eli shukron

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Earliest History of Bethlehem Documented by First Temple Period Bulla from the City of David Jesus’ Birthplace in Ancient Bethlehem Confirmed as an Israelite City Centuries Earlier

By: Hershel Shanks

In BAR, Hershel Shanks examines a recent article published by archaeologist Amihai Mazar. Mazar contends that while the Biblical narratives were written hundreds of years after the reigns of Saul, David and Solomon, they “retain memories of reality.”

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

A seventh-century B.C.E. clay bulla inscribed in paleo-Hebrew script provides evidence for how ancient taxes were collected during the reign of the Biblical King Manasseh.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

The Jewish menorah—especially the Temple menorah, a seven-branched candelabra that stood in the Temple—is the most enduring and iconic Jewish symbol. But what did the Temple menorah actually look like? Learn more in this post and view a number of important menorah depictions from antiquity.

By: Robin Ngo

Excavations around the Gihon Spring in the City of David uncovered a massive 3,800-year-old fortress.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

The Siloam Pool has long been considered a sacred Christian site, even if the correct identification of the site itself was uncertain. According to the Gospel of John, it was at the Siloam Pool where Jesus healed the blind man (John 9:1–11).

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

For more than a hundred years, an extraordinary water tunnel in Jerusalem has been attributed to King Hezekiah, who dug it to protect the city’s water supply during the Assyrian siege of 701 B.C.E. Hence its name, Hezekiah’s Tunnel. However, recent scholarly publications now argue that the tunnel was not built by Hezekiah but by his predecessor or his successors.

By: Robin Ngo

IAA archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old chisel that may have been used to build the Western Wall on the Temple Mount.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

In the September/October 2013 issue of BAR, Hershel Shanks reviewed the evidence for the dating of the Jerusalem tunnels, citing recent analysis by Aren Maeir and Jeffrey Chadwick. Maeir and Chadwick rejected a chronology proposed in BASOR by Geological Survey of Israel scholars Amihai Sneh, Eyal Shalev and Ram Weinberger. Read a response by Sneh, Shalev and Weinberger.

By: Aren M. Maeir and Jeffrey R. Chadwick

A web-exclusive discussion by Aren Maeir and Jeffrey Chadwick. The scholars argue that Hezekiah had ample time to construct the tunnel during the revolt against Assyria.