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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Şanlıurfa Archeology and Haleplibahçe Mosaic Museum complex, the largest museum in Turkey, has reopened after last year’s flood disaster.

A new study claims that the King Prism of Sennacherib was sold illegally to the British Museum.

A 12-year-old student build a small-scale version of Archimedes’s “death ray,” and he concluded that it would have worked.

The Greek Reporter explores the connection of the Greek alphabet to Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The “Digital Coin Cabinet of the University of Trier” includes 500 coins, mostly from the Roman era, available for free use in teaching and publications.

Oxford “is offering a free, online semi-intensive course in Phoenician, which will take place on 8-13 April 2024.”

The new electronic Babylonian Library is the topic of discussion in the latest episode of Thin End of the Wedge.

Sargon II is the subject of the latest archaeological biography by Bryan Windle.

New release: Was There a Cult of El in Ancient Canaan? Essays on Ugaritic Religion and Language, by David Toshio Tsumura (Mohr Siebeck, €129).

Now on Academia: Tom Lee’s PhD dissertation “Nabonidus: The King of Babylon (556-539),” completed in 1990 under W.G. Lambert

Open access: On the Way in Upper Mesopotamia. Travels, Routes and Environment as a Basis for the Reconstruction of Historical Geography, edited by Adelheid Otto and Nele Ziegler (Gladbeck, 2023)

Jan Assmann died this week.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Arne Halbakken

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Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Archaeologists believe they have uncovered the 1st-century villa where Pliny the Elder watched Mount Vesuvius erupt.

“Archaeologists conducting extensive excavations in the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu, now known as Tello in southeastern Iraq, have unearthed twin temples built on top of each other.”

Egypt’s “project of the century”—a reinstallation of the granite cladding on one of the pyramids of Giza—has been cancelled.

Turkey will be expanding its “Night Museums” project with the goal of setting new records in tourism every year.

“Archaeologists working in Saqqara recently unearthed three funerary masks at least 1,800 years old.”

A new study claims that “ancient Romans used the poisonous nightshade Black henbane as a hallucinogenic drug.”

New release: Teaching Ancient Egypt in Museums: Pedagogies in Practice, edited by Jen Thum, Carl Walsh, Lissette M. Jiménez, Lisa Saladino Haney (Routledge, $40-$170)

Hybrid lecture on May 23: “From Ground to Page: Wrapping up the University of Michigan/University of Minnesota Excavations at Kedesh,” by Andrea M. Berlin

Revelation Media is creating an animated Bible project comprised of seven-minute episodes that will eventually cover the entire Bible.

Carmen Joy Imes writes about some connections to the Old Testament that she observed during a recent tour of Egypt with James Hoffmeier.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken

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Weekend Roundup, Part 1

“Architectural remains of the 1,800-year-old Roman VIth ‘Ferrata’ Iron Legion military base were uncovered in a recent excavation carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) at the foot of Tel Megiddo.” But archaeologists are concerned that they will pave it over instead of incorporating it into a larger archaeological park.

Raz Kletter is not convinced there is an inscription on the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet.

The Jerusalem Post gives a history of the little-known Ein Dor Archaeology Museum.

The latest issue of “Jerusalem in Brief” takes a look at “Kerosine street lamps, a historical photo of Dung Gate, Jerusalem’s lighthouse, and one ridiculously expensive book.” That expensive book is available as a free scan at archive.org.

Registration is now open for the 2024 excavation season at Tel Burna.

Emanuel Tov explains how the copying of Torah scrolls became sacred.

Zoom lecture on Feb 27: “Dawn of the Aleph Beit,” by Orly Goldwasser, Christopher Rollston, and Yossi Garfinkel. This is a panel discussion jointly hosted with the AIAS and British Friends of the Hebrew University.

“The February Bible and Archaeology Fest on February 24 & 25 offers live talks from 13 leading Bible scholars and archaeologists via the Zoom app.” Topics include Phoenicians, Nabateans, Ophel excavations, and sacred prostitution in ancient Corinth. The $149 registration fee includes access to the recordings.

Accordance Bible Software has a sale on graphics resources, with up to 67% off.

The Bible Mapper Atlas has created some new, free maps:

Charles Savelle shares some Valentine’s Day card ideas.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken

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Weekend Roundup

A group of students used “computer vision, machine learning, and hard work” to translate a portion of a scroll from Herculaneum and win a $700,000 prize. “This is a complete gamechanger,” said one scholar.

A reservist hiking in Galilee discovered a scarab made of carnelian and dating to about 800 BC, possibly related to the Assyrian conquest.

“Egypt’s antiquities ministry said Saturday it was setting up a committee to review the restoration of Giza’s Menkaure Pyramid after a public outcry over the project.”

“Excavations have given proof of a flourishing wine industry in the Byzantine and early Arab period, especially at sites like Shivta, Halutza, Nitzana, and Avdat.”

The latest episode of This Week in the Ancient Near East looks at the use of artificial intelligence to translate Mesopotamian texts.

Bryan Windle joins John DeLancey to talk about the top 10 archaeological discoveries related to Jesus.

Now online: Deborah Hurn’s dissertation, “Identifying and Delineating the Geographic Regions of the Israelite Migration from Egypt to Canaan Using a Hydrological Approach”

Hybrid lecture on Feb 29: “A Queen, her Son, and her Chamberlain. Seal Imagery and Socio-Administrative Hierarchies at Persepolis,” by Mark Garrison

Walking The Text’s recommended resource of the month is The Essential Archaeological Guide to Bible Lands, by Titus Kennedy.

Appian Media has released a trailer for “Out of Egypt.”

Abigail Leavitt shares some photos from her recent explorations in Jerusalem.

HT: Agade, Gordon Dickson, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis

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Weekend Roundup

The occupants of the 4th century BC Royal Tombs at Vergina have been identified as Alexander the Great’s father Philip, his stepmother, half-siblings, and son.

An Egyptian antiquities official was criticized after he announced that Egypt was restoring the granite casing on one of the three main pyramids of Giza.

The Times of Israel: “A Tel Aviv University team is using muon detectors to track powerful particles, hoping to build a 3D map of undiscovered tunnels, chambers and fortifications under the holey city,” Jerusalem.

Kathryn Oliver describes how conservators at the British Museum restored a sarcophagus relief in conjunction with the ongoing exhibit, “Legion: Life in the Roman Army.”

In the latest video from the Institute of Biblical Culture, David Moster compares Torah scrolls from Yemen with others from around the Jewish world.

Chandler Collins looks at what we can learn about Jerusalem from a travelogue published by William Barlett in the 1840s.

John Drummond gives a preview of “The Seven World Wonders” article that is in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

Bryan Windle’s top three reports in biblical archaeology for the month of January includes a bonus story.

The BBC gives a history of beds through the ages.

“The Bible and Its World” international academic conference will be held in Israel on July 1-3.

Now open access: Syria’s Monuments: Their Survival and Destruction, by Michael Greenhalgh (Brill, 2016, $229; open access pdf – download link temporarily not working)

Stephen Mitchell, author of many books on Asia Minor in the Roman era, died this week.

Zoom all-day seminar today: “In Search of Ancient Israel,” with Gary Rendsburg ($90)

HT: Agade, Gordon Dickson, Arne Halbakken

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Weekend Roundup

The Temple Mount Sifting Project has discovered some very rare Byzantine coin weights, suggesting that there was more activity on the Temple Mount in the Byzantine period than usually assumed. Perhaps there was even a church located there.

“Almost a century after the British archaeologist Alan Rowe excavated Gezer, Dr. Samuel Wolff published a final report on the site, including on three vessels whose use defies interpretation.”

“The Forma Urbis Museum recently unveiled an exhibition featuring an ancient marble map of Rome dating back to 203-211 AD.”

Nathan Steinmeyer provides a 6-minute video tour of Beth Shean in the latest episode in BAS’s OnSite series.

Bible History Daily has a piece introducing an article in BAR about the Deborah and Jael mosaics discovered in the Huqoq synagogue.

A new study suggests that Roman wine tasted spicy.

“After years of criticism over its collecting practices, Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum is repatriating to Greece three antiquities that are widely regarded to have been looted.” Reading the article requires a free account.

Hybrid lecture on Feb 22 at the Albright: “The Archaeology of Olive Oil: Excavating a Bronze Age Olive Oil ‘Factory’ in Jordan,” by Jamie Fraser

Biblical Israel Ministry and Tours has begun a new teaching series on the “Life of Christ in Context.” The first episode is an overview of the whole.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken

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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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