Philistines Archives - Page 10 of 19

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A new study suggests that the Philistines brought their pigs with them when they sailed to the coast of Israel.

The second issue of the Tel Aviv University Archaeology Newsletter has reports on projects at
Masada, Kiriath Jearim, Timna Valley, City of David, and more.

David Hendin reports on the most significant numismatic discoveries in Israel in recent years.

Wayne Stiles looks at lessons to be learned from sieges in the Bible.

Charlie Trimm explains how soldiers relieved themselves while in battle.

Lexham Geographic Commentary: The Gospels is now available as a standalone purchase in Logos.

The Acts through Revelation volume is in pre-order status.

A new database identifies 20,000 archaeological sites at severe risk of destruction.

Access the Collections is a new feature of the Oriental Institute website to encourage visitors to explore their photographic and document archives.

Recently released:

Hazor VII: The 1990–2012 Excavations: The Bronze Age, edited by Amnon Ben-Tor et al.

Socoh of the Judean Shephelah: The 2010 Survey, by Michael G. Hasel, Yosef Garfinkel, and Shifra
Weiss (Eisenbrauns)

Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Shephelah, edited by Silvia Schroer and Stefan Münger (Academic Press Fribourg)

The Twice-Told Tale: Parallels in the Bible, collated by Abba Bendavid (Carta)

A collation of parallel Bible texts showing the duplications, differences, and silences

We’ll have more stories in part 3 of the roundup tomorrow.

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

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Galilee, Philistines, Resources, Shephelah

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

The Israeli police arrested five members of the Waqf for erecting scaffolding and carrying out structural changes on the Dome of the Rock without authorization.

A new study suggests that there was widespread literacy in the kingdom of Judah in the 6th century BC. The full study is available for purchase or free through Academia.

The Temple Institute is planning to open the first school for training priests to serve in the Jerusalem temple.

Jeremy Smoak compares the silver amulets from Jerusalem with the Ekron temple inscription.

Wayne Stiles: “God inspired metaphors of biblical geography and botany to highlight one of the most important aspects in any healthy marriage.”

The Winter 2016 issue of DigSight is now online and includes stories on Qeiyafa finds, past lectures, and a new exhibit.

An article on the Inspiration Cruises website gives a little history of a Finnish moshav established in Israel in the 1970s and named in memory of Jews surrendered to the Nazis in World War II.

Frank L. Benz, longtime professor at Wartburg Seminary, died last week. Several years ago, we mentioned here his little-known New Testament marking guide to the Student Map Manual.

Martin Bachmann, the German Archaeology Institute’s deputy Istanbul director and the head of the Pergamon excavations, died this week at the age of 52.

George Mendenhall died yesterday, 8 days shy of his 100th birthday.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade

Tagged Jerusalem, Judah, Philistines, Sad News, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Philistine Cemetery Discovered at Ashkelon

After thirty years of excavations, the final season at Ashkelon ended on Friday. As the excavation closed, a new Ashkelon exhibit opened at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem, and a sensational find was announced at the press conference. For the last four seasons, they have been excavating a large Philistine cemetery that sheds new light on this ancient people. From National Geographic:

While more than a century of scholarship has identified the five major cities of the Philistines and artifacts distinctive to their culture, only a handful of burials have been tentatively identified.
Simply put, archaeologists have found plenty of pots, but very few people.
Now, the discovery of a cemetery containing more than 211 individuals and dated from the 11th to 8th centuries B.C. will give archaeologists the opportunity to answer critical questions regarding the origin of the Philistines and how they eventually assimilated into the local culture.
Until this discovery, the absence of such cemeteries in major Philistine centers has made researchers’ understanding of their burial practices—and by turn, their origins—”about as accurate as the mythology about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree,” says Lawrence Stager, an emeritus professor of archaeology at Harvard University, who has led the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon since 1985.

For background and more details, see the full story or other reports in The Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post. Aren Maeir, director of the excavations of Philistine Gath, has some additional comments.

HT: Jared Clark, Chris McKinny, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Philistines

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Repairs inside the Dome of the Rock are complete, and when they took photos this week, it was revealed that the reconstruction of the tile floor proposed by the Temple Mount Sifting Project is accurate.

The study of fish bones found in a 7th-century AD shipwreck near Dor indicates that a now-extinct subspecies of St. Peter’s fish was being transported on the boat (Haaretz premium).

Scholars are offering competing explanations for the massive trash dump in the Kidron Valley from the first century AD (Haaretz premium).

A jogger along the shore of Ashkelon discovered a 12th-century AD oil lamp.

Aren Maeir is providing daily updates of the excavation of Gath.

The Tel Burna team gives an update from the first two weeks of their season. Chris McKinny’s work on the LB cultic building looks particularly promising in the remaining two weeks.

Jennie Ebeling and Norma Franklin discuss several important facets of their excavations at Jezreel.

Luke Chandler discusses the possibility of a Judahite water system at Lachish and the need for funds to excavate it.

If you’re interested in a brief, well-illustrated study of the world’s largest stones used in construction projects, check out Tom Powers’s latest post.

Felicity Cobbing of the PEF was present at the opening of the Palestine Museum in Ramallah and shares her perspective.

The senior staff of the Ashkelon excavations is wrapping up their final season this month and beginning a new project at Tel Shimron with a geophysical survey this summer.

Appian Media was recently filming in Israel for their upcoming Following the Messiah video series.

They are posting updates on the project and their travels on their blog.

The Fifth Gospel is a new iBook that explores the land, the culture, and the archaeology of the Bible. It was designed for high school students and features maps, interactive quizzes, photos, and short film clips. Check it out on iTunes.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Movies, Philistines, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The Temple Mount Sifting Project has released a new video showing dozens of their discoveries.

Another video released this month features David Hendin explaining the coins of the Jewish War.

Egyptian officials are re-opening the tombs of Queen Nefertari and King Seti I in Luxor, but the cost for a ticket will be steep (about $113).

Researchers suggest that King Tut’s dagger was made from a meteorite.

The BBC has the latest “the Dead Sea is dying” story, including an impressive photo of Mineral Beach.

The ASOR Archive Photo of the Month shows archaeologists and local workers at Qumran in 1952.

In terms of visitors, the Louvre is the most popular museum in the world. The British Museum is #5 and the Vatican Museums are #7.

The Google Cultural Institute “contains more than six million artworks, photos, videos and documents from 1,000 institutions including the British Museum and MoMA.”

The lavish lifestyle of the Roman Empire elite is on exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.

The Getty Museum has acquired a valuable Greek funeral vase and a Roman marble head.

“The Penn Museum’s ongoing exhibition, ‘In the Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies,’ offers visitors an insider’s look at efforts to document, preserve, and restore ancient objects in the
Museum’s extensive collection.”

A new exhibit at the Met in New York City focuses on Jerusalem between the years 1000 and 1400.

Ashkelon: A Retrospective: 30 Years of the Leon Levy Expedition is a new exhibit running at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem until the end of the year.

Haaretz ran a profile of Geza Vermes on the anniversary of his birthday.

The Israel Antiquities Authority raided a shop in the Mamilla Mall on suspicions of selling looted antiquities.

“For the first time in history the texts and images of all the Dead Sea Scrolls are available in their totality on the Internet.” From Brill for a purchase price of $5,940.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Steven Anderson, Agade, Explorator, Daniel Wright,
G. M. Grena, Rebekah Dutton

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Dead Sea, Egypt, Jerusalem, Museums, Philistines, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup

Archaeologists have identified the oldest known quarry in Israel at Kaizer Hill near Modiin.

Some radar experts doubt the existence of hidden chambers in King Tut’s tomb. Another scan was done yesterday, but results will not be announced for at least a week. Luxor Times has photos of the scanning operation.

Mosaics from the Roman Empire, depicting scenes from mythology, daily life, nature, and arena spectacles, are on display at the Getty Museum through September. The exhibit catalog is available for free online.

Joseph Aviram, president of the Israel Exploration Society, recently celebrated his 100th birthday!

A German doctor has returned a rare coin that he found in Jerusalem 25 years ago.

A video of the memorial service and academic symposium for William W. Hallo is online.

Wayne Stiles was robbed last week on the Good Samaritan Road and he learned an expensive lesson.

An article in Haaretz tries to debunk the “biblical” notion that the Philistines were crude barbarians.

But perhaps it’s worth noting that the Bible doesn’t make the Israelites look very good at times (e.g., Judg 19; Jer 5; Ezek 16).

Archaeologists now believe that Tell Qudadi, a site in Tel Aviv, was a Neo-Assyrian fortress built in the late 8th century. The final excavation report has all of the details.

With the recapture of Palmyra, the Syrian antiquities director estimates that 80% of the site’s ruins are intact but damage to the museum is “severe.” The Syrian government is planning to restore the site.

Paleojudaica has more its Palmyra roundup.

Iraq is struggling with the looting of archaeological sites.

The Daily Tar Heel carries a brief interview with archaeologist Jodi Magness.

Heavy rains led to the closing of Petra, but adventurous tourists headed north to Little Petra.

TheIsraelBible.com “offers the 24 books of the Tanakh (Genesis to Malachi) in both English and Hebrew, transliteration of selected Hebrew verses as well as the proper Hebrew pronunciation of key biblical names and places.”

The Temple Institute is searching for priests qualified to perform animal sacrifices.

Tom Powers has an interesting and well-researched post on the visit of the Graf Zeppelin to Jerusalem.

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

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jordan, Judah, Mesopotamia, Museums, Philistines, Syria