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Archaeologists found some rock-cut tombs and burial shafts near Queen Hatshepsut’s funerary temple. They also found her Valley Temple.

Ongoing excavations at Saqqara have revealed four mastaba tombs from the 2nd Dynasty and 10 burials from the 18th Dynasty.

Authorities are cleaning the underground spaces of Hagia Sophia in order to make them open to the public.

University College Cork has donated a number of historical objects to Egypt.

A carefully restored coffin of a priestess and musician of Amun is on display in Madrid after a seven-month restoration process.

Two divers looted hundreds of ancient Greek and Roman artifacts from the seabed in Abu Qir Bay near Alexandria, Egypt.”

“A decade after jihadists ransacked Iraq’s famed Nimrud site, archaeologists have been painstakingly putting together its ancient treasures, shattered into tens of thousands of tiny fragments.”

“A newly restored small Aramaic scroll from Qumran called 4Q550 reveals an unexpected text: it contains an Achaemenid Persian court-tale set in the court of king Xerxes I” that was previously unknown. Gad Barnea’s lecture about the text is now online.

Analysis of Iron Age swords from Iran suggests has revealed “modern glue, drill holes, and even a fragment of a modern drill bit embedded in one of the blades, evidencing the carelessness of the forgers” who “altered the weapons to enhance their commercial value.”

Kathryn Kelley, Mattia Cartolano, and Silvia Ferrara write about the invention of writing in Mesopotamia.

“Graffiti, produced by an inmate of an ancient Roman prison in Corinth, Greece, had a chilling message for captors.”

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

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A team from Johns Hopkins believes they have identified alphabetic writing that dates to 2400 BC.

Israel Finkelstein and Tallay Ornan have published an article in Tel Aviv (open-access) of recent finds at Tall adh-Dhahab al-Gharbi, and they suggest that the site is biblical Mahanaim. (They locate Penuel at the adjacent site to the east, the reverse of how I would identify them based on the sequence in Genesis 32.) In any case, this is an important study on a pair of neglected sites. The article is summarized by Israel365 News.

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities denies that the Great Pyramid is being destroyed.

Scientists have discovered hallucinogenic residue in a 2,000-year-old Egyptian vase.

Jaafar Jotheri, professor of geoarchaeology, shares his thoughts on the past, present, and future of archaeology and Assyriology in Iraq.

Zoom lecture on Dec 17: “Visual Strategies in the Art and Archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire,” by Pierfrancesco Callieri

The second Digital Ancient Near Eastern Studies Conference will be held as a virtual event on December 5 and 6.

J. Cheryl Exum, longtime professor at the University of Sheffield, died recently.

Colin Renfrew, founding director of McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, died recently.

Bryan Windle reviews the top three biblical archaeological reports for the month of November.

Apparently, not everything in Gladiator II is historically accurate.

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

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A portion of a purple tunic discovered in a royal tomb in Vergina may have belonged to Alexander the Great.

Archaeologists have found a submerged Nabatean temple near Naples.

“In Turkey, a team of archaeologists discovered the tomb of a Roman gladiator dating back to the third century B.C., with the remains of 12 individuals inside.”

“A team of archaeologists and scientists has made a discovery that could restart the search for Noah’s Ark in the mountains of eastern Turkey.”

A section of the Grand Egyptian Museum opened last week, “with the rest of the facility to be inaugurated when authorities deem the time is right.”

Scientists are studying ancient Roman concrete in hopes of improving our own.

Brad Gray explains land and sea travel in the latest episode of the Life in the Roman Empire series.

Artaxerxes I, Persian king in the time of Nehemiah, is the subject of Bryan Windle’s latest archaeological biography.

Webinar on Oct 29: “The Top 10 Monuments of Ancient Rome,” by Rocky Ruggiero

New release: Yahwism under the Achaemenid Empire, edited by Gad Barnea and Reinhard G. Kratz (De Gruyter, $142, open-access pdf and epub)

New release: Motherhood and Early Childhood in Ancient Egypt: Culture, Religion, and Medicine, by Amandine Marshall (AUC Press, $70)

New release: The Underwater Basilica of Nicaea: Archaeology in the Birthplace of Christian Theology, by Mark R. Fairchild (IVP Academic, $32). The first chapter is available at the publisher’s website.

Mark Fairchild is on The Book and the Spade to discuss the findings in his new book.

HT: Agade, Wayne Stiles, Gordon Franz

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The Getty Museum has released a beautiful 5-minute video of a virtual reconstruction of Persepolis that was created for their 2022 Persia exhibition. Another option is to tour through the virtual reconstruction through the Getty website. It’s fantastic.

A trailer for Gladiator II raises the question: did gladiators ever fight rhinos?

The Institute for Creation Research will be hosting a Biblical Archaeology Conference in Dallas on November 9. The topic is “Unearthing the Historical Jesus.” The event is free, but registration is required.

One result of Sudan’s civil war is that artifacts looted from the nation’s museums and archaeological sites are now being sold on eBay.

“The Louvre is set to open a new Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art department in 2027, with Greece playing a central role.”

Zoom lecture on Oct 11: “Levantine Seals between the Material, Sensory, and the Social: Archaeological, Iconographic, and Exegetical Perspectives on Beauty, Power, and Dress,” by Bruno Biermann. Registration is required.

The latest podcast episode on This Week in the Ancient Near East is on “How to Dye a Fabric in the Middle Bronze Age.”

New release: Understanding Syria through 40 Monuments, by Ross Burns (Bloomsbury, $19-$63)

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Steven Anderson

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The Cyrus Cylinder is on display at the Yale Peabody Museum until the end of June. On May 1, Irving Finkel will give a lecture at the museum on “Cyrus and His Cylinder: What Was He Thinking?” Registration is required.

The severed hands discovered at Avaris is likely a practice introduced by the Hyksos rulers of Egypt.

Five extramural shrines dated to the Late Bronze/Iron Age (LB/IA) have been excavated in the southern arid margins of the Levant: two at Timna, and one at Horvat Qitmit, ‘EnHazeva (Naqab) and Wadi at-Thamad (in south-central Transjordan).”

A full-color graphic version of Eric H. Cline’s 1177 B.C. has been released, with illustrations by Glynnis Fawkes ($15-22). In The Ancient Near East Today, Fawkes explains how she turned Cline’s book into cartoons.

New release: Byblos: A Legacy Unearthed, edited by the National Museum of Antiquities (the Netherlands). Open access.

The latest episode on This Week in the Ancient Near East is “The Case of the Roman Medical Instruments from Southwest Turkey, Or, The Doctor Will See What’s Left of You Now.”

A special exhibition opens next week at the ISAC Museum in Chicago: “Pioneers of the Sky: Aerial Archaeology and the Black Desert,” with images from Megiddo, Persepolis, and eastern Jordan. Marie-Laure Chambrade, exhibition curator, will be giving a lecture in person and online on May 14.

Ronald E. Clements, professor of Old Testament at Cambridge and King’s College London, died earlier this month.

Bob Rognlien has released a Video Study Guide for his book on the life of Jesus, The Most Extraordinary Life. This series of ten-minute episodes is a study and discussion guide for small groups, using footage shot for the feature-length documentary film, “Following the Footsteps.” You can see the video on chapter 4 here.

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

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Archaeologists excavating at Philippi discovered a rare head of Apollo dating to about AD 200.

One of the oldest known codices in existence will be auctioned off in June. The Crosby-Schoyen Codex includes what may be the earliest known texts of 1 Peter and Jonah.

Elizabeth Knott explains how the Yale Babylonian Collection Seal Digitization Project used the latest photographic methods to document more than 14,000 seals and seal impressions. The Yale website has more details.

“Since 2002, more than a hundred ‘new’ Dead Sea Scroll fragments have appeared on the antiquities market. Most of these fragments are tiny and deteriorated and have later been revealed as modern forgeries. Nonetheless, they have been big business. In this database, we have catalogued all of them, providing information about their content, owners, alleged provenance, their place in the biblical corpus, size, and publication history.”

Morteza Arabzadeh Sarbanani explores the question of how Cyrus the Great really died. The article includes several beautiful photographs.

“How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep in Antiquity” is the latest episode on This Week in the Ancient Near East.

Next Stop Italy is hosting a virtual walking tour of the hidden treasures of Roman Assisi.

Phillip J. Long reviews the Lexham Geographical Commentary on the Pentateuch, edited by Barry Beitzel. The review includes a list of the 47 chapter titles and authors. He concludes that “these essays go beyond simple identifications of major locations, often dealing with the fine details of the text and larger biblical-theological questions. This volume will be a welcome addition to the library of any Old Testament student, whether professional or layperson.”

HT: Agade, Arne Halbakken, Gordon Franz

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