Archaeologists working at the Greek site of Olympia, home of the ancient Olympic Games, discovered a Roman-period clay tablet containing 13 lines of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. 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.
-
Fragment of Homer’s Odyssey Unearthed at Olympia
• 07/16/2018
-
Who Were the Phoenicians?
• 07/08/2018
With a commercial empire that lasted a millennium, the Phoenicians were major players in the ancient Mediterranean world. Spreading their culture and goods, they came into contact with many different Read more…
-
The “Philistines” to the North
• 07/07/2018
The Philistines, who established the famous five cities in the southern coastal plain, were just one tribe of Sea Peoples who invaded Canaan in the 12th century B.C.E. The northern Read more…
-
Jewish Worship, Pagan Symbols
• 07/06/2018
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…
-
The “High Place” at Tel Gezer
• 07/05/2018
Tel Gezer’s first excavator, R.A.S. Macalister, believed there was a “high place” dedicated to child sacrifice at the Canaanite site. William G. Dever disagrees. Read more…
-
An Ancient Jewish Lamp Workshop in the Galilee
• 07/04/2018
Excavations conducted in an ancient Jewish village near Nazareth in Israel uncovered the remains of an oil lamp workshop. Read more…
-
The Last Days of Hattusa
• 07/03/2018
In the latter part of the second millennium B.C., the Hittite empire was a Near Eastern superpower. Its capital, Hattusa, was a great city of palaces and temples surrounded by Read more…
-
Does a Jordan Valley Site Reveal the Origin of Ancient Israel?
• 06/27/2018
Hidden in the Jordan Valley, Khirbet el-Mastarah may shed light on the origin of ancient Israel. The site contains numerous enclosures and structures, which appear to have been used by Read more…
-
Daily Life in Ancient Israel
• 06/25/2018
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…
-
A Biblical Altar on Mt. Ebal and Other Israelite Footprints in the Jordan Valley?
• 06/24/2018
Foot-shaped sites have been found throughout the Jordan Valley, including an extraordinary cultic site on Mt. Ebal. Is this the Israelite altar described in Joshua 8? Were these foot-shaped enclosures Read more…
-
Carchemish in the Bible and History
• 06/21/2018
Carchemish was an important Hittite fortress and provincial capital located on the west bank of the Euphrates River. Read more…
-
Who Were the Hittites?
• 06/21/2018
Archaeology tells us a lot about the Hittites—and the Neo-Hittites too. But it’s hard to reconcile this with the Hittites of the Bible. Read more…
-
The Philistine Marketplace at Ashkelon
• 06/20/2018
In “Buy Low, Sell High: The Marketplace at Ashkelon” in the January/February 2014 issue of BAR, Daniel Master and Lawrence Stager examine what was traded and by whom in Philistine Read more…
-
The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet
• 06/18/2018
A recently translated Old Babylonian flood tablet describes how to build a circular ark.
Read more… -
Philistine Cemetery Unearthed at Ashkelon
• 06/17/2018
The first and only Philistine cemetery ever discovered was found outside the walls of ancient Ashkelon. Read more…
-
An Iron Age Royal at Abel Beth Maacah?
• 06/15/2018
A ninth-century B.C.E. faience head discovered at Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel may represent an important figure in the Iron Age—a dignitary, elite person, or even a king. Read more…
-
The Enduring Symbolism of Doves
• 06/13/2018
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…
-
Hezekiah’s Religious Reform—In the Bible and Archaeology
• 06/09/2018
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…
-
The Athenian Acropolis
• 06/07/2018
Prior to its destruction by the Persians in 490 B.C.E. and again in 480–479 B.C.E., the Acropolis was a sacred precinct with a temple to Athens’s tutelary goddess, Athena. The Read more…
-
Were There Arameans at Abel Beth Maacah?
• 06/06/2018
Because of its border location and the Biblical references that associate Arameans with Maacah, Robert Mullins and Nava Panitz-Cohen are digging for Arameans at the site of Abel Beth Maacah Read more…
-
Silver Hoard from Abel Beth Maacah Illuminates Biblical Border Town
• 06/06/2018
In their BAR Archaeological Views column, Abel Beth Maacah staff describe the excitement around the discovery of a Late Bronze Age silver hoard, one of the earliest ever found in Read more…
-
‘Abdiel: Egyptian Vizier and “Servant of the God El”
• 06/04/2018
Could a vizier with a Semitic name from ancient Egypt illuminate the story of Joseph in the Bible? Read more…
-
Asherah and the Asherim: Goddess or Cult Symbol?
• 06/03/2018
Who is Asherah? What is asherah? The reference may be to a particular goddess, a class of goddess or a cult symbol used to represent the goddess. It is sometimes Read more…
-
You Are What You Eat: The Israelite Diet and Archaeology
• 06/02/2018
Pigs weren’t part of the Israelite diet. Therefore if you are excavating and find lots of pig bones at your site, it can’t be Israelite—or can it? A new survey Read more…
-
Israelite Psalms in an Egyptian Papyrus?
• 06/01/2018
Karel van der Toorn contends that three Israelite psalms appear in Papyrus Amherst 63—although only one is attested in the Bible. Read more…
