Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Giant Skeletons

There’s been a recent wave in the email circulation of archaeological evidence for giants, usually with a tagline that this is proof of the Bible’s accuracy.

I might suggest a simple principle for dealing with matters like this in the future: if you heard about it first in an email forward, it’s not true.

Indeed, these photographs were created for a contest for images of an archaeological hoax. These came in third place in a 2002 competition.

Circulation of the images as “real” apparently began in 2004. National Geographic debunked them in 2007. PaleoBabble posted on them in February. Truth or Fiction has a full copy of the email that
I’ve been forwarded many times now.

Tagged Pseudo-Archaeology

Weekend Roundup

Several works that we have mentioned here are finalists for the 2010 ECPA Christian Book Awards, including A Visual Guide to Biblical Events (Martin, Beck, and Hansen), The New Moody Atlas of the Bible (Beitzel), The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible (Tenney and Silva), and Glo.

Yesterday I noted Glo’s Easter Gallery. Biblical Studies and Technical Tools has posted a brief review of the impressive media components of Glo.

Aren Maeir posts word of a “very exciting bona fide, new archaeological find from Jerusalem.” I concur with his assessment, but cannot say more yet. Publication is expected soon.

Leen Ritmeyer posts a beautiful photographic rendition of the 1st century temple from a new project called The Messiah in the Temple.

A bed-and-breakfast owner in Sepphoris discovered an ancient tomb on his property, but he called the rabbis instead of the antiquities authority. This Haaretz article gives some insight into the on-going conflict over the excavation of graves.

The Museum of Biblical Art is reopening in Dallas five years after it was destroyed by fire.

Eisenbrauns is selling some new titles as of April 1.

Tagged Resources, Weekend Roundup

Good Friday and Easter Images

Glo has a gallery of several dozen Easter images available for free download (in high-resolution).

These include photographs (including a few of ours), as well as ancient and modern works of art. It’s probably too late to use for this year’s teaching, but they could be handy for future years. Glo is available from Amazon for $57 and includes many thousands of images like these.

Tagged Jerusalem, Resources

Blogger Appreciation Day

Today is the 100th anniversary of Blogger Appreciation Day. According to long-standing tradition, readers who have visited any given blog more than 13 times are obligated to send an appropriate gift to the blogger. The Blogging Association of Rational Females has designated that the appropriate gift for members of their society are bouquets of pink and yellow flowers. Male bloggers, however, need books. You can show your support for this blog by purchasing for us one of these newly released titles today.

Every Bible Place in the Far Eastern Shephelah
A Dummy’s Guide to Cenomanian, Senonian, and Eocene Limestone
Men Are from Maresha, Women Are from the Valley of Elah
The True and Amazing Story of How I Found the Ark of the Covenant Inside Noah’s Ark
A Liberal Bible Critic’s Guide to Making Money off of True Believers
The Updated Revised New Bible Atlas, 2nd edition
The Lost Qeiyafa Code
A Fundamentalist Archaeologist’s Guide to Making Money off of True Believers
Look At Me: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Hershel Shanks
Skeletons in Their Labs: Exposés of the World’s Most Famous Biblical Archaeologists
Towering Balks: The Stories of Nine Excavation Volunteers Who Gave Their Lives

Please make certain that you purchase these books from an authorized bookseller before the end of today, April 1.

Tagged April Fool's Joke

March Newsletter

I sent out the latest issue of the BiblePlaces Newsletter this morning. If you didn’t receive it, check your spam folder or subscribe here. New subscribers won’t get the March issue by email, but you can view it online here.

The new CD this month is People of Palestine, and it includes a wide variety of fascinating photographs of individuals, couples, and groups from the early 1900s. The American Colony photographers recorded the lives of Jews and Arabs, Christians and Muslims, as well as Samaritans, Druze, and foreigners. Of the last category, none were quite as obvious as this guy, seen near the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem in January.

Foreigner near Damascus Gate, tb010910292

Foreigner in Jerusalem

Tagged American Colony Photos, Resources

Man with Goat Arrested before Passover

The Passover celebration began last night, and yesterday afternoon police arrested a man allegedly preparing in an illegal way. From the Jerusalem Post:

Jerusalem District police officers detained extreme right-wing activist Noam Federman Monday afternoon, after he was caught driving his vehicle with a kid – a young, male goat – in his car.
Federman is suspected of intending to ritually slaughter the animal in the recently renovated Hurva Synagogue located near the Temple Mount in the Old City.
Police said right wing activists threatened repeatedly this week to come up to the Temple Mount and conduct ritual slaughter there during the Pessah holiday. They also suspect Federman was planning to slaughter the animal on the Temple Mount proper, and not in the synagogue.
Federman was taken in for interrogation and the innocent animal was transferred to the Agricultural Development Unit in the Agriculture Ministry.

This article raises several questions in my mind. How did police know the goat was in Federman’s car? Is there a law against having a goat in your car? Is there a law against having a goat in your car with certain intentions in your mind? How does the reporter know that the animal is innocent?

The full story is here.

Tagged Jerusalem, Not an April Fool's Joke, Temple Mount