In the Biblical world, Lebanese cedar (Cedrus libani) trees were highly sought after as an excellent source of timber for ancient woodworking. The wood’s high quality, pleasant scent and resistance Read more…
Biblical Artifacts
Biblical artifacts are manmade objects, often found during archaeological excavations, that make a contribution to our understanding of the Bible and/or the historicity of Biblical events.
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Lebanese Cedar—The Prized Tree of Ancient Woodworking
• 05/20/2013
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Herod’s Temple Mount Revealed in Al-Aqsa Mosque Restoration
• 05/17/2013
What happened to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount when the Romans destroyed Herod’s Temple in 70 C.E.? There is no report of any building left on the Temple Mount by the time Read more…
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The “Gabriel Stone” on Display
• 05/13/2013
James Tabor describes Israel Knohl’s changed interpretation of the critical line discussing the resurrection of the dead after three days of “Gabriel’s Revelation.” Read more…
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Gabriel’s Revelation
• 05/08/2013
Gabriel’s Revelation: Download a free ebook of definitive articles on “the greatest archaeological discovery in the Middle East since the Dead Sea Scrolls,” now on display at the Israel Museum Read more…
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The Shema‘ Yisrael
• 04/12/2013
The Shema‘ Yisrael from Deuteronomy 6:4 (“Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one”) is Judaism’s holiest confession. Today, we understand the passage as a monotheistic Read more…
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Money Talks through Ancient Coins
• 04/05/2013
Numismatics is a unique scholarly discipline that spans archaeology, ancient history and epigraphy. It seems the axiom “money talks” is true. A guest blog contribution by Dr. Mark Wilson. Read more…
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Freeing the Dead Sea Scrolls
• 04/04/2013
How the world has changed—in only 25 years. A recent public letter from Israel Antiquities Authority director Shuka Dorfman tells us he is “very proud” to announce the availability of Read more…
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What to Do with Unprovenanced Artifacts—Publish or Perish?
• 03/20/2013
Hershel Shanks’s First Person in the March/April 2013 issue of BAR Read more…
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What is it?
• 03/08/2013
Thank you all for participating in this weekend’s What is it? discussion. We’ve updated the page with the answer and details on the artifact below. D. Babylonian priestly record. Read more…
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Who Were the Essenes?
• 02/07/2013
In a recent study about the Essenes of Qumran, archaeologist Eyal Regev used the tools of social archaeology to answer the question, “Who were the Essenes?” Read more…
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What is it … made of?
• 02/04/2013
What is it … made of? Read more…
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Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar’s Son Off to Jail
• 01/30/2013
A New York appellate court has affirmed the criminal conviction of Raphael Golb, son of Dead Sea Scroll scholar Norman Golb, for impersonating another Dead Sea Scroll scholar, Lawrence Schiffman. Read more…
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Brandeis Students Highlight Science in the Scrolls
• 01/28/2013
The scrolls’ final stop is at the Museum of Science in Boston (beginning in May 2013), and the museum has worked closely with Brandeis University students and faculty to organize Read more…
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Evidence of Shiloh’s Destruction Gone Missing
• 01/17/2013
Early last week, archaeologists uncovered a broken pottery vessel and ashes suggesting large-scale destruction at Biblical Shiloh, the Israelite capital for over three centuries before the Temple was built in Read more…
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Early Jewish Writings Reveal History of Jerusalem
• 01/16/2013
The famous Theodotus inscription, which commemorates the building of a first-century B.C.E. synagogue, is one of hundreds of early Jewish writings now being published that document the ancient history of Read more…
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Manuscripts Reveal Ancient Community of Afghan Jews
• 01/07/2013
A recently discovered cache of medieval Jewish manuscripts from Afghanistan* went on display last week in Israel’s National Library. The 11th-century C.E. collection, dubbed the “Afghan Genizah,” includes Biblical commentaries, Read more…
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3-D Printing the Ancient World
• 01/02/2013
Researchers at Harvard University’s Semitic Museum are using new photomodeling technology to construct undamaged re-creations of Mesopotamian artifacts damaged over the millennia. Read more…
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The Huqoq Synagogue Mosaics
• 01/02/2013
Archaeologist and art historian Karen Britt of the University of Louisville provides a detailed artistic analysis of a Huqoq mosaic featuring an inscription and two female faces. Read more…
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Mosaic Inscription from a Synagogue at Horvat Huqoq
• 01/02/2013
The Israel Antiquities Authority’s David Amit analyzes and translates a Hebrew or Aramaic mosaic inscription from the Huqoq synagogue. Read more…
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A Samson Mosaic from Huqoq
• 12/28/2012
Jodi Magness’s excavations at Huqoq have exposed an elaborate Samson mosaic as well as new insights into the development of ancient synagogues. Read more…
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Digital Dead Sea Scrolls Finally Available Online
• 12/18/2012
This week, the Israel Antiquities Authority, in collaboration with Google, launched The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, a new website that allows visitors to view and search high-resolution Read more…
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Worldwide
• 12/14/2012
The snowy white body of a sphinx regally supports the ebony-colored cup of this ceramic rhyton, or drinking horn, found in a tomb in Capua, Campania, Italy. The sphinx, a Read more…
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Archaeology and Text
• 11/07/2012
There has been a great deal of discussion in recent issues of Biblical Archaeology Review about the relationship between archaeology, artifacts, ancient texts and the Bible. In the July/August 2011 Read more…
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Ancient Scribe Links Qumran Scrolls to Masada
• 11/02/2012
There has been a great deal written about the community of scribes that penned the Qumran scrolls. These studies rarely focus on an individual ancient scribe; they generally focus on Read more…
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Authentic or Forged? What to Do When Experts Disagree
• 10/26/2012
I recently had lunch with Victor (Avigdor) Hurowitz, a distinguished professor of ancient Semitic languages at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is firmly convinced that the Jehoash (Yehoash) Inscription, Read more…
