Israel has announced the creation of seven new nature reserves in the West Bank: Ariel Cave, Wadi Og, Wadi Malha, the Southern Jordan River, Bitronot Creek, Nahal Tirza, and Rotem-Maskiot.
The Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome is set to reopen this spring after being closed for 80 years.
The Grand Egyptian Museum, set to partially open in the coming months, expects more than 5 million visitors annually.
Passages, a Christian version of Birthright Israel, is on track to bring 10,000 students to Israel by the end of this year.
Carl Rasmussen shares his experience in using Global Entry for international travel.
A DNA analysis of the York Gospels was done using DNA extracted by using erasers.
Emily Master of The Friends of Israel Antiquities Authority is the featured guest on The Book and the Spade.
Available for pre-order: The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel: Exodus. There are early reviews here and here.
King David is the subject of Bryan Windle’s latest archaeological biography.
Shmuel Browns shares his favorite photos of the year and gives his readers a chance to vote on their favorite.
HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Mark Hoffman, Explorator
One thought on “Weekend Roundup”
On item #5, having read the abstract of the journal article (admittedly only the abstract), could you help me understand why this is evidence against widespread literacy? I understand that the cache is not evidence for widespread literacy as originally reported, only literacy. But rather than speaking to the issue of the pervasiveness of literacy, and putatively being evidence of a restricted elite, why Couldn't this also be evidence of someone's filing cabinet being thrown around after a raid (as one would expect in violent event)? Hence, it says nothing about the pervasiveness of literacy, only a restriction of the sample.