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Biblical Archeology


Seeking the Peace of Jerusalem—or a Piece of Jerusalem? Seeking the Peace of Jerusalem—or a Piece of Jerusalem?
Thursday, January 17, 2013 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Archeology has become a full-fledged battlefield in the dispute over who has the superior claim to Jerusalem: Jews or Muslims.
The New Biblical Archeology The New Biblical Archeology
Monday, July 25, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Every summer, the Israel Antiquities Authority holds a reception for foreign archeological teams excavating in Israel. This year's reception was attended by over 200 archeologists, who are investigating sites ranging in age from the Paleolithic through Islamic periods.
Israelites in the Anglo-Saxon Sea Israelites in the Anglo-Saxon Sea
Friday, June 17, 2011 by David Curzon | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Since it was first composed, there have been dozens—if not hundreds—of renderings of the Hebrew Bible. The process of translation and creative elaboration began during the first millennium B.C.E.
On Faith and Forgeries On Faith and Forgeries
Wednesday, May 4, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Remnants of the biblical world continue to surface like uncharted reefs along the shore, looming up and weirdly fascinating our nominally secular minds. One such set of objects, recently emerged, is a series of lead plates that appear to be embossed with writings and images and bound into books or "codices." What are they, how have they been received, and what does their reception tell us about our willingness to believe?
Sifting the Cairo Genizah Sifting the Cairo Genizah
Friday, April 1, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Everyone knows about the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered over 60 years ago, and about the new light they shed on the sectarian Judaism of late antiquity, the beginnings of rabbinic Judaism, and possibly the prehistory of Christianity. Fifty years before that, the Cairo Genizah similarly revolutionized the picture of the Jewish Middle Ages.
Seeking Solomon Seeking Solomon
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 by Eve Levavi Feinstein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

For traditionalists, the biography of King Solomon is enshrined in the Bible, in the narrative accounts in the books of Kings and Chronicles. The son of King David, who spent his career battling Israel's enemies, Solomon is depicted as ushering in an era of peace and prosperity. Yet the Bible also relates that Solomon took numerous foreign wives and concubines—one thousand in total—who led him to worship foreign gods and build shrines for their service.
Science, Faith, and Biblical Archeology Science, Faith, and Biblical Archeology
Monday, January 17, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Biblical archeology was born out of twinned desires: to "illuminate" the world of the Bible and, ultimately, to prove the truth of the Word.
Digging King Herod Digging King Herod
Friday, August 20, 2010 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

King Herod was a Jew of doubtful origin who ruled Israel in the years 40-4 B.C.E. During this same period, the Roman republic was being replaced by the Roman Empire with its vast expansionist aims. Relying on Roman support for his power, Herod was, in effect, Israel's little Roman emperor. And he played the part, bringing administrative order and economic prosperity to the country and creating hugely ambitious architectural projects. In the Roman way, he was also cruel, paranoid, and thorough, killing his wife, three sons, and an assortment of other relatives and confidants.
The New Israel Museum The New Israel Museum
Friday, August 13, 2010 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

An expanded and revamped Israel Museum re-opened to the public in late July after three years of renovations. While the modest architecture remains as it was, the modernist cubes rolling with the Jerusalem landscape, the jumble of buildings has been streamlined: 25,000 square feet of exhibition space have been added, but the number of items on display has been reduced by a third. Overall, the design is significantly more user-friendly, with a spacious new entrance hall leading to the museum's remarkable collections, including its three most significant wings: archeology, Jewish art and life, and fine art.
Editors' Picks
Keeping David's Palace Buried Yoran Yanover, Jewish Press. Archeologists believe that a First-Temple-era column discovered south of Jerusalem could form part of a buried Davidic palace.  So why is the Israel Antiquities Authority keeping it a secret?
Searching for Sodom , Bible History Daily. Using biblical clues to search for ancient Sodom, archeologists excavated Tall el-Hammam in Jordan—and found evidence of a sudden and extreme conflagration over 3,000 years ago.
Judea's Other Temples Adiv Sterman, Times of Israel. A recently discovered temple at Tel Motza provides evidence that ritual practices occurred at various sites in Judea before they were prohibited in places outside the Temple in Jerusalem.
Amaziah's Revenge Glenn J. Corbett, Bible History Daily. In the Book of Chronicles, 10,000 Edomite captives were “dashed to pieces” when King Amaziah threw them from a mountaintop.  Is es-Sela in Jordan the site of the slaughter?
Whose Bible Is It Anyway? Lawrence Schiffman, LawrenceSchiffman.com. It has become received wisdom that the Bible was an open canon—incomplete—when the Dead Sea Scrolls were composed.  But that is a reflection of Christian theology.
Akko's Shipwrecks , Phys.org. The sea around the city of Akko is full of preserved shipwrecks, from the Hellenistic period through the Egyptian-Ottoman War.  And excavations have just begun.
Archeology Under Attack Christopher Torchia, Times of Israel. After a 90-year closure, the Turks have allowed archeological excavations near the Syrian border at Karkemish, site of a major biblical battle.  But now another battle threatens the site. 
Forging Ahead Hershel Shanks, Bible History Daily. What do you do when the geologists say your ancient inscription is genuine but the philologists say it's a forgery?  Trust that lesser-known academic quality—common sense. 
Roots Richard Elliott Friedman, Huffington Post. Ahmadinejad’s latest denial of Israel’s historical roots should serve to remind us of how much archeologists have discovered about ancient Israelite culture.
Michal of Makhpelah Tamara Zieve, Jerusalem Post. On October 9th, 1968, 13-year-old Michal Arbel, daughter of the head of the Shin Bet, became the first Jew to enter the Cave of the Patriarchs in 700 years.