Lectures Archives - Page 9 of 79

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Recent excavations in front of the edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher revealed the 4th century arrangement of the rotunda.

Chris McKinny gives an overview of the results from Week 2 of excavations at Tel Burna.

Aren Maeir notes that excavations are also currently underway at Tell el-Hesi and Khirbet Summeily.

Archaeologists have invited the local community to help conserve the Middle Bronze gate at Gezer after last year’s fire.

William Hild, a participant in this summer’s excavation at Hyrcania, is guest on The Book and the Spade discussing the project.

Ruth Schuster writes about the treasures that were returned when the Israel Antiquities Authority announced an amnesty campaign. Enjoy the many photos, for you’ll never see these objects again as the IAA protects them in a vast storage center.

Ariel David reports on Garfinkel’s latest claim of Judah’s importance in the 10th century, including criticism from other archaeologists. Melanie Lidman has a similar story.

Tim Chaffey explains how Ernest Martin and Robert Cornuke “avoid key passages of Scripture, distort Josephus’ words, and ignore the findings of archaeologists” in their relocation of Solomon’s temple.

New release: Ancient Synagogues Revealed 1981-2022, edited by Lee I. Levine, Zeev Weiss, and Uzi Leibner (Israel Exploration Society, 300 NIS). You can see all the volumes in the long-running series on the IES website.

Hybrid conference on July 10-13 in Jerusalem: “Jerusalem: From Umbilicus Mundi to the Four Corners of the Earth and Back.” The conference brochure is here. The live broadcast will be here.

Zoom lecture on July 25: “Jesus in Galilee: An Archaeological Perspective,” by Eric Meyers

BBC Reel has released “Armageddon: The ancient city behind the biblical story.”

Chandler Collins considers what may be learned from 19th century travelers’ writings about their first views of Jerusalem.

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Joseph Lauer, Explorator

The latest big hole in the ground opened to visitors is the Gezer water system. The descent gives you a new appreciation for the value of a secure source of water.

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Galilee, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Judah, Lectures, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

“Israeli archaeologists have been left scratching their heads over the discovery of a large tomb containing dozens of skeletons, many of them women, who were buried more than 2,500 years ago in the midst of the Negev desert, at an ancient crossroad far from any known settlements at the time.”

According to Yosef Garfinkel, five sites in Judah indicate that Judah was expanding into the Shephelah already in the 10th century. The underlying journal article is here.

Chris McKinny provides an overview of all of the excavation areas at Tel Burna after their first week of their 13th season.

The Greek Reporter has a well-illustrated story on the Bird Mosaic and the sigma-shaped glass-gold table found in Caesarea.

Martine van den Berg reports on the first-ever “Friends of ASOR Tour to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.” They had quite a few experiences that the average tourist doesn’t get.

After a three-year renovation, Solomon’s Quarries/Zedekiah’s Cave has reopened to visitors. It now includes a multimedia show. The article includes a video report by i24 News.

Ron Simkins discusses “Creation and Ecology in Ancient Israel” on the Biblical World podcast.

Lisa LaGeorge gives a good answer to the question, “What difference does it make if I go to Israel?”

Ferrell Jenkins shares a photo of a beautiful view that he took in the Judean hill country between Bethlehem and Hebron.

Zoom lecture on July 12: “The King is Dead, Long Live the King: Murder, Poetry, and Scribal Culture in Ancient Egypt,” by Margaret Geoga ($7)

The NY Times reports on Christian tourism to Saudi Arabia, though the reporting seems limited to a single tour group.

A large Roman-period mosaic discovered near Homs, Syria, depicts Greek soldiers in the Trojan War as well as the god Neptune and forty of his mistresses.

A conference will be held at Oxford on July 5 entitled “The Aramaeans B.C.: History, Literature, and Archaeology”

The oldest completely hand-sewn boat in the Mediterranean dates to the Iron Age I and is remarkably well-preserved.

A fresco newly discovered at Pompeii looks like a pizza but is more likely a focaccia covered with fruit.

Bryan Windle reports on the top three stories in biblical archaeology for the month of June.

What do real archaeologists think of Indiana Jones?

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Israel's Coast, Italy, Jerusalem, Lectures, Negev, Shephelah, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Turkey has launched a new ship for underwater archaeology that is considered to be one of the largest archaeological vessels in the world.

NY Times: “A 2,000-year-old collection of medical tools, recently unearthed in Hungary, offer insight into the practices of undaunted, much-maligned Roman doctors.”

Melissa Cradic explains the value of the the open-access web exhibition, “Unsilencing the Archives: The Laborers of the Tell en-Naṣbeh Excavations (1926-1935).”

Zoom lecture on June 23, 10:00am ET: “Beyond Impressions: Cylinder Seals of the Neo-Assyrian Period as Experiential Object,” by Kiersten Neumann (Zoom link)

New release: Picturing Royal Charisma: Kings and Rulers in the Near East from 3000 BCE to 1700 CE, edited by Arlette David, Rachel Milstein, Tallay Ornan (Archaeopress, £32; open access ebook)

New release: Être et paraître. Statues royales et privées de la fin du Moyen Empire et de la Deuxième Période intermédiaire (1850-1550 av. J.-C.), by Simon Connor, is available for free here.

Walking The Text’s recommended resource of the month is Peoples of the New Testament World, by William A. Simmons. (Also available on Logos.)

If you are not familiar with the Lanier Center for Archaeology, you can find out more about their programs here.

New video from World History Encyclopedia: “The Famous Baths of the Roman Empire”

Mark Hoffman has been thinking about AI and biblical art.

HT: Agade, Explorator

The excavations at Shiloh are most impressive in terms of their size and enthusiastic workers. They are making good progress in achieving their goals, and I look forward to forthcoming announcements.

Tagged Lectures, Resources, Technology, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

“A woman walking along the Palmahim Beach discovered an over 3,000-year-old figurine of the Egyptian goddess Hathor floating in the water.”

A group of first-graders discovered an Egyptian scarab on a field trip to Azekah.

The first-ever excavations of the Hasmonean fortress at Hyrcania recently began.

Abigail Leavitt is reporting on her experiences in the excavations of Tel Shiloh, most recently with Week 3. Tim Lopez gives his perspective in Spanish.

“Thousands who were illegally holding antiquities in their homes returned the items during a two-week campaign this month, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Ministry of Heritage reported.” One of the more impressive artifacts returned is a small anchor from the Roman period.

Writing for Christianity Today, Gordon Govier explains how archaeological discoveries have strengthened the case for the historicity of David.

Chandler Collins reflects on Nadav Na’aman’s recent proposal to place the earliest city of Jerusalem on what is today’s Temple Mount.

The “Road of the Patriarchs” is the subject of a new TBN documentary.

Bryan Windle is on Digging for Truth discussing Hoshea, the last king of the northern kingdom of Israel.

Zoom lecture on June 29: “The Jewish Character of Jerusalem in the Early Roman (Second Temple) Period as Attested by Archaeological Records,” by Ronny Reich.

Chandler Collins is inviting participation in his online “Biblical Jerusalem and Its Exploration” course this fall as well as his Jerusalem study tour offered in March by the Biblical Archaeological Society in collaboration with Jerusalem University College.

Other JUC courses offered online this fall include:

Archaeology of Religions in the Bible, by Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer
Cultural Backgrounds of the Bible, by Oliver Hersey
The Life and Times of Paul, by Chris Vlachos

James Riley Strange reflects on the life of Dennis E. Groh, who died in April.

HT: Agade, Explorator, BibleX

A view of Hyrcania taken a few weeks ago, from the east

Tagged 10th Century, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Judah, Lectures, Sad News, Shephelah, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 6

The Museum of Stone Tools is a newly opened virtual museum featuring 3D models of stool tools from ancient to modern times.

The Codex Sassoon, one of the oldest complete Hebrew Bibles in existence, was sold by Sotheby’s for $38.1 million. The codex was purchased by the American Friends of ANU – Museum of the Jewish People (formerly Museum of the Jewish Diaspora) and will be donated to the Tel Aviv museum.

“The Sackler Library has been renamed the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library following the removal of the Sackler name from various parts of the University of Oxford.”

The Chester Beatty Library is hosting a virtual tour of its First Fragments: Biblical Papyrus from Roman Egypt exhibition. The exhibition catalog is available here (€15). Available as open access: The Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri at Ninety: Literature, Papyrology, Ethics, edited by Garrick Vernon Allen, Usama Ali Mohamed Gad, Kelsie Gayle Rodenbiker, Anthony Philip Royle, and Jill Unkel (De Gruyter, $143; free pdf).

The Met has changed its approach to items that entered its collection illegally.

The site onomasticon.net has been updated to include newly published personal names from the Iron Age II southern Levant.

The Bible & Archaeology Fest XXVI will be both in person in San Antonio and livestream.

New release: The Ancient World Goes Digital: Case Studies on Archaeology, Texts, Online Publishing, Digital Archiving, and Preservation, edited by Vanessa Bigot Juloux, Alessandro Di Ludovico, and Sveta Matskevich (Brill, $198).

“Yale introduces LUX, a groundbreaking custom search tool for exploring the university’s unparalleled holdings of artistic, cultural, and scientific objects.”

Mark Hoffman compares ChatGPT with BibleMate.org, an alternative whose “mission is to provide biblically accurate answers and guide users on their faith journey. It’s about ensuring AI doesn’t just offer information but contributes meaningfully to spiritual growth.”

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis, Stephanie Durruty, Wayne Stiles, Alexander Schick, Gordon Franz, Explorator

With the restrictive hours at Arbel making it very difficult to descend the famous cliffs, you might prefer an alternate trail that begins at the Arbel synagogue and passes through the Valley of the Doves. No time restrictions on this hike (marked green on the 1:50k map).

Tagged Lectures, Museums, Resources, Technology, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 3

Gabriel Barkay was recently interviewed by ICEJ. Among other things, he says that he recently finished a book about material culture in the Song of Songs.

Gordon Franz is the latest subject in the Discussions with the Diggers series at Bible Archaeology Report. He relates the story of the discovery of the Ketef Hinnom silver amulets.

Chandler Collins has published the third issue of his “Jerusalem Tracker” newsletter, providing a list of every new publication related to Jerusalem’s history.

Bryan Windle describes the top three reports in biblical archaeology in the month of May.

The first batch of commercially available ancient yeast, discovered at Goliath’s hometown of Gath, will begin shipping later this year.

Chemical analysis of Middle Bronze grave goods at Megiddo reveals the extensive use of wine in funerary rituals.

Arleta Kowalewska and Craig A. Harvey explain what we know about Roman bathhouses in the southern Levant.

“Dor Zlekha Levy’s One Tongue audiovisual project revives Proto-Semitic, the ancestral language of Hebrew and Arabic, in song.”

Hybrid lecture on June 22 at the Albright: “The 2022 Season of the Megiddo Expedition,” by Matthew J. Adams

Hybrid lecture on July 13 at the Albright: “Back to Tell Qasile: Current Research of Old Excavations,” by Amihai Mazar

Arieh O’Sullivan tells the story of his family’s relationship with Samson’s tomb and the tomb’s transformation in recent years.

The latest episode from Walking The Text: “Jesus in Galilee, Part 3: Religious Jews of the (Evangelical) Triangle.”

“Lessons from the Land: The Kings” is the latest series produced by Appian Media. The 13 episodes are about 5 minutes each.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis, Stephanie Durruty, Wayne Stiles, Alexander Schick, Explorator

Nearly a century after the Americans dismantled half of the Solomonic gate, the Israelis have restored it. Now visitors can walk through the six-chambered gate as they can at Hazor and Gezer.

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Lectures, Philistines, Shephelah, Weekend Roundup