An Israeli team believes that they have established an absolute chronology for Jerusalem in the Iron Age based on a study of 100 samples of organic material. One upshot is that Jerusalem was larger and more urban in the time of David and Solomon. Another conclusion is that the Broad Wall was built not by Hezekiah but by Uzziah. The underlying journal article is not free, but the 84 pages of “supporting information,” including pictures, is free.
A related lecture will be given at the Albright and on Zoom on May 16: “Radiocarbon Chronology in Historical Jerusalem and the Challenges to Reconstruct Its Urban Development,” by Elisabetta Boaretto
“Archaeologists have uncovered rare evidence of burial practices at a rural cemetery in the Jezreel Valley, where more than 3,000 years ago the dead were honored with rituals that involved the use of fire and beeswax.” They are not sure if the occupants were Israelites, Canaanites, or other.
Tuvia Pollack explains why there are two Golgotha sites.
Israel365 has a well-illustrated article about the site of Magdala.
A Final Conference will be held on May 31 and June 1 for the “Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant” project.
New release: Judah in the Biblical Period: Historical, Archaeological, and Biblical Studies, by Oded Lipschits (De Gruyter, $145; Amazon)
Accordance Bible Software is offering users three free books by Alfred Edersheim:
- Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
- Sketches of Jewish Life
- Prophecy and History in Relation to the Messiah
Three other books by Edersheim are on sale for only $4.99 each:
- The Temple
- History of the Jewish Nation after the Destruction of Jerusalem under Titus
- Bible History: Old Testament
Bryan Windle surveys the top three reports in biblical archaeology in the month of April.
HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken, Joseph Lauer
