Bible History Daily’s 2024 Year-in-Review
A look back at the year’s most popular stories
What were the most read biblical archaeology stories of 2024? As the year winds down, we look back at some of the most popular news stories published on Bible History Daily in 2024, plus a few of our own favorites thrown in. From carrying out sci-fiesque excavations of Jerusalem to unlocking an ancient library destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius, this year provided some incredible archaeology news. The articles below are not listed in any particular order, though readers are welcome to share their top picks in the comments section below.
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Top Ten Biblical Archaeology Stories
Mapping Jerusalem with Cosmic Rays: Aerial view of the City of David. Courtesy AVRAM GRAICER, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Excavating Jerusalem with Cosmic Rays: One of the year’s most fascinating stories involved a brand-new technique that is being used to “excavate” ancient Jerusalem, without ever needing to lift a shovel. Instead of using classical excavation methods, which are often impossible to use around Jerusalem due to modern development, a team from Tel Aviv University has begun to scan the ancient site with muon detectors. Although this technology was previously used to scan the pyramids in Egypt, only time will tell how much it can reveal about ancient Jerusalem.
The steps leading down to the Birkat el-Hamra, a candidate for the Pool of Siloam. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.
Rethinking the Pool of Siloam: Speaking of Jerusalem, one of the city’s most iconic New Testament locations—the Pool of Siloam—may not be located where many think it is. The precise location of the pool has long been debated, but for the past two decades, many have associated the ancient pool with the modern Birkat el-Hamra, where excavations since the 1990s have unearthed a large, stepped pool. However, there is reason to believe that this identification is wrong. So, where is the pool?
The glass weight from the Temple Mount. Courtesy TMSP, Zev Radovan/Razia Richman.
A Byzantine Church on the Temple Mount: Sticking with Jerusalem, two small finds from the Temple Mount Sifting Project could be evidence of a Byzantine church on top of the ancient Temple Mount. According to the team, two small weights discovered during sifting are a type that was typically kept in early churches.
Aerial view of an excavated wall of the Spello temple. Courtesy Luca Primavesi, Spello Project.
Paganism Under Constantine: A discovery in Italy shows that traditional Roman religion remained strong and even received formal imperial support under Emperor Constantine. Although Constantine was the first emperor to legalize Christianity, it took decades for imperial and local support of other religions to fade across the empire.
A Herculaneum Scroll burnt in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
Courtesy of The Digital Restoration Initiative, The University of Kentucky.
Herculaneum Scrolls Unlocked: Elsewhere in the Roman world, a villa in the city of Herculaneum holds one of the large extant libraries from antiquity. The only problem is that the entire library was carbonized during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. Now, in what may be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in decades, the Herculaneum Scrolls have been unlocked.
The house church of Dura Europos? The Christian building, looking west, 1932-1933. Dura-Europos Collection, Yale University Art Gallery, neg. dura-fIV31-01. Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery.
Is the World’s Oldest House Church in Dura-Europos?: While a Christian building in the Roman city of Dura-Europos in eastern Syria is often considered to be the earliest known church, that might not be the case. A new study suggests that while the building is certainly the oldest place of Christian assembly ever discovered, the term “house church” is likely a misnomer.
Tomb III at Aegae, belonging to Alexander the Great’s son. Courtesy Explorer1940, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Family Tomb of Alexander the Great: Who is buried in Alexander the Great’s family tomb? Although it has long been known that the tombs of the Great Tumulus included several members of Alexander’s immediate family, scholars still debate exactly who was buried in each tomb.
The Ishtar Gate, housed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Courtesy Rictor Norton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Dating Babylon’s Ishtar Gate: When exactly was Babylon’s famous Ishtar Gate finished? Begun by Nebuchadnezzar II (the Babylonian king of Bible fame), it has long been a question as to just how long it took to construct the impressive gateway. Now, using archaeomagnetism, a team has put forward a solution that just might have biblical connections as well.
4th century papyrus containing the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Courtesy Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, Public Domain Mark 1.0.
Early Copy of Infancy Gospel of Thomas Identified: A newly identified papyrus is possibly the oldest copy of the apocryphal gospel ever found. The small fragment could shed light on both early Christianity and scribal practices.
The first of the clay cylinders discovered during a dig at the ancient city of Umm el-Marra. The engraved symbols may be part of the earliest known alphabet. Courtesy Glenn Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University.
The Oldest Alphabetic Writing Ever Found: The last story on this list is reserved for one of 2024’s most recent, a group of objects that may preserve the oldest alphabetic writing ever found. Discovered at the site of Umm el-Marra in northwestern Syria, four clay cylinders may redate the invention of the alphabet by as much as half a millennium.
So, what archaeological news do you think was the most impactful in 2024? Leave a comment to let us know, and if you are looking for your own chance to excavate history, be sure to check out the BAS Find a Dig page to learn how you can get involved.
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