Jun 7
By: Daniel Ogden
When seeking “hidden” knowledge, ancient Greeks and Romans visited sacred oracles and consulted necromancers, who communed with the dead. The necromancer’s art often involved strange journeys, sleep-and-dreaming rituals and even blood sacrifices—since the ghostly shades were thought to need a tonic of fresh blood to become reanimated. Our modern fascination with exorcism and vampires suggests that necromancy is hardly dead.
May 30
By: Nathan Steinmeyer
In an exciting discovery, excavators from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) came across an ancient farmstead frozen in time, its remains left largely untouched for […]
May 27
By: Jennifer Drummond
The Samaritans are likely best known in the Western world for one person—the famous “Good Samaritan” of Jesus’s parable found in Luke 10:25–37. This character […]
May 25
By: Jennifer Drummond
Sustainability is something we hear about a lot these days. New items are developed every day to help reduce waste in our daily lives. One […]
May 12
By: Marek Dospěl
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 brings this conventional wisdom into question with surprising results.
May 10
By: Robin Ngo
A study published in PLOS ONE suggests that gladiators really did eat mostly plants and may have drunk an ash tonic as described by ancient authors.
Apr 23
By: David Moster
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.
Mar 29
By: Ellen White
Dogs—or celeb in Hebrew—were not well loved in the Bible. Given the negative associations with dogs, it is surprising that one of the great Hebrew spies bears this name.
Mar 10
By: Robin Ngo
Archaeologists working in Thebes discovered a burial for victims of the 3rd-century C.E. Cyprian Plague.
Feb 23
By: Jennifer Drummond
February, of course, is the month we celebrate Valentine’s Day. Though a holiday associated by many with romance, in the modern world we often forget […]
