according to this article on conservation at the Jewish Independent.

Digging up Jericho: Past, Present & Future is the title of a conference being hosted next month at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London.

Ken Dark is on the Book and the Spade discussing the archaeology of Nazareth (part 1, part 2; mp3 links here).

Gabriel Barkay says that careful surveillance is required for archaeological activity on the Temple Mount.

Aren Maeir has fired up the tractor in his excavations of Gath.

The St. Louis Zoo offers a Biblical Animal Scavenger Hunt.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, A.D. Riddle