Archaeologists unearthed a Byzantine-era sculpture of a male lamb in Caesarea. High-res photos are available here.

The Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered a farmhouse from 700 BC and a Byzantine church near biblical Aphek. High-res photos and a video are available for download. The story is reported by The 
Times of Israel.

An ancient aqueduct has been discovered at Ein Hatzeva.

Israel’s Supreme Court has issued a ruling which will require antiquities dealers to maintain a detailed online inventory.

Scholars are using laser-scanning to create 3-D records of archaeological sites in Iraq that are vulnerable.

Israel’s National Parks Authority plans to turn Tel Ashdod into a national park.

A $287 million USAID project in Jordan conducted a thorough environmental impact report for the construction of a wind farm and yet failed to identify portions of the Via Nova Trajana that would be destroyed.

Was Herod a hero? Alexander Stewart evaluates some recent biographies that provide a more positive spin while at the same time denying Matthew’s account of the slaughter of the innocents.

Congratulations to Chris McKinny on the publication of My People As Your People: A Textual and 
Archaeological Analysis of the Reign of Jehoshaphat, published by Peter Lang.

Several lists have been compiled to review the year’s top discoveries in biblical archaeology. We’ll start with the annual compilation by Gordon Govier, published in Christianity Today. Though he initially described them as “top stories” of 2015 rather than “top discoveries,” the magazine has eliminated that distinction. Gordon and I will discuss his top ten list in next week’s edition of The Book and the Spade.

The Biblical Archaeology Society has selected their top ten discoveries of the year, choosing five similar to CT’s list and five others.

Haaretz’s coverage is less of a list and more of a skeptical story, including Ben Carson’s goof and Philistine opium.

If you’re interested in the broader world of archaeology around the globe, Heritage Daily offers its top 10. They include the “Akra” discovery and the gate of Gath in their list.

Erin Brodwin at Business Insider chooses “9 mind-blowing discoveries that had the archaeological community freaking out in 2015.” I wonder if headlines like that really work. She includes only Jesus’s boyhood home from the world of biblical archaeology, but I’m pretty sure the archaeological community in Israel wasn’t freaking out about it.

UPI has 15 photos for 15 discoveries, including the “Arca” (and that’s in quotation marks for more than one reason).

A list by Ancient Origins of the top ten includes a few from Egypt but nothing related to the Bible.
National Geographic identifies “seven major” discoveries of the year, topping the list with the “hidden chambers in Tut’s tomb.” If they actually discover those in the coming months, they can re-use that one again next year.

Nothing from the Middle East makes it onto Archaeology’s Top 10 list.

If I were writing a “top ten” list limited to discoveries made or first announced in 2015, I would include only these four:

• The gate of Philistine Gath
• 10th century seal from Temple Mount of Jerusalem
• Ishbaal inscription found near Elah Valley
• Seal impression of Hezekiah son of Ahaz, king of Judah

The Whizin Center and the Simmons Family Charitable Foundation’s 27th Annual Program in Biblical Archaeology is entitled “Bedouin, Archaeology, History and the Bible: Surprising New Answers for Old Questions.” This year’s lecturers are K. Lawson Younger and Clinton Bailey. The lecture titles are in the paper catalog, but not online.

• “Why Do Some Scholars Claim the Exodus and Conquest of Canaan Never Happened?” (Younger)
• “My Personal Discovery of Pre-Modern Bedouin Culture in the Negev and in the Sinai” (Bailey)
• “Rethinking the Case for the Exodus and Conquest” (Younger)
• “Were Abraham and His Descendants & the Moses Israelites Bedouin?” (Bailey)

A full list of events at the American Jewish University is here.

HT: G. M. Grena

A Hebrew inscription from the 5th century AD attests to a Jewish community at Kursi on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Despite what the archaeologist says, it tells us nothing about the swine miracle, as Richard Bauckham observes.

Plans are underway to restore the treasures of Cnidus (Knidos) to their original location.

One year after it was damaged, the mask of King Tut has been repaired. DW has much more background on the restoration process.

Haaretz: “The National Library of Israel and Wikimedia have posted 200 historical maps of Jerusalem, some of them rare, on the Internet. The maps are high resolution and free for use.” You can access the images directly here.

Aren Maeir has written a brief piece on “The Philistines and Their Cities” for the Bible Odyssey website.

How much gold covered Herod’s temple in Jerusalem? Leen Ritmeyer thinks there was a lot.

The Deal of the Weekend at Eisenbrauns is Kirk Grayson’s Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles
($90, reduced to $36).

Now online through The Bible and Interpretation, Yigal Levin’s article, “How Did Rabshakeh Know the Language of Judah?”

Father Juan Solana just wanted the archaeologists to leave. Then they discovered remains of Magdala at his proposed Christian retreat center. Smithsonian Magazine runs a feature story on the discovery of Magdala.

In a story published in The Atlantic, Joel Baden and Candida Moss recount how in six years the Green family has amassed one of the world’s largest collection of Bible-related artifacts.

Avinoam Danin died this week. He was best known for his popular Flora of Israel Online.

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