Shephelah Archives - Page 28 of 64

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

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

New Book by McKinny on Sale

[UPDATE: The sale appears to be over. There are some new copies selling at 50% off in the Marketplace.]

I’m not sure why, and I’m not sure how long it will last, but at the moment Amazon is selling Chris McKinny’s new book for 90% off ($83.95 marked down to $8.61). My People as Your People: A Textual and Archaeological Analysis of the Reign of Jehoshaphat came out a few months ago and it’s a beautiful synthesis of historical and archaeological research on a particularly important era in Judah. Here are the chapter titles:

Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Israel of the Omrides
Chapter Three: The Battle of Ramoth-gilead in 1 Kings 22:1-36, 2 Chronicles 18, and Historical Implications from the Tel Dan Stele
Chapter Four: Jehoshaphat’s Reign According to 1 Kings 22:41-50
Chapter Five: An Archaeological Survey of Judah in the Late Iron IIA Using Archaeology as a Source for Reconstructing History
Chapter Six: Conclusion

The hardcover book is 159 pages plus an extensive bibliography. It is published by Peter Lang in their American University Studies series.

Readers of this blog know Chris McKinny from his many contributions here, including:

Last week’s amazing Interactive Map of the Allotments of the Southern Tribes
His Secret Places series
His awesome Regnal Chronology of the Kings of Judah and Israel: An Illustrated Guide
And much more…

So I thought you’d want to know about this steal while it’s available.

Tagged Historical Geography, Jordan, Judah, Resources, Shephelah

Interactive Map – The Allotments of the Southern Tribes

by Chris McKinny

The tribal town lists and boundary descriptions in the book of Joshua (chapters 13-21) are the most significant textual sources for the geography of the ancient Israel/Judah since they contain the vast majority of place names mentioned in the entire canon. In a soon-to-be submitted (and hopefully accepted) dissertation, I deal with the specific identifications of all of the towns and topographic markers mentioned in Joshua 15 (Judah); 18:12-28 (Benjamin); 19:1-10 (Simeon); and 19:40-46 (Dan) within the framework of a larger argument about the date and purpose of the town lists of Judah (Josh 15:21-62) and Benjamin (Josh 19:21-28). Over the course of the project, I compiled a digital archaeological database/atlas of all of the sites mentioned and discussed in the dissertation (embedded below). This project is called the “Interactive Map: A Historical Geography of the Administrative Divisions of Judah: The Town Lists of Judah and Benjamin in Joshua 15:21-62 and 18:21-28” (click to open in a separate window). The entire map is searchable and each entry (click on each button to expand) includes the biblical place name (in English, Hebrew and Greek), the identified ruin with an archaeological breakdown from the Middle Bronze until the Byzantine period including the Iron II size in dunams, and a bibliography of the archaeological data. The bibliography for the archaeological data contained in the database/atlas can be accessed here.

Satellite Bible Atlas users may also be interested in a more traditional map of the town lists/administrative division that I have prepared using the SBA‘s base map. A PDF of the map can be accessed here. I have added a JPEG version of the map below.

Tagged Historical Geography, Jerusalem, Judah, Negev, Resources, Shephelah

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A woman hiking on an unnamed archaeological site in eastern Galilee picked up a gold coin with the image of Emperor Augustus. High-res images are available here.

Luke Chandler reports on a new excavation at Khirbet Arai, not far from Tel Lachish. The first week has already revealed two massive structures as well as Philistine pottery.

Douglas Petrovich has done some interesting work related to the Israelite presence in Egypt. He has started a Kickstarter project to raise funds to publish a book on it.

The lyre depicted on Israel’s half-shekel is based on a seal now known to be forged. A larger drawing of the forged seal is online here.

A 19-year-old American spent the night in Solomon’s Quarries to dig for treasure.

The publication of Yadin’s final report from his Megiddo excavations will be celebrated at an event at Hebrew U on April 5.

In Photos: Members of an Israeli historical group dressed up in costume for a three-day hike from Jericho to Jerusalem.

The plan to enlarge the mixed prayer area in the Jerusalem Archaeological Park next to the Western Wall prayer plaza is apparently dead.

Archaeologists are opposing plans to build a hotel and apartment buildings in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor, the traditional “Hill of Evil Counsel.”

Ferrell Jenkins shares a photo of one of the best preserved stretches of Roman roads in Israel.

Ashkelon excavation veterans are invited to a closing celebration as the thirty-year project ends.

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

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Forgery, Galilee, Jerusalem, Judah, Philistines, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The Bornblum Eretz Israel Synagogues Website is a new work that presents “bibliographical references, geographical location, photos, plans and brief descriptions of excavated ancient synagogues from the Roman and Byzantine periods in the Land of Israel.”

A four-minute newscast reports on new excavations in the Timna Valley and its copper mines.

Four individuals are in trouble after a video of them breaking off pieces of the Giza pyramids went viral.

“The Aleppo Codex, on permanent display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, has been declared a world treasure by UNESCO.”

A group of artifacts from the Museum of the Bible Collection is now on display in Cuba.

“The Extraordinary Gertrude Bell exhibition will be at the Great North Museum in Newcastle until May 3.”

Jodi Magness will be lecturing on “Samson in Stone: New Discoveries in the Ancient Synagogue at Huqoq in Israel’s Galilee” on February 15 at UNC. She will be giving the same lecture at the Getty Villa on April 3.

Birger Ekornåsvåg Helgestad and Jonathan Taylor will be lecturing in London on February 24 on

“Walking in Woolley’s Footsteps: Ur Brought to Life for the Digital Age.” Registration is required.

“In the Valley of David and Goliath: Digging Up Evidence on the United Monarchy” symposium will be held in New York City on March 30.

Applications are now being accepted for the Cyprus Underwater Archaeology Field School 2016.

A one-week Field School on Archaeological Science in Ancient Corinth will be held June 6 to 11.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle

Tagged Egypt, Galilee, Greece, Lectures, Mesopotamia, Museums, Negev, New Exhibits, Shephelah