Daily Life and Practice

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.

By: Lawrence H. Schiffman

In part two of his study on schisms in Jewish history, Lawrence H. Schiffman examines the Samaritan schism.

By: Hershel Shanks

Were sons and daughters sacrificed in ancient times? Is there any archaeological evidence?

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

From Solomon’s Temple to the Jesus Boat, the Biblical world was built of cedar.

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 […]

By: BAS Staff

In many ways, the complex system of ritual purity laws laid out in the books of Leviticus and Numbers is some of the Bible’s most […]

By: BAS Staff

Anyone can make a mudbrick! The recipe is simple—and the ingredients are common.

By: Megan Sauter

Go on a culinary adventure through historical and archaeological remains to reconstruct the diet of the average person in Roman Palestine.

By: Robin Ngo

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.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

What are the origins of animal sacrifice? We know that many ancient cultures practiced ritual sacrifice, and ancient sacrifice in Israel was a part of religious worship at the Jerusalem Temple. While ritual sacrifice is now discouraged in many modern religions–with the ritual sacrifice now often represented by symbolic acts and gestures—ancient sacrifice in Israel and many other ancient cultures was a common part of religious worship.