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“A first ever First Temple-era gold granule bead was discovered during wet sifting of earth from the Temple Mount by a nine-year-old.”

Jamie Fraser and Caroline Cartwright give a very interesting account of the discovery and excavation of an olive oil factory in Gilead.

Israel’s Good Name shares his adventures at various sites in the western Jezreel Valley.

Leen Ritmeyer uses archaeological and textual sources to locate the Music Chamber in Herod’s temple.

Though most don’t believe that it is Mount Sinai, Har Karkom is home to 40,000 rock engravings.

According to Jeffrey Chadwick, the width of a gate at Gath is the same dimensions as the height of giant Goliath.

The release of Ken Dark’s new book has put in the news again the author’s theory that he has identified the house believed by the Byzantines to have been the house of Jesus.

“Visiting Sepphoris” is the latest video tour hosted by John DeLancey.

COVID restrictions have helped researchers excavating an underwater site off Israel to develop methods that will make future undersea excavation more precise and efficient.

A doctoral dissertation proposes that a silver shortage in Israel in the early Iron Age led to the creation of an alloy composed mainly of copper.

The next ASOR Zoom webinar: Eric Meyers, “Early Synagogues, Jesus, and Galilee—A Jewish Perspective,” on Dec 13, 7:30 EST.

Yesterday we released the Photo Companion to 1-2 Corinthians. These two volumes include 2,500 images.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Keith Keyser, Ted Weis, Ferrell Jenkins, Alexander Schick, Arne Halbakken

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An analysis of ancient teeth shows that people in ancient Israel suffered lead pollution (Haaretz premium; or see Aren Maeir’s website). The underlying journal article is here.

“The restoration of a soot-filled ancient Egyptian temple has revealed the previously unknown names of ancient Egyptian constellations.”

“The skeletal remains of what is believed to have been a rich man and his male slave fleeing the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago have been discovered in Pompeii.”

An ancient marble statue of Hermes was discovered beneath a street in Athens.

A study of the theater at Epidaurus has determined that it is “the most perfect theatre in the world in terms of aesthetics and acoustics.”

Cyprus plans to renovate 19 historical monuments this year.

Petra is the latest stop in John DeLancey’s video series.

Ancient Egyptian Architecture Online provides vetted and standardized architectural drawings of a selection of ancient Egyptian buildings. These represent architecture from modest workmen’s houses to temple complexes, dating from the Old Kingdom through Late Antiquity.”

A new digital platform allows visitors to tour ancient Olympia virtually.

In a new series focused on problems faced by the seven churches of Revelation, Ferrell Jenkins first considers the worship of Artemis at Ephesus.

Mark Hoffman links to a collection of chronologies, genealogies, and maps of the biblical world by Ian Mladjov.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, G. M. Grena, Charles Savelle, Explorator, Ted Weis

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Sinclair Bell writes about Imperial Rome’s passion for chariot racing. The article includes some beautiful illustrations, some of which come from a new documentary on the subject.

A new study shows that ancient Egyptian scribes added lead to their inks to help their writing dry.

“An Egyptian archaeological mission working in the ​​al-Ghuraifah area in Minya Governorate has uncovered the tomb of a royal treasury supervisor.”

Free lecture on YouTube: “Tutankhamun’s Life, Death, and Afterlife: New Evidence from Thebes,” by W. Raymond Johnson (available until Nov 21).

Zoom lecture on Nov 10: “Citron Detectives, Nomadic Acacias, and Pomegranate Physics: Some Puzzles and Solutions in Biblical Ethnobotany,” by Jon Greenberg, a Biblical and Talmudic ethnobotanist.

The Israeli TV series “The Holy Land in the Eyes of History” is now available online in some countries (but not the US), with subtitles in English.

Smithsonian Magazine explains the Athenian background of ostracism, in which inscribed potsherds (ostraca) were cast to exile a political candidate from the city for the next decade.

Newly launched: PEACE: a Portal of Epigraphy, Archaeology, Conservation and Education on Jewish Funerary Culture, covering from antiquity to the 20th century.

The Winter 2020 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review includes articles on Herod’s throne niche at Macherus and a private archive discovered at Maresha.

Denny Sissom’s The Bridge to the New Testament is on sale now with discount code WINTER2020.

Tutku has announced its list of tours in 2021 and 2022, including discounted trips for professors to Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and Jordan.

Claude Mariottini provides an introduction to the city of Susa.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Mark Hoffman

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Leen Ritmeyer suggests that a couple of recently discovered arches on the Temple Mount may belong to a gate leading from the Court of the Women into the Music Room.

Archaeologists have discovered a copper-ore smelting furnace in Beersheba from the Chalcolithic period, making it the oldest known to date.

Opposition is increasing toward Jerusalem’s plan for a cable car to the Old City.

Tourism to the Holy Land has completely stopped for the first time since the Franco-Prussian War. This article in Haaretz (premium) describes the effects on the industry, renovation projects underway, and prospects for the future.

John DeLancey’s newest video provides a tour of the Jerusalem model at the Israel Museum.

GTI Tours has begun a new podcast, with interviews with Gary Burge on the Fifth Gospel, Brad Gray on Jesus’s baptism, and more.

Eric Cline talks about the story of the excavations at Megiddo in the 1920s and 1930s on The Times of Israel podcast.

Bryan Windle pulls together a lot of detail and good photographs in his archaeological biography of King Jehu.

Wayne Stiles looks at Israel’s journey through the Red Sea and to Mount Sinai to see how God works through painful journeys.

Ginger Caessens will be leading an intensive study tour of Jordan in June. I have recommended this many times in the past and continue to do so.

New: A Christian’s Guide to Evidence for the Bible: 101 Proofs from History and Archaeology, by J. Daniel Hays.

Steven Anderson’s research on the identifications of Darius the Mede is now posted online in a very easy-to-read format, presenting the major views and objections to each.

HT: Agade, Explorator, Carl Rasmussen

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Season 2 of Jack Beck’s “The Holy Land—Connecting the Land with Its Stories” has been released on YouTube, with episodes on Psalm 23, David’s flight from Saul, and much more.

John DeLancey’s latest video provides a virtual tour of Gamla.

On Tuesday, David Moster will begin teaching a new course on Egypt and the Bible for The Institute of Biblical Culture.

Registration is now underway for the Bible & Archaeology Fest XXIII on October 24-25, with early bird pricing through the 9th and half price for students.

A very rare Sumerian temple plaque will be returned to Iraq by Britain because it was looted.

ACOR in Amman, Jordan, has announced a number of fellowships for the 2021-22 year.

Carl Rasmussen posts photos of the martyrium of Philip at Hierapolis.

Lawrence J. Mykytiuk is the first to be interviewed in the Scholar’s Chair series on the Bible Archaeology Report.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis

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A Canaanite city and palace at Tel Kabri were apparently destroyed by an earthquake circa 1700 BC. The underlying journal article is here.

Archaeologists have discovered a winepress south of Sidon in Lebanon that dates to the 7th century BC, making it the oldest known Phoenician winepress. The underlying journal article is here.

An inkwell from the 1st century AD was discovered during excavations at Khirbet Brakhot in Gush Etzion.

“An experiment with unglazed clay pots hinted at how much archaeologists can learn about ancient cultures from cooking vessels.”

A PhD student at Tel Aviv University is developing a new method of dating ancient mudbrick walls by analyzing one of its components: human and animal waste.

Elon Gilad and Ruth Schuster look at the development of Hellenistic Judaism in Israel, including seven synagogues with mosaics depicting the Zodiac.

Lutz Martin shares the interesting story of Max von Oppenheim, a German Jew who ended up excavating Tell Halaf in Syria and then founding a private museum which the Allies destroyed in a bombing raid. Fortunately, that is not the end of the story.

National Geographic runs a story on the discovery of Petra by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.

Ferrell Jenkins shares a photo of the arch of Domitian at Hierapolis.

New from Eisenbrauns: Ramat Raḥel IV: The Renewed Excavations by the Tel Aviv–Heidelberg Expedition (2005–2010): Stratigraphy and Architecture, by Oded Lipschits, Manfred Oeming, and Yuval Gadot. Use code NR20 for 30% off.

Applications for fellowships at the Albright Institute in Jerusalem are now being accepted.

The next Zoom virtual lecture for the Anglo Israel Archaeological Society will be by Yana Tchekhanovets on 1st October. Her topic is The Holy City: Fourth-Century Jerusalem in the Light of the New Archaeological Data. To register email [email protected].

Steve Notley will be speaking about his excavations at el-Araj, a strong candidate for Bethsaida, in a lecture hosted on October 1 by the Museum of the Bible. Registration and fee are required for both the in-person and virtual options.

NYU and the IAA are sponsoring a virtual conference on October 25-28 entitled “The Land that I Will Show You”: Recent Archaeological and Historical Studies of Ancient Israel. A full program is not yet posted. Registration is free and required.

Lois Tverberg has several online speaking events coming up, including a week-long study on “How God Used the Torah to Save the World.”

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Keith Keyser

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