The Israeli Antiquities Authority showcased information about the excavation of a sixth-century Byzantine church in Beit Shemesh with an exhibit at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. The excavations were directed by Benjamin
Here’s a snippet about the excavation of the church structure from the full article:
Continue readingSeveral different news outlets (MSN, HaAretz, UPI, and others) are carrying the story from the Israeli Antiquities Authority press release about excavations at Ein Asawir (En Esur) of a large 5000 year old city in the north of modern day Israel (southeast of Haifa, in the Sharon plain). The 5000 year old city was also apparently built on another city/village which was inhabited 2000 years earlier, and this earlier city apparently included a temple structure. According to the reports, the location “spanned 160 acres and is estimated to have had 6,000 inhabitants.”
Jerash, located in modern Jordan, was one of the “10 Cities”, the Decapolis, mentioned in the Gospels (see references to Decapolis here and specific mentions of Jerash [Gerasa] here). National Geographic, as always, does a fantastic job of of a visual presentation, with photos and reconstructions of the ancient city, as well as giving an overview of the history of the location. I have yet to visit Jerash, but I hope to in the near future.
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A team has reached some fascinating conclusions in their research into the sources of tin at sites 13th and 12th centalong the eastern Mediterranean coast:
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A BBC article about new archeological surveys of Nabataean sites in northern Saudi Arabia. The Nabataeans are best known today for the ruins at Petra.
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According to reports in LiveScience, new archeological discoveries related to the Urartians, Scythians, and Assyrians are being made in the northern ares of Iraq (in Kurdistan). This comes in the midst of the political and social conflicts in the region: Continue reading
