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At Petra, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging laser) scanning and balloon-based 35mm photography are being used with other technologies to facilitate research and conservation.

Exploring Bible Lands is doing a series on the travels of the Ark of the Covenant, beginning at the Plains of Moab, crossing the Jordan River, and continuing on to Jericho, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and now Shiloh.

JPost: “Wild animals will soon be able to safely cross bustling Route 1 when the Israel National Roads Company completes work on an ecological corridor at the Sha’ar Hagai interchange.”

This 40-second video clip with Eilat Mazar describing her discovery of the seal impression of a biblical figure could be a good way to get attention at the start of a lesson. The Jehucal bullae was discovered in 2005.


Popular Archaeology has a lengthy feature this month on the Egyptian fortress in Joppa.

Some very well-preserved leather shoes worn 2,000 years ago were recently discovered in Egypt.

Egyptian officials have rejected a proposal to rent out five of the country’s archaeological sites to international tourism companies.

For the broader world of archaeology, see the Archaeology Weekly Roundup at the ASOR Blog.

HT: Jack Sasson

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Shmuel Browns has a roundup of interesting items he has discovered as a guide this week, and he’s soliciting suggestions for a name for the series.

Seth Rodriquez illustrates each region of the land of Israel.

The presentations from “Managing Archaeological Data in the Digital Age: Best Practices and Realities” are now online.

Nearly $2 million has been spent to restore the archaeological remains of the Nabatean city of Avdat after vandals attacked it.

The Cyrus Cylinder will make its first appearance in the U.S. on March 9 at the Smithsonian.

GigaPan has some extremely high-resolution panoramic images of Jerusalem.

HT: Jack Sasson, Michael Oliver

Avdat Byzantine Church of St Theodore, tb030607886
The Nabatean city of Avdat
Photo from the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands
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More than 5,000 high-resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls are now online at www.deadseascrolls.org.il. From the announcement by the Israel Antiquities Authority:

On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Google are pleased to launch today the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library website, www.deadseascrolls.org.il. The public is invited to experience, view, examine, and explore this collection of over 5000 images of Dead Sea Scrolls, in a quality never seen before.
The library was assembled over the course of two years, in collaboration with Google, using advanced technology first developed by NASA. It includes some 1000 new images of scroll fragments; 3500 scans of negatives from the 1950s; a database documenting about 900 manuscripts, two-thousand years old, comprising thousands of scroll fragments; and interactive content pages. It enables scholars and millions of users worldwide to reveal and decipher details hence invisible to the naked eye. The site displays infra-red and color images at a resolution of 1215 dpi, at a 1:1 scale, equivalent in quality to the original scrolls. Google has provided hosting services and use of Google Maps, image technology and YouTube. The project was made possible by an exceptionally generous grant from the Leon Levy Foundation, and further contribution by the Arcadia Fund, as well as the support of the Yad Hanadiv Foundation.
One of the earliest known texts is a copy of the Book of Deuteronomy, which includes the Ten Commandments; part of chapter 1 of the Book of Genesis, dated to the first century BCE, which describes the creation of the world; a number of copies of Psalms scrolls; tiny texts of tefillin from the Second Temple period; letters and documents hidden by refugees fleeing the Roman army during the Bar Kochba Revolt; and hundreds of additional 2000-year-old texts, shedding light on biblical studies, the history of Judaism and the origins of Christianity.
Shuka Dorfman, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: “Only five conservators worldwide are authorized to handle the Dead Sea Scrolls. Now, everyone can “touch” the scrolls on-screen around the globe, and view them in spectacular quality, equivalent to the original! On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of their discovery, the IAA, in collaboration with Google, presents the scrolls online, using the most advanced imaging technology. Thus, this most important national treasure is available to the general public, preserving it for future generations.”

This project was first announced in October 2010. Many news stories can be found here. This really is a fantastic resource and I hope they will expand it to include every scroll fragment.

4qdana-iaa-google
4QDana includes portions from Daniel chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, and 11. Image from the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library.
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Charles Jones has put created an excellent Roundup of Resources on Ancient Geography. Bookmark this one!

There are enough scholars who have serious doubts about the authenticity of the “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” that when a report circulated that Harvard Theological Review had decided to not publish the article, many scholars believed it. Brian LePort has some of the back and forth.

Mark Hoffman excavated at et-Tell (Bethsaida?) this summer and is sharing his photo book of the dig. (No account is needed to flip through it, and full screen provides the best view.)

Jodi Magness is interviewed in the WAMC Academic Minute about her excavations of the Huqoq synagogue.

Cornell University has received a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating research in the Near East.

A conference at Tel Aviv University in late October will focus on Ancient Greece and Ancient Israel:
Interactions and Parallels (10th to 4th Centuries BCE). The details are available here.

SourceFlix’s latest short is called “Fishers of Men.”


Biblical Archaeology Review is now available as a digital subscription, with the bonus that you get last year’s digital issues.

Robert Mullins gives a day-by-day account of the first season at Abel-beth-maacah. His excitement is justified.

HT: Joseph Lauer, Jack Sasson

Abel Beth Maacah from northwest, tb062900201
Abel Beth Maacah from the northwest
Photo from Pictorial Library of Bible Lands
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The north of Israel received a surprise August rainfall this week. Haaretz has more about the rabbi who was accused of stealing bones from an archaeological site near Beth Shemesh. Israel will return two sarcophagi lids stolen from Egypt. The BBC describes Lidar archaeology and some debate about its value. Joe Yudin recommends the view from an inactive volcano in the Golan Heights. I think that Wayne Stiles somehow managed to get all of my favorite Masada photos in this article. The ABR bookstore is now offering free shipping on all orders over $35. They offer a number of books under $10. HT: Jack Sasson, Paleojudaica Syrian city northeast of Quneitra from Mount Bental, tb121802203 View towards Damascus from Mount Bental (photo source)

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The Macherus article in the newest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review is quite good, especially with its reconstruction diagrams. A particularly impressive photo is the panoramic shot from Macherus showing Masada, Herodium, and Jerusalem. I was surprised to see the entire article available online this morning. If you don’t subscribe to the print edition, you have a brief chance to read it before it goes behind the subscription wall. An annual digital subscription to BAR is now available for $20. A 21-m-long sediment sample near the Dead Sea is providing scientists with information about the area’s climate in history. According to Thomas Litt, the results “clearly show how surprisingly fast lush Mediterranean sclerophyll vegetation can morph into steppe or even desert vegetation within a few decades if it becomes drier.” The level of the Sea of Galilee dropped more than two feet this summer. Carl Rasmussen has just added photos to his site of a place in Galilee I have not seen: Domus Galilaeae is a Roman Catholic retreat center overlooking the northern side of the Sea of Galilee. And his latest travel tip suggests an alternative viewpoint now that Arbel is controlled by Park Rangers and closes way too early. Wednesday marked the 200th anniversary of John Lewis Burckhardt’s visit to Petra. He was 27 when he re-discovered the Nabatean city for the western world on August 22, 1812. Gus W. Van Beek died this week. He was Curator of Old World Archaeology in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution and recent author of Glorious Mud! How in the world did the ancients ever move massive stones such as the trilithons in the Jupiter Temple of Baalbek that weigh more than 1,000 tons? Paleobabble answers that question with diagrams and translation from an older French article. Baalbek, Jupiter Temple western wall trilithon, adr090511208 Trilithon in Jupiter Temple, Baalbek (photo from the Lebanon volume of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

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