The Dead Sea: A History of Change

There is an informative animated relief map, which deals with the levels of the Dead Sea from 3500 BC to the present.  The research sheds light on the condition of the Dead Sea, which is a known terminal lake - it has no outlet - and fluctuations in this body of water are a good general climatic indicator for the entire region. The [...]

Archaeology and the Bible: Four Approaches To The Relationship Between Texts and Artifacts

The Reformed Reader  has recently had an interesting post, Archaeology and the Bible: Four approaches to the relationship between “texts” and “artifacts”  here. It is essentially, a basic assessment  of  the main approaches (methods?) that are employed when interacting in and between archaeology and the Biblical texts. These he has made after a reading of Dever’s, Who Were the Early Israelites [...]

US Military Blamed For Archaeological Destruction In Iraq

Maytham Hamzah, who is head of the Babylon museum, commenting on a UNESCO report which details the devastating impact that the US military had on the remains of King Nebuchadnezzar’s guest palace in Babylon (amongst other sites) says:
“They destroyed the whole country… So what are a few old bricks and mud walls in comparison?”

It is one [...]

Jewish Sacrificial Altar Built

The Temple Institute yesterday began building a sacrificial altar at  Mitzpe Yericho (east of Jerusalem) on Tisha B’av (the 9th day of the Jewish month  Av), a  day of  fasting  on which  the Jewish people  mourn the destruction of the original Temple built by King Solomon (by the Babylonians), and the later destruction of the Second Temple which was rebuilt [...]

Jerusalem: A Rare Second Temple Inscription Found

The Jerusalem Post  reports on the discovery of  a rare find, an Aramaic inscription (ten lines long) on the side of a stone cup dating to the first century AD. It was found amongst other discoveries during a excavation of Mount Zion.

A unique Aramaic inscription on a stone cup commonly used for ritual purity during the first [...]

The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem: Why Continued Israeli Control Is Vital

Last month we reported on a Jerusalem Post  article in which The Religious Services Ministry desired to get surveillance cameras installed in the Mount of Olives cemetery to curb frequent acts of vandalism (see  here). They attributed theses ongoing acts of vandalism to,
… Arab teenagers living near the east Jerusalem site.

Well, the issues surrounding the Mount of Olives, have become [...]

Dead Sea Scrolls Almost Identical to Pentateuch, Haftorahs…

By now, most people know about the Dead Sea Scrolls that are in Canada. If you’ve been living under a rock and have missed this, do take time to watch a video that will surely bring you up to speed  here. The ancient manuscripts will be staying in and put on display at the Royal Ontario Museum [...]

Qatari Archaeology, History and Heritage

The Peninsula, Qatar’s leading English daily has  a posting on the archaeology of  Qatar. Part of the Arab Emirate in the Middle East, Qatar  lies on the small Qatar Peninsula which is on the north east coast of the Araba Peninsula. The country has a rich archaeological history with archaeological evidence dating back to as far as the 6th [...]

Hagia Sophia: Three More Angels Appear

We covered  the breaking news  of the  mosaic,  an  Angel’s face uncovered at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia here. Well, according to Daily News & Economic Review, three more angels have appeared:

Following the recent uncovering of an angel mosaic in Hagia Sophia, Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay said plans were in place to uncover three more…

“For the [...]

Archaeology and Cleopatra: ‘Looking for the Queen’ at Taposiris Magna

The Global Arab Network  recently had an article entitled Alexandria – Looking for the queen. It has to do with an ongoing archaeological mission which is taking place outside Alexandria in which it is hoped that the the final resting place of Cleopatra and Mark Antony will be uncovered.
Edward Lewis reports:

… finding the tombs of history’s [...]

The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus

I grew up living in a street called Seven Sleepers. I always wondered about the name (and that was in a day not long after ENIAC and the WWW was still but a dream). I eventually (somewhere in a 20 volume encyclopedia) learnt that these seven young Christians suffered and were martyred for their faith during the persecutions of [...]