Temple Mount Archives - Page 7 of 57

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Leen Ritmeyer suggests that a couple of recently discovered arches on the Temple Mount may belong to a gate leading from the Court of the Women into the Music Room.

Archaeologists have discovered a copper-ore smelting furnace in Beersheba from the Chalcolithic period, making it the oldest known to date.

Opposition is increasing toward Jerusalem’s plan for a cable car to the Old City.

Tourism to the Holy Land has completely stopped for the first time since the Franco-Prussian War. This article in Haaretz (premium) describes the effects on the industry, renovation projects underway, and prospects for the future.

John DeLancey’s newest video provides a tour of the Jerusalem model at the Israel Museum.

GTI Tours has begun a new podcast, with interviews with Gary Burge on the Fifth Gospel, Brad Gray on Jesus’s baptism, and more.

Eric Cline talks about the story of the excavations at Megiddo in the 1920s and 1930s on The Times of Israel podcast.

Bryan Windle pulls together a lot of detail and good photographs in his archaeological biography of King Jehu.

Wayne Stiles looks at Israel’s journey through the Red Sea and to Mount Sinai to see how God works through painful journeys.

Ginger Caessens will be leading an intensive study tour of Jordan in June. I have recommended this many times in the past and continue to do so.

New: A Christian’s Guide to Evidence for the Bible: 101 Proofs from History and Archaeology, by J. Daniel Hays.

Steven Anderson’s research on the identifications of Darius the Mede is now posted online in a very easy-to-read format, presenting the major views and objections to each.

HT: Agade, Explorator, Carl Rasmussen

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Jordan, Negev, Resources, Temple Mount, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Today is the first day of the feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) – hag sameah!

A study of 307 Iron Age jars discovered at Khirbet Qeiyafa found that the inner-rim diameter always measured nearly the same dimensions, suggesting that this was the size of a handbreadth. The underlying BASOR article is available to subscribers here.

A ritual bath discovered in the Jezreel Valley has been moved ahead of road construction work. The story includes drone footage of the transport of the 57-ton mikveh.

Horse stables from the Crusader era have been discovered at Apollonia.

The Footsteps of Jesus Weekend Experience: Bob Rognlien will be leading a virtual pilgrimage of the life of Jesus the weekend of October 16-18. Early bird pricing is available now.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project has begun a new campaign in which you can adopt a coin in order to support the team’s efforts.

A 40-second film clip shows archaeologists working in Herod’s palace at Masada in 1955. Another shows Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1964.

HT: Agade, Alexander Schick

Tagged Dead Sea Scrolls, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

Archaeologists working at Azekah may have found traces of the Assyrian siege ramp used to conquer the city in 701 BC.

“The Waqf filled in a hole that opened in the Temple Mount floor with concrete on Tuesday, raising concerns that possible archaeological findings may now be lost.” Zachi Dvira at the Temple Mount Sifting Project offers his thoughts on the possible significance of the now-filled opening, along with some rare photos of underground areas of the Temple Mount.

The Israel Museum has re-opened “with a coronavirus-safe approach that includes half-hour capsule tours of the museum’s permanent and current exhibits.”

Gordon Govier writes about the summer excavations in Israel that were not, and those that were.

Lawrence Schiffman writes on discoveries made in 2020 for Ami Magazine.

Usha, an ancient village in western Galilee, is the subject of a 6-minute news piece on Israel Daily. (Note: add “the Sanhedrin Trail” to your bucket list.)

Zvi Koenigsberg looks at the possible connection between the site(s) of Gilgal and the strange phenomenon of “footprints” on the eastern side of Israel.

Dan Warner is on The Book and the Spade this week talking about the Gezer water tunnel.

Biblical Israel Ministries and Tours has just released a brand-new resource that features beautiful aerial footage of more than 55 biblical sites in Israel and Jordan. The launch price is only $30 for the DVD and $45 for a higher-res version on a thumb drive. Individual high-res site videos are available for only $4 each.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Galilee, Jerusalem, Museums, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup

An outdoor archaeological exhibit has been created near the beachfront of Ashkelon. There is a brief video showing the displayed artifacts here.

Ken Dark reviews the evidence for the inhabitation of Nazareth in the first century.

A company in the Golan Heights is raising locusts to help meet the world’s need for animal protein.

King Uzziah: An Archaeological Biography looks at matters of historicity, his expansion, and the earthquake in his reign.

Ferrell Jenkins asks how Bet Guvrin would look during a pandemic.

A creative agency has teamed with architects to digitally reconstruct 5 endangered World Heritage sites, including Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and Palmyra.

CoinWeek has a feature on the coins of Herod the Great.

John DeLancey has released a new video entitled “Visiting Ein Gedi.”

Some statues and reliefs were discovered in a salvage excavation near Mit-Rahina in Egypt.

This piece has a bit about Egypt’s relationship with gold as well as Zahi Hawass’s relationship with Tutankhamun.

A 2nd-century AD sarcophagus with a gold diadem was discovered in Izmir (biblical Smyrna) in a rescue dig.

The British Museum is looking for help in identifying various artifacts.

Westminster Books has a sale on books from Lexham Press, including Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels and Lexham Geographic Commentary on Acts through Revelation ($24 ea.), both with contributions from the BiblePlaces team members.

Featured in ANE Today (but noted last year on this blog): “In Discovering New Pasts: The OI [Oriental Institute] at 100, 62 people, almost all faculty, staff, and volunteers, tell the story of the OI, past and present, and of their involvement with the Institute.” The book is available for purchase or free download here.

Recently reprinted:
Pioneer to the Past:
The Story of James Henry Breasted, Archaeologist. $30 in print or free download.

HT: Agade, Charles Savelle, Explorator

Tagged Dead Sea, Egypt, Galilee, Golan, Jerusalem, Museums, Resources, Shephelah, Temple Mount, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 1

A 6th century church or monastery was discovered near Mount Tabor.

A 7th century AD shipwreck near Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael has turned out to be “the largest maritime cargo collection of Byzantine and early Islamic pottery discovered in Israel.”

A “study of 10,000 seeds from Negev viticulture settlements illustrates how plague, climate change and socioeconomic depression in booming empire’s periphery point to its decline.” The underlying journal article is here.

“A group of Yeroham residents have banded together to refurbish a 2,000-year-old archaeological site that was recently defaced with graffiti.”

Jews in Jerusalem once prayed in the “Cave,” a synagogue destroyed when the Crusaders invaded, and today scholars debate whether it was located under the Temple Mount near Warren’s Gate or not.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project needs donations in order to continue operations.

An Israeli archaeologist believes that he has identified the location in the coastal plain where Richard the Lionheart defeated Saladin in the Third Crusade in 1191.

A fire broke out at the Susiya archaeological site near Hebron, but the ruins including the ancient synagogue were spared.

Yosef Garfinkel is claiming that male figurines discovered at various sites are representations of Yahweh.

On The Land and the Book, Charlie Dyer interviews a pastor who took an “Extreme Israel” trip.

Israel’s Good Name reports on his recent trip to Eilat, Timna Park, and the Top 94 extreme park.

Israel’s Supreme Court is requiring evidence that the proposed Jerusalem cable car will actually boost tourism.

In a 51-minute interview, “ToI’s Jewish World and Archaeology editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaks with Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Joe Uziel about the destruction of ancient Jerusalem in honor of the Tisha B’Av fast day.”

Ferrell Jenkins shares photos related to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.

“A Temple in Flames” is a dramatized recreation of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.

HT: Agade, Joseph Lauer

Tagged Discoveries, Israel's Coast, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Judah, Negev, Temple Mount, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Joe Uziel, the new head of the Dead Sea Scrolls unit for the Israel Antiquities Authority, discusses his position and plans.

The Jerusalem Post profiles the work of Tanya Bitler, “currently the only person in the world who can touch and handle the legendary Dead Sea Scrolls.”

Researchers have analyzed more than 100 fingerprints on Bronze Age vessels excavated at the city of Gath. The underlying journal article is available here.

A stash of Jordanian ammunition was found at the bottom of a water cistern near the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The Smithsonian Magazine has a short story on rock art discovered on dolmens in northern Israel.

The two issues this year of Jerusalem Quarterly are devoted to “Palestine from Above: Surveillance, Cartography and Control,” with several articles on aerial photography.

A Times of Israel podcast provides a 30-minute tour of excavations near the Western Wall plaza.

Ze’ev Orenstein gives a 35-minute video tour of the City of David.

John DeLancey’s latest video tour is of Caesarea Maritima.

Ferrell Jenkins shares some interesting photos of storks that he has taken in Israel and Turkey.

“Ash-sharq is a new, peer reviewed journal devoted to short and long articles on the archaeology, history and society of the Ancient Near East.”

“The editors of the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR) Online talk about the content, development and relevance of EBR Online for theologians and humanities faculty (recording of a live webinar).”

A fine painting by Gustav Bauernfeind of Jerusalem around the turn of the 20th century will be auctioned by Sotheby’s on July 28.

LifeWay is going with an archaeology theme for next summer’s Vacation Bible School.

Steven Anderson highlights some new resources for biblical studies, including his interpretive guides, SoundCloud playlists of the Hebrew Bible, and the Syriac-English New Testament.

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

Tagged Dead Sea Scrolls, Jerusalem, Resources, Temple Mount, Weekend Roundup