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Weekend Roundup

The oldest known glass production factory in Israel has been discovered on Mount Carmel. High-res photos are available here.

A new study by Tel Aviv University points to widespread literacy in Israel in 600 BC. Christopher Rollston offers a summary and reflections. An op-ed at the Jerusalem Post is entitled “Holy Shards.”

The academic article is available to subscribers here.

Three Palestinians were arrested attempting to smuggle a statue of Herod’s wife Mariamne. A photo of the statue is here.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project will soon be announcing the discovery of a pendant with the cartouche of Pharaoh Thutmose III.

The Big Picture returns to Palmyra.

Dubai’s plans for the world’s tallest skyscraper are inspired by the hanging gardens of Babylon.

Wayne Stiles goes to Ein Harod to learn how to move from fear to faith.

Yale’s “Old Babylonian Period Mathematical Text” is one of the university’s most-reproduced cultural artifacts.

The Iraqi government is turning Saddam Hussein’s palace in Basra into an archaeological museum.

With Passover around the corner, Haaretz looks at indirect evidence of Israelite presence in Egypt before the exodus.

A Passover sacrifice event will be held on Monday on the Mount of Olives.

Luke Chandler notes that the official website for the Khirbet Qeiyafa excavations has been updated.

The summer excavation of Khirbet el-Maqatir is on and applications are being accepted until April 30.

Ferrell Jenkins and Leon Mauldin are traveling around Israel and sharing photos from their trip.

Filip Vukosavovic has resigned his position as Chief Curator at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem.

Now free online: The Bible in Its World: The Bible and Archaeology Today, by Kenneth A. Kitchen.

Many people liked the photo we shared this week on Facebook and Twitter of the Mount of Olives
before the churches were built.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle, Ted Weis, Agade

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Mesopotamia, Museums, Resources, Samaria, Syria, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup

Archaeologists working at Magdala have discovered a bronze incense shovel and a bronze jug. The press release includes a 1.5-minute video.

Archaeologists believe that they have unearthed a Byzantine church in Gaza. But as quickly as it was discovered, it was destroyed. (This does not serve well those who wish to turn land over to Palestinian control.)

The shrine over the traditional tomb of Jesus will be dismantled and rebuilt in the coming months.

Maybe one of these days they’ll get around to moving the ladder.

Archaeologist Ram Buchnik believes that the Romans influenced ancient Jewish ritual slaughter.

Israel21c has a roundup of recent discoveries made in Israel by hikers, including more details on the discovery of the gold coin.

Shmuel Browns shares some beautiful photos of sinkholes at the Dead Sea.

A New York Times reporter has visited Palmyra and published a photo essay. Note Paleojudaica’s warning before you click the link. Daily Mail has a look inside the Palmyra Museum and it’s not pretty.

“What’s new in ancient Cyprus?” is the subject of a forthcoming study day at The British Museum.

A new Cambridge research project, Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems, “is to focus on exploring how writing developed during the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE in the ancient

Mediterranean and Near East, and will investigate how different writing systems and the cultures that used them were related to each other.”

A new DVD presentation by Bryant Wood has been released entitled “The Pharaohs of the Bondage: The Israelite Slavery in Egypt.”

Tent Work in Palestine, by Claude R. Conder, is available as a free pdf download at the Biblical Archaeology Blog.

Who was the real life archaeologist behind the character of Indiana Jones?

Egyptian officials are unhappy after finding a star of David engraved on an ancient temple in Aswan.

Luxor Museum will allow photography of its exhibits, for a time, for a fee.

Wayne Stiles explains how Jesus’s healing of the lame man at the Pools of Bethesda shows how God’s kindness motivates repentance.

Eli Ofir has recently launched Holy Land Portraits, a collection of beautiful, high-quality prints of sites in Israel drawn as if in biblical times.

HT: Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer, Agade, Steven Anderson, Ted Weis

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Museums, Resources

Weekend Roundup

Archaeologists have identified the oldest known quarry in Israel at Kaizer Hill near Modiin.

Some radar experts doubt the existence of hidden chambers in King Tut’s tomb. Another scan was done yesterday, but results will not be announced for at least a week. Luxor Times has photos of the scanning operation.

Mosaics from the Roman Empire, depicting scenes from mythology, daily life, nature, and arena spectacles, are on display at the Getty Museum through September. The exhibit catalog is available for free online.

Joseph Aviram, president of the Israel Exploration Society, recently celebrated his 100th birthday!

A German doctor has returned a rare coin that he found in Jerusalem 25 years ago.

A video of the memorial service and academic symposium for William W. Hallo is online.

Wayne Stiles was robbed last week on the Good Samaritan Road and he learned an expensive lesson.

An article in Haaretz tries to debunk the “biblical” notion that the Philistines were crude barbarians.

But perhaps it’s worth noting that the Bible doesn’t make the Israelites look very good at times (e.g., Judg 19; Jer 5; Ezek 16).

Archaeologists now believe that Tell Qudadi, a site in Tel Aviv, was a Neo-Assyrian fortress built in the late 8th century. The final excavation report has all of the details.

With the recapture of Palmyra, the Syrian antiquities director estimates that 80% of the site’s ruins are intact but damage to the museum is “severe.” The Syrian government is planning to restore the site.

Paleojudaica has more its Palmyra roundup.

Iraq is struggling with the looting of archaeological sites.

The Daily Tar Heel carries a brief interview with archaeologist Jodi Magness.

Heavy rains led to the closing of Petra, but adventurous tourists headed north to Little Petra.

TheIsraelBible.com “offers the 24 books of the Tanakh (Genesis to Malachi) in both English and Hebrew, transliteration of selected Hebrew verses as well as the proper Hebrew pronunciation of key biblical names and places.”

The Temple Institute is searching for priests qualified to perform animal sacrifices.

Tom Powers has an interesting and well-researched post on the visit of the Graf Zeppelin to Jerusalem.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade, Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jordan, Judah, Mesopotamia, Museums, Philistines, Syria

Weekend Roundup

Ferrell Jenkins remembers the events of this weekend with photos related to the crucifixion and resurrection.

Michael Heiser offers some links in response to the perrennial “miracles-are-impossible” stories that surface this time each year.

The battle continues over the size of the Kedem Center in the City of David.

Shmuel Browns’ photo of the week is a beautiful shot of the Judean wilderness.

A number of interesting finds have been made in an excavation of a Byzantine church in Gush Etzion.

If you are an American undergrad looking to excavate in Israel this summer, you should apply for a scholarship to join the Tel Burna team.

Wayne Stiles gives three reasons why you should travel to Israel.

The Tel Al-Amarna Visitors Centre has been inaugurated in Minya. Work on the Aten Museum and
Malawi National Museum is on-going, despite rumors to the contrary.

Archaeologists are learning more about ancient watercraft from an Old Kingdom boat excavated in Abusir.

Reproductions of the 50-foot arch that formed the entrance to Palmyra’s Temple of Baal will be erected in New York City and London next month.

The Syrian army is close to re-capturing Palmyra.

John Brown University has received an anonymous gift of $1 million for their Abila Archaeological Project.

The Torlonia collection, with more than 600 statues and sculptures, will be on display in Rome for the first time in decades. An overseas tour will follow.

Described as one of most important recoveries in decades, 45 crates of archaeological material, dating between the 7th century BC to 2nd century AD, has been returned to Italy after being stolen from sites in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Analysis of Herculaneum papyrus scroll fragments reveals the use of metallic ink in Greco-Roman literary inscription centuries earlier than previously thought.”

Bruce and Ken Zuckerman will be lecturing on “Archaeological Photography” on March 28 at the South Bay Camera Club.

Now online: “The Lenkin Family Collection of Photography at the Penn Libraries, as it is now known, comprises over 5,000 original photographs, primarily of Jerusalem and Palestine taken from 1850 to 1937.”

For a limited time, access to the latest issue of Near Eastern Archaeology is available for free without a login required.

Bible Software Review is looking for a new owner-editor.

Going Places with God, by Wayne Stiles, is on sale for Kindle right now for $0.99. It’s at the same price on Vyrso/Logos. The sale won’t last. I recommend it!

Happy 13th Anniversary to Paleojudaica! And Aren Maeir recently celebrated his birthday.

For photos recalling the momentous events of this week nearly 2,000 years ago, check out our posts this week on Facebook and Twitter.

HT: Jared Clark, G. M. Grena, Agade, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle

Tagged Egypt, Excavations, Italy, Jerusalem, Jordan, Judah, Lectures, Photo Resources, Syria, Technology, Tourism

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Six statues of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet have been discovered at the Temple of Amenhotep near Luxor.

Monumental piers have been discovered in the ongoing excavations of Corinth’s harbor of Lechaion.

“The Museum of Lost Objects traces the stories of 10 antiquities or ancient sites that have been destroyed or looted in Iraq and Syria.”

Bradley Schaefer provides an astronomical perspective on Good Friday and Easter on The Book and the Spade radio program.

National Geographic reports on new American and Iraqi excavations of Abraham’s hometown of Ur.

This story about the recently discovered mosaic featuring 16 animals and an inscription from Isaiah 65 includes photos.

New book: The Onomasticon of Iudaea, Palaestina, and Arabia in Greek and Latin Sources Volume I: Introduction, Sources and Major Texts, by Leah Di Segni and Yoram Tsafrir, with Judith Green with 20% the $65 price this month with the promotional code 630-16.

Another new book: The Economy of the Roman World, by Jean Andreau, Corina Kesler, Ellen
Bauerle, and David Potter. Use the code above for 20% off $50 through March 31.

HT: Charles Savelle, Agade, Ted Weis

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Museums, Resources

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A woman hiking on an unnamed archaeological site in eastern Galilee picked up a gold coin with the image of Emperor Augustus. High-res images are available here.

Luke Chandler reports on a new excavation at Khirbet Arai, not far from Tel Lachish. The first week has already revealed two massive structures as well as Philistine pottery.

Douglas Petrovich has done some interesting work related to the Israelite presence in Egypt. He has started a Kickstarter project to raise funds to publish a book on it.

The lyre depicted on Israel’s half-shekel is based on a seal now known to be forged. A larger drawing of the forged seal is online here.

A 19-year-old American spent the night in Solomon’s Quarries to dig for treasure.

The publication of Yadin’s final report from his Megiddo excavations will be celebrated at an event at Hebrew U on April 5.

In Photos: Members of an Israeli historical group dressed up in costume for a three-day hike from Jericho to Jerusalem.

The plan to enlarge the mixed prayer area in the Jerusalem Archaeological Park next to the Western Wall prayer plaza is apparently dead.

Archaeologists are opposing plans to build a hotel and apartment buildings in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor, the traditional “Hill of Evil Counsel.”

Ferrell Jenkins shares a photo of one of the best preserved stretches of Roman roads in Israel.

Ashkelon excavation veterans are invited to a closing celebration as the thirty-year project ends.

HT: Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer, Agade, Ted Weis, Daniel Wright

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Forgery, Galilee, Jerusalem, Judah, Philistines, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount