Jan 6
By: Marek Dospěl
In the first centuries of Christianity, Church authorities already disapproved of magic and amulets. Yet amulets, oracles, and magic among Christians survived well into the […]
Jan 4
By: Jonathan Laden
A Hebrew inscription on a jar unearthed at Tel Abel Beth Macaah may resolve a long-running dispute about the extent of Israelite territory in the […]
Dec 30
By: Jonathan Laden
The owner of the lid thought that it was contaminated by hardened bat dung. However, the residue was from papyrus. A jar probably fell, dislodging the lid; the papyrus Dead Sea Scrolls then decomposed over the intervening centuries before modern discovery.
Dec 29
By: Jonathan Laden
Near the modern Gethsemane Church, at the foot of the Mount of Olives, excavations have revealed the remains of a Second Temple period mikveh (ritual […]
Dec 24
By: James D. Tabor
Millions around the world viewed the “Great Conjunction” of Jupiter and Saturn in the southwest sky Monday evening as Jupiter “caught up with” and passed […]
Dec 23
By: John Drummond
In the month of December it isn’t hard to come across a Nativity scene. Be it in your neighbor’s yard or A Charlie Brown Christmas, […]
Dec 22
By: Megan Sauter
While excavating in the Judean wilderness, archaeologists found hundreds of seeds from palm trees that grew in the arid region some 2,000 years ago. Dr. […]
Dec 21
By: Megan Sauter
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones famously says, “X never, ever marks the spot.” While that is true with most archaeological excavations, […]
Dec 20
By: Jonathan Laden
A trove of 1,200-year-old gold coins was discovered in a broken juglet. It was evidently the personal piggy bank of a potter who worked the industrial kilns at Yavneh for commercial production of pots and bowls.
Dec 16
By: Marek Dospěl
A Tel Moza temple, within sight of Jerusalem, was a rival to the First Temple in Jerusalem. Solomon's Temple had previously been thought to be unrivaled in ancient Judah.