Syria Archives - Page 6 of 17

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

After being closed for six years to protect artifacts during the civil war, Syria’s National Museum of Damascus has reopened.

A Haaretz premium article suggests that the Israelites at Dan worshiped the Lord. “Suggestive finds include seal impressions with Yahwistic names, temple architecture, and artifacts typical of Yahwistic temple rituals.”

The latest in Brad Gray’s Psalm 23 series looks at the rod and staff (and sling) of the shepherd.

Israel’s Good Name has written a couple of posts about the Autumn Raptor Migration.

Biblical Israel Ministries and Tours has begun a new series of short devotional videos: “It Happened Here—Life Lessons from Israel.”

A snake crawled out of the stones of the Western Wall above the women’s prayer area, creating a bit of a scare.

Glenn Corbett and Jack Green explain the tremendous value of the ACOR Photo Archive.

A new 17-minute film entitled “Paul in Athens” reconstructs the famous events of Acts 17. This documentary was created by Yaron Eliav and the University of Michigan TLTC Team.

John McRay, longtime professor of New Testament and Archaeology died in August. The Book and the Spade shares an archived interview with him about Athens in the Time of Paul.

HT: Ted Weis, Charles Savelle, Agade

Tagged Galilee, Greece, Jerusalem, Jordan, Museums, Photo Resources, Sad News, Syria, Temple Mount, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

NPAPH Request: Documentation of Mari, Dura Europos, and Apamea

NPAPH has asked me to pass along the following worthy request to our readers. Please contact them at the address below if you can provide them with any help.

The Non-Professional Archaeological Photographs project (NPAPH; www.npaph.com) has the aim to preserve non-professional documentation of past archaeological campaigns to the future and make it accessible to the public via digital archives.

The term ‘non-professional’ refers to records made by visitors or participants of excavations who were not part of the trained staff, but who assisted as part of their continuing education or out of interest, for instance students, volunteers, reporters or sponsors.

Secondly, this category of documentation includes also the private photos, slides, films, letters, diaries, etc., made at the excavation by the archaeological staff. So non-professional records are usually not stored in official archives.

At the moment we are tracing documentation of the excavations of the following Syrian sites:

Mari/ Tell Hariri (1933-1939, 1951-1956, and 1960–1974)
Dura Europos (1928–1937)
Apamea (1930-1938, 1947-1953, and 1965)

If you know anyone who joined one of these archaeological expeditions or if you have worked on one of them yourself, please contact [email protected]. We are also interested in any other record prior the 1980s related to these sites.

Tagged Syria

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A rare and beautiful Hellenistic-era gold earring was found in excavations in the City of David.

A sphinx has been discovered in Luxor during a road construction project.

“Six statues dating back 2,000 years were discovered Saturday in the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Magnesia” in Turkey.

The tombs of two statesmen from the Middle Kingdom period have been discovered at Beni Hassan.

Archaeologists have discovered a Greek shipwreck from 500 BC in the Black Sea.

“A pebble mosaic in a bathhouse dated to the 4th century BC was unearthed during an excavation at
the Small Theater of ancient Amvrakia” in Greece.

Renovation work is underway to open an ancient Roman bath in central Turkey to tourists.

The Plutonium of Hierapolis, discovered in 2013, will open to visitors next month.

The ancient Roman city of Volubilis in Morocco is drawing more visitors after its rejuvenation.

The dramatic changes at Palmyra over the years is the subject of an exhibit sponsored by The Institute for Digital Archaeology.

Three looters of Israel’s ancient capital of Samaria were sentenced to either 36 days or 36 months in prison.

The W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem is now accepting applications for fellowships.

The schedule for the 2018 annual meeting of ASOR is now online.

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

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Greece, Jerusalem, Lectures, Samaria, Syria, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A candidate for prime minister of the UK promises to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece if he is elected. The British Museum has responded.

“An Italian court has ruled that this Greek bronze, known as ‘Statue of a Victorious Youth,’ rescued from the ocean decades ago and long on display at the Getty Villa, should be returned to Italy.”

Nine artifacts smuggled from Egypt have been returned by French authorities.

Russians archaeologists have applied to continue excavations of Palmyra.

A report from Week 2 of excavations in the Venus Pompeiana Project has been posted.

Bleda S. Düring explains the origins of maps in the Near East. Many nice images are included.

“Digital humanities scholars [at Penn Libraries] are orchestrating an epic crowdsourcing effort to sort and transcribe handwriting on thousands of documents discarded hundreds of years ago, known as the Cairo Geniza.”

Mark Hoffman: BibleWorks is closing; what should you do?

Leon Mauldin explains why Michelangelo’s Moses has horns.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a copy of Kitchener’s Photographs of Biblical Sites for sale, until now ($830).

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Museums, Resources, Syria, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Brian Peterson reviews the events and discoveries of Week 2 of the Shiloh excavations.

Scott Stripling is interviewed about the excavations at Shiloh on The Land of Israel Network (34 min).

Ferrell Jenkins looks at the importance of Shiloh, the longtime location of the tabernacle.

The Times of Israel has a lengthy follow-up on the study that suggests that the carbon-14 calibration scale for Israel is faulty.

ASOR has posted an update on the severe damage to the site of Ebla in Syria.

Israel is opening a new national natural history museum in Tel Aviv.

Israel’s Good Name went on a tour of the Tel Aviv Zoological Research Institute, a place not normally open to the public.

Aren Maeir has posted the lecture and field trip schedule for the Gath excavations.

The American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) in Amman has posted 9,000 low- to medium- resolution watermarked images from Jordan and the surrounding region, including many taken by Jane Taylor.

Wayne Stiles writes about an important event at the Water Gate in Jerusalem.

Ron Traub writes about the Baram synagogue near the northern border of Israel.

Leon Mauldin is visiting Rome and sharing photos.

Mitchell First has written an article on “The Earliest Surviving Texts of the Torah” for Jewish Link of New Jersey.

The Vatican Library has made 15,000 manuscripts available online, with another 65,000 to come in the next couple of decades.

The ESV Archaeology Study Bible has some recent video posts of interest:

“The Biblical Archaeology Society is now accepting applications for the 2018 Joseph Aviram, Yigael Yadin, and Hershel Shanks fellowships that allow scholars to attend the annual meetings” of ASOR and SBL. (The announcement mentions that Aviram, at age 102, is still the president of IES!)

Norma Dever died on Thursday. William Dever writes an obituary that may surprise you.

HT: Charles Savelle, Agade, Joseph Lauer

Tagged 10th Century, Excavations, Israel's Coast, Italy, Philistines, Photo Resources, Sad News, Samaria, Syria, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A German-Egyptian team has discovered thousands of fragments in old Heliopolis.

Egyptian authorities have charged 70 archaeological inspectors and security officials with looting the site of Quesna.

The March 2018 edition of the Newsletter of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities reports the latest inaugurations, repatriated antiquities, temporary exhibitions, meetings, projects, and more.

Zahi Hawass is leading a crew of more than 100 Egyptian workers in excavating an area in the Valley of the Kings, but so far he is not revealing what he has found.

The site of Mari has suffered severe destruction as a result of the conflicts in Syria.

Carl Rasmussen shares photographs of the harbor of Troas where Paul set sail on his second missionary journey.

Mathilde Touillon-Ricci takes a look at “Trade and Contraband in Ancient Assyria.”

The lead “Jordan Codices” have been proven to be forged.

Margreet Steiner will be lecturing on April 23 at Tel Aviv University on “The Excavations at Khirbet al-Mudayna in Ancient Moab: Some Current Research Questions in Iron Age Archaeology.” The lecture will be held in the Gilman Building, Room 282 at 16:15.

Funerary portrait sculptures, created in Palmyra, Syria between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD are on display at the Getty Villa until May 2019.

Mosaics from Antioch on the Orontes were buried beneath the lawn of the Museum of Fine Arts in
St. Petersburg, Florida, several decades ago and only recently uncovered.

“A three-year renovation at the Penn Museum introduces a $5m collection of nearly 1,200 objects, many of which will be on public view for the first time.”

There is some new ancient world content in JStor.

Accordance is now hosting “April Showers of Archaeology” and they have up to 50% off on all kinds of great resources, including the American Colony Collection, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible,
Biblical Archaeology Review Archive, Bible Times PhotoMuseum, and more.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Agade, Mike Harney, Ted Weis, Keith Keyser, Steven Anderson

Tagged Antiquities Trade, Discoveries, Egypt, Excavations, Forgery, Jordan, Museums, Resources, Syria, Turkey, Weekend Roundup