Fantastic detective work from @michaeldpress.bsky.social - tracking down the forged letter used to fake an old provenance for recently looted cuneiform tablets! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

How fitting that Commentary chose to illustrate this nasty, fraudulent piece of work with a notorious fake, the Jehoash Inscription. What a way to show you care about Jewish history.

Michael Press@michaeldpress.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Of all the hysterical warnings over the last few years that "they're destroying our history", this -- from the senior editor of Commentary -- might be both the nastiest and the most dishonest 🧵

Of all the hysterical warnings over the last few years that "they're destroying our history", this -- from the senior editor of Commentary -- might be both the nastiest and the most dishonest 🧵

Nearly two years into Israel's annihilation of Gaza and Museum of the Bible's partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) is still going strong.

In Revue Biblique, I have an article on the provenance of the "Nazareth Inscription", an Early Roman-period text that has been often linked over the last century with the earliest Christians. What can we actually say about it? 🧵

In Revue Biblique, I have an article on the provenance of the "Nazareth Inscription", an Early Roman-period text that has been often linked over the last century with the earliest Christians. What can we actually say about it? 🧵

Euphemisms galore: Even the left-leaning Haaretz sees occupied East Jerusalem as merely "contested" & an illegal Israeli dig there as merely "controversial". Also, Elad does more than "promote Jewish settlement in Silwan", it's worked for decades to evict Palestinians.

Long-form update on the Israeli bill to put archaeology in the occupied West Bank under civilian authority -- part of the Israeli government's larger plan to annex the territory. www.timesofisrael.com/archaeologis...

Archaeologists dig in against antiquities bill aiming to deepen Israel’s hold on West Bank

A push to shift oversight of excavations in the territory to a civilian authority sparks worries of creeping annexation, with researchers fearing they'll bear brunt of any backlash

timesofisrael.com

Genocide-denying Holocaust historian, in interview published yesterday: claim that 72% of deaths in Gaza are women & children is vastly inflated. Israeli military database, leaked today: at least *83* % of deaths in Gaza are civilians.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has spent years promoting gimmicky, misleading tie-ins, timing announcements of finds for various holidays. But in June they apparently reached a new low: linking a discovery to Israel's unprovoked attack on Iran.

In a sense the powerful have always been above the law, but 1 thing that has changed is the illusion: the gap between rhetoric & reality, between symbolism & action, is now so obvious and extreme that the illusion has been openly shattered. (From June) www.theguardian.com/law/2025/jun...

Are we witnessing the death of international law?

The long read: A growing number of scholars and lawyers are losing faith in the current system. Others say the law is not to blame, but the states that are supposed to uphold it

theguardian.com

AI news analysis system promoting the work of AI in scholarship 🤔

Michael Press@michaeldpress.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Did AI write this? Why yes it did.

Betteridge's Law of Headlines -- "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no" -- remains undefeated

Did AI write this? Why yes it did.

Archaeology and cultural heritage continuing to play their role in the Israeli movement to annex the West Bank.

Haven't seen it commented on, but it looks like this photo was taken in the infamous "Pilgrims' Road" or "Pilgrimage Way" tunnel under Silwan (East Jerusalem) -- an Israeli excavation violating international law, archaeological standards of the last 100+ years, and basic ethics.

Andrew Solender@andrewsolender.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Source sends along this photo from House Democrats’ AIPAC-led trip to Israel. Reps in the photo include: Pete Aguilar, Brad Schneider, Johnny Olszewski, Nellie Pou, Gil Cisneros, Laura Gillen, Tim Kennedy, Luz Rivas and Wesley Bell

Not sure what Live Science is doing here but it's worth a brief look 🧵 www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

Ottoman-era burial found in Israel may violate Islamic tradition

The unusual grave of a Bedouin woman who may have been buried with her son was found in southern Israel.

livescience.com

Forget that old shit, how do they explain this?

The tragedy of the murder aside, I can't believe this is a real headline at something trying to be a reputable news outlet.

Hey @palexfund.bsky.social turns out the Joint Expedition to Samaria may or may not have happened.

The Case for Retraction of Academic Authentications of Forged Fragments www.ancientjewreview.com/read/2025/5/...

The Case for Retraction of Academic Authentications of Forged Fragments — ANCIENT JEW REVIEW

This position paper issues a call for editors and publishers with oversight over peer-reviewed publications of inauthentic post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll-like fragments to embark on the processes that woul...

ancientjewreview.com

A young Stanley Kubrick sits in on drums with George Lewis's Ragtime Band, New Orleans, 1950

Mamilla Pool and the surrounding cemetery photographed by Auguste Salzmann, 1854 (Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection, LACMA) collections.lacma.org/node/216893

Michael Press@michaeldpress.bsky.social · last yr.

Building a "Museum of Tolerance" on top of Muslim graves wasn't enough. Netanyahu has announced that Israel is going for more of Mamilla Cemetery -- by announcing plans to restore Mamilla Pool. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

Building a "Museum of Tolerance" on top of Muslim graves wasn't enough. Netanyahu has announced that Israel is going for more of Mamilla Cemetery -- by announcing plans to restore Mamilla Pool. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

PM’s Jerusalem Day declaration triggers archaeological dispute over Mamilla pool site | The National

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu wants ancient reservoir site surrounded by Muslim burials to be developed into tourism site

thenationalnews.com

Wondering if Haaretz is getting tired of claiming there is some race here for more Dead Sea Scrolls. (The race ended 60 or 70 years ago. The Bedouin mostly won.)

"Biblical archaeology" is enough of a mess on its own without the tabloids making them look even worse

This sounds like the premise of a sitcom: 1930. Three once-prominent musicians (Jelly Roll Morton, Perry Bradford, Wilbur Sweatman) are living together & arguing about which one of them invented jazz . . . in the boarding house of Scott Joplin's widow.

Reposting because frankly you just don’t get that much numismatics news these days

The Associated Press@apnews.com · last yr.

BREAKING: The U.S. Mint has made its final order of penny blanks and will stop producing the coin when those run out.

Harlem stride pianist James P. Johnson and Langston Hughes collaborated on "De Organizer" (1940), a one-act blues opera about Southern sharecroppers forming a union. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J3e...

De Organizer (Reconstr. by J. Dapogny)

YouTube video by Release - Topic

youtube.com