fbpx

The biblical Feast of Trumpets, usually observed now as the Jewish New Year, was celebrated on Thursday. Ferrell Jenkins shares some photos of the ram’s horn.

With the ending of year 5777, the Temple Mount Sifting Project identifies the “top 10 topics” over the past year.

Ferrell Jenkins explains how Dr. James Turner Barclay is honored in the Cathedral of St. George in Jerusalem.

Israel’s Good Name describes his experience on the Horvat Midras excavation.

The re-dating of the Gihon Spring fortifications is the topic on this week’s edition of The Book and the Spade.

The latest issue of Tel Aviv includes an article on the “Monumentality of Iron Age Jerusalem Prior to the 8th Century BCE.”

There have been a number of wolf attacks in the Judean wilderness in recent months. The article includes a video of a wolf chasing a young ibex.

“Dr. Scott Stripling and Dr. Craig Evans headline the upcoming Text and Trowel symposium on archaeology and the Bible at the University of Pikeville on Oct. 20-21, 2017.”

HT: Agade

Share:

A lot happened while we were traveling in June, and I think it is going to take us four roundups to catch up. Today we begin with stories related to Israel.

Archaeologists have discovered a Crusader-era tunnel in Tiberias that apparently led from the fortress to the harbor.

Students excavating in Modiin discovered a collection of women’s jewelry from the Crusader period.

Excavations at the site of Huqoq in Galilee have discovered agricultural installations in use in either the Middle Bronze Age or the Roman-Byzantine period.

Weekly reports are available for ABR’s first season at Shiloh: Week 2 by Mark Hassler, Week 3 by

Andrew Kvasnica, and Week 4 by Gary Byers.

Scholars at Tel Aviv University have used multispectral imaging to reveal text on ancient “blank” potsherds from the First Temple period.

Emek Shaveh has petitioned Israel’s high court to halt excavations in the Western Wall tunnels.

An alert hiker reported suspicious activity which led to the capture of two antiquities thieves near the site of Sepphoris.

The new National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel remains unopened due to a lack of donations. This article in Apollo magazine reviews the controversy over moving archaeological material from east to west Jerusalem.

Haaretz reports on a new exhibit at the Israel Museum, “Faces of Power: Coins from the Victor Adda Collection.” These 75 gold coins depict Roman emperors and their wives and have never been publicly displayed before.

A nighttime audiovisual show at the City of David begins later this month.

The Israeli government has temporarily restricted civilians from visiting the Golan viewpoints overlooking Qunetra.

Appian Media has released a free (and downloadable), 10-minute video on Magdala.

Wayne Stiles notes the irony that “the Church of the Holy Sepulchre demonstrates the need for the place it hallows.”

There are several coming Israel tours of note. Wayne Stiles is taking a group October 26–November 6 and another March 16-27, 2018. Joel Kramer (SourceFlix) is leading a trip March 11-24.

This weekend, fans are reenacting the Battle of the Horns of Hattin in which the Muslims defeated the Crusaders in 1187.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle, Agade

Share:

A 3,700-year-old Egyptian burial chamber containing the remains of a ‘Pharaoh’s daughter’ was found south of Cairo at Dahshur’s royal necropolis.

Archaeologists have discovered “a cachette of non-royal mummies of men, women and children buried in catacombs eight metres below ground level in the desert neighbouring the bird and animal necropolis at the Tuna Al-Gabal archaeological site” in Egypt.

Two Egyptian men illegally digging for antiquities were killed when their house collapsed. And the
Egyptian government has increased the penalty for antiquities theft for a maximum of a life sentence.

An international team of experts met in Cairo to determine how best to transport King Tut’s artifacts to the new museum.

Egypt has begun to register its Jewish sites and antiquities.

An exhibit of recently discovered artifacts is now on display at the Luxor Museum.

Turkey is planning to restore and open the stadium of Perga.

Carl Rasmussen recently visited a new archaeology display in a station for the metro tunnel that connects Europe and Asia.

The city of Rome has begun restoration works on the Mausoleum of Augustus with the plan to open it to tourists by 2019.

John DeLancey shares a new video of a recent performance of “Jerusalem of Gold” by the Portney
Brothers and he explains the song’s significance.

The diet of Jerusalemites in the first century AD was primarily sheep and goats, followed at a distance by cows and chickens.

“Methuselah,” the date palm tree sprouted from a 2,000-year-old seed, is now 12 years old.

I’m traveling much of the month of June and will post as I am able. Roundups will probably resume in July.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Agade, Explorator, Paleojudaica

Share:

Archaeologists have revealed new evidence for the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 from the excavations of the road from the Siloam Pool to the Temple Mount.

The tomb of an unknown saint has been unearthed at Hippos.

A stone slab with two indentions was used to start fires in the Neolithic period.

The Associates for Biblical Research have completed Week 1 of Season 1 in their excavations of Shiloh.

A network of caves and tunnels at Khirbet Burgin in Judah’s Shephelah has been opened to the public.

An archaeological garden has been opened in the Davidson Center south of the Temple Mount of Jerusalem.

A study to be published in Palestine Exploration Quarterly observes that the large number of reservoirs made Jerusalem unique in the Second Temple period.

International Museum Day has passed, but this is a handy list of museums in Israel.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project met their first goal of 250,000 NIS and is now working to a second, much larger goal.

Aren Maeir shares some photos from the opening of an exhibition of discoveries from Gath (Tell es-Safi) in the Bar Ilan University Library.

Ferrell Jenkins recently was able to visit inside the Dome of the Rock and take photos. He shares some.

A $14 million elevator will be built at the Western Wall Plaza to allow elderly and disabled to go to the Jewish Quarter.

A Russian lawmaker vacationing in Israel drowned in the Dead Sea.

Accordance is having a big sale on many excellent archaeological and geographical resources through Monday.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Agade, Explorator, Chris McKinny, Paleojudaica

Share:

“An Egyptian archaeological mission in Luxor has announced the discovery of a major tomb in the city’s west bank area dating back to the 18th Dynasty and containing priceless artefacts.”

Israeli archaeologists have begun to study an ancient Jewish pyramid near Khirbet Midras in the Shephelah.

Archaeologists have discovered an estate of Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the mountains of southwestern Turkey.

Symbols found on the the Vulture Stone at Gobekli Tepe in Turkey has led researchers to propose the earth was struck by a devastating comet around 11,000 BC.

Shots were fired near St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai, but there are different explanations of what happened.

The Qumran and Bible Exhibition is now online with an audioguide and with a video introduction.

The latest edition of The Holy Land Magazine is online and includes tourist articles on Nazareth Village, Yad VaShem, Neot Kedumim, and more.

Tom Powers considers David Bivin’s recent post on the deteriorating road to Emmaus and adds some observations of his own.

Elizabeth Sloane, writing in Haaretz, asks, “Did the Egyptian goddess Hathor originate with Semitic miners from Canaan?”

The Temple Mount Sifting Project must meet its fundraising goal or it will receive none of the pledged funds.

The Amarna Letters are the topic of the week on The Book and the Spade with guest Alice Mandell.

The Khirbet el-Maqatir exhibit in Pikeville, Kentucky is drawing visitors.

Eisenbrauns is offering the Victor Avigdor Hurowitz memorial volume at a savings of 40% for a few more days: Marbeh Ḥokmah: Studies in the Bible and the Ancient Near East (2 vols). List $139.50; sale: $83.70.

HT: Charles Savelle, Ted Weis, Joseph Lauer, Agade

Share:

“In an statement timed just ahead of Passover, the Temple Mount Sifting Project said Sunday it had found a stone finger that may have belonged to a Bronze Age Egyptian statue, but conceded it wasn’t sure.”

For the first time ever, a reenactment of the Passover sacrifice took place in the Jewish Quarter.

Wayne Stiles has released the third video in his virtual tour of the Passion Week.

Carl Rasmussen has written a series of informative posts related to Jesus’s trial and crucifixion, including “Another Gethsemane?,” “Site of Crucifixion of Jesus?,” “Gordon’s Calvary,” and “The Burial Bench of Jesus?

John DeLancey is on The Book and the Spade discussing the latest renovations of the edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

DeLancey also recently announced a tour this fall of Egypt, Jordan, and Israel.

An archaeologist claims that a thick layer of sand at Tel Achziv attests to a tsunami that hit the coast of Israel in the 8th century BC.

Evidence discovered below the Dead Sea suggests that there were significant droughts in the past.

On the ASOR Blog, Douglas Petrovich discusses some of his discoveries behind his theory that Hebrew is the language behind the world’s first alphabet. Alan Millard has written a response. You can get a 25% discount on Petrovich’s book with code PET25.

The Linda Byrd Smith Museum of Biblical Archaeology opens today at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.

Israel’s Good Name recently went on a Bar Ilan U tour of the Old City and Ramat Rahel.

The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review has articles on the Arch of Titus, Magdala, and three more biblical people confirmed by archaeological evidence.

Leen Ritmeyer notes two new apps that take visitors to ancient Jerusalem. Live Science has more about the Lithodomos VR app.

Divers in Italy have begun the search for a third pleasure barge of Emperor Caligula.

The site of Humayma in southern Jordan was probably founded by the Nabatean king Aretas IV early in the first century AD.

“War and Storm: Treasures of the Sea Around Sicily” is a special exhibit of recovered antiquities at Glyptotek in Copenhagen.

According to The Irish News, some of the Chester Beatty manuscripts are now on display in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.

John the Baptist would feel right at home at a Mariners’ game with their new menu offering of toasted grasshoppers.

Frederic William Bush, longtime Professor of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, died last week.

HT: Charles Savelle, Agade, Joseph Lauer, Steven Anderson

Share: