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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A 12-year-old girl found an Egyptian scarab while on a family hike near Hod HaSharon.

A 71-year-old Israeli researcher was killed when attempting to visit an archaeological site in southern Lebanon.

The stone inscription of the Ten Commandments that is up for auction must be put on public display, as a condition of its purchase. The current owner violated that requirement for the last eight years. Another website identifies the owner.

Aren Maeir’s new MOOC on ancient Jerusalem is now online, along with his previous MOOC on biblical archaeology. Both may be taken for free or for a small fee for certification. There’s also a one-minute “behind the scenes” video for the Jerusalem course.

The latest Jerusalem Tracker links to the newest books, book reviews, academic articles, news reports, podcasts, videos, and upcoming events related to Jerusalem.

On Digging for Truth, Scott Stripling reviews the 2024 excavation season at Shiloh. “Discoveries include a city gate, new technologies, sacrificial activity, and even gold.”

In the latest edition of “Discussions with the Diggers,” Bryan Windle interviews Abigail Van Huss (nee Leavitt), assistant dig director for the Shiloh excavations.

The new issue of Biblical Archaeology Review includes articles on monumental churches built to commemorate Jesus’s life, Egyptian statues from Hazor, and the ten lost tribes.

Cambridge University Press has inaugurated a new series entitled Elements in The Archaeology of Ancient Israel. The first volume is Edom in Judah: Trade, Migration, and Kinship in the Late Iron Age Southern Levant, by Andrew J. Danielson. It is available online until December 18.

A new 5-minute video by the Orthodox Union explains why Hebron and the Machpelah is important to the Jewish people. The video includes a few photos from a surreptitious exploration of the underground caves in 1981. Elsewhere Avi Abrams tells the story.

Correction: The Galilee boat on display in the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Reagan Library is only a replica. There is more information about the exhibit in this JNS article.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis, Explorator

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Archaeologists have discovered the first Middle Kingdom tomb in the Asasif region of Egypt, with many undisturbed remains.

A scholar claims that the “Passover Letter” from Elephantine has little or nothing to do with Passover.

Israel has been criticized for targeting Hezbollah forces located near Roman sites in Baalbek and Tyre.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, is hosting an exhibition until February 2 entitled, “Kingdom of Gods and Demons. Mesopotamia 1000-500 BCE.”

The final episode in Walking The Text’s “Life in the Roman Empire” series is on “Walking the Roman Street,” with Randall Smith. The link includes a pdf with comprehensive notes. You can also download the full Roman Empire study guide here.

Hybrid lecture at the Albright on Dec 11, 10:00 EST: “Man-Hunting in the Desert: The Ill-Fated Palmer Sinai Expedition of 1882,” by James Fraser (Zoom). A list of future events at the Albright is posted here.

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology is on sale for Logos ($18, reg. $75)

Everyone can take advantage of Wipf and Stock’s 50% off sale in conjunction with the AAR/SBL conference.

Ralph Jackson, long-time curator at the British Museum, died recently.

Carl Rasmussen shares a number of photos form the newly reopened The Museum Hotel in Antakya (biblical Antioch on the Orontes), which preserves the remains of extensive mosaics from the Hellenistic, Late Roman, and Byzantine periods.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Arne Halbakken

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A new study suggests that the Great Sphinx of Giza was carved out of natural ridge in the bedrock.

Nathan Steinmeyer summarizes a new reconstruction of the events behind the assassination of Sennacherib, king of Assyria.

BBC: “For millennia, Tyrian purple was the most valuable colour on the planet. Then the recipe to make it was lost. By piecing together ancient clues, could one man bring it back?”

New release: Color and Meaning in the Art of Achaemenid Persia, by Alexander Nagel (Cambridge University Press, $110)

Seetheholyland.net has a new article on the holy family in Egypt, sifting through various myths, legends and might-be-facts. The list of sites with strong traditions is longer than I expected.

Darla Martin Tucker reviews the recently held 15th Annual Archaeology Discovery Weekend hosted by La Sierra University and focused on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Tracking Colour website “is dedicated to the research on the use of colour on sculptures and buildings in the ancient Mediterranean world carried out at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.”

Arim Hawsho has created an hour-long documentary on Ashurbanipal, “the librarian king.” He is also working on a cookbook inspired by recipes from ancient Mesopotamia.

Robert D. Miller died last week.

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken

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Weekend Roundup, Part 3

Abigail Leavitt reports on her recent visits to Khirbet el-Maqatir and Mount Ebal (by the back road). On another day, she visited Gibeah, et-Tell, the “tomb of Rachel,” and Samaria/Sebaste.

Melanie Lidman writes a well-illustrated article about the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology’s online exhibition, “Unsilencing the Archives: The Laborers of the Tell en-Nasbeh Excavations (1926-1935).”

On the Biblical World podcast, Erica Ferg discusses the impact of geography on the religious history of the eastern Mediterranean world.

In the final episode of “Jesus in Galilee,” Brad Gray explains why Jesus chose to train his disciples in this area.

New release: What Can You Do with Your Bible Training?: Traditional and Nontraditional Vocational Paths, edited by Brandon C. Benziger and Adam W. Day. There are chapters on “Archaeology,” by Steven Ortiz, “Study-Tour Leading,” by Mark Wilson, and “Design and Illustration,” by Leen Ritmeyer.

New release: Ancient Egyptian Gold: Archaeology and Science in Jewellery (3500–1000 BC), edited by Maria F. Guerra, Marcos Martinón-Torres & Stephen Quirke (open access)

New release: The Amorites: A Political History of Mesopotamia in the Early Second Millennium BCE, by Nathan Wasserman and Yigal Bloch (Brill, $313)

Fritz Holznagel explains what Indiana Jones gets right and wrong about the Antikythera Mechanism.

Why have honeybees been depicted on coins for millennia? (Or, what exactly is the link between honey and money?)

Bryan Windle surveys the top three reports in biblical archaeology in the month of July.

Ferrell Jenkins shares a photo he took in 1969 of some cedars of Lebanon.

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Explorator

The Samaritan Museum on Mount Gerizim recently opened the archaeological exhibit on their lower floor.

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

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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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The first-ever discovery of a soldier bearing the title of “Emperor’s protector” was made on a sarcophagus found in western Turkey.

“A 2nd-century funerary altar marking the remains of a 13-year-old girl was discovered in Rome.”

“Hundreds of engraved stones and fragmented bas-relief carvings have recently been discovered in the ruined Tachara Palace” in Persepolis.

“Analysis of Bronze Age daggers has shown that they were used for processing animal carcasses and not as non-functional symbols of identity and status, as previously thought.”

“Lebanon’s tourism ministry inaugurated on Friday a Phoenician museum in the coastal city of Jounieh.”

Pharaoh So is the last of five Egyptian pharaohs in Bryan Windle’s archaeological biography series.

Chris Stantis writes about warriors and warrior burials in the ancient Near East.

Bible History Daily provides an introduction to a current BAR magazine article on dig workers in the Middle East. The article itself derives from more extensive reporting in Allison Mickel’s Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent: A History of Local Archaeological Knowledge and Labor.

“A British tourist could face the death penalty in Iraq after being accused of smuggling artifacts out of the country.”

A new study concludes that the Shroud of Turin is similar to a piece of fabric found at Masada in the 1st century AD.

The Ancient World Online has updated its extensive list of Oriental Institute Open Access Publications.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken, Ryan Jaroncyk, Jared Clark, Charles Savelle, Explorator

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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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