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Nov 19 Blog

The Philistines: Urban Invaders or Emergent Immigrants?

A study, which examined archaeological finds from several Philistines cities, concluded that Philistine urbanization occurred gradually and only took place after they entered the southern Levant and were integrated with the local Canaanite community.

Nov 3 Blog

What Were the Crusades and How Did They Impact Jerusalem?

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Some of the most famous churches in Jerusalem were built during the Christian Crusades by Crusaders wishing to memorialize sites they believed to have great Christian significance.

Oct 24 Blog

The Exodus: Fact or Fiction?

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Does archaeological evidence connect with Israel’s Exodus from Egypt—a central event in the Bible? Egyptian artifacts and sites show that the Biblical text does indeed recount accurate memories from the period to which the Exodus is generally assigned.

Sep 12 Blog

Biblical Town of Ziklag May Have Been Discovered

By: BAS Staff

Researchers announced their belief that they may have uncovered the biblical town of Ziklag. Located between Kiryat Gat and Lachish in southern Israel, Khirbet a-Ra‘i […]

Sep 2 Blog

Ashkelon’s Roman-Era Tombs to Open

By: Nathan Steinmeyer

Discovered more than a half decade apart, two stunning Roman-era tombs are undergoing an extensive preservation process to be finally open to the public. The […]

Aug 6 Blog

A Tomb in Jerusalem Reveals the History of Crucifixion and Roman Crucifixion Methods

By: BAS Staff

In the history of crucifixion, the death of Jesus of Nazareth stands out as the best-known example by far. Crucifixion in antiquity was actually a fairly common punishment, but there were no known physical remains from a crucifixion. Then, in 1968, archaeologist Vassilios Tzaferis excavated a Jerusalem tomb that contained the bones of a crucified man named Yehohanan. As Tzaferis reported in BAR, the discovery demonstrated the brutal reality of Roman crucifixion methods in a way that written accounts never had before.

Jul 16 Blog

The Enduring Symbolism of Doves

By: Dorothy Willette

Few symbols have a tradition as long and as rich as the dove. Read about what it represents and how its use has been shared, adapted and reinterpreted across cultures and millennia to suit changing belief systems.

Jun 16 Blog

High Places, Altars and the Bamah

By: Ellen White

The open-air altar shrine, called a bamah (plural bamot), is known through several books of the Biblical canon. Often referred to as “high places” in translations of the Bible, bamot were worship sites that usually contained an altar.

A stone relief created in 1958 by sculptor Ferdinand Heseding. The relief, which appears on a fountain in Dusseldorf, Germany, depicts the Biblical spies Joshua and Caleb carrying a cluster of grapes back from the Promised Land (Numbers 13:1-33)

Mar 19 Blog

No, No, Bad Dog: Dogs in the Bible

By: Ellen White

Dogs—or celeb in Hebrew—were not well loved in the Bible. Given the negative associations with dogs, it is surprising that one of the great Hebrew spies bears this name.

Apr 16 Blog

Who Were the Philistines, and Where Did They Come From?

By: Megan Sauter

The Philistines are best known from the Bible as the Israelites’ enemies, but they were much more than that. Recent archaeological discoveries help inform our […]

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