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Leen Ritmeyer continues his Temple Mount series with a look at the Early Muslim period. He has many illustrations, but the one I’ve always found most helpful in teaching is the comparison of the
Temple with the Dome of the Rock.

Two Egyptian mummies were found in a sewer near Minya.

Morgan Freeman will star in a remake of Ben-Hur.

The IAA arrested three men for antiquities theft at Ashkelon.

The International Business Times has a short profile of Tel Burna (Libnah?) with many graphics.

For the 40th anniversary of Biblical Archaeology Review, Hershel Shanks recounts the story of how the magazine began.


Pontius Pilate, by Paul L. Maier, is on sale for Kindle for $0.99. I recommend it.

Here’s a unique subject for a blogpost: Salem—What We Can Learn from Abraham’s Visit to Jerusalem, by Wayne Stiles.

Wayne is also offering signed copies of two of his excellent books. This is a great gift idea for yourself or someone else who has recently traveled to the Holy Land or who wishes that they could.

Eisenbrauns has reprinted all 11 volumes of the State Archives of Assyria (SAA) and State Archives of Assyria Studies (SAAS) and they are on sale this month.

The exhibition catalog for the new Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem exhibit is now available: By the Rivers of Babylon, The Story of the Babylonian Exile Jerusalem, by Filip Vukosavovic.

The Al-Arish National Museum in the North Sinai has been damaged in an attack by the militant group State of Sinai.

Ancient Romans ate meals that most Americans would recognize.

On Monday we’re beginning a series on Twitter of our 15 favorite places in Jerusalem. Follow us @BiblePlaces or on Facebook.

HT: Agade, Jay Baggett

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(Post by A.D. Riddle)

On January 20, Google announced that Google Earth Pro is now available for free (see here.) Google Earth un-Pro was always free, but prior to this, Google Earth Pro required an annual subscription that cost $399.99.

The announcement lists some of the advantages to using the Pro edition.

Google Earth Pro has all the easy-to-use features and detailed imagery of Google Earth, along with advanced tools that help you measure 3D buildings, print high-resolution images for presentations or reports, and record HD movies of your virtual flights around the world. 

Google Earth works on both Windows and Mac. The program can be downloaded here. The free license key is GEPFREE.

To get started with some of the Pro features, this blog describes Movie Maker, and this help describes the use of Super Overlays for importing hi-resolution overlays into Google Earth Pro. Another option for importing large overlays is MapTiler.

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The Big Picture has 13 great photos of the declining level of the Dead Sea.

Why visit the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem? Bible History Daily points out 10 great biblical artifacts.

That same museum is hosting a new exhibit “By the Rivers of Babylon” that is profiled in Haaretz.

The Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem is using iPads and phones to improve the visitor’s experience (NYTimes).

The Melbourne Museum has produced a recreation of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii.

Illegal excavations in Alexandria have revealed a Graeco-Roman necropolis.

An update on the Nineveh destruction from Agade: “Reliable reports from the Mosul that for good reason cannot be attributed are that the fortifications of Nineveh have not been damaged in any way.

Unfortunately, Nabi Younis, however, is now completely destroyed.”

HT: Agade

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From IraqiNews.com:

A Kurdish official revealed on Tuesday evening that the ISIS organization had bombed large parts and tracts of the ancient Nineveh wall, indicating that such an act violates the right of human culture and heritage.
The media official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Mosul, Saed Mimousine said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “ISIS militants blew up today large parts and expanses of the archaeological wall of Nineveh in al-Tahrir neighborhood,” explaining that, “The terrorist group used explosives in the process of destroying the archaeological fence.”
Mimousine added, “The Wall of Nineveh is one of the most distinctive archaeological monuments in Iraq and the Middle East,” adding that, “The fence dates back to the Assyrian civilization.”

The full article includes a photo of the gate. A related article shows a photo of an explosion.

Nineveh is best known as one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. In the 8th century BC, Jonah visited the city and Sennacherib began construction on his “Palace Without a Rival.” Fortunately, many of the important artifacts were removed from the site in the 19th century and are now on display in the British Museum.

HT: Agade

Nineveh, north palace of Ashurbanipal, after capture of Babylon, tb112004733
Relief from Ashurbanipal’s palace in Nineveh
Now on display in the British Museum
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They now think they know who was buried in the Amphipolis tomb. This article has more details and illustrations.

King Tut’s beard was knocked off and then re-attached with epoxy glue. Here’s a close-up of the botched repair.

Leen Ritmeyer suggests a location for the stairs of the Antonia Fortress where Paul went up and down.

Medical imaging technology has been put to use in reading burned papyri from Herculaneum.

Approval has been given to re-open the old Acropolis Museum.

You can subscribe to the weekly podcast of The Book and the Spade at christianaudio.com. This week Clyde Billington gives an update on Temple Mount archaeology. Last week I addressed the problem of sensational stories in biblical archaeology.

The latest issue of Ancient Near East Today is now available.

Ferrell Jenkins shares photos of Aphek/Antipatris and the “other Aphek.” I particularly like his aerial photo of the northern site.

Miriam Feinberg Vamosh describes the history of Jezreel and its recent excavations in an illustrated pdf article at The Bible and Interpretation.

Iraq is seeking to have the ruins of Babylon put on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

ICYMI: Accordance photo collections are on sale through Monday.

HT: Ted Weis, Agade

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Accordance Bible Software has some excellent photo resources on sale through Monday. Here are some of their offerings:

Bible Lands PhotoGuide 4, with 50 new articles and thousands of additional photographs ($69.90)

Bible Times PhotoMuseum, with 500 high-res images and extensive explanatory notes ($44.90)

100 Archaeological Sites and Biblical Landscapes in Israel, with 1,500 photos by Hanan Isachar ($79.90)

Churches and Monasteries in Israel, with hundreds of photos and descriptions by researcher and cultural journalist, David Rapp ($39.90)

American Colony Collection, with 4,000 images from the early 1900s, created by BiblePlaces.com ($99.90)

Views That Have Vanished, with 700 photographs taken in the 1960s, created by BiblePlaces.com ($26.90)

The Graphics Premier Bundle includes everything listed above, now reduced to $239.

These are some great resources at sale prices through January 26. Accordance has long been the most popular Bible software for Mac and it has been available on PC for more than a year now. You can
learn more about this outstanding software here. Or check out the many endorsements here.

Tishbe
Screenshot from Accordance Bible Lands PhotoGuide 4
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