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Weekend Roundup

A farmer on a hike with his family near the Horns of Hattin discovered a scarab depicting Thutmose III.

“An ancient canal system used 2,000 years ago to irrigate terraced agricultural plots has been unearthed at an excavation near the Roman-era fortress Metzad Bokek in southern Israel.”

A boat from the Third Dynasty has been discovered at Abusir in Egypt.

A recently uncovered first century AD fresco found in London is described as the earliest one of the earliest surviving frescos from Roman Britain.

A shipwreck from 2000 BC has been discovered by Turkish researchers in Marmaris Hisarönü Gulf in the Mediterranean.

Accuweather has identified five archaeological discoveries preserved by nature, including the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Eilat Mazar says that plans to expand the prayer area near Robinson’s Gate will “absolutely ruin the site.” The Grand Mufti is also opposed. An artist’s rendering is here.

David Ilan will be lecturing on “How Ancient Israel Began: A New Archaeological Perspective” at
Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, on February 9, 6:00 pm.

Aren Maeir has been appointed to the board of the Israel Parks and Nature Authority. (Now we know who to blame if the parks aren’t perfect!)

Sy Gitin’s eulogy for Trude Dothan is now posted at the Albright Institute’s website. The Biblical
Archaeology Society honors her memory by making 8 articles by and about her free to the public.
Wayne Stiles explains Amos’s sarcastic wordplay on the place name “Lo Debar.”

ASOR has posted a “post-mortem” on the Jehoash Inscription, but I doubt it will convince anyone not already convinced.

Nimrud Rising is a new project that uses “innovative digital technology solutions to create an immersive virtual reality recreation of Nimrud.”

On the anniversary of James Michener’s birthday, Benjamin Glatt explores the origins of The Source.

The Palestine Exploration Fund reveals the identity of the “mystery objects.”

The Associates for Biblical Research has received a $10,000 matching gift pledge towards its excavations of Khirbet el-Maqatir.

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

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Jerusalem, Lectures, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Turkey

Images Related to the Bible from the New York Public Library

On Jan 6, 2016, the New York Public Library released more than 187,000 items in their digital collection into the public domain. Mark Hoffman sent along some of the treasures he found and that motivated me to dig deeper. The list below reflects highlights of what we discovered.

You might begin by checking out the interesting visualization of the project. When you’re sufficiently overwhelmed, you can follow the direct links below, beginning with collections including the land of Israel and concluding with Egypt, Mesopotamia, and biblical manuscripts.

The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. From drawings made on the spot by David Roberts . . . With historical descriptions by the Revd. George Croly . . . Lithographed by Louis Haghe, 1842-49. 252 images.

Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie : dessins photographiques recueillis pendant les années 1849, 1850 et 1851 [Egypt, Nubia, Palestine and Syria: Photographic Drawings Collected during the Years 1849, 1850 and 1851], by Maxime Du Camp, 1852. 127 images.

Jérusalem: étude et reproduction photographique des monuments de la Ville Sainte, depuis l’époque judaïque jusqu’à nos jours [Jerusalem: study and photographic reproduction of the monuments of the Holy City from the Jewish era to the present], by Auguste Salzmann, 1856. These 42 images are the earliest known photographs of Jerusalem.

Palestine, by Robertson and Beato, 1857. 19 images.

Egypt and Palestine, by Francis Frith, 1858-59. 78 images.

Sinai and Palestine, by Francis Frith, 1862(?). 40 images.

Plates from the Queen’s Bible of 1862. 71 images.

Jerusalem Explored, being a description of the ancient and modern city, with numerous illustrations consisting of views ground plans, and sections, by Ermete Pierotti. Translated by Thomas George Bonney, 1864. 64 images.

Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, by Charles W. Wilson, 1865. 46 images, but it does not include the survey map.

Views of Egypt, Palestine and Syria, by Félix Bonfils, 1867-71. 32 images.

Palestine and Syria, by Bonfils, Zangaki, and Arnoux, 1870s. 19 images.

Voyage d’exploration a la mer Morte, a Petra, et sur la rive gauche du Jourdain [Exploration of the Dead Sea, Petra, and the Left Side of the Jordan River], by Melchior Vogüe, 1874. 84 images.

Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, by Charles W. Wilson, 1881-84. We like our version better, but this one is free.

Maps of Asia, 1890. 64 images.

Palestine and Egypt, March 1894, by Bonfils, Zangaki, and Arnoux, 1894. 65 images.

Assortment of photographs of Palestine and Jerusalem, 1870-1900. 36 images. Includes some of the American Colony photographs.

Views of Interesting Places in the Holy Land. Published by the American Sunday School Union. 8 sketches that are not high quality.

From Egypt . . .

Description de l’Égypte: ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’armée française [Description of Egypt: and Reports of observations and research that have been made in Egypt during the expedition of the French army], 1809-28. 903 images. The extraordinary work of Napoleon’s expedition.

Pantheon Egyptien: Collection des personnages mythologiques de l’ancienne Egypte [Egyptian Pantheon: Collection of Mythological Figures of Ancient Egypt], by L. J. J. Dubois and J. F. Champollion, 1823-1825(?). 90 color illustrations.

Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, by J. G. Wilkinson, 1837. 100 images.

Pyramids of Gizeh, from Actual Survey and Admeasurement, by J. S. Perring, 1839-42. 62 illustrations.

Monuments Égyptiens, bas-reliefs, peintures, inscriptions, etc., by E. Prisse d’Avennes, 1847. 54 images.

Collection of Views of Egypt, including Cairo and the Pyramids, by G. Lékégian and Pierre Marchandon de La Faye, 1880s or 1890s. 58 images.

From Mesopotamia . . .

Monuments of Nineveh, from Drawings Made on the Spot, by A. H. Layard, 1849. 100 plates.

Monument de Ninive, découvert et décrit, by Paul Emile Botta, 1849-50. 398 images.

Voyage en Perse [Travels in Persia], by Eugène Flandin and Pascal Coste, 1851-54. 346 images.

A second series of the Monuments of Nineveh; including bas-reliefs from the palace of Sennacherib and bronzes from the ruins of Nimroud, by A. H. Layard, 1853. 73 images.

Ninive et l’Assyrie [Nineveh and Assyria], by Victor Place, 1867-70. 90 images.

The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates of Balawat (Shalmaneser II, B.C. 859-825); edited, with an introduction by Samuel Birch; with descriptions and translations by Theophilus G. Pinches, 1880-[1902]. 94 images from the palace of the king we now call Shalmaneser III.

Biblical Manuscripts . . .

Samaritan Pentateuch, 1232. These 277 images are currently only available in low resolution.

The Xanten Bible, from Xanten, Lower Rhineland, 1294. Includes the Torah and Writings. There’s more information about this manuscript here. 518 images in low resolution.

We welcome suggestions of other collections that we missed. Add a note in the comments or send us an email (see address in sidebar) and we will update this list.

Tagged Resources

Weekend Roundup

Several Aramaic and Greek inscriptions with the word “rabbi” have been found in the cemetery of Sepphoris at the time when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was alive.

A large church in the underground city of Nevşehir in Cappadocia has been discovered with many colorful frescoes. They estimate that the church dates to the 5th century.

Turkey is planning to restore Göbekli Tepe in order to boost tourism.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is using lighting to restore the original colors to the Temple of Dendur.

The botching of the repair job on King Tut’s beard has resulted in a disciplinary hearing for eight officials.

Egypt is trying to revive tourism with 3-D scans of the pyramids, opening of new museums, and a highly publicized radar study of King Tut’s tomb.

Photography is once again permitted in the Egyptian Museum with purchase of a camera ticket.

Trude Dothan, long-time excavator of Philistine sites, died this week.

Lost photos of Lawrence of Arabia have been discovered in the archives of the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland.

A short piece at the Jerusalem Post remembers Edward Robinson on the anniversary of his death in 1863.

Clay tablets suggest that the Babylonians invented astronomical geometry long before the Europeans did.

Can you identify these “mystery objects” discovered in the PEF collection?

Dale Manor is on The Book and the Spade this week talking about his on-going excavations of Tel Beth Shemesh.

Tim Frank’s Daughter of Lachish is now available on Kindle. I really enjoyed this work of historical fiction set in the biblical world. (I explain why in my review on Amazon.)

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

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Galilee, Museums, Philistines, Sad News, Shephelah, Turkey

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A Jerusalem Post article by the chairs of the PEF and the Early Exploration of the Holy Land conference describes some of the Temple Mount explorations by Charles Warren.

After a major sandstorm last week, Israel is gearing up for a mega-snowstorm this week.

A major archaeological campaign to ancient sites in southern Israel has led to big questions: Why did the people abandon the sites? Why were these desert-dwellers eating large quantities of fish? And where are the Nabatean remains in these so-called Nabatean cities?

The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq, St. Elijah’s Monastery, has been destroyed by ISIS.

A new exhibit, “Khirbet el-Maqatir: History of a Biblical Site,” is opening in February at Faulkner University’s Kearley Graduate School of Theology.

Newsweek takes a look at new technology being used to read ancient scrolls.

“An international team of researchers said Sunday they will soon begin analyzing cosmic particles collected inside Egypt’s Bent Pyramid to search for clues as to how it was built and learn more about the 4,600-year-old structure.”

A couple of items of note from the Caspari Center Media Review:

”This article protests the planning of a housing project on the southern slope of Karnei Hittin, as it is not only the location of famous battles such as the Crusader defeat by Saladin in 1187, but also one of the possible locations of the Mount of Beatitudes.”

“This article recounts a number of recently published tourism statistics for 2015. Of particular note is the fact that 52% of incoming tourists were Christian, with 22% declaring that they had come for pilgrimage. The average rate of satisfaction was 4.4 out of 5.”

Tree historian Yaacov Shkolnik identifies the four most interesting trees in the Tel Aviv area.

HT: Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis

Tagged Egypt, Israel's Coast, Lectures, Negev, New Exhibits

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Have archaeologists identified some of the pilgrimage roads that led up to Jerusalem?

The Dead Sea is a fascinating place, as Wayne Stiles shows from his research and with some good visual aids.

@PalExFund shares a great photo from 1903 of the “PEF Observation Rock” along the shore of the Dead Sea.

Though the winter season at Khirbet el-Maqatir was cancelled, Scott Stripling led a small group to Israel and he shares his diary of the places they saw and the friends they met.

You can listen to part 2 of my discussion with Gordon Govier of 2016 excavations as well as other recent programs at The Book and the Spade.

Shmuel Browns shares some beautiful photos from Makhtesh Gadol. And he is co-leading the Great Makhtesh Photograph Adventure next month.

ABR is introducing a new archaeology curriculum for children.

Test your knowledge of Jericho with a new quiz at the ASOR Blog.

Eisenbrauns has a sale on Israel Exploration Society publications for 30 to 50% off.

Ken Dark concludes that satellite imagery is less useful for discovering new features around the Sea of Galilee than fieldwalking and surface surveys.

Leen Ritmeyer notes that Jerusalem the IMAX movie is currently available for free on Youtube.

Threshing floor in Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah, with Ambassador Hotel, mat23102

Threshing floor in Jerusalem near the Ambassador Hotel, 1953
Source: Library of Congress, LC-matpc-23102/www.LifeintheHolyLand.com

Tagged Dead Sea, Excavations, Galilee, Jerusalem, Jordan Rift, Negev

Weekend Roundup

A Japanese team is excavating Tel Rekhesh, a city that may be biblical Anaharath.

Wayne Stiles explains what the apparently contradictory lessons of suffering and glory that Jesus revealed on the slopes of Mount Hermon mean for us today.

Muslims are conducting unauthorized excavations on the Temple Mount, again. The Temple Mount Sifting Project has more links.

Another view on ISIS and antiquities: “Actual examples of ISIS-looted antiquities on the market are slim to none.”

Popular Archaeology has a feature story on the new exhibition on King Midas at the Penn Museum.

The city of Knossos was larger in the early Iron Age than archaeologists previously believed.

Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira post a summary of their efforts to use crowd-funding to support the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

Carl Laney identifies his five favorite Bible atlases.

Bill Schlegel has posted a short flyover video of the Philistine city of Gath.

Who were the idols that the Thessalonian believers used to worship? Ferrell Jenkins shares photos from the museum in Thessaloniki.

HT: Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer, Agade, BibleX

Our most liked photo this week on Facebook was this image of the Ecce Homo arch, standing in Jerusalem since the year 130.

Tagged Galilee, Greece, Jerusalem, Museums, Philistines, Resources, Temple Mount