Inscriptions
Jul 31
Christian Amulets with Inscriptions
By: Marek Dospěl
“Have you fallen into a severe sickness, and do many come … with charms, some with amulets … to remedy the evil?” With these words, […]
Jul 24
The Mysterious Inscribed Mug from Mount Zion
By: Clinton J. Moyer
In an excavation just outside the southern wall of the Old City of Jerusalem, in the neighborhood known as Mount Zion, archaeologists working in 2009 […]
Jul 12
The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet
By: Noah Wiener
A recently translated Old Babylonian flood tablet describes how to build a circular ark.
Jun 6
Miniature Writing on Ancient Amulets
By: Robin Ngo
In 1979, archaeologist Gabriel Barkay discovered two miniature silver scrolls from a late Iron Age (seventh century B.C.E.) tomb in Ketef Hinnom outside of Jerusalem. When unrolled, the scrolls had tiny texts written on them—similar to the priestly blessing in Numbers 6:24–26.
May 28
The Phoenician Alphabet in Archaeology
By: Josephine Quinn
The Phoenician script was borrowed by the Israelites, Greeks and Romans. Learn what sorts of texts the Phoenicians wrote as revealed by a recent archaeological excavation.
May 20
Was the Siloam Inscription a Message for the Dead?
Sometimes, archaeology provides evidence that makes the past feel palpable. Jerusalem’s Siloam Tunnel Inscription is a great example. Carved into the tunnel’s wall is a […]
May 13
The Tombstone of Abercius
By: Jason Borges
Abercius was a prominent Christian from Hierapolis, Phrygia (western Turkey), in the late second century. Before passing away, he inscribed a 22-line autobiography upon his […]
May 8
Archaeologists Begin Restoring Shamash Gate
The destruction of ancient cities is often softened into “history”—cataloged, photographed, and safely contained in the past. But a new study of Nineveh’s Shamash Gate […]
May 7
The Tel Dan Inscription: The First Historical Evidence of King David from the Bible
By: BAS Staff
Few modern Biblical archaeology discoveries have attracted as much attention as the Tel Dan inscription—writing on a ninth-century B.C. stone slab (or stela) that furnished the first historical evidence of King David from the Bible.
May 4
How Many Days Were in the Israelite Week?
Imagine time not being organized into weeks and months or not having set units of measurement to gauge distance. Metrics come to feel familiar over […]
