Israel's Coast Archives - Page 21 of 32

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Repairs inside the Dome of the Rock are complete, and when they took photos this week, it was revealed that the reconstruction of the tile floor proposed by the Temple Mount Sifting Project is accurate.

The study of fish bones found in a 7th-century AD shipwreck near Dor indicates that a now-extinct subspecies of St. Peter’s fish was being transported on the boat (Haaretz premium).

Scholars are offering competing explanations for the massive trash dump in the Kidron Valley from the first century AD (Haaretz premium).

A jogger along the shore of Ashkelon discovered a 12th-century AD oil lamp.

Aren Maeir is providing daily updates of the excavation of Gath.

The Tel Burna team gives an update from the first two weeks of their season. Chris McKinny’s work on the LB cultic building looks particularly promising in the remaining two weeks.

Jennie Ebeling and Norma Franklin discuss several important facets of their excavations at Jezreel.

Luke Chandler discusses the possibility of a Judahite water system at Lachish and the need for funds to excavate it.

If you’re interested in a brief, well-illustrated study of the world’s largest stones used in construction projects, check out Tom Powers’s latest post.

Felicity Cobbing of the PEF was present at the opening of the Palestine Museum in Ramallah and shares her perspective.

The senior staff of the Ashkelon excavations is wrapping up their final season this month and beginning a new project at Tel Shimron with a geophysical survey this summer.

Appian Media was recently filming in Israel for their upcoming Following the Messiah video series.

They are posting updates on the project and their travels on their blog.

The Fifth Gospel is a new iBook that explores the land, the culture, and the archaeology of the Bible. It was designed for high school students and features maps, interactive quizzes, photos, and short film clips. Check it out on iTunes.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Movies, Philistines, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup

Archaeologists working at Jerash (biblical Gerasa) have discovered part of a life-size statue of Aphrodite.

“American and Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a rare structure called a nilometer in the ruins of the ancient city of Thmuis in Egypt’s Delta region.” It was built in the 3rd century BC and used for 1,000 years.

British archaeologists have identified the remains of a 16- to 18-week-old mummified fetus that was found in Giza nearly 100 years ago.

The Antiquities Ministry of Egypt has completed a project to lower the groundwater at the Edfu Temple.

A plan has been approved that will remove all the mines around the traditional area of John’s baptisms on the Jordan River.

Haaretz (premium) visits the site of Tell el-Ajjul, once a prosperous Canaanite city south of Gaza but today at risk of complete destruction.

“Those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion which cannot be moved but abides forever” (Psalm 125:1). Wayne Stiles uses photos to explain what this means today.

Two archaeology students have crowdsourced images to create a VR reconstruction of the Mosul museum. The article includes a cool YouTube 360 video.

The Palestinian Museum opened this week in Bir Zeit, but it has no exhibits.

The enforcement of a new antiquities law is making it harder for black market antiquities to be sold in Israel.

Israel will be returning two Bronze Age wooden anthropoid sarcophagus lids found by IAA agents in an Old City dealer’s shop.

Of 28 Egyptian obelisks standing today, only 6 are in Egypt. That’s one of many interesting facts about obelisks in a WSJ article that is based on a book by Bob Brier entitled Cleopatra’s Needles.

Allison Meier reviews the new exhibition in NYC, “Gods and Mortals at Olympus: Ancient Dion, City of Zeus.” The article includes many photos.

Charles Jones has recently updated the list of titles in JSTOR which focus on Antiquity. It now includes 243 titles.

Dubgallu is a new forum for scholars of the ancient Near East. Registration is free, and open to anyone who academically studies the ancient Near East.

There’s a sale on for various electronic editions of the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, Old and New Testaments – Logos, Accordance, and Olive Tree.

The Atlas of Palestinian Rural Heritage looks interesting. Some themes covered: Tilling – Harvesting – Moving the Harvest – Threshing – Sifting – Grinding – Making Dough – Baking Bread – Cooking – Making Grape Syrup – Sesame Oil – Olives and Olive Oil – Storage – Bard – Domestic Birds – Honeybee Farming – Milk – Shepherd – Washing – Water – Gathering Rainwater.

If you have a passion for biblical geography, perhaps you would consider supporting Seth Rodriquez to go to Zimbabwe to teach future pastors about the land of Israel. This is a great opportunity to help others learn about what we love.

I’ll be traveling for a few weeks and the regular roundups will resume when I return.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Steven Anderson

On this day 50 years ago, David Bivin took this photo while standing on the edge of no man’s land looking toward the Old City of Jerusalem, then occupied by Jordan. Photo from Views That Have Vanished.

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jordan, Jordan Rift, Mesopotamia, Museums, New Exhibits, Resources

Caesarea Shipwreck Discovered

Two scuba divers made the find of a lifetime last month when they discovered a shipwreck dating to the 4th century AD. In what has been called the most extensive underwater discovery in Israel in 30 years, the divers found statues, anchors, and lumps of coins, all remarkably well preserved on the seabed near Caesarea. The following quotations and photos are from the IAA press release.

“Many of the artifacts are bronze and in an extraordinary state of preservation: a bronze lamp depicting the image of the sun god Sol, a figurine of the moon goddess Luna, a lamp in the image of the head of an African slave, fragments of three life-size bronze cast statues, objects fashioned in the shape of animals such as a whale, a bronze faucet in the form of a wild boar with a swan on its head, etc.”

Bronze artifacts discovered in Caesarea

“One of the biggest surprises in particular was the discovery of two metallic lumps composed of thousands of coins weighing c. 20 kilograms which was in the form of the pottery vessel in which they were transported.”

Two lumps of coins, together weighing about 45 pounds

“‘The location and distribution of the ancient finds on the seabed indicate that a large merchant ship was carrying a cargo of metal slated recycling, which apparently encountered a storm at the entrance to the harbor and drifted until it smashed into the seawall and the rocks.’ A preliminary study of the iron anchors suggests there was an attempt to stop the drifting vessel before it reached shore by casting anchors into the sea; however, these broke – evidence of the power of the waves and the wind which the ship was caught up in.”

The ship’s anchor

“Metal statues are rare archaeological finds because they were always melted down and recycled in antiquity. When we find bronze artifacts it usually occurs at sea. Because these statues were wrecked together with the ship, they sank in the water and were thus ‘saved’ from the recycling process.”

A figurine of Dionysus, the god of wine

“As soon as they emerged from the water divers Ran Feinstein and Ofer Ra‘anan of Ra‘anana contacted the Israel Antiquities Authority and reported the discovery and removal of several ancient items from the sea.”

The divers, Ran Feinstein (right) and Ofer Ra’anan after the discovery. Photo by The Old Caesarea Diving Center

The IAA press release includes a 2.5-minute video. All of the high-resolution photos may be downloaded here. Unless otherwise credited, all photos are by Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The story is also reported by The Times of Israel, Haaretz, and others.

HT: Joseph Lauer

Caesarea harbor, aerial view from the west
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands

Tagged Discoveries, Israel's Coast

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Archaeologists have announced the discovery of a 13th dynasty scarab in a gold ring at Tel Dor.

Excavations begin this summer at el-Araj, a candidate for the site of Bethsaida. Nyack College is participating and inviting others to join them.

The Temple Institute held a public practice reenactment of the Passover sacrifice last week. A few dozen photos have been posted.

Two Israeli Jews were arrested for trying to carry a goat up to the Temple Mount to make a Passover sacrifice.

A senior Egyptian archaeologist has claimed that the Pharaoh of the exodus was not Egyptian.

Paleojudaica provides some analysis.

The 8th-century citadel at Ashdod Yam was vandalized recently by youths who shared photos on social media. The teens who caused the damage have now apologized.

What’s there to see in Ashdod? Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am lead readers on a tour of the sites.

Wayne Stiles shows you what you’ll see if you walk down the Kidron Valley.

For an CT article, Gordon Govier asks evangelical scholars to weigh in on the recent study that literacy in ancient Israel was more widespread than previously believed.

The full text is online for Lawrence Schiffman’s recent lecture entitled, “In the Valley of David and Goliath: Digging Up Evidence on the United Monarchy.”

Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary eBooks are on sale now for $4.99 each.

Now free online in pdf format: John J. Bimson, Redating the Exodus and Conquest, 2nd ed. Sheffield: The Almond Press, 1981.

A bidding war has resulted in sale of 1,000 historic photographs of the Holy Land to sell for nearly $1.5 million. Note to the loser: we can provide you with more than 1,000 images for half price!
Seth Rodriquez, a long-time contributor to this blog, has been invited to teach a course in biblical backgrounds at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe and he would appreciate your prayer and financial support.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Resources, 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