One of the most significant changes in the religious life of ancient Israel occurred during the reign of the Judahite king Hezekiah, in the late eighth century B.C.E. According to Read more…
Ancient Cultures
What does archaeology tell us about the world of the Bible? Explore what life was like in the ancient world, from broad cultural trends to daily habits.
-
Hezekiah’s Religious Reform—In the Bible and Archaeology
• 08/16/2017
-
August 2017: An Eclipse of Biblical Proportions
• 08/11/2017
See an eclipse of Biblical proportions. A total solar eclipse will be visible across the United States on August 21, 2017. Read more…
-
What Happened to the Canaanites?
• 08/09/2017
For the first time, researchers have conducted DNA sequencing on ancient Canaanite skeletons and have determined where the Canaanites’ descendants can be found today. Read more…
-
5,000-Year-Old Egyptian Billboard Discovered
• 07/20/2017
Egyptologists recently discovered the oldest known monumental hieroglyphs. Read more…
-
What Is Coptic and Who Were the Copts in Ancient Egypt?
• 07/18/2017
When did the ancient Egyptians stop writing in hieroglyphs, and what came next? From the fourth to ninth centuries C.E., Egypt was predominantly Christian. During this time, the language used Read more…
-
The Enduring Symbolism of Doves
• 07/01/2017
Few symbols have a tradition as long and as rich as the dove. Read about what it represents and how its use has been shared, adapted and reinterpreted across cultures Read more…
-
Ancient Military Correspondence: Send Wine
• 06/20/2017
Send wine: A newly deciphered letter from Israel’s Negev desert describes an exchange of supplies between two Judahite military officers. Read more…
-
Biblical Sidon—Jezebel’s Hometown
• 06/19/2017
The city of Sidon on the coast of modern Lebanon is mentioned 38 times in the Hebrew Bible. Recent excavations have exposed part of the ancient Canaanite—and later Phoenician—city, including Read more…
-
Why Study Prehistoric Israel?
• 06/12/2017
Studying prehistoric Israel can give us a better perspective on Israel in the Biblical period, says archaeologist Daniel Nadel. Read more…
-
Jewish Worship, Pagan Symbols
• 06/09/2017
Ein Harod is a spring that rises in the valley of Jezreel at the foot of Mt. Gilboa. Gideon gathered his men there to sort out the good soldiers from Read more…
-
No Matches? No Problem. Ancient Fire-Making in Israel
• 06/08/2017
Archaeologists excavated a 9,000-year-old limestone slab in Ramat Bet Shemesh that might have been used in Neolithic fire-making. Read more…
-
Akhenaten and Moses
• 05/29/2017
Pharaoh Akhenaten, who abolished the Egyptian pantheon and instituted worship of a single deity, the sun-disk Aten, in the mid-14th century B.C., may have established the world’s first monotheism. Did Read more…
-
The Water System That Hydrated Tel Gezer
• 05/26/2017
The largest and oldest water system in the ancient Near East can be found at the site of Tel Gezer, according to archaeologists. Read more…
-
Making Sense of Kosher Laws
• 05/24/2017
The origins of Jewish dietary or kosher laws (kashrut) have long been the subject of scholarly research and debate. Read more…
-
Fruit in the Bible
• 05/23/2017
Seeds and fruit remains are exciting discoveries for archaeologists, and they provide radiocarbon data to help date buried strata. Fruit also plays an important role in the Biblical narrative. Read more…
-
A Feast for the Senses … and the Soul
• 05/23/2017
Go on a journey of the senses through history and discover the significance of ritual feasts and meals in antiquity. Read more…
-
Roman Emperor Nerva’s Reform of the Jewish Tax
• 05/22/2017
Roman Emperor Nerva’s reform of the Jewish Tax had a significant effect on Jews and Christians of the first century C.E. Read more…
-
Where Did the Philistines Come From?
• 05/20/2017
Excavators at Tell es-Safi/Gath, the site of Gath of the Philistines mentioned in the Bible, found an exceptionally well preserved horned altar reminiscent of the Israelite horned altars described in Read more…
-
The Expulsion of the Hyksos
• 05/18/2017
In the 16th century B.C.E., Ahmose I overthrew the Hyksos and initiated the 18th Dynasty and the New Kingdom of Egypt. Recent archaeological discoveries at Tel Habuwa shed new light Read more…
-
Site-Seeing: Petra’s Temple of the Winged Lions
• 05/16/2017
A new program led by the American Center of Oriental Research is, for the first time, allowing visitors to go beyond Petra’s monuments to actually discover and experience its past Read more…
-
The Göbekli Tepe Ruins and the Origins of Neolithic Religion
• 05/01/2017
The massive stone enclosures of the Göbekli Tepe ruins may be the earliest examples of Neolithic religion. Read more…
-
Sacred Prostitution in the Story of Judah and Tamar?
• 04/24/2017
According to popular belief, cult prostitution was common throughout the ancient world, particularly associated with the fertility rites of the Canaanites and Phoenicians. While some scholars suggest that temple prostitution Read more…
-
High Places, Altars and the Bamah
• 04/23/2017
The open-air altar shrine, called a bamah (plural bamot), is known through several books of the Biblical canon. Often referred to as “high places” in translations of the Bible, bamot Read more…
-
Daily Life in Ancient Israel
• 04/19/2017
What was life like for the tribes of Israel in the time of the Biblical Judges, the period archaeologists call Iron Age I (1200–1000 B.C.E.)? Read more…
-
How Ancient Jews Dated Years
• 04/16/2017
During the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (66–70 C.E.), which ended with the destruction of the Temple, Jews minted their own coins dated to the first, second, third, fourth and, Read more…
