Several dozen fossilized shark teeth were discovered in the City of David.
The first week of excavations has ended at Tell es-Safi. Here’s the most recent update.
The IAA announced the discovery of a “city council building” near the Western Wall. But this same building has been open to tourists for several decades, so I think the story is more properly that additional facts have been learned about this building, such as that it was used as a triclinium, featured a fountain, and was built in AD 20 (and not in the Hasmonean era). Or maybe the story is that a new tourist route is opening.
A new study has found that Egypt’s primary source of copper during the Third Intermediate Period was the Arabah, in turn suggesting that this was a significant motivation for Shishak’s campaign (underlying journal article here).
Bible History Daily introduces a recent BAR article by Jeffrey P. Garcia by describing the three pilgrimage paths from Galilee to Jerusalem.
Brian Blum describes his hike on the new Emmaus Trail which runs from Abu Ghosh to Canada Park. The trail begins near a new visitor center that includes a museum dedicated to the life of Jesus.
The Bethsaida (et-Tell) Excavations Project website has been updated with the latest publications, including field reports.
New release: The Koren Tanakh of the Land of Israel – Samuel, edited by David Arnovitz. Contributors include Aren Maier, Yosef Garfinkel, Erez Ben-Yosef, and Chris McKinny (publisher’s website; Amazon). An early enthusiastic review is here; the previously released Exodus volume is available here.
Free download: Beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Jerusalem: The Archaeology and Early History of Traditional Golgotha, by Shimon Gibson & Joan E. Taylor (Palestine Exploration Fund, 1994)
Ram Gophna, Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University, died on Monday.
HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken, Charles Savelle, Explorator
