Biblical Archaeology Review
@biblicalarchaeology.org
The magazine making the archaeology of the Bible accessible: discoveries, analysis, and more. Explore our extensive website (www.biblicalarchaeology.org), sign up for Bible History Daily emails, subscribe to BAR, or become an All-Access member!.
A recent discovery in Jerusalem sheds new light on one of the most enigmatic artifact types from Iron Age Judah: the Judean Pillar Figurine. A rare figurine mold was found that offers the first direct evidence of local production in Jerusalem. www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblic...
Sea Peoples of The Odyssey. An archaeological look at the references in the epic poem--and the current movie created by Christopher Nolan. As examined by Zachary Thomas, lecturer at Australian Catholic University. Link in response.
"trees are chroniclers, and they speak in the language of rings" www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
Measuring Time Through Trees
Most people know that you can count a tree’s rings to determine its age. Many also know that the rings indicate the climate in any one of the years of the tre
biblicalarchaeology.org
Known for its spectacular synagogue with richly decorated mosaic floors, the ancient Galilean village of Huqoq has emerged as one the region’s most remarkable archaeological sites. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/post-biblical-period/the-secrets-of-huqoq/
The Secrets of Huqoq
The ancient Galilean village of Huqoq has emerged as one of the region’s most remarkable archaeological sites, offering an extraordinary window into Jewish li
biblicalarchaeology.org
Was Homer's great epic meant to preserve memories of the Late Bronze Age collapse and mourn all the civilizations that had been lost? https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/odyssey-bronze-age-collapse-and-world-before-israel/
The Odyssey, the Bronze Age Collapse, and the World Before Israel
For many readers, Homer’s Odyssey is remembered as a story about journeying home. The cyclopes, Sirens, and sea monsters who prolong Odysseus’s voyage have
biblicalarchaeology.org
Christianity in Pagan Homes The categories we use—Christian versus pagan, sacred versus ordinary—obscure the realities of lived religion. The homes of Paul’s converts were already full of tradition. Religion entangled with acts of everyday life... www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblic...
Christianity in Pagan Homes
It is well known that early Christian communities gathered in private homes. Dedicated church buildings did not appear until much later, with adapted house chur
biblicalarchaeology.org
Check out our recent interview with Colossae excavation director Barış Yener. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archaeology-today/colossae-a-biblical-city-of-classical-world/
Colossae: A Biblical City of the Classical World
Excavations at the ancient Phrygian city of Colossae in Turkey are uncovering new insights into the history of early Christian communities.
biblicalarchaeology.org
A newly discovered "standing stone" appears to have been deliberately taken down and concealed within a private residence, perhaps in response to the religious reforms of King Hezekiah. www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
“Canceled” Standing Stone Discovered in Judah
Archaeologists discovered a buried standing stone at Tel ‘Eton that may preserve evidence of household worship and Hezekiah’s religious reforms in eighth-century Judah.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Our latest book review explores rise of the rabbinic movement. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/reviews/how-rabbis-became-experts/
A press release from Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced multiple discoveries from Tell el-Ku‘a, an archaeological site in northeastern Egypt in the Wadi Tumilat, an area long associated with the biblical land of Gohsen.
Imagining Joseph in Egypt
Archaeologists at Tell el-Ku‘a uncovered Hyksos-era homes, graves, and trade evidence, enriching our understanding of the Egyptian world behind the Joseph story.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Was the Virgin Mary a second wife? Church tradition and historical analysis are often at odds with one another. What do we know? https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-interpretation/question-of-marys-perpetual-virginity/
The Question of Mary’s Perpetual Virginity
New Testament scholar Helen Bond asks whether Mary was Joseph’s second wife—a demographic and textual argument that reframes centuries of debate over Mary’s perpetual virginity as a question about family, not purity.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Ahab and Jezebel are famous for making Baal-worship central to their government’s religious policies. The archaeology of Iron Age Israel seems to paint a different picture. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/did-king-ahab-worship-yahweh/
Did King Ahab Worship Yahweh?
Archaeological discoveries and biblical scholarship challenge the idea of a single Israelite temple, suggesting that even Samaria under King Ahab may have featured a temple to Yahweh.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Archaeologists have uncovered a prehistoric cave in Fureidis, Israel, dating between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago. The archaeologists describe the cave as a “time capsule” because it remained largely undisturbed for hundreds of thousands of years.
“Time Capsule” Cave Discovered in Israel
Archaeologists uncovered an undisturbed prehistoric cave in Israel that preserves rare evidence of hunter-gatherer life in the Paleolithic period.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Add some ancient zing to your summer feasts with our latest BAR Test Kitchen. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/daily-life-and-practice/bar-test-kitchen/roman-dill-sauce/
Roman Dill Sauce
In this BAR Test Kitchen, recreate the first-century CE Roman gourmand Apicius’ recipe for “Cold Dill Sauce for Sausages.”
biblicalarchaeology.org
At ancient Ugarit "Hair of the Dog" might have been more than an expression when referring to a hangover cure after a night of drinking. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/nursing-hangover-in-biblical-world/
Nursing a Hangover in the Biblical World
A damaged Late Bronze Age tablet from Ugarit preserves a hangover cure for a god. Its key ingredient, dog hair, connects to a healing tradition that spans Mesopotamia, the Levant, and the biblical world.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Using the Tabernacle as an ideal reference, the authors of these Dead Sea Scrolls present the Temple and its courts as a source of holiness, to be approached with a sense of awe and reverence and in the appropriate state of ritual purity.
Teasing the Temple in the Dead Sea Scrolls
The form of the idealized Jerusalem Temple captivated early Jewish authors. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, we encounter two unique models for how the future Temple should be built.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Tel Rekhesh features a small synagogue in the Galilean countryside that provides evidence of rural religious life during the years Jesus is said to be moving through the Galilee.
Synagogues Jesus and Mary Magdalene Knew
The first-century synagogue at Tel Rekhesh offers a glimpse into rural Galilean worship spaces like those where Jesus is said to have preached.
biblicalarchaeology.org
The Euphrates River was one of the great arteries of the ancient Near East. Flowing from modern-day Turkey through Syria and Iraq before joining the Tigris and emptying into the Persian Gulf, it supported some of the world’s earliest cities and empires. www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
Did the Euphrates Originally Empty into the Mediterranean?
A new study proposes that the Euphrates River formed only within the last few million years, when two ancient rivers once flowing into the Mediterranean merged and reversed course.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Between the 4th and 6th centuries, the Roman province of Syria saw an unprecedented boom in Christian worship. Early Christian communities thrived especially on the Aleppo Plateau, where agriculture and trade generated considerable wealth and prosperity www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archae...
The Dead Cities of Christian Syria
Ancient Syria became the first predominantly Christian province in the Middle East. Christian Syria developed a distinctive religious, literary, and architectural culture. Now in ruins, stone-built to...
biblicalarchaeology.org
A recent article by archaeologist Erez Ben-Yosef has reignited debates about nomadic societies, the kingdom of Edom, and, by implication, how the Bible has been used to interpret the archaeological record. www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblic...
Was Edom Originally Nomadic?
A look at new archaeological arguments suggesting the kingdom of Edom may have begun as a nomadic, copper-driven political system.
biblicalarchaeology.org
A rare shell seal has been discovered at Tel Hadid in central Israel with religious imagery involving a moon standard, a worshiper, and a possible altar. www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
Rare Shell Seal Shows Moon Imagery in Israel
A rare mother-of-pearl seal from Tel Hadid reveals Assyrian-period imagery of the moon god Sin, highlighting imperial influence, long-distance trade, and cultural interaction in the southern Levant du...
biblicalarchaeology.org
What happens when ideals of communal equality encounter concentrated wealth? www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
Were Early Christians Class Conscious?
Were early Christians class conscious? How does archaeology reveal the role of wealth, patronage, and social hierarchy in late antique churches?
biblicalarchaeology.org
A new study from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B site of Moza, just west of Jerusalem, argues that the site’s prehistoric residents mastered a sophisticated plaster technology nearly 9,000 years ago. www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
Moza Rewrites History, Again
A Neolithic plaster technology discovered at Moza—a site already famous for upending assumptions about Israelite worship—suggests ancient builders mastered a sophisticated technique that was lost to h...
biblicalarchaeology.org
At the Late Bronze Age harbor city of Hala Sultan Tekke in Cyprus, excavations have uncovered a dense assemblage of pigeon bones that sheds light on the early relationship between pigeons and humans. www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
From Noah’s Dove to the Holy Spirit
Pigeons in Bronze Age Cyprus may have been far more than urban scavengers. Excavations reveal dozens of pigeon bones with evidence suggesting the birds lived closely alongside humans, bred within the ...
biblicalarchaeology.org
The new Summer Issue has arrived! Features: The Dead Cities of Christian Syria Sacred Center: The Iron Age Temple at Biblical Ataroth Sublime Sanctuary: The Jerusalem Temple in the Dead Sea Scrolls Mediterranean Mercenaries of the Bronze Age www.biblicalarchaeology.org/magazine-iss...
Archaeologists excavating near Ramat Rachel in #Jerusalem have uncovered an ancient rock-cut tunnel that has so far resisted explanation. www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
Rethinking the famous Siloam Tunnel inscription as a memorial message from the workers who had died while carving out the tunnel. #Archaeology #Bible #Israel #Siloam #History www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
Was the Siloam Inscription a Message for the Dead?
A scholar’s close reading of the Siloam Inscription inside the Siloam Tunnel raises a provocative question about whether it was carved to console workers who died during its construction.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Using multispectral imaging to detect traces of invisible ink on a 13th century codex, a team of researchers have reconstructed 42 lost pages of a 6th century manuscript of Paul’s writings. #Archaeology #Bible #Christianity #Religion #Paul www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
Paul’s Lost Words Recovered
Using multispectral imaging, paleography, and radiocarbon dating, researchers reconstructed 42 lost pages of Codex H, a sixth-century Pauline manuscript.
biblicalarchaeology.org
On a family trip to the Ramon Crater in southern Israel, an eight-year-old was “looking for special things on the ground that I could show in class.” #Archaeology #Israel #Negev #Statue #Discovery #History www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
Child Finds Roman-Era Figurine in the Negev
A child searching for “special things” near the Ramon Crater in southern Israel discovered a carved figurine fragment from the Roman-era Negev.
biblicalarchaeology.org
Lachish yields small inscription with big implications. #Archaeology #Bible #Language #Israel #History #Writing www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...
News in the History of the Alphabet
A fragmentary 12th-century BCE Lachish inscription preserves an early šlṭ name, shows early Proto-Canaanite script standardization, and reshapes the history of the alphabet.
biblicalarchaeology.org