Has archaeology uncovered portraits of two Israelite kings? One contender is on the famous Black Obelisk from Nimurd/Calah, but scholars differ about the identification. Another more recent candidate for an 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.
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Israelite Kings Depicted in Ancient Art?
• 05/24/2018
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Joseph and Esarhaddon of Assyria
• 05/20/2018
Even though he was not the oldest of his brothers, Esarhaddon was named heir apparent of his father Sennacherib, ruler of the Assyrian empire. But because of his jealous brothers, Read more…
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Akhenaten and Moses
• 05/14/2018
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…
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Thonis—A Major Egyptian Port Swallowed by the Sea
• 05/13/2018
At the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea off the Egyptian coast lies the spectacular port city of Thonis. Read more…
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Third Scan Searches for Queen Nefertiti’s Tomb
• 05/11/2018
A research team conducted the third investigation into whether Queen Nefertiti’s tomb is located on the other side of King Tut’s burial chamber. Read more…
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Who Were the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites in the Bible?
• 05/10/2018
During the Iron Age, when Israel and Judah ruled Canaan, the kingdoms of Ammon, Moab and Edom ruled east of the Jordan River. They and their gods are featured in Read more…
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Epilepsy, Tutankhamun and Monotheism
• 05/06/2018
Tutankhamun died at a young age with a feminine physique. His closest relatives all shared similar features and fates. Imperial College London surgeon Hutan Ashrafian suggests that the royal family Read more…
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What Is Coptic and Who Were the Copts in Ancient Egypt?
• 04/19/2018
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…
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How Ancient Taxes Were Collected Under King Manasseh
• 04/17/2018
Discovered during the Temple Mount Sifting Project, this seventh-century B.C.E. clay bulla inscribed in paleo-Hebrew script with the phrase “Gibeon, for the king” provides evidence for how ancient taxes were Read more…
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The Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela
• 04/14/2018
With 11 rock-hewn churches, Lalibela, Ethiopia, is understandably a place of pilgrimage for those in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Explore Lalibela’s spectacular subterranean churches in this web-exclusive slideshow. Read more…
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Book of Leviticus Verses Recovered from Burnt Hebrew Bible Scroll
• 04/09/2018
A burnt ancient scroll found 45 years ago has finally been deciphered thanks to advanced digital technology. The scroll was revealed to contain verses from the Book of Leviticus. Read more…
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Early Bronze Age: Megiddo’s Great Temple and the Birth of Urban Culture in the Levant
• 04/08/2018
Megiddo’s Great Temple is a structure that, according to its excavators, “has proven to be the most monumental single edifice so far uncovered in the EB I Levant and ranks Read more…
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Jewish Captives in the Imperial City
• 04/05/2018
Ancient Rome was the superpower of its day. Yet, when the Romans conquered the tiny province of Judea and quashed the First Jewish Revolt in 70 C.E., it was actually Read more…
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How Ancient Jews Dated Years
• 04/04/2018
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…
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Bronze Age Collapse: Pollen Study Highlights Late Bronze Age Drought
• 04/03/2018
What caused the Bronze Age collapse? A recent study of pollen grains in sediment cores beneath the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea provides a new view of the Read more…
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Did the Carthaginians Really Practice Infant Sacrifice?
• 04/02/2018
One of the most debated questions in the study of the ancient world is whether or not the Carthaginians practiced human sacrifice—more specifically, the sacrifice of infants. Recent studies have Read more…
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At Carthage, Child Sacrifice?
• 04/01/2018
Was child sacrifice really practiced at ancient Carthage? In BAR, Patricia Smith discusses the research she and her team conducted on the cremated remains from the Carthage Tophet. Read more…
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Medicine in the Ancient World
• 03/27/2018
What exactly did ancient cultures do to combat disease and injury, and did these methods have any real basis in science as we know it today? The answers may surprise Read more…
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St. Nicholas Ring Unearthed in Jezreel Valley Garden
• 03/21/2018
A landscaper working in the Jezreel Valley discovered a 700-year-old ring bearing the image of St. Nicholas. Read more…
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Classical Corner: A Comet Gives Birth to an Empire
• 03/15/2018
In the Greco-Roman world, there is ample evidence that celestial objects, their movements and occasional surprise appearances not only inspired awe and wonder, but in some cases directly influenced mythology, Read more…
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Origins: 3.14159265…
• 03/14/2018
Why did the ancients invent increasingly subtle and ingenious methods to arrive at an exact value of pi? Human curiosity. Read more…
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Exodus in the Bible and the Egyptian Plagues
• 03/11/2018
The Book of Exodus describes ten Egyptian plagues that bring suffering to the land of pharaoh. Are these Biblical plagues plausible on any level? Read more…
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Special Report: Current Status of the Tell Ain Dara Temple
• 03/09/2018
Between January 20–22, 2018, the early Iron Age temple at Tell Ain Dara in Syria—considered to be a close parallel to the Temple of Solomon—suffered large-scale damage. Read a special Read more…
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The Destruction of Pompeii—God’s Revenge?
• 03/04/2018
The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius destroyed the opulent vacation destinations of Roman elites in August 79 C.E.—almost exactly nine years after Roman troops destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. Did this Read more…
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To Jerusalem: Pilgrimage Road Identified?
• 03/03/2018
Archaeologists Yotam Tepper and Yigal Tepper describe what they believe to be a stone road about 10 miles northwest of Jerusalem on which ancient Jews would make their Jerusalem pilgrimage. Read more…
