Circular Water Complex Discovered on the Edge of the Ancient Nile A newly excavated circular water structure at ancient Pelusium in northern Sinai reveals a ritual complex linked to a Nile branch, spanning the Hellenistic to Byzantine periods, offering insight into ...

A large circular structure—about 115 feet in diameter—has been uncovered in northern Sinai at Tell el-Farama (ancient Pelusium).
#Archaeology #Egypt #History #Nile #Water #Ritual #Sinai

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David’s Sling and an Inscribed Sling Bullet from Hippos A Hellenistic sling bullet from Hippos inscribed “Learn your lesson!” offers insight into ancient warfare, symbolism, and parallels with the sling David used against Goliath.

A sling bullet inscribed “Learn your lesson!”has been found in the ancient city of Hippos, located in the hills east of the Sea of Galilee.
#Archaeology #Bible #Israel #Weapons #Military

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Reconstructing Judah Explore Yosef Garfinkel’s groundbreaking synthesis of Judah’s archaeology, integrating new discoveries, radiometric dating, and biblical history to reconstruct the kingdom’s rise and fall.

Thomas E. Levy reviews this landmark study by Yosef Garfinkel.
#Archaeology #Bible #Israel #History #Books

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Understanding Iron in the Iron Age A new study off the Carmel coast uncovers unworked blooms from the Iron Age, revealing that raw iron was traded across the Mediterranean before forging.

Carmel Coast discovery shows iron was traded before forging.
#Archaeology #Israel #Metal #Iron #History #Trade

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Jesus’s Sense of Time on Good Friday Explore Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane through the lens of Ecclesiastes, examining how human desire, divine order, and the experience of time intersect in the Bible and Second Temple Jewish thought.

Thinking alongside Ecclesiastes in Gethsemane
#Bible #Christianity #Gospels #Jesus #GoodFriday

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Feeling the Longing of Early Christian Monks A fifth-century Coptic monastery in Egypt’s Nile Delta region has yielded a surprising deer mural, which may echo Psalm 42 and the spiritual longings of early Christian monks.

Recent excavations in Egypt’s Kalaya region in the Beheira governorate have uncovered a fifth-century CE building that offers a detailed glimpse into early Coptic monastic life.
#Archaeology #Egypt #Bible #Christianity #Monastic #Coptic

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What Role Did Children Play in the Rise of Civilization? New evidence from Natufian beads in prehistoric Israel shows children actively shaped symbolic culture and social complexity before farming.

A recent study challenges many long-held assumptions about prehistoric peoples and the rise of civilization.
#Archaeology #Israel #Prehistoric #beads #Children #anthropology #History

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Elite Old Kingdom Tombs Discovered in Aswan Archaeologists uncover Old Kingdom elite tombs in Aswan, revealing burial practices, artifacts, and the site’s long-term significance across Egyptian history.

A recent excavation by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has uncovered a cluster of rock-cut tombs in the Aswan region, near Egypt’s southern frontier with Nubia.
#Archaeology #Egypt #Tombs #History

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Treasure Trove of Ancient Astrology Unearthed in Egypt The thousands of ostraca discovered at Atreps reveal everyday life, religion, and astrology in ancient Egypt, including hundreds of horoscopes and astronomical observations.

Thousands of ostraca found at Atreps
#Archaeology #Bible #Egypt #History #Texts

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Origins: 3.14159265… Calculating pi has been a puzzle for millennia. One of the earliest implied values is given in the Bible for a basin in Solomon’s Temple.

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Sex and the Search for Religious Truth Explore the second to third-century CE Greek narrative Onos, its explicit treatment of sex, and its playful critique of the search for hidden meaning in the Greco-Roman world, contextualized alongside...

Insights from Onos and Paul
#archaeology #Bible #classics #religion #Christianity #Roman

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Experiencing Ancient Synagogues Explore how Jewish communities of late antiquity experienced their synagogues through sight and smell.

How everyday objects reveal the sights and smells of Jewish sanctuaries
#Archaeology #Bible #Judaism #Synagogue #History #Religion

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Archaeology and the First Christians Archaeology at Emesa (modern Homs in Syria) reveals the gradual transformation of the Temple of the Sun into a Christian site, shedding light on the early spread of Christianity described in the Acts ...

Archaeology at Emesa does not give a single dramatic moment of religious revolution but, instead, reveals the slow transformation of a powerful pagan city into a Christian and then Muslim one.
#Archaeology #Bible #Religion #Syria #Christianity #History

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More Than Meets the Trowel Discover how ordinary finds—pottery, soil, and even ancient yeast—from Israel’s leading excavations revealed extraordinary insights into the biblical world through modern archaeological science.

Visit several of Israel’s most prominent excavations to learn about seemingly routine discoveries that completely changed how archaeologists thought about a site’s history, function, or ancient inhabitants.
#Archaeology #Bible #Israel #Science #History

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The New Spring Issue is Here.

Features
What Did the Last Supper Really Look Like?

Sensing the Synagogue

The Diaspora Revolt: Cyprus’s Forgotten Jewish Uprising

Under Siege: How Rome Conquered Jerusalem

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Second Temple Period Workshop Discovered Near Jerusalem A rare first-century BCE to first-century CE workshop was discovered on Mt. Scopus near Jerusalem, revealing lathe-made stone cups and bowls possibly tied to ritual purity practices and pilgrimage rou...

A recently uncovered stone vessel production workshop east of Jerusalem is shedding light on craft production during the late Second Temple period.
#Archaeology #Bible #Israel #Judaism #Jesus #History

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Enslaved Scribes and the New Testament Exploring Candida Moss’s positions on the hidden labor of enslaved scribes in the New Testament, this post examines how slavery shaped authorship and notions of inspiration in the early Christian worl...

Candida Moss on slavery, authorship, and inspiration.
#Archaeology #Bible #Paul #Christianity #History #Slavery
@candidamoss.bsky.social

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David’s First Command Post? Khirbet al-Ra‘i was a border town that stood at the intersection of Canaanite, Philistine, and Israelite cultures. But was it also the biblical town of Ziklag, awarded to David in return for his servi...

The border town at Khirbet al-Ra‘I is a likely contender for the biblical Ziklag, a town given to David by the Philistine King Achish to serve as his headquarters.
#Archaeology #Bible #Israel #Philistines #David

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An Ode to Oxen How oxen shaped ancient Israel’s economy, ethics, and religion—revealed through archaeology and biblical texts.

Archaeologists working at Gordion, the Iron Age capital of Phrygia in central Anatolia, have shown just how much effort went into managing oxen in the ancient world.
#Archaeology #Bible #Agriculture #History #Cattle

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“Render Unto Caesar” and the First Jewish Revolt Two First Jewish Revolt coins from the site of Carchemish in southeastern Turkey reveal how Roman taxation and imperial imagery shaped Jewish identity and resistance in the early Roman Empire.

Coinage in the first century reflected the complex reality of Roman rule in Judea, where religion, politics, and economics were inseparable.
#Archaeology #Turkey #Bible #Christianity #Judaism #Coins #History

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Vanilla-Spiced Afterlife at Canaanite Megiddo Archaeologists excavating at the site of Megiddo in northern Israel have obtained scientific proof for the use of a vanilla-spiced oil dating back to the mid-second millennium BCE, marking the spice’s...

Tracing the ancient origins of vanilla
#archaeology #Israel #Egypt #spices #trade #history

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Sinai Before Sinai A 5,000-year-old Sinai inscription links violence and state power with divine sanction—a combination later biblical authors critique in their Sinai narratives.

A recently discovered rock inscription from Wadi Khamila in the southwestern Sinai Peninsula offers a vivid glimpse into a world that predates the Exodus tradition by a millennium or more.
#Archaeology #Bible #Egypt #Sinai #Exodus

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Vitruvius and the Built World of the New Testament Recent excavations in Fano, Italy, reveal a Roman basilica matching Vitruvius’s description, offering a rare window into the built civic world behind the New Testament.

Archaeologists believe they have identified the remains of a Roman basilica in Fanum Fortunae built by the late first-century architect Vitruvius.
#Archaeology #Bible #Roman #Italy #Vitruvius #Architecture

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Babylonian Texts Complicate Bible’s Image of Nebuchadnezzar New inscriptions from ancient Kish complicate the Bible’s image of Nebuchadnezzar II by revealing him as a pious temple restorer, highlighting how history is shaped by competing narratives.

Newly published texts from the site of Tell al-Uhaimir (ancient Kish) south of Baghdad invite readers to consider Nebuchadnezzar from a new perspective.
#Archaeology #Bible #Babylon #Nebuchanezzar #Religion

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Israel’s Long History of Ritual Light Recent research on Chalcolithic cornets reveals their role as ritual lamps, shedding light on ancient ceremonial practices that predate the Bible.

Produced roughly between 4700 and 3800 BCE, these small cone-shaped ceramic vessels have long intrigued scholars.
#Archaeology #Israel #Ritual #Ceramics #Religion

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Cities in the Bible Explore the range of meanings of the word for “city” in the Hebrew Bible and how translations informed by archaeology help improve our understanding of cities in the Bible.

With rare exceptions, Biblical Hebrew has only one word for a permanent settlement and it is used for anything from the smallest rural village to the most bustling metropolis.
#Archaeology #Bible #Hebrew #language #History

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Byzantine Monastery Unearthed in Egypt A Byzantine-period monastery uncovered in southern Egypt reveals how biblical desert symbolism shaped early Christian monastic life.

How early Christians answered the biblical call to the desert
#Archaeology #Egypt #Christianity #Byzantine #History

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More Discoveries at Saqqara Excavations have revealed more tombs and mastabas from the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BCE) and New Kingdom (c. 1570–1069 BCE) periods.

Continued excavations at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara in Egypt have revealed yet more of the site’s rich history.
#Egypt #Archaeology #Tombs #History

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The Home of Nero’s Wife at Pompeii Renewed excavations near Pompeii are revealing more of the incredible riches of a house believed to be the home of Emperor Nero’s second wife, Poppaea.

Renewed excavations near Pompeii are revealing more of the incredible riches of a house believed to be the home of Emperor Nero’s second wife, Poppaea.
#Archaeology #Italy #Roman #Nero #History

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Temple of the Sun Discovered at Abusir Archaeologists working at the site of Abusir have uncovered an extensive temple complex dedicated to the solar deity.

The newly discovered sun temple, which covers an area of more than 10,000 square feet, is architecturally unparalleled within the Memphis region.
#Archaeology #Egypt #Temple #History

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