Mar 18
By: Nathan Steinmeyer
Excavations at the important site of Catal Hoyuk in south-central Turkey have uncovered what archaeologists have termed “the world’s oldest bread.” According to a press […]
Mar 17
By: James Tabor
The braided hair of a Jewish woman was found at Masada but until recently no example of preserved hair from a Jewish male had ever been found from the late 2nd Temple period. This discovery is one of the many fascinating, but less publicized finds of the 1st century “Tomb of the Shroud,” discovered in the summer of 2000 just outside the Old City of Jerusalem. The secrets this tomb continues to yield are many, including recent correlations with the DNA test results from the Talpiot Jesus tomb.
Mar 15
By: Nathan Steinmeyer
Tyrian purple, tekhelet, royal purple: All names for an incredibly expensive, ancient dye. While this dye is often associated with the Phoenician city-state of […]
Mar 13
By: BAS Staff
Nestled in the heart of the Shephelah with a commanding view over the Elah Valley, the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1200 BCE) Canaanite city of […]
Mar 12
By: BAS Staff
A newly published inscription from Tel Lachish in southern Israel is the earliest alphabetic writing discovered in the southern Levant. The fragmentary inscription features a mere handful of letters inscribed on a tiny pottery sherd, measuring just 4 by 3.5 cm. The sherd is dated by radiocarbon to the 15th century B.C.E., or the first part of the Late Bronze Age.
Mar 11
By: Nathan Steinmeyer
The Pompeii Archaeological Park is launching a 100-million-euro project aimed at regenerating the archaeological and urban landscape of the ancient Roman city. As well as […]
Mar 8
By: Nathan Steinmeyer
During archaeological survey work in a Judean Desert cave, members of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), in cooperation with the Ministry of Heritage and the […]
Mar 5
By: Kim Jonas
Why did the ancients invent increasingly subtle and ingenious methods to arrive at an exact value of pi? Human curiosity.
Mar 4
By: Nathan Steinmeyer
While the modern field of archaeology is no more than a few centuries old, ancient texts show that the world’s first archaeologist lived around two […]
Mar 1
By: Nathan Steinmeyer
Although the Philistines are well known from ancient texts, including the Hebrew Bible, and their cities have been extensively excavated, many questions remain about their […]