ossuaries

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.

By: Lawrence Mykytiuk

Did Jesus of Nazareth, “the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5), really exist? What’s the evidence outside of the Bible? Classical and Jewish writings from the first several centuries C.E. give us a glimpse of the person who would become the central figure in Christianity mere decades after his crucifixion.

By: Craig Evans and Steven Feldman

Back to “Jesus Tomb” Controversy Erupts—Again Rarely does the world of Biblical archaeology make as much news as when filmmakers James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici […]

By: Jennifer Ristine

For a people living in the diaspora, unable to visit the Jerusalem Temple frequently, what kept the memory and centrality of the Temple fresh in their minds? An intriguing stone uncovered at the Galilean site of Magdala might offer a clue.

By: James Tabor

The braided hair of a Jewish woman was found at Masada but until recently no example of preserved hair from a Jewish male had ever been found from the late 2nd Temple period. This discovery is one of the many fascinating, but less publicized finds of the 1st century “Tomb of the Shroud,” discovered in the summer of 2000 just outside the Old City of Jerusalem. The secrets this tomb continues to yield are many, including recent correlations with the DNA test results from the Talpiot Jesus tomb.

By: Robin Ngo

A new DNA study demonstrates that humans migrated from modern-day Turkey and Iran to Israel’s Upper Galilee region 6,500 years ago.

By: Cavan Concannon, University of Southern California

Cavan Concannon reviews Jerusalem and Rome: Cultures in Context in the First Century CE.

By: Fredric Brandfon

The Menorah: Worship, History and Myth, a major exhibition on display at the Vatican Museum and the Jewish Museum in Rome, provides dramatic images of the Temple Menorah.

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

It was a chance discovery that reshaped our understanding of the Chalcolithic period. In 1961, archaeologist Pessah Bar-Adon was exploring a diffcult-to-access cave near the Dead Sea and noticed something wedged in a crevice. Removing the bundle—wrapped carefully in a straw mat—he discovered a hoard of more than 400 bronze, copper, ivory and stone objects from the Chalcolithic period, including crowns, scepters and mace heads.

By: Hershel Shanks

The James Ossuary was only one of three ossuaries in Golan's collection. Another revealed an important Jewish community in central Syria in Apamea and Palmyra in the time of Jesus before the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 C.E.