kosher laws

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

The origins of Jewish dietary or kosher laws (kashrut) have long been the subject of scholarly research and debate.

By: Robin Ngo

An excavation at a cave in Galilee has uncovered what may be a 2,000-year-old stone vessel production center. In the first century C.E., Jews commonly used stone vessels in observance of Jewish purity laws.

By: Theodore Feder

A wall painting found in the House of the Physician in Pompeii contains the earliest known depiction of a Biblical scene. Two onlookers in the crowd appear to be the Greek philosophers Socrates and Aristotle, according to author Theodore Feder. What do the onlookers reveal about the place of Biblical culture in the Greco-Roman world?

By: David Moster

Seeds and fruit remains are exciting discoveries for archaeologists, and they provide radiocarbon data to help date buried strata. Fruit also plays an important role in the Biblical narrative.

By: Hershel Shanks

The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius destroyed the opulent vacation destinations of Roman elites in August 79 C.E.—almost exactly nine years after Roman troops destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. Did this seem like more than mere coincidence to the ancients?

By: Andrew McGowan

Andrew McGowan challenges the tradition that Jesus was a welcoming host at meals.

By: Cynthia Shafer-Elliott

A team from the Tell Halif archaeological excavation made their own tannur, a traditional oven referenced in the Hebrew Bible, and baked bread in it.

By: David Moster

Many Biblical stories are set within the context of a meal. While most of these are about regular meals, others refer to more bizarre, extreme or supernatural cases of eating and drinking.

By: Marek Dospěl

Pigs weren’t part of the Israelite diet. Therefore if you are excavating and find lots of pig bones at your site, it can’t be Israelite—or can it? A new survey brings this conventional wisdom into question with surprising results.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

Were the Biblical Pharisees really as bad as the New Testament makes them seem? Professor Roland Deines of the University of Nottingham thinks not.