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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A marble column from a Byzantine church was discovered by a beach patrol near Ashdod.

Tel Jarmuth (Yarmuth) is now surrounded by the fast-growing city of Beit Shemesh. The relationship between the community and the archaeologists may serve as a model for others.

A plan to expand the Jerusalem Walls National Park to include 68 additional acres, many on the Mount of Olives, has been shelved following opposition from church leaders.

The Times of Israel provides an overview of the $40 million renewal project of Jerusalem’s Tower of David Museum, slated to be finished by the end of this year.

Andrew Califf provides a fascinating look into “a day in the life of an antiquities crime-buster in Israel.”

i24News reports on lions in the Holy Land, including comments from Natan Slifkin, director of the Biblical Museum of National History.

Susan Schmidt has released a new video on “Hiking to the 11 Qumran Dead Sea Scroll Caves and Scrolls Trail.” This 6-minute tour not only introduces the new trail but it identifies where each of the 11 caves are located.

Ynet has an article about the new Dead Sea Scrolls Trail. The article is in Hebrew, but Google’s translation is pretty good.

Hybrid lecture on March 3 in Jerusalem: “The Foundation Date and Northern Defenses of Aelia Capitolina,” by Jodi Magness.

Zoom lecture on March 9: “Architectural Development of Ancient Galilean Synagogues,” by Paul Flesher.

Leen Ritmeyer has created a beautiful reconstruction drawing of the Magdala synagogue. His post provides more details about the synagogue, and a non-watermarked version of the reconstruction is available in his impressive image library.

Bible History Daily provides a summary of three pilgrimage paths from Galilee to Jerusalem, based on a recent BAR article by Jeffrey P. Garcia.

Oded Lipschits has been awarded the 2022 EMET Prize in Archaeology.

Israel is dropping its requirement for tourists to be vaccinated as of March 1.

How can photos, drone videos, and illustrations help you and your audience better understand the Bible? Brad Gray provides a valuable guide to a number of available resources and how they can be used (17 min).

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Keith Keyser, Arne Halbakken, Alexander Schick

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Artifacts discovered in the harbor of Caesarea provide evidence of Late Bronze trade relations between Cyprus and Sardinia. The underlying journal article is here.

The Met Museum in NYC will spend $40 million to renovate its ancient Near East and Cypriote galleries.

The Grand Egyptian Museum is inching closer to being complete.

Writing for The New Yorker, Casey Cep explains why we find such a minor pharaoh as King Tut so fascinating.

An archaeologist is using deep learning to develop a search engine for precise searches of archaeological records.

Johannes Hackl attempts to explain when Akkadian ceased as a language used by native speakers and when cuneiform writing came to an end.

Cheryl Kolander, a professional natural dyer, writes briefly about her research on Tyrian purple dye.

A mass grave of Crusaders in Sidon is the topic of This Week in the Ancient Near East podcast.

Members of the Historical Faith Society can view several recent videos with Alexander Schick, including:

  • The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Birth of Modern Israel
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls: Affirming the Word of God
  • Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Prove There was Only One Isaiah?

There will also be a free, live event with Alexander Schick and Timothy Mahoney talking about the history of the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls on Sun., Feb 27, at 4:00 pm US Eastern.

Sketchfab has a variety of 3D models available for viewing, including:

The John Henry Iliffe Collection of nearly 800 photographs is now available online. Iliffe’s career included being the Keeper of the Palestine Archaeological Museum (now the Rockefeller) in Jerusalem. Iliffe was also the author of A Short Guide to the Exhibition Illustrating the Stone and Bronze Ages in Palestine, published the year before the museum opened, available here in pdf format.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Alexander Schick, Explorator, Keith Keyser

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A new study authored in part by Chris McKinny and published in the Journal of Biblical Literature identifies the millo of Jerusalem with the fortifications around the Gihon Spring. The JBL article requires purchase, but Bible History Daily has a summary.

Henri Gourinard is writing a guidebook on the Emmaus Trail, and he provides a brief introduction to the trail for Bible History Daily.

A new Israeli reality TV show named “My Trip is Better” will pit five tour guides against each other in a five-day competition.

“Location, location, location” – Brad Gray explains the significance of geography in his “Lenses of Context” series for Walking the Text. The 20-minute episode includes many photos and maps.

Foreign archaeologists are returning to Gaza to restore archaeological sites and to train Palestinians in conservation (3-minute video).

“Thousands of rare antiquities were confiscated . . . in a complex pre-dawn operation in the Nablus area on Monday following a months-long undercover investigation.”

NY Times: “For 10 days, a photojournalist drove across Jordan from north to south, visiting several of the country’s most treasured sites. Here’s what he saw.”

The Bible Mapper Blog has just posted its 100th map. The latest free maps include:

I join Henry Smith on the latest episode of Digging for Truth to talk about Queen Esther in Susa (25 min). In this first part of a two-part series, I describe the excavations of Susa, the layout of the city, and highlights of my visit to Iran.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken, Explorator, Charles Savelle, Steve Ulrich, Keith Keyser

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Construction work in the Gaza Strip has uncovered a Roman cemetery. There have been reports of looting.

Ongoing work at a quarry near Bethlehem has destroyed about 100 meters of a 1st-century aqueduct that brought water to Solomon’s Pools. There are calls on the government to stop the destruction.

Haaretz (premium) runs a short story about the Gal On Citadel, a Canaanite fortress in the Shephelah between Gath and Lachish. But, as Moshe Gilad writes, “it is advisable not to have too high expectations.”

Schoolchildren hiking in Nahal Besor discovered a coin with the head of Roman Emperor Valentinian I.

The latest episode of This Week in the Ancient Near East podcast questions whether there were really two synagogues in Magdala.

Peter Feinman surveys what prominent Egyptologists in the last century have thought about Israel’s exodus from Egypt.

Pharaoh Hophra ruled Egypt when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, and he is the subject of the latest archaeological biography on the Bible Archaeology Report.

A series of videos featuring Alexander Schick discussing the history of the Bible, Tischendorf, and the Dead Sea Scrolls is being released this month as the “focus series” by the Historical Faith Society (membership required).

On The Book and the Spade, John DeLancey discusses what’s new for tourists in Israel after returning from his first tour following Covid shutdowns.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken, Explorator

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Marine archaeologists working near Caesarea have discovered a gold ring with a green gemstone depicting the “Good Shepherd,” a red gemstone depicting a lyre, and a hoard of Roman coins. A 2-minute video announcing the discoveries has been produced by the IAA.

“New research suggests that the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate is the one that built the Biar Aqueduct, the most sophisticated ancient aqueduct of the Jerusalem area” and the main one supplying Solomon’s Pools (Haaretz premium). The underlying journal article is available on Academia.

“Archaeologists say discovery at Tel Tsaf in the Jordan Valley is first known instance of alcohol being imbibed inside a community in the ancient Middle East.”

Authorities found the lid of a Roman sarcophagus in a garbage dump in Ashkelon.

The Jerusalem Post runs a brief story on the legend of the ark of the covenant being brought to Ethiopia.

The Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem has added a number of new programs and educational opportunities in the last year.

This Week in the Ancient Near East podcast: “Even More New Amazing Iron Age Finds from a Cult Site West of Jerusalem, or, To Gaze Upon the Knees of God”

A recent video of the Temple Mount shows the interior of the Golden Gate now furnished as a mosque.

The Conversation provides an explainer on what it is like to volunteer on an archaeological excavation.

The second episode in the “State of Jerusalem” miniseries by The Times of Israel looks at the Christian community in the city.

The Israeli government has again cancelled Christmas in the Holy Land for most, but not all, tourists.

Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer discuss the history and archaeology of Christmas on the Biblical World podcast.

Andy Cook at Experience Israel Now has created a two-part special entitled “The Journey to Christmas.” Part One came out a few days ago, and Part Two will be released tomorrow. The videos include drone footage of the route that Joseph and Mary took from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

We’ll have a part 2 for this roundup on Sunday.

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

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

“New archaeological findings in the city of Yavne may shed light on the city 2,000 years ago, when it was the center of Jewish life in the region and home to the Sanhedrin.”

“A lead sling stone bearing the name of a Seleucid leader who fought against the Hasmoneans was recently found in the southern Hebron Hills.”

Archaeologists have uncovered ancient glass kilns from the Roman period in the Jezreel Valley.

A Hasmonean-era oil lamp was discovered in the City of David shortly before Hanukkah began.

Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer talk with Andrea Berlin about her excavations of Tel Anafa and Tel Qedesh and how that illuminates the history of the Galilee in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

Gordon Govier writes about ancient seal impressions discovered through the use of wet-sifting for Christianity Today (subscription).

Israel’s Good Name reports on his visit to the Crusader ruins of Beit Itab in the Judean hills. He has also begun a new blog: Israel’s Good Bird.

Shechem is the latest site to be considered in Kyle Keimer’s “Why” series.

Jerusalem University College has announced its slate of spring online courses, including:

  • Ancient Egypt and the Biblical World, taught by Paul Wright
  • Archaeology of the Judean Shephelah, taught by Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer
  • Lessons from the Land: Applications for Teaching and Ministry, taught by John Monson
  • Physical Settings of the Bible, taught by Chandler Collins
  • The World of Jesus and His Disciples, taught by Rebecca Pettit

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken, Explorator, Ted Weis

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About the BiblePlaces Blog

The BiblePlaces Blog provides updates and analysis of the latest in biblical archaeology, history, and geography. Unless otherwise noted, the posts are written by Todd Bolen, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University.

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