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…
Ancient Israel
The land, culture and people of Israel during the Biblical period, especially from the Iron Age to the Persian period. The FREE eBook Israel: An Archaeological Journey allows readers to sift through the archaeology and history of this ancient land and get a view of Biblically-significant sites through an archaeologist’s lens.
-
Daily Life in Ancient Israel
• 01/13/2019
-
How Ancient Taxes Were Collected Under King Manasseh
• 01/01/2019
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…
-
6,500-Year-Old DNA Points to Ancient Migration
• 08/31/2018
A new DNA study demonstrates that humans migrated from modern-day Turkey and Iran to Israel’s Upper Galilee region 6,500 years ago. Read more…
-
Sacred Prostitution in the Story of Judah and Tamar?
• 08/07/2018
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
• 07/15/2018
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Evidence of Historical Blood Vengeance Found in Jerusalem Cave
• 05/25/2018
An archaeological survey in the hills of Jerusalem uncovered skeletal remains suggesting the earliest evidence of blood vengeance, researchers say. Read more…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Aerial Technology Directs Archaeologists to Idumean Structure
• 12/06/2017
With the aid of drones, archaeologists working in the Lachish region found what may be an Idumean palace or temple. Read more…
-
A Feast for the Senses … and the Soul
• 12/05/2017
Go on a journey of the senses through history and discover the significance of ritual feasts and meals in antiquity. Read more…
-
Was Biblical Israel an Egalitarian Society?
• 09/14/2017
Although excavated structures, pottery and other household artifacts offer a glimpse of daily life in the Iron Age highlands of Canaan, no burials or tombs have been found. What do Read more…
-
First Person: Did the Kingdoms of Saul, David and Solomon Actually Exist?
• 08/27/2017
In BAR, Hershel Shanks examines a recent article published by archaeologist Amihai Mazar. Mazar contends that while the Biblical narratives were written hundreds of years after the reigns of Saul, Read more…
-
Where Are the Royal Archives at Tel Hazor?
• 03/23/2017
Biblical Hazor was the largest and most important royal city in the Southern Levant in the second millennium B.C.E. Its continuing exploration has brought to light impressive architecture and unique Read more…
-
2,000-Year-Old Road Unearthed in Bet Shemesh
• 03/09/2017
Archaeologists working in Bet Shemesh, located 19 miles west of Jerusalem in Israel, discovered a Roman-period road near the modern Highway 375. Read more…
