fbpx

Archaeologists believe they have uncovered the 1st-century villa where Pliny the Elder watched Mount Vesuvius erupt.

“Archaeologists conducting extensive excavations in the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu, now known as Tello in southeastern Iraq, have unearthed twin temples built on top of each other.”

Egypt’s “project of the century”—a reinstallation of the granite cladding on one of the pyramids of Giza—has been cancelled.

Turkey will be expanding its “Night Museums” project with the goal of setting new records in tourism every year.

“Archaeologists working in Saqqara recently unearthed three funerary masks at least 1,800 years old.”

A new study claims that “ancient Romans used the poisonous nightshade Black henbane as a hallucinogenic drug.”

New release: Teaching Ancient Egypt in Museums: Pedagogies in Practice, edited by Jen Thum, Carl Walsh, Lissette M. Jiménez, Lisa Saladino Haney (Routledge, $40-$170)

Hybrid lecture on May 23: “From Ground to Page: Wrapping up the University of Michigan/University of Minnesota Excavations at Kedesh,” by Andrea M. Berlin

Revelation Media is creating an animated Bible project comprised of seven-minute episodes that will eventually cover the entire Bible.

Carmen Joy Imes writes about some connections to the Old Testament that she observed during a recent tour of Egypt with James Hoffmeier.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken

Share:

“Architectural remains of the 1,800-year-old Roman VIth ‘Ferrata’ Iron Legion military base were uncovered in a recent excavation carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) at the foot of Tel Megiddo.” But archaeologists are concerned that they will pave it over instead of incorporating it into a larger archaeological park.

Raz Kletter is not convinced there is an inscription on the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet.

The Jerusalem Post gives a history of the little-known Ein Dor Archaeology Museum.

The latest issue of “Jerusalem in Brief” takes a look at “Kerosine street lamps, a historical photo of Dung Gate, Jerusalem’s lighthouse, and one ridiculously expensive book.” That expensive book is available as a free scan at archive.org.

Registration is now open for the 2024 excavation season at Tel Burna.

Emanuel Tov explains how the copying of Torah scrolls became sacred.

Zoom lecture on Feb 27: “Dawn of the Aleph Beit,” by Orly Goldwasser, Christopher Rollston, and Yossi Garfinkel. This is a panel discussion jointly hosted with the AIAS and British Friends of the Hebrew University.

“The February Bible and Archaeology Fest on February 24 & 25 offers live talks from 13 leading Bible scholars and archaeologists via the Zoom app.” Topics include Phoenicians, Nabateans, Ophel excavations, and sacred prostitution in ancient Corinth. The $149 registration fee includes access to the recordings.

Accordance Bible Software has a sale on graphics resources, with up to 67% off.

The Bible Mapper Atlas has created some new, free maps:

Charles Savelle shares some Valentine’s Day card ideas.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken

Share:

A group of students used “computer vision, machine learning, and hard work” to translate a portion of a scroll from Herculaneum and win a $700,000 prize. “This is a complete gamechanger,” said one scholar.

A reservist hiking in Galilee discovered a scarab made of carnelian and dating to about 800 BC, possibly related to the Assyrian conquest.

“Egypt’s antiquities ministry said Saturday it was setting up a committee to review the restoration of Giza’s Menkaure Pyramid after a public outcry over the project.”

“Excavations have given proof of a flourishing wine industry in the Byzantine and early Arab period, especially at sites like Shivta, Halutza, Nitzana, and Avdat.”

The latest episode of This Week in the Ancient Near East looks at the use of artificial intelligence to translate Mesopotamian texts.

Bryan Windle joins John DeLancey to talk about the top 10 archaeological discoveries related to Jesus.

Now online: Deborah Hurn’s dissertation, “Identifying and Delineating the Geographic Regions of the Israelite Migration from Egypt to Canaan Using a Hydrological Approach”

Hybrid lecture on Feb 29: “A Queen, her Son, and her Chamberlain. Seal Imagery and Socio-Administrative Hierarchies at Persepolis,” by Mark Garrison

Walking The Text’s recommended resource of the month is The Essential Archaeological Guide to Bible Lands, by Titus Kennedy.

Appian Media has released a trailer for “Out of Egypt.”

Abigail Leavitt shares some photos from her recent explorations in Jerusalem.

HT: Agade, Gordon Dickson, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis

Share:

The occupants of the 4th century BC Royal Tombs at Vergina have been identified as Alexander the Great’s father Philip, his stepmother, half-siblings, and son.

An Egyptian antiquities official was criticized after he announced that Egypt was restoring the granite casing on one of the three main pyramids of Giza.

The Times of Israel: “A Tel Aviv University team is using muon detectors to track powerful particles, hoping to build a 3D map of undiscovered tunnels, chambers and fortifications under the holey city,” Jerusalem.

Kathryn Oliver describes how conservators at the British Museum restored a sarcophagus relief in conjunction with the ongoing exhibit, “Legion: Life in the Roman Army.”

In the latest video from the Institute of Biblical Culture, David Moster compares Torah scrolls from Yemen with others from around the Jewish world.

Chandler Collins looks at what we can learn about Jerusalem from a travelogue published by William Barlett in the 1840s.

John Drummond gives a preview of “The Seven World Wonders” article that is in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.

Bryan Windle’s top three reports in biblical archaeology for the month of January includes a bonus story.

The BBC gives a history of beds through the ages.

“The Bible and Its World” international academic conference will be held in Israel on July 1-3.

Now open access: Syria’s Monuments: Their Survival and Destruction, by Michael Greenhalgh (Brill, 2016, $229; open access pdf – download link temporarily not working)

Stephen Mitchell, author of many books on Asia Minor in the Roman era, died this week.

Zoom all-day seminar today: “In Search of Ancient Israel,” with Gary Rendsburg ($90)

HT: Agade, Gordon Dickson, Arne Halbakken

Share:

The Temple Mount Sifting Project has discovered some very rare Byzantine coin weights, suggesting that there was more activity on the Temple Mount in the Byzantine period than usually assumed. Perhaps there was even a church located there.

“Almost a century after the British archaeologist Alan Rowe excavated Gezer, Dr. Samuel Wolff published a final report on the site, including on three vessels whose use defies interpretation.”

“The Forma Urbis Museum recently unveiled an exhibition featuring an ancient marble map of Rome dating back to 203-211 AD.”

Nathan Steinmeyer provides a 6-minute video tour of Beth Shean in the latest episode in BAS’s OnSite series.

Bible History Daily has a piece introducing an article in BAR about the Deborah and Jael mosaics discovered in the Huqoq synagogue.

A new study suggests that Roman wine tasted spicy.

“After years of criticism over its collecting practices, Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum is repatriating to Greece three antiquities that are widely regarded to have been looted.” Reading the article requires a free account.

Hybrid lecture on Feb 22 at the Albright: “The Archaeology of Olive Oil: Excavating a Bronze Age Olive Oil ‘Factory’ in Jordan,” by Jamie Fraser

Biblical Israel Ministry and Tours has begun a new teaching series on the “Life of Christ in Context.” The first episode is an overview of the whole.

HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Arne Halbakken

Share:

Archaeologists discovered a rare silver coin from the Persian period during excavations as part of a highway-expansion project in the hills southwest of Jerusalem.

Ariel David, writing for Haaretz, reports that underground hiding places in Israel have “a more complex history than previously thought.”

A recent article by Nahshon Szanton in ‘Atiqot argues that the small pool at the outlet of Hezekiah’s Tunnel is the true Pool of Siloam and the more recently excavated large reservoir (Birkat el-Hamra) is what Josephus called “Solomon’s Pool.” Leen Ritmeyer (mostly) agrees, and he is not surprised that they have not discovered more steps in the recent excavations.

The National Library of Israel received the world’s largest collection of Yemenite Jewish manuscripts as a donation.

The latest issue of Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology focuses on “Spatial Digital Archaeology and History of Israel.”

Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer discuss the top 10 archaeological discoveries in 2023 in the first of a three-part series in the Biblical World podcast. Part 2 is here.

A man was arrested while carrying out an illegal excavation at the site of Philippi.

New release: An Ancient Mesopotamian Herbal, by Barbara Böck, Shahina A. Ghazanfar, Mark Nesbit (Surrey Kew, £30). “Combining methods from the humanities and science, the authors provide a concise overview of ancient Mesopotamian culture and herbal lore, along with new identifications of Assyrian and Babylonian herbal medicines, focusing on 25 case studies.”

Zoom event on Jan 31: “The Genizah Research Unit at Cambridge University Library would like to invite you to experience up close the more than 200,000 fragments of the Cairo Genizah Collection.”

On the latest episode of Digging for Truth, Bryan Windle explores the archaeological evidence for King Jehoiachin.

Bryan Windle has written an archaeological biography for King Belshazzar.

There are 42 things you are not allowed to do on the dig.

HT: Agade, Andy Cook, Arne Halbakken, Ted Weis

Share: