Top Biblical Archaeology Discoveries of 2024
BAR discusses the year’s biggest finds with top experts
The past year witnessed some incredible discoveries in the world of biblical archaeology. Bible History Daily readers have already been treated to some of our favorites, but now we hear what some real archaeologists have to say! In this Bible History Daily video exclusive, join Biblical Archaeology Review Editor-in-Chief Glenn Corbett as he reviews the year’s top finds with two exciting archaeologists and public scholars, Chris McKinny of Gesher Media and Erika Brown of Just So You Know.
Video created, produced, and edited by Just So You Know Productions, LLC, in collaboration with the Biblical Archaeology Society and Gesher Media.
Ramesses II’s Lost Sarcophagus
While the mummy of Ramesses II—known as Ramesses the Great and suggested by some to be the infamous pharaoh of the Exodus—was discovered in 1881, it was not found inside its original coffin, as the body had been moved to a plain wooden coffin in antiquity to protect it from grave robbers. Now, it appears that part of the original granite sarcophagus from his burial has been discovered in a Coptic monastery in Abydos.
Deep Sea Late Bronze Age Shipwreck
While surveying the floor of the Mediterranean 55 miles off Israel’s coast, an international energy company made a startling find: the oldest deep-sea shipwreck ever discovered. Located over a mile below the waves, this shipwreck could rewrite the history of ancient seafaring, showing that Mediterranean sailors left the safety of the coastline much earlier than previously thought.
Archaeologists examining storage jars from the shipwreck. Courtesy Emil Aladjem, IAA
Hercules, Hydra, & Hazor?
What do a Mesopotamian cylinder seal, a Greek vase, and the Book of Revelation have in common? Seven-headed serpents. The only issue is that scholars are not certain why. Now, a small stamp seal discovered at the site of Hazor in northern Israel may finally provide a clue as to how the myth of the seven-headed serpent was transmitted between cultures across the millennia.
A Genie in Jerusalem
How did an Assyrian genie end up in Jerusalem during the First Temple period? During continued excavations of the City of David in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered a rare stone seal bearing two names in paleo-Hebrew script and a depiction of a Neo-Assyrian winged genie. Likely belonging to a high official in the Judahite court, the seal would have served as both a signature and a protective amulet.
Rare stone seal with an Assyrian genie and paleo-Hebrew writing. Courtesy Eliyahu Yanai, City of David.
Herculaneum Scrolls Deciphered
The 2,000-year-old Herculaneum Scrolls make up one of the largest extant libraries from antiquity, whose importance might well rival that of the Dead Sea Scrolls. But ever since their discovery in the 18th century, they have been almost completely unreadable, having been turned into little more than ash when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE. Now, in what may be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in decades, the Herculaneum Scrolls have been unlocked.
Pompeii Tiny House Frescoes
Archaeologists working in Pompeii have discovered yet another incredible home buried by Mt. Vesuvius. Nicknamed the House of Phaedra, the walls of the house preserve several beautiful wall paintings. The best preserved depicts a scene from Euripides’s tragedy Hippolytus, where a barely dressed Phaedra reclines before a nude Hippolytus, with an unidentified man between them. Another painting shows a satyr and a nymph in an intimate embrace, and a third may be a rendering of the Judgement of Paris.
Scene of Phaedra (left) and Hippolytus (far right) discovered during new excavations in Pompeii. Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii.
Paul’s Prison in Caesarea
The final story highlighted by the scholars involves a fascinating room built into the Herodian Promontory Palace at Caesarea Maritima, a city where the apostle Paul spent several years in jail before being sent to Rome for trial before Caesar. According to some scholars, this complex, built as a basement of the seafront palace, may be the same room where Paul was imprisoned.
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Tables of Astronomy on the Dead Sea Copper Scroll 3Q15
I would like to bring to the notice of Biblical Archaeology Society that there was also another major discovery in recent times and it was with decoding of tables of astronomy from the litany of numbers on the Dead Sea Copper Scroll. This is how I detected those tables of astronomy.
After almost seventy years of intense speculation about the validity of the enormous amounts of secretly buried treasures which were listed on the Dead Sea Copper Scroll, it is exciting to announce that there has been a vital breakthrough with unravelling the puzzling mystery. A recent discovery has revealed that the numbers which were itemised as the exact weights of gold and silver treasures in biblical talents and the precise depths they were buried in cubits, were instead scientific records of astronomy. The key to decode the puzzling data was as dramatic as the apple that fell on Newton’s head – there was a plus + sign between ten
of the numbers on the copper scroll. It indicated that the numbers were to be added together and that introduced the concept of mathematical checksums.
The use of checksums is a method of future proofing numbers and it involves adding a list of numbers in sequence to get a recognisable total. To apply the checksums, the numbers listed as cubits and talents at the 63 sites on the copper scroll were entered onto a spreadsheet table. There were some missing and suspect numbers of the talents and cubits on the scroll, which scholars had found difficult to identify due to erosion of the copper. By applying the checksum additions, it was found that the totals were recognisable where they compared to the incredible ages of the first patriarchs in Genesis Chapter 5 with Methuselah, Lamech and Noah etc. This mathematical exercise in applying the checksums brought about extraordinary results where it identified the values of all the missing and suspect numbers on the copper scroll.
The numbers on the copper scroll had been restored to their original values and in the process, the real purpose of the ancient document emerged. By adding the ten numbers with the plus + signs, the total came to 225, which was recognisable as the orbit of Venus. It was a loaded prompt from the scribes and the Genie was out of the bottle when the orbits of Mercury, Mars, the lunar and solar years were unveiled by more additions of the numbers in sequence. On checking ancient sources to place the celestial findings in context, it was found that the planets also have long term cycles or goal years and a list of them were found on a Babylonian tablet, which dated back to the 4th century BCE. Those goal years were itemised for Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The possible source of the data on astronomy may have been Babylon because those goal year cycles were also with totals of the numbers in particular sequences on the copper scroll.
The surprises continued where it became evident that some of the numbers had been pre-arranged to stand out as spurs, which reshaped the tables to look like pictorial images. It was only later when I came across the original Paleo Hebrew alphabet, that those pictorial images took on the identity of hieroglyphics. Never in the history of the Bible had such a revelation occurred because the four pictorial images which took shape on the copper scroll compared with the four Paleo Hebrew letters, which spelled out the divine autograph of YHWH.
I realise that readers may be shaking their heads in disbelief at what they are reading especially as there has been so much sensational claims about the copper scroll. But my research findings are in the scientific subject of astronomy and the true language of mathematics. The results therefore can be validated as genuine by mathematicians at a glance. You can write to me and I will reply with a copy of my research findings on the tables of astronomy from the copper scroll. I would like to have a discussion on what was the purpose of those tables of astronomy and why were they so precious that the biblical priesthood wrote the details on expensive copper knowing it would endure the harsh elements of time.