Biblical Artifacts
Feb 7
Puzzling Finds from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud
By: BAS Staff
“Yahweh and his Asherah” is written across the top of this eighth-century B.C. drawing on a ceramic pithos from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud in the eastern Sinai. Some scholars have theorized that these figures resembling the Egyptian god Bes are in fact a drawing of God and his consort.
Feb 6
“Render Unto Caesar” and the First Jewish Revolt
Two coins from the First Jewish Revolt (66–74 CE) have been found among the numismatic material excavated at Carchemish. Located on the Euphrates River in […]
Feb 5
Early Christian Amulets: Between Faith and Magic
By: Marek Dospěl
Just like their pagan neighbors, Jesus’s followers of the first Christian centuries would commonly resort to protection amulets to guard themselves from illness and any kind of harm.
Feb 2
Sinai Before Sinai
A recently discovered rock inscription from Wadi Khamila in the southwestern Sinai Peninsula offers a vivid glimpse into a world that predates the Exodus tradition […]
Jan 31
Ivory Pomegranate Revisited: A Relic from Solomon’s Temple?
By: BAS Staff
The famous inscribed ivory pomegranate, which, if authentic, may have been the head of a scepter from Solomon’s Temple, has endured decades of debate. Is the inscription real, or is it a forgery? A meeting between world-class paleographers in the summer of 2015 may have settled the debate.
Jan 27
The Mesha Stele and King David
By: Various Authors
In his 1994 Biblical Archaeology Review article, acclaimed epigrapher André Lemaire first proposed that the ninth-century BCE Mesha Stele from ancient Moab includes a reference […]
Jan 26
Babylonian Texts Complicate Bible’s Image of Nebuchadnezzar
In biblical memory, Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 BCE) looms large as an agent of catastrophe. He appears across multiple biblical books—2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, Jeremiah, […]
Jan 22
The Ark of the Covenant in its Egyptian Context
By: David A. Falk
The Ark of the Covenant as we know it from the Hebrew Bible is steeped in the culture and context of its time (Late Bronze […]
Jan 19
The Nimrud Letters
By: Marek Dospěl
The Nimrud Letters are cuneiform tablets from the Assyrian royal city of Kalhu (present-day Nimrud). Their contents shed light on the history of the ancient […]
Jan 17
The Doorways of Solomon’s Temple
By: Megan Sauter
In the Bible, the inner shrine of Solomon’s Temple is described as having five mezuzot. What are they? The question has puzzled Biblical scholars for centuries. Does a recently discovered shrine model from Khirbet Qeiyafa hold the answer?
