Biblical Archaeology Review

Experiencing Ancient Synagogues Explore how Jewish communities of late antiquity experienced their synagogues through sight and smell.

How everyday objects reveal the sights and smells of Jewish sanctuaries
#Archaeology #Bible #Judaism #Synagogue #History #Religion

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblic...

Archaeology and the First Christians Archaeology at Emesa (modern Homs in Syria) reveals the gradual transformation of the Temple of the Sun into a Christian site, shedding light on the early spread of Christianity described in the Acts ...

Archaeology at Emesa does not give a single dramatic moment of religious revolution but, instead, reveals the slow transformation of a powerful pagan city into a Christian and then Muslim one.
#Archaeology #Bible #Religion #Syria #Christianity #History

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people...

More Than Meets the Trowel Discover how ordinary finds—pottery, soil, and even ancient yeast—from Israel’s leading excavations revealed extraordinary insights into the biblical world through modern archaeological science.

Visit several of Israel’s most prominent excavations to learn about seemingly routine discoveries that completely changed how archaeologists thought about a site’s history, function, or ancient inhabitants.
#Archaeology #Bible #Israel #Science #History

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archae...

The New Spring Issue is Here.

Features
What Did the Last Supper Really Look Like?

Sensing the Synagogue

The Diaspora Revolt: Cyprus’s Forgotten Jewish Uprising

Under Siege: How Rome Conquered Jerusalem

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/magazine-iss...

Second Temple Period Workshop Discovered Near Jerusalem A rare first-century BCE to first-century CE workshop was discovered on Mt. Scopus near Jerusalem, revealing lathe-made stone cups and bowls possibly tied to ritual purity practices and pilgrimage rou...

A recently uncovered stone vessel production workshop east of Jerusalem is shedding light on craft production during the late Second Temple period.
#Archaeology #Bible #Israel #Judaism #Jesus #History

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

Enslaved Scribes and the New Testament Exploring Candida Moss’s positions on the hidden labor of enslaved scribes in the New Testament, this post examines how slavery shaped authorship and notions of inspiration in the early Christian worl...

Candida Moss on slavery, authorship, and inspiration.
#Archaeology #Bible #Paul #Christianity #History #Slavery
@candidamoss.bsky.social

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

David’s First Command Post? Khirbet al-Ra‘i was a border town that stood at the intersection of Canaanite, Philistine, and Israelite cultures. But was it also the biblical town of Ziklag, awarded to David in return for his servi...

The border town at Khirbet al-Ra‘I is a likely contender for the biblical Ziklag, a town given to David by the Philistine King Achish to serve as his headquarters.
#Archaeology #Bible #Israel #Philistines #David

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

An Ode to Oxen How oxen shaped ancient Israel’s economy, ethics, and religion—revealed through archaeology and biblical texts.

Archaeologists working at Gordion, the Iron Age capital of Phrygia in central Anatolia, have shown just how much effort went into managing oxen in the ancient world.
#Archaeology #Bible #Agriculture #History #Cattle

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblic...

“Render Unto Caesar” and the First Jewish Revolt Two First Jewish Revolt coins from the site of Carchemish in southeastern Turkey reveal how Roman taxation and imperial imagery shaped Jewish identity and resistance in the early Roman Empire.

Coinage in the first century reflected the complex reality of Roman rule in Judea, where religion, politics, and economics were inseparable.
#Archaeology #Turkey #Bible #Christianity #Judaism #Coins #History

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

Vanilla-Spiced Afterlife at Canaanite Megiddo Archaeologists excavating at the site of Megiddo in northern Israel have obtained scientific proof for the use of a vanilla-spiced oil dating back to the mid-second millennium BCE, marking the spice’s...

Tracing the ancient origins of vanilla
#archaeology #Israel #Egypt #spices #trade #history

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

Sinai Before Sinai A 5,000-year-old Sinai inscription links violence and state power with divine sanction—a combination later biblical authors critique in their Sinai narratives.

A recently discovered rock inscription from Wadi Khamila in the southwestern Sinai Peninsula offers a vivid glimpse into a world that predates the Exodus tradition by a millennium or more.
#Archaeology #Bible #Egypt #Sinai #Exodus

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

Vitruvius and the Built World of the New Testament Recent excavations in Fano, Italy, reveal a Roman basilica matching Vitruvius’s description, offering a rare window into the built civic world behind the New Testament.

Archaeologists believe they have identified the remains of a Roman basilica in Fanum Fortunae built by the late first-century architect Vitruvius.
#Archaeology #Bible #Roman #Italy #Vitruvius #Architecture

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

Babylonian Texts Complicate Bible’s Image of Nebuchadnezzar New inscriptions from ancient Kish complicate the Bible’s image of Nebuchadnezzar II by revealing him as a pious temple restorer, highlighting how history is shaped by competing narratives.

Newly published texts from the site of Tell al-Uhaimir (ancient Kish) south of Baghdad invite readers to consider Nebuchadnezzar from a new perspective.
#Archaeology #Bible #Babylon #Nebuchanezzar #Religion

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people...

Israel’s Long History of Ritual Light Recent research on Chalcolithic cornets reveals their role as ritual lamps, shedding light on ancient ceremonial practices that predate the Bible.

Produced roughly between 4700 and 3800 BCE, these small cone-shaped ceramic vessels have long intrigued scholars.
#Archaeology #Israel #Ritual #Ceramics #Religion

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

Cities in the Bible Explore the range of meanings of the word for “city” in the Hebrew Bible and how translations informed by archaeology help improve our understanding of cities in the Bible.

With rare exceptions, Biblical Hebrew has only one word for a permanent settlement and it is used for anything from the smallest rural village to the most bustling metropolis.
#Archaeology #Bible #Hebrew #language #History

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblic...

Byzantine Monastery Unearthed in Egypt A Byzantine-period monastery uncovered in southern Egypt reveals how biblical desert symbolism shaped early Christian monastic life.

How early Christians answered the biblical call to the desert
#Archaeology #Egypt #Christianity #Byzantine #History

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

More Discoveries at Saqqara Excavations have revealed more tombs and mastabas from the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BCE) and New Kingdom (c. 1570–1069 BCE) periods.

Continued excavations at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara in Egypt have revealed yet more of the site’s rich history.
#Egypt #Archaeology #Tombs #History

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

The Home of Nero’s Wife at Pompeii Renewed excavations near Pompeii are revealing more of the incredible riches of a house believed to be the home of Emperor Nero’s second wife, Poppaea.

Renewed excavations near Pompeii are revealing more of the incredible riches of a house believed to be the home of Emperor Nero’s second wife, Poppaea.
#Archaeology #Italy #Roman #Nero #History

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

Temple of the Sun Discovered at Abusir Archaeologists working at the site of Abusir have uncovered an extensive temple complex dedicated to the solar deity.

The newly discovered sun temple, which covers an area of more than 10,000 square feet, is architecturally unparalleled within the Memphis region.
#Archaeology #Egypt #Temple #History

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

Some pictures from our tour of #Egypt that is currently underway with the one and only Gary Rendsburg.

The Roman Army at Armageddon The Roman legionary camp at Legio is located in the fertile Jezreel Valley, within sight of the mound of ancient Megiddo. Recent archaeological exploration reveals details of daily life and the religi...

From the Bronze Age to the Ottoman period and beyond, the Jezreel Valley has served as a meeting point for armies, merchants, and pilgrims.
#Archaeology #Israel #Roman #Military #History #AncientBlueSky

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

Replacing Archaeologists with AI Although you probably won’t see robots walking around an excavation site, that doesn’t mean some archaeological tasks are not already being handled by AI

A team of researchers from the University of Haifa has presented a new method to detect and record walls in archaeological contexts through drone imaging and artificial intelligence.
#Archaeology #AI #Israel #Technology

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archae...

Ancient Ritual Bath Found Near Western Wall Excavations beneath the plaza in front of Jerusalem’s Western Wall have revealed a mikveh dating to the final days of the Second Temple period.

As part of ongoing excavations in the plaza fronting the Western Wall—one of Judaism’s holiest sites—archaeologists uncovered a Jewish ritual bath dating from the late Second Temple period.
#archaeology #Bible #Judaism #Israel #Jerusalem

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...

Top Ten Biblical Archaeology Stories of 2025 As the year winds down, we look back at some of the top ten popular news stories published on Bible History Daily in 2025

Bible History Daily’s Year in Review
#Bible #Archaeology #History

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archae...

O Little Town of Bethlehem? The traditional view of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is that it was a quiet country village at the time of the Nativity. Although much of its archaeology is hidden under the modern city, there ...

Reassessing the Size of Jesus’s Birthplace
#Archaeology #Bible #Israel #Bethlehem #Jesus #Christmas

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblic...

December 25th and Christmas When did December 25 become the date for Christmas? Early church fathers believed that Jesus was conceived on Passover and born 9 months later

When did December 25 become the date for Christmas?
#Christmas #History #Christianity #Holidays

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblic...

Also, it could be you spelled Archaeology different than we do. we spell it the old world way with an "a" in the middle

That is very odd. Try clearing your cache or try it in a different web browser than you usually use. Something in your system thinks it knows what you want better than you.

Could be a problem with your cookies or cache. Try this link
www.biblicalarchaeology.org/blog/

A Mysterious Menorah Pendant How did a lead pendant, decorated with an image of the Temple menorah, end up in the ruins of a Byzantine structure near the Temple Mount?

A Jewish lead amulet uncovered in Byzantine Jerusalem.
#Archaeology #Bible #Jerusalem #Israel #Judaism #Religion #menorah

www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancien...