Archaeology is quickly moving into a new era. While archaeologists aren’t ready to forgo their trowels just yet, the introduction of a new 21st-century toolkit has already transformed the field. Read more…
Scholar’s Study
-
Archaeological Technology
• 05/10/2013
-
More on the Mosaics
• 12/12/2012
In “Samson in the Synagogue” in the January/February 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Jodi Magness presents the recent mosaic discoveries from Huqoq, including a mysterious depiction of two female Read more…
-
Critical Biblical Scholarship—A Response
• 10/10/2012
In a recent Biblical Views column “Critical Biblical Scholarship—What’s the Use?”, Ronald Hendel claims, “There’s no good reason to be hostile toward good scholarship.” Read more…
-
BAR Authors Respond to Readers’ Letters
• 10/10/2012
Biblical Scholarship—Critical, Skeptical or Respectful?
Emeritus professor of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages Alan Millard critiques Ronald S. Hendel’s Biblical
Views column “Critical Biblical Scholarship—What’s the Use?” (July/August 2012). Read more… -
Who Really Invented the Alphabet—Illiterate Miners or Educated Sophisticates?
• 09/13/2012
Scholars Anson Rainey and Orly Goldwasser continue their debate as to who really invented the alphabet. Read more…
-
Three Takes on the Oldest Hebrew Inscription
• 08/08/2012
In the May/June 2012 BAR, epigrapher Christopher A. Rollston’s “What’s the Oldest Hebrew Inscription?” considered four contenders as candidates for the oldest Hebrew inscription: the Qeiyafa Ostracon, the Gezer Calendar, Read more…
-
The Great Minimalist Debate
• 06/19/2012
In our March/April 2011 issue we published an article entitled “The Birth & Death of Biblical Minimalism” by Israel archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel. Among those identified as minimalists was the prominent Read more…
-
The Garum Debate
• 01/25/2012
Scholars question whether “pure” garum (a popular Roman sauce that was made from various types of fish and marine life) was intended for Jews or for the followers of other Read more…
-
The Trouble with Cement
• 06/17/2011
After BAR editor Hershel Shanks criticized recent unsightly repairs to the Temple Mount walls in Jerusalem in his September/October 2010 First Person, archaeological architect Leen Ritmeyer wrote a letter in Read more…
-
Have the Tombs of the Kings of Judah Been Found?: A Response
• 04/21/2011
After 24 years, we can now present a clear answer to a question raised in the pages of BAR. In the July/August 1987 issue, BAR editor Hershel Shanks considered two Read more…
-
Is the Son of Man Pre-existent and Enthroned?
• 04/18/2011
The January/February 2011 issue of BAR featured a book review, written by James C. VanderKam, of King and Messiah as Son of God. We then received a letter from J. Read more…
-
Dating of Samaritan Temple on Mt. Gerizim
• 03/06/2011
In “Bells, Pendants, Snakes and Stones” (BAR, November/December 2010), archaeologist Yitzhak Magen revealed evidence of a Samaritan temple at Mt. Gerizim that he dated to the time of Nehemiah, the Read more…
-
Israel Antiquities Authority vs. Conspiracy of (Alleged) Forgers
• 03/01/2011
After five years, the “forgery trial of the century” has concluded in a Jerusalem courtroom. Now the only remaining defendants, antiquities collector Oded Golan and antiquities dealer Robert Deutsch, await Read more…
-
Rainey Defends Archaeologist Credentials
• 02/21/2011
In “Verbal Fisticuffs over Early Israelite Origins” (BAR July/August 2010), well-known American archaeologist William Dever was quoted as saying that prominent Israeli scholar Anson Rainey “is no archaeologist and has Read more…
-
Israelite Chariots in the Assyrian Period
• 01/31/2011
BAR published a letter from Professor Boyd Seevers concerning what Israelite chariots looked like in the Assyrian period in response to an article by David Ussishkin. Professor Ussishkin’s response to Read more…
-
Other Possible Phoenician Crematoria
• 12/16/2010
Hebrew University archaeologist Eilat Mazar has reported on excavations at the vast Phoenician cemeteries of Achziv and the presence of an ancient crematorium at the site. Vassos Karageorghis, leading scholar Read more…
-
Faith and Reason in Biblical Studies
• 10/18/2010
Professor Ron Hendel’s Biblical Views column from July/August 2010, “Farewell to SBL: Faith and Reason in Biblical Studies,” elicited a thunderous and widespread response, both in support and in opposition, Read more…
-
Raphael Golb Guilty of Impersonating Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar
• 10/01/2010
A New York jury returned a verdict of guilty on 30 of 31 counts against 50-year-old Raphael Golb, son of University of Chicago Dead Sea Scroll scholar Norman Golb. Thus Read more…
-
Did Morton Smith Forge “Secret Mark”?
• 10/14/2009
Over fifty years ago, Columbia University professor Morton Smith discovered a previously unknown letter from Clement of Alexandria, a second-century church father, which contained passages of a lost “secret” gospel Read more…
-
The Messiah Son of Joseph
• 09/24/2008
In the September/October 2008 issue of BAR, noted Biblical scholar Israel Knohl’s article “The Messiah Son of Joseph” generated a great deal of interest and responses. Among them was a Read more…
-
Real or Fake? A Special Report Brings You the Latest
• 06/27/2008
Real or fake? A special report brings you the latest. Read more…
-
Scholars Debate “Jezebel” Seal
• 05/01/2008
Even before it went to press, Marjo Korpel’s recent BAR article, “Fit for a Queen: Jezebel’s Royal Seal,” made a splash. Professor Korpel’s bold identification of a seal with the Read more…
-
Seal Controversy: From Temech to Shlomit
• 01/30/2008
Although a recently found seal apparently does not belong to the Biblical figure that excavator Eilat Mazar at first suggested, it now seems that it bears another name known from Read more…
-
“Jesus Tomb” Controversy Erupts—Again
• 01/23/2008
Claims that the family tomb of Jesus has been found in the East Talpiot section of Jerusalem have sparked bitter debate for a second time. Read more…
-
Is the Ivory Pomegranate a Forgery or Authentic?
• 08/01/2007
View detailed photographs, read scholarly analysis, and decide for yourself! Read more…
