Well, if you can read paleo-Hebrew that sure looks like: [לישׁעיה[ו] נבי[א as in: ל = “belonging to” [ישׁעיה[ו] נבי[א= Isaiah the prophet (with some letters missing) We’ll see. I can hardly wait for the minimalist crowd to come up with another...
Biblical Archaeology
Ancient City Gate Associated with the Time of Hezekiah Under Excavation
Here’s the story. Here’s how the piece begins: An ancient city gate and shrine that King Hezekiah ordered to be destroyed during the eighth century B.C., according to the Hebrew Bible, are seeing the light of day following an excavation in Israel,...
Shrine to Moon God Sin Discovered in Israel
A number of websites and blogs I subscribe published this bit of news today. The article from Salon.com is representative. The first paragraph reads: A massive crescent-shaped stone structure has been discovered just a few miles northwest of the Sea of Galilee in...
Two Reviews of Archaeologist Israel Finkelstein’s Minimalist Approach to Monarchic Israel
The Biblical Archaeology Society’s Bible History Daily website recently featured two reviews of Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein’s new book, The Forgotten Kingdom: The Archaeology and History of Northern Israel (Ancient Near East Monographs) . Both...
50 Biblical People Verified by Non-Biblical Inscriptions and Sources
Here’s a link to a nice survey (free) by Lawrence Mykytiuk (a fellow UW-Madison grad). The survey material at the link is based on an article by Mykytiuk published in Biblical Archaeology Review (the full article is not free). All fifty names are pre-New...
Camels in the Bible on Hump Day
It’s Wednesday and, wouldn’t you know it, someone sent me a link to the following article: “Will Camel Discovery Break the Bible’s Back?” In case you’re not up on the problem of camels for the Bible (shame on you), here’s an...
Archaeologists Discover the House of Elisha – Not So Fast
I’d encourage readers to check out this worthwhile post from Todd Bolen of the Bible Places blog. It’s a measured, coherent response to a sensationalist claim reported by CBN. The archaeologist involved (Ami Mazar) and epigrapher Stephen Pfann (a friend of...
Why Sodom and Gomorrah are Not Located at Tall al-Hamman
Todd Bolen at the Bible Places blog begins his post on this issue this way: “The proposal that Sodom has been found on the northeastern side of the Dead Sea has been around for a decade or so, but with the publication of an article by Steven Collins this month...
Recent Finds Involving Israel's Jerusalem Temple Mount
Many readers have no doubt heard about the recent reports of the discovery of a ritual bath underneath the western wall of the Jerusalem temple mount, along with four First Century AD coins. You can read about the discovery here in the press release from the Jewish...
Archaeology and the Old Testament: Minimalism and Maximalism
For those unfamiliar with the “minimalist” vs. “maximalist” debate over biblical archaeology, the former basically believed the OT has little or no historical value, as it was entirely written during or after the exile. Maximalists, on the...
Archaeology and the Israelite Exodus from Egypt
As Passover approaches, we will get the obligatory articles (usually written by devoted skeptical journalists) about “the real truth” behind Passover (and Easter, of course). The article you’ll find at this post over at Todd Bolen’s Bible...
Islamic Temple Mount Conspiracy?
Read about it here (the details of secret, off-limits digging are real; the motivation or object is the question). My guess is “no.” It wouldn’t matter with respect to attempts to erase the Jewish altar remnants if Leen Ritmeyer is right (see the...
“Solomonic” Wall Discovered in Jerusalem
You may have already heard about archaeologist Eilat Mazar’s work in Jerusalem. She has found some massive walls and structures that appear to date securely to the 10th century BC — Solomon’s era. You can read a summary of the story here, and take a...