Technology Archives - Page 11 of 33

Weekend Roundup

A Canaanite city and palace at Tel Kabri were apparently destroyed by an earthquake circa 1700 BC. The underlying journal article is here.

Archaeologists have discovered a winepress south of Sidon in Lebanon that dates to the 7th century BC, making it the oldest known Phoenician winepress. The underlying journal article is here.

An inkwell from the 1st century AD was discovered during excavations at Khirbet Brakhot in Gush Etzion.

“An experiment with unglazed clay pots hinted at how much archaeologists can learn about ancient cultures from cooking vessels.”

A PhD student at Tel Aviv University is developing a new method of dating ancient mudbrick walls by analyzing one of its components: human and animal waste.

Elon Gilad and Ruth Schuster look at the development of Hellenistic Judaism in Israel, including seven synagogues with mosaics depicting the Zodiac.

Lutz Martin shares the interesting story of Max von Oppenheim, a German Jew who ended up excavating Tell Halaf in Syria and then founding a private museum which the Allies destroyed in a bombing raid. Fortunately, that is not the end of the story.

National Geographic runs a story on the discovery of Petra by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.

Ferrell Jenkins shares a photo of the arch of Domitian at Hierapolis.

New from Eisenbrauns: Ramat Raḥel IV: The Renewed Excavations by the Tel Aviv–Heidelberg Expedition (2005–2010): Stratigraphy and Architecture, by Oded Lipschits, Manfred Oeming, and Yuval Gadot. Use code NR20 for 30% off.

Applications for fellowships at the Albright Institute in Jerusalem are now being accepted.

The next Zoom virtual lecture for the Anglo Israel Archaeological Society will be by Yana Tchekhanovets on 1st October. Her topic is The Holy City: Fourth-Century Jerusalem in the Light of the New Archaeological Data. To register email secretary@aias.org.uk.

Steve Notley will be speaking about his excavations at el-Araj, a strong candidate for Bethsaida, in a lecture hosted on October 1 by the Museum of the Bible. Registration and fee are required for both the in-person and virtual options.

NYU and the IAA are sponsoring a virtual conference on October 25-28 entitled “The Land that I Will Show You”: Recent Archaeological and Historical Studies of Ancient Israel. A full program is not yet posted. Registration is free and required.

Lois Tverberg has several online speaking events coming up, including a week-long study on “How God Used the Torah to Save the World.”

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Keith Keyser

Tagged Galilee, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, Lectures, Technology, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

Palm trees grown from 2,000-year-old seeds have produced more than a hundred dates, beautiful and tasty. (The father is Methuselah, the mother Hannah.)

A high-tech analysis of 18 ostraca from Arad reveals that they were written by 12 different hands, attesting to a high level of literacy in the kingdom of Judah in the late 7th century BC. The underlying journal article is here.

“A collection of more than 13 intact and sealed coffins has been unearthed in Saqqara, the first step towards a huge discovery to be announced soon on site.”

“The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE, formerly the Harvard Semitic Museum) has recently started posting 3D scans of its cuneiform collection on-line.”

With the help of some old photos of Qumran Cave 1, Brent Nongbri has identified a couple of unheralded excavators of the Dead Sea Scrolls caves.

“According to the ‘Deal of the Century’ map, hundreds of heritage and archaeology sites in Judea and Samaria are slated to be removed from Israeli control and transferred to the jurisdiction of the proposed Palestinian state.”

The Louvre is helping to restore security for the National Museum of Beirut following extensive damage in the August 4 explosion.

When Adam Henein died this spring, Egypt lost a highly regarded artist whose work included a major restoration of the Sphinx.

People who climb Egyptian antiquities “without a license” will be punished under a new law passed by the government.

Necho II, slayer of King Josiah, is the subject of the latest archaeological biography by Bryan Windle.

Steven Anderson has now finished making playlists for all of Omer Frenkel’s beautiful readings of the Hebrew Bible.

A man was detained when caught hunting gazelles in a park in Jerusalem.

Tim Challies reviews A Harvard Professor, a Con Man, and the Gospel of Jesus and draws implications for all with regard to discoveries that appear to contradict (or confirm) the Christian faith.

Jerusalem University College has announced that Dr. Oliver Hersey will become the next president when Dr. Paul Wright retires in 2021.

Jerusalem recently broke a 139-year-record for the hottest night (with a low of 88.7°F, 31.5°C).

I’ve had a chance to look more carefully at the new Biblical Israel by Air. The thumb drive includes two high-resolution video files (mp4), one narrated and one non-narrated, with 69 minutes of drone footage of beautiful sites including the Sea of Galilee, Joppa, Caesarea, Mount Carmel, Jordan River, Arbel, Capernaum, Dan, Beth Shean, Shiloh, Jericho, Masada, Mount Nebo (on a clear day!), Macherus, Petra, and 40 other sites. This remarkable collection is available at an introductory price of $45 (or $30 for the DVD).

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Keith Keyser, Wayne Stiles, Explorator

Tagged Dead Sea Scrolls, Egypt, Museums, Technology, Tourism, Weather, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“A trove of Phoenician artifacts was long ascribed to a single shipwreck. More likely they were tossed overboard [as votive offerings], and over centuries [7th-3rd c BC], a new study suggests.”

A wildfire recently threatened the Bronze Age site of Mycenae in Greece.

Annie Attia writes about what we know about epidemics in ancient Mesopotamia.

A team of researchers is using new technology to discover erased texts in the library of St. Catherine’s Monastery.

Some scholars are ridiculing Yosef Garfinkel’s theory that an anthropomorphic clay head from Khirbet Qeiyafa depicts the face of God.

Foy Scalf will be lecturing on Tuesday, Sept 8, on “Measuring Time: The Ancient Egyptian Invention of the Clock,” using artifacts from the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute Museum.

New: A Classical Archaeologist’s Life: The Story so Far: An Autobiography, by John Boardman

The full-length production of “Caesarea by the Sea: Rome’s Capital in Israel” has just been released. As you may recall from the trailers, the video features 3D digital models of King Herod’s city. You can watch the 20-minute documentary for free at the Bible Land Passages website as well as on YouTube.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Egypt, Greece, Israel's Coast, Lectures, Mesopotamia, Resources, Technology, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

A new study looks at the land of “Cabul” with the latest archaeological and geographical finds in order to better understand Solomon’s sale of the land. The underlying PEQ article is here (requires subscription or payment).

“Several recently discovered milestones, some carrying inscriptions, have offered new insights into the Incense Route that crossed the Negev during the antiquity, connecting the southern part of the Arabic peninsula to Gaza via Petra.” The underlying PEQ article is here.

“Radiocarbon dating is set to become more accurate than ever after an international team of scientists improved the technique for assessing the age of historical objects.”

“Archaeological investigations have revealed traces of the elaborate systems of fire beacons described in the Assyrian text.”

Apparently Emperor Augustus looked a lot like Daniel Craig. One artist is using ancient imagery, historical texts, and coinage to create photorealistic portraits of 54 Roman emperors.

A new book tells the story of how a Harvard professor got conned into claiming the discovery of the “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife.” Brent Nongbri offers his own review here.

Zoom Workshop: Reconsidering Babylon’s Ishtar Gate. To be held on Oct 2, 12:00-2:00 pm Eastern Time.

Lawrence Schiffman is offering a three-part class on “The Dead Sea Scrolls: New Perspectives on the Bible, Judaism and Christianity.” Registration is still available for parts 2 and 3. Part 1 is online here.

The next ASOR webinar will feature Susan Ackerman on “Priestesses in the Days of Solomon and Ahab.”

A new season of excavations has begun at Persepolis.

The absence of visitors at the British Museum has led to a pest problem.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Charles Savelle, Wayne Stiles

Tagged Dead Sea Scrolls, Excavations, Galilee, Lectures, Museums, Negev, Persia, Technology, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 4

Fabricus is a new “Google Arts & Culture Lab Experiment that uses machine learning to help translate ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.”

New release: “a public, open platform for the Digital Library of the Middle East (DLME), which . . . aggregates, through an ongoing program, digital records of published materials, documents, maps, artifacts, audiovisual recordings, and more from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.”

From Meretseger Books: Digitized Treasures – 100 rare books now fully online and Pictures of Egypt – 15,000 photos of most sites in Egypt available for free use.

The auction of this selection from the Schoyen Collection is over, but the catalog of items providing a “history of Western script” may still be of interest.

Fifty titles from Brown Judaic Studies have been released in open access format.

The festschrift for James Hoffmeier, previously described on this blog here, is now available at 40% off with code NR18.

New: Studies in Literacy and Textualization in the Ancient Near East and in the Hebrew Scriptures: Essays in Honour of Professor Alan R. Millard, edited by Daniel I. Block, David C. Deuel, C. John Collins, Paul J. N. Lawrence (Pickwick, $49).

Eric Cline will be the first speaker in the Friends of ASOR’s new webinar series. The topic is “Digging Deeper: How Archaeology Works,” and it will be held on August 9 at 8 pm Eastern. Registration and payment is required.

The Annual Meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Society of Biblical Literature will be conducted virtually.

The International Virtual Conference on the Archaeology of Iran and Adjacent Regions will be held from July 20-21.

Alex Joffe looks at the possibility of pickles and pickling in the ancient Near East.

Though ancient temples were called “houses,” they did not look like houses.

The Louvre reopened, and the Vatican Museums are empty.

The Assyrian king Sennacherib is a great subject for the latest archaeological profile by Bryan Windle.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer, Alexander Schick, Ted Weis, Explorator

Tagged Egypt, Lectures, Mesopotamia, Museums, Resources, Technology, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The completely buried Roman city of Falerii Novi has been mapped with radar technology.

An Egyptian archaeologist is using technology, including Google tools, to assist in the work of preserving and documenting her nation’s heritage.

A research study is using AI to analyze ancient feces and learning in the process of the relationship between humans and dogs.

Phillip J. Long provides a helpful review of a valuable up-to-date summary of the DSS and their relation to Qumran: Scribes and Scrolls at Qumran, by Sidnie White Crawford.

The final publication of Tall Zira’a, Volume 6, Hellenistic to Umayyad Period (Strata 8–3) is now available online as a free download.

‘Atiqot 99 (2020) is now online.

“Tutankhamun In Colour,” a BBC program featuring colorized photos from Howard Carter’s Egyptian explorations, will air on June 18.

Context Matters is a weekly podcast begun earlier this year and hosted by Cyndi Parker.

In a BBC audio presentation, Bridget Kendall explores ancient Babylon with four experts.

More than 1,000 color sides taken by Kenneth Russell have been added to the ACOR Photo Archive.

Carl Rasmussen shares a photo of an ancient papyrus attesting that a man had offered sacrifices to the gods—a way of proving that one was not a Christian.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project is now offering “remote sifting.”

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

Tagged Dead Sea Scrolls, Egypt, Excavations, Jerusalem, Jordan, Photo Resources, Resources, Technology, Temple Mount