Some of you may have heard about the new BYU excavations at the Fag el-Gamous necropolis in Egypt. Because the area is so large (300 acres) and the mummies recovered at buried in mass graves (these are commoners of the Roman era through Late Antiquity), some...
archaeology
Did Jesus Exist?
This impending article from BAR popped into my reader this morning: Lawrence Mykytiuk, "Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible," Biblical Archaeology Review (January/February 2015) It's an excellent survey of the ancient non-biblical material that...
Reviews of Scholarly Books in Biblical Studies, Archaeology, and Theology
I don't recall ever having blogged about the RBL site and blog (Review of Biblical Literature). Both the website and blog provide free access to book reviews on scholarly books for biblical studies, archaeology, and theology. The most recent issue showed up in my...
Aliens, the Sphinx, and Fantastic Archaeology
Jason Colavito has another telling and humorous review of the latest Ancient Aliens episode from season 7. Jason's review starts this way: Tonight’s exceptionally boring episode of Ancient Aliens, S07E07 “Mysteries of the Sphinx,” takes us back in time—to the 1990s,...
The Myth of Gobekli Tepe: What the Archaeological Fringe Isn’t Telling You
If you're into archaeology, neolithic civilization, ancient religion and, of course, paleobabble, you've head of Gobekli Tepe. But in case not, Gobekli Tepe is an archaeological site in Turkey whose use dates back to the 10th-8th millennium B.C. The site has been...
Geographical Place Names in Ancient History: An Online Thesaurus
The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) is now available for free download. This resource of over 2 million place names includes ancient and modern names. It's an invaluable resource for connecting place names throughout the ancient world to other disciplines....
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 have value...
The Racism of the Ancient Astronaut Theory
Readers will know that I've long thought the ancient astronaut theory is tinged with racist thinking. (Think about it -- the AA theory says Egyptians and various South American civilizations couldn't possibly have built their pyramids and temples -- they needed alien...
Another “Stone Age Atlantis”
Here's a report about the discovery by some Swedish divers of "an ancient underwater site" deep in the Baltic. Since it's in the Nordic region, it's being dubbed as the "Swedish Atlantis." (Sigh). Have you ever wondered why every time some evidence like this is...
Giant Sarcophagus Leads to Discovery of Previously Unknown (and Normal-Sized) Pharaoh
News of this discovery (also here) has been circulating around the web today. An archaeological team from the University of Pennsylvania (on of my alma matres) has uncovered a Second Intermediate Period necropolis at Abydos, Egypt. The discovery includes the remains...
Just in Time for Christmas: David C. Brown’s Catalogue for Books in Egyptology and Other Ancient Near Eastern Studies
David C. Brown / Oxbow Books is perhaps the "go to" site and catalog for finding books related to ancient Egypt, Mesopotamian, Israel, and other civilizations of the ancient Near East. They have hundreds of titles in each area -- lots of stuff you won't find anywhere...
Another Ancient Alien Fail: Moving 300 Ton Stones to Build China’s Forbidden City
The Live Science blog reported recently that Jiang Li, an engineer at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, has successfully translated an ancient Chinese document that reveals how stones in excess of 300 tons were moved over 70 miles without the wheel to...
Aerial Archaeology, Anatolia, and Ancient Persia
I recently came across some open-access resources that some readers might find interesting and useful.[1. My apologies to ancient astronaut believers who might be confused by real research.] Here are the links: APAAME - The Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology...
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 mine) are...
Discoveries of Giants and Giant Human Remains – Stretching the Truth or Just Tall Tales?
Jason Colavito has written some recent pieces on presumed discoveries of giant human specimens. Often such reports are simply not what they claim to be - evidence is misunderstood or even fabricated, or reports get garbled and transformed in transmission. Here are two...