Dozens of bronze Jewish revolt coins from the First Jewish Revolt against Rome were discovered in the renewed Ophel excavations in Jerusalem. Read more…
Biblical Sites & Places
Biblical sites and places are archaeological sites or geographical places and regions related to the Bible.
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Ophel Excavations Uncover Jewish Revolt Coins in Rebel Hideout
• 04/18/2018
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The Masada Siege
• 04/06/2018
What do we know about the Roman siege of Masada? We must consider both the account given by Josephus and the surviving archaeological evidence in order to reconstruct what happened. Read more…
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Jewish Captives in the Imperial City
• 04/05/2018
Ancient Rome was the superpower of its day. Yet, when the Romans conquered the tiny province of Judea and quashed the First Jewish Revolt in 70 C.E., it was actually Read more…
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Did Jesus’ Last Supper Take Place Above the Tomb of David?
• 03/29/2018
Jesus’ Last Supper and the Tomb of David are traditionally associated with a building called the Cenacle in Jerusalem. Can archaeology shed light on these traditions? Read more…
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How Was Jesus’ Tomb Sealed?
• 03/23/2018
What kind of stone sealed the tomb of Jesus? Was it a round (disk-shaped) stone or a square (cork-shaped) stone? While both kinds of blocking stones are attested in Jerusalem Read more…
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Tour Showcases Remains of Herod’s Jerusalem Palace—Possible Site of the Trial of Jesus
• 03/20/2018
Visitors to Jerusalem’s Old City can explore remains of King Herod’s palace, which may be where Roman governor Pontius Pilate tried and condemned Jesus of Nazareth to death. Read more…
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1,800-Year-Old Roman Mosaic Revealed at Caesarea National Park
• 03/09/2018
A colorful Roman mosaic depicting three figures wearing togas was unearthed at Caesarea National Park in Israel. Read more…
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Wilderness Wanderings: Where is Kadesh?
• 03/07/2018
According to the Bible, the Israelites stayed at a place called Kadesh-Barnea following their Exodus from Egypt and wanderings through the desert. Where is Kadesh-Barnea? Read more…
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Searching for the Temple of King Solomon
• 03/06/2018
The black basalt ruins of the Iron Age temple discovered at ’Ain Dara in northern Syria offer the closest known parallel to the Temple of King Solomon in the Bible. Read more…
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The Ancient Library of Alexandria
• 03/02/2018
When Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C.E., the Ptolemaic dynasty was given control of Egypt. Ptolemy I (c. 367–283 B.C.E.) established his capital at Alexandria and immediately began to Read more…
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King Hezekiah in the Bible: Royal Seal of Hezekiah Comes to Light
• 02/21/2018
For the first time, the royal seal of King Hezekiah in the Bible has been found in an archaeological excavation. Read more…
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A First Temple Period Palatial Estate Near Jerusalem?
• 02/13/2018
Archaeologists excavating at Ein Hanniya outside of Jerusalem unearthed seventh-century B.C.E. finds that suggest the presence of a palace in the First Temple period. Read more…
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The Royal Banquet Hall of King Herod the Great in Jerusalem
• 02/10/2018
A banqueting complex was recently identified just beside the Temple Mount. Dating to the time of King Herod the Great, it projects the splendor and comfort enjoyed by royal guests. Read more…
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Taking Out the Trash in Ancient Jerusalem
• 01/09/2018
Excavations on Jerusalem’s Southeastern Hill—just outside the “City of David”— have exposed a landfill from the Early Roman period. This garbage provides insight into residents’ daily lives and habits during Read more…
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Virtually Explore Jesus’ Tomb at the National Geographic Museum
• 01/08/2018
3-D technology brings Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre to life in the National Geographic Museum exhibit Tomb of Christ: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre Experience. Read more…
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Where Is Sodom?
• 01/04/2018
The stories of Sodom and its destruction, whether historical or not, were clearly understood to have occurred near the Dead Sea, among the so-called “cities of the plain” mentioned in Read more…
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Baptismal Site “Bethany Beyond the Jordan” Added to UNESCO World Heritage List
• 01/01/2018
In 2015, UNESCO added the archaeological complex at Al-Maghtas, Jordan—called the Biblical “Bethany beyond the Jordan”—to its World Heritage List. Another tradition places the baptismal site on the west bank Read more…
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The Palace of the Kings of Israel—in the Bible and Archaeology
• 12/31/2017
King Omri of Israel selected Samaria as his capital and built an elaborate palace there in the ninth century B.C.E. What did this palace look like, and was it destroyed Read more…
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Ancient Jerusalem: The Village, the Town, the City
• 12/26/2017
Archaeologist Hillel Geva says that population estimates for ancient Jerusalem are too high. His new estimates begin with people living on no more than a dozen acres. Read more…
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What Did Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem Look Like?
• 12/24/2017
Fifty years ago, leading Israeli scholar Michael Avi-Yonah constructed a now-iconic model of Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem. How accurate is it? Read more…
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Excavating Ancient Pella, Jordan
• 12/23/2017
According to fourth-century church historian Eusebius, on the eve of Jerusalem’s destruction by the Romans in 70 A.D., Jesus’ followers miraculously escaped the city and fled to Pella of the Read more…
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What Was Life Like for Roman Slaves?
• 12/19/2017
In the southwest of Asia Minor, at the site of Aphrodisias, Turkey, archaeology has provided insight into the lives of Roman slaves, including a man named Zoilos who earned his Read more…
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Biblical Riot at Ephesus: The Archaeological Context
• 12/17/2017
How accurate is Luke’s account of the riot at Ephesus described in Acts 19:23–41? Excavations at the site bring this Biblical event to reality in a new way—from inscriptions and Read more…
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Pilgrims’ Progress to Byzantine Jerusalem
• 12/15/2017
Jerusalem has been revered as a holy city for millennia—with pilgrims a staple feature in its bustling streets. Egeria’s Travels and the journals of the Bordeaux Pilgrim and the Piacenza Read more…
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Site-Seeing: The Hometown of Santa Claus
• 12/04/2017
Myra, hometown of St. Nicholas, is on scholar Mark Wilson’s top-ten list of Biblical sites to visit in Turkey. Read more…
