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“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

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A new exhibit has opened at the Israel Museum entitled, “Behold the Man: Jesus in Israeli Art.”

Now on display in Australia is the British Museum’s famed bronze Head of Augustus from Meroë.

The Museum of Troy is scheduled to open later this year.

Though relations have recently been repaired between Turkey and Israel, there’s no movement towards returning the Siloam Inscription, Gezer Calendar, and Temple Balustrade Inscription to Jerusalem.

Silver objects from the Roman Empire, including the Berthouville Treasure, are on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

The Eastman Museum is continuing its efforts to bring online its vast photographic collection. For example, a search for “Jerusalem” returns 24 pages with early photos by T.H. McAllister, Charles
Chusseau-Flaviens, and the American Colony.

If you missed the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibit, “Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven,” you can see many photos here.

Once again in control of Palmyra, ISIS has destroyed the ancient theater and tetrapylon.

The Associated Press examines the destruction of Nimrud caused by ISIS. Agatha Christie would be very unhappy.

The Crusader castle known as Crac des Chevaliers has been damaged in the Syrian war, but the extent of destruction is currently unknown.

Armed Libyan citizens have mounted patrols to protect Leptis Magna, an ancient city of Rome.

A majority of the artifacts coming out of Syria are modern fakes.

Plans are underway for a restitution (reconstruction?) of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.

De Gruyter has made a number of its works published in 2016 open access.

Giovanni Garbini and Joseph Fitzmyer both passed away in the last month.

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

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A rare cache of gold and silver items dated to 3,600 years ago has been found at Tel Gezer, including figurines of the Canaanite counterparts of the Akkadian deities Ishtar, goddess of fertility, sex, love and war; and Sin, god of the moon.”

An arsonist apparently set the fire that damaged Absalom’s Pillar and the Cave of Jehoshaphat in Jerusalem’s Kidron Valley. Ynetnews has a brief video.

Nir Hasson reports on the recent study that dates the Gihon Spring fortifications to the 9th century instead of the Middle Bronze Age.

A group of swimmers swam across the Dead Sea to draw attention to the lake’s declining condition.

A unique Chalcolithic wall painting with an 8-pointed star is on display in Jerusalem for the first time since it was discovered at Teleilat Ghassul in the 1930s.

The Israel Antiquities Authority is launching a three-year expedition to discover more Dead Sea Scrolls.

A Jerusalem shopkeeper is clashing with the IAA over 12th-century antiquities discovered in his store’s expansion.

A Byzantine arch has been discovered near the Cardo of Jerusalem.

Authorities working in Jerusalem’s Cardo plan to recreate 9 Byzantine-era shops and display a number of mosaics reflecting life in that time.

Ferrell Jenkins takes his readers on a tour of the Kishle excavations.

Michael Langlois provides a convenient summary of the Jerusalem Papyrus and why it’s controversial.

Wayne Stiles’s post will convince you that En Gedi is worth a (prolonged) visit.

After ten years away, Guy Stiebel is returning to excavate Masada.

Peter Flint, a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, has died.

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

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A couple of Israeli scholars are suggesting that the Hasmonean Hall (aka “Hall of the Freemasons”) in the Western Wall Tunnels may have served as a triclinium for Jerusalem’s city council.

Scientists working in Galilee have discovered caves used by rebels in the Jewish Revolt. For a more academic study, see this journal article.

The eastern temple of Ramses II at Karnak has been opened after restoration.

Excavations at Petra have revealed new information about the water systems that kept the city alive 2,000 years ago.

Municipal workers in Turkey’s Çanakkale province discovered gold jewelry in an 8th century BC sarcophagus.

Russia is sending a team of scientists to investigate World Heritage sites in Syria allegedly destroyed in the civil war.

The Basrah Museum is opening soon in a former palace of Saddam Hussein.

The Archaeological Museum of Kos re-opened up last month after renovation.

A competition is being held for the architectural design of the new Cyprus Museum in Nicosia.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has ruled that destroying cultural antiquities is a war crime.

Wayne Stiles’s new post on the history and significance of Eilat is filled with lots of photos I really like.

Ferrell Jenkins shares a photo of a beautiful sunrise over the Sea of Galilee.


Haaretz reviews the best of archaeology in Israel this past (Jewish) year.

John S. (Jack) Holladay died last week. He was a long-time professor at the University of Toronto and he was involved in excavations at Gezer and in the Wadi Tumilat Project.

HT: Agade, Charles Savelle, Joseph Lauer

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Digital imaging technology has virtually opened an ancient scroll from En Gedi to reveal the first two chapters of Leviticus. The publication in Science Advances includes a number of photos. Another article published in Textus is also online. The portions deciphered so far exactly match the Masoretic Text, but the radiocarbon date of 3rd-4th centuries AD differs from the paleographer’s date to the 1st or 2nd centuries.

The discovery of a menorah at Abila provides the first evidence of Jewish presence at this city of the Decapolis.

2,000-year-old human skeleton remains have been found buried at sea near a shipwreck at Antikythera, Greece.

A fisherman’s house from the Ottoman period was discovered along the beach in Ashkelon.

Bedouin youths have helped to excavate Byzantine-era farm buildings in the Negev.

A new virtual reality tour in Jerusalem takes “visitors” inside the Temple. There’s a short video clip here.

Archaeologists plan to finish reconstruction work on Laodicea’s Hellenistic theater within three years.

The Malawi Archaeological Museum in Minya was reopened this week after three years of renovation.

Omar Ghul, an epigrapher at Yarmouk University, discusses important inscriptions discovered in Jordan.

Laïla Nehmé is interviewed by Ancient History Etc. about the history of the Nabateans.

Ferrell Jenkins concludes his series on Iznik (Nicea) with a post on the modern city and its vicinity.

Wayne Stiles considers the history and the lessons from Hezekiah’s Tunnel.

Chris McKinny will be lecturing at Texas A&M Corpus Christi on October 3 on the Late Bronze finds from Tel Burna.

On sale for Kindle for $2.99: Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith?, edited by James K. Hoffmeier and Dennis R. Magary. I require several of the chapters for at least one course I teach.

Mordechai Gichon died this week.

Ferrell Jenkins remembers Erle Verdun Leichty on the announcement of his passing.

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

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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

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