A team excavating in Luxor has uncovered a mummy in a wooden sarcophagus that dates to 1600 BC.

“Archaeologists have discovered a shrine in a temple in Egypt that describes a ritual never seen before.”

Six thousand artifacts taken from the Kerak Castle will be displayed in the city museum.

Syria announced the uncovering of a large, remarkable 1,600-year-old mosaic depicting scenes of the Trojan War.

New mosaics with various figures were unearthed during the ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Hadrianopolis, which is called the ‘Zeugma of Black Sea.’”

“Archaeologists may have found the sanctuary of the Samian Poseidon while they were conducting excavations at the Samicum Acropolis in Greece.”

The British Institute for the Study of Iraq is hosting an online international conference to mark the 100th anniversary of Sir Leonard Wooley’s first season of excavations at Ur.

Shai Gordin and Avital Romach explain the benefits of using computers to study ancient cuneiform texts.

New release: A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East, edited by Ted Kaizer (Wiley, £159; Amazon).

International Archaeology Day on October 22 will be celebrated at the Nashville Parthenon with a number of activities.

“An American tourist knocked over two ancient Roman busts in the Vatican Museums after he was told he couldn’t meet with Pope Francis.”

Our team has been working on a special little project, and we look forward to sharing that this week. By way of preview, I will say that it is a powerfully beautiful celebration of one of the most loved passages in all the Bible.

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis, Explorator

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Geomagnetic surface surveys at Khirbet al-Minya on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee have revealed an earlier Jewish or Christian settlement.

A new study of the Solomonic-era copper mines at Timna reveals that the enterprise came to a sudden halt around 850 BC because the miners overexploited the sparse desert acacia and white broom trees used to fuel their furnaces (Haaretz subscription).

Carl Rasmussen links to a video that shows evidence for a first-century synagogue at Chorazin. He also shares a photo of the synagogue in 1967 before reconstruction began.

Here is a video of the 7th-8th century AD shipwreck recently discovered off the coast of Israel.

“Hundreds of ancient decorated toga pins, earrings, rings and figurines of animals and idols were found in the home of a man who used to be an antiquities dealer in northern Israel.”

Albright Institute lecture on Oct 27: “The Austrian Expedition to Tel Lachish (2017-2022),” by Katharina Streit & Felix Höflmayer. Register to join by Zoom here.

Marc Zvi Brettler explains the Hakhel Ceremony, in which the assembly gathers together every seven years to read the Torah. This event will be celebrated at the Western Wall on October 11.

Ferrell Jenkins shares a photo of sheep grazing near Tirzah, the second capital of the northern kingdom.

HT: Agade, Keith Keyser, Arne Halbakken

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Major progress has been made in the project to recreate a harbor for ancient Ephesus.

Turkish Archaeological News reports on the top stories for the month of August. One discovery noted is the excavation of a Roman fountain at Assos.

“An ongoing excavation in the ancient Greek city of Metropolis has led to the discovery of 150 amphorae and water jugs found in a well believed to be from approximately 1,800 years ago.”

New excavations have begun at Ostia, the ancient port city of Rome.

A large Roman mosaic of Medusa that had been kept in a basement in Los Angeles was recovered by the FBI and returned to Italy.

“Researchers found that upper-class people in the Roman Empire did not always follow the law regarding funeral parties, often opting for everyday foods rather than expensive specialties, according to a new study.”

Mark Wilson discusses the concept of “treasure in jars of clay” in light of the discovery of coin hoards discovered in the ancient world. (I usually don’t link to Bible History Daily reposts, but this one is interesting and I don’t remember it from before.)

Online lecture on Sept 27, 2 pm Eastern Time: “Christian Faith Tourism in Anatolia: Seven Churches and Paul’s Journeys,” by Mark Wilson

Ferrell Jenkins shares some photos related to sheepshearing.

Some recent episodes on Digging for Truth TV:

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle, Alexander Schick, Explorator

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Today’s announcement cannot wait until the Weekend Roundup. I expect that the discovery of ivory inlays in Jerusalem will rank #1 in my list of “top discoveries” of the year.

The story is reported in the major sources (including Haaretz, Arutz-7, AFP), but I am going to provide some brief commentary on the well-illustrated report in The Times of Israel.

Some 1,500 ivory fragments were excavated from the City of David’s Givati Parking Lot, but only discovered during wet sifting in the nearby Emek Tsurim National Park.

The unappealing name of the “Givati Parking Lot” refers to an area on the northwestern side of the City of David, just below the Old City’s Dung Gate.

AerialviewofCityofDavidtb010703givatiparkingdiagram

The City of David, aerial view from the southwest

The fact that they found 1,500 fragments, but only in wet sifting, indicates that they found slivers that were not identified during the primary excavation. Someone must have done an enormous amount of work to piece these slivers into the whole pieces that are shown in the article.

The ivory pieces, which would have made up decorative inlays for furniture or a door, were discovered in a monumental building that was in use when Jerusalem was at the height of its power (the 8th and 7th centuries BCE) and was likely razed during the Babylonian Conquest of 586 BCE.

An important structure, possibly a royal building or a palace, was decorated with these ivories in the time of Hezekiah or Manasseh. The Babylonian destruction explains why the archaeologists found so many tiny fragments.

Ivory appears in the Bible in numerous locations, referring to extreme opulence, such as King Solomon’s “large ivory throne” (1 Kings 10:18), King Ahab’s palace adorned with ivory (1 Kings 22:39) and firebrand warnings from the prophet Amos to stop lolling on ivory-inlayed beds and couches (Amos 6:4).

In other words, this discovery really is not unexpected. The Bible indicates that ivory decorated royal furniture in the capital cities of both Samaria and Jerusalem. What makes this discovery so extraordinary is that in 150 years of excavating in Jerusalem, archaeologists have not found ivory pieces. The reason is not that they didn’t exist, but that archaeologists were missing these fragments because they weren’t wet-sifting.

The capitals of Nimrud and, to a lesser extent, Samaria, are known for their wealth and opulence. But First Temple Jerusalem? Many scholars argue that the Holy City only came into its own around the end of the 8th century BCE — exactly when these ivory finds are dated to.

Yes, this certainly supports the prominence of Jerusalem at this time. But the fact that we didn’t have such evidence yesterday only means that we were wrong to assume that the absence of evidence was meaningful.

In a painstaking collaborative process, the fragments were reassembled in the IAA laboratories by conservator Orna Cohen, together with Ilan Naor.

“At the end of the process of joining and ‘fusing’ hundreds of the fragments, we were able to understand that the assemblage includes remnants of at least 12 small square plaques – about 5 cm x 5 cm, at most 0.5 cm thick – which were originally inlaid in wooden furnishings,” Cohen and Naor said.

Kudos to these hard-working experts. May they receive the honor they deserve for their labors.

The style of the decorative motifs points to a clear Levantine influence, she said, and was popular throughout Mesopotamia. They were likely forged in Syria and then imported to Jerusalem, either as furniture or a door, or as inlays ready to be affixed.

I don’t think anyone would suggest that Jerusalem (or Samaria) had their own ivory workshops, so they were imported from the north. Perhaps Ahaz, in his friendly relations with the Assyrians, was entranced by more than the  altar in Damascus (2 Kgs 16:10).

“When we did a reconstruction, we imagined something between a couch or a chair, upon which a person would recline,” she said. Due to other luxury items that were also uncovered in the monumental building — vanilla-flavored wine, special serving dishes and a rare agate seal, she said the team of researchers envisioned a rich, opulent feast. “You can imagine these couch/chairs as a place where they sat at the banquet,” she said.

If you haven’t read The Times of Israel article already, the illustration for this paragraph is working clicking over for. It gives you an idea for how these inlays may have decorated the furniture. Of course, wood is never preserved in Jerusalem, so the artist relied on furniture parallels in Egypt and his imagination.

“There are only three motifs, all vegetative, and they’re very known on ivories in general in ancient Near East art, especially at this time,” she said. What was more interesting is what symbols were left out, she said, including, for example, a sphinx or other animal and human depictions.”

This suggests that Ahaz or Hezekiah or whoever placed this order was choosing from the aniconic section of the ivories catalog. This contrasts with Samaria where creatures were depicted on the ivories.

Samaria ivories, 9th-8th c BC, tb032014289

Ivory fragment from Samaria, depicting a sphinx, 9th-8th centuries BC (on display in the Israel Museum)

The article notes that the ivories will be displayed next week at the 23rd Conference of the City of David Studies of Ancient Jerusalem.

I would guess that archaeological protocol in Jerusalem now is that everything from the 1st and 2nd Temple periods is being sifted. This means that there will be more future dramatic discoveries.

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Bible Land Passages has just released “The City of David Underground: What’s inside Hezekiah’s Ancient Tunnel?” (8 min).

The Times of Israel has a nicely illustrated story by Aviva and Shmuel and Bar-Am on the excavations of Usha in western Galilee. The site is one of many along the Sanhedrin Trail that has been excavated by volunteers, mostly pre-army teens.

The southern wall of the Temple Mount is being illuminated in the evening as part of a new initiative to attract tourists for evening visits to the Jerusalem Archaeological Park.

The Biblical Archaeology Society has released a new ebook entitled The Dead Sea Scrolls: Past, Present, and Future. The book celebrates the 75th anniversary of the discovery with a number of articles by and interviews with leading scholars. (Requires email address)

Leen Ritmeyer shares photos and reconstruction drawings of the Arbel synagogue in Galilee.

Cynthia Shafer-Elliott gives an introduction to the geographical context of ancient Israel.

Experience Israel Now is celebrating their seventh anniversary.

Ferrell Jenkins shares photos that illustrate the beauty of the Bible Land.

“Unearth the Land of the Bible” is a 10-day tour sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Tourism to give American Christians exposure to archaeological sites and an opportunity to excavate.

The Caesarea Maritima International Conference 2022 will be held on October 22-26 at NYU’s Washington Square campus. (I don’t have a link at this time.)

New release: Ashkelon 9: The Hellenistic Period, by Kathleen J. Birney (Eisenbrauns; $140; save 30% with code NR22).

The Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times has launched a Mini-MOOC, featuring shorter video clips (10-15 min) to introduce major topics of the Center’s research:

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis, Paul Mitchell

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Marking the 100th anniversary of the discovery, the National Geographic Museum in Washington DC has an immersive exhibit, “Beyond King Tut.” The University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries is running an exhibit, “Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archives.” They have created a 1.5-minute fly-through video of a 3-D model. Some of the original photos of the tomb’s opening have been digitally colorized. You can view some very high-resolution photographs that were taken in the creation of a facsimile of the funerary chamber in order to reduce the number of tourists.

Zahi Hawass has written a history of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in Cairo.

Zahi Hawass wants the Rosetta Stone to be donated to the Arab Republic of Egypt. (Is this news?)

Friends of ASOR webinar on Sept 15: “The Good Kings: The Modern Obsession with Ancient Egyptian Kingship,” featuring Prof. Kara Cooney and moderated by Prof. Sarah Parcak.

A new exhibition on “Byblos. The World’s Most Ancient Port” will be held at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities from October 14 to March 12.

The British Museum Blog: “Discover how a collaborative international partnership helped restore eight ancient glass vessels after their destruction in the 2020 Beirut explosion.”

The BBC Travel series Ancient Engineering Marvels explores the Ziggurat of Ur, noting that tourism is slowly returning to Iraq.

“A marble statue of the Anatolian mother goddess Cybele created 2,350 years ago has been discovered in the ancient city of Antandrus.”

Ahmet Denker has spent 12 years working on a virtual reconstruction of the temple of Artemis in Ephesus.

“Algeria, Croatia, Egypt, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia are working together on an underwater archaeological expedition, researching the Skerki Bank region off the Sicily and Tunisian coasts.”

The BBC looks at the challenge of understanding what is (and what isn’t) ancient children’s toys.

A digital artist has created a photograph of what he thinks Alexander the Great looked like.

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Alexander Schick, Joseph Lauer, Explorator

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