A stone bowl inscribed with the name “Hyrcanus” was discovered in the City of David. Since the name was common in the Hasmonean period, it is not clear if it belonged to one of the two rulers with this name. High-res images are available here.
A bronze coin with the image of Antiochus Epiphanes was discovered during maintenance work in the Citadel of David Museum in Jerusalem.
Mary Shepperson, a free-lance archaeologist working on five projects in Iraq, describes work in the new excavations of Charax Spasinou.
Archaeologists have discovered a large “lost city” about 150 miles north of Athens.
“The Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes (CAMEL Lab) at the Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago would like to announce that a substantial subset of its digital holdings of maps and geospatial data are now available for online public search and download.”
The Temple Mount Sifting Project is asking readers to Name That Find!
The IAA has completed a detailed survey of the village of Lifta ahead of its planned replacement by a new neighborhood.
Before and after photos reveals the significant war damage in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Ferrell Jenkins recounts his 2002 visit to Aleppo and its museum.
New research suggests some ancient Egyptians believed a deceased woman had to briefly become male in the afterlife in order to be reborn. Reader Ted Weis notes that this theory corresponds with saying #114 in the Gospel of Thomas.
Egypt is trying to stop the auctioning of Egyptian relics around the world.
A stolen relief of Queen Hatshepsut has been restored to Egypt.
Bricks of ancient Babylon have been used in rebuilding houses in the area.
The Tower identifies “seven fascinating discoveries Israeli archaeologists made in 2016.”
Kudos to Dr. Chris McKinny!
Carl Rasmussen describes an “unknown” Christmas site near Bethlehem.
We wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! We’ll be traveling for several weeks and roundups will return when we do.
HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Charles Savelle, Ted Weis