Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed by Fire and Brimstone... but we already knew that
Archaeological evidence supporting the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone falling from the sky..
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Showing items filed under “Archaeology”
in Archaeology
Archaeologists Find 3,200-Year-Old Cheese in an Egyptian Tomb
Mysterious substance found in ancient broken jar. By Niraj Chokshi August 16, 2018 A few years ago, a team of archaeologists cleaning sand from an ancient Egyptian tomb discovered a group of broken jars, one of them containing a mysterious white substance. The team had guesses as to what the material might be, but a new analysis published in the journal Analytical Chemistry offers an answer: What they found during that excavation was an approximately 3,200-year-old piece of cheese, one...
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How Was the Bible Written During and After the Exile?
Please note, that the author of the article below is not affiliated with 119 Ministries in any way and the information does not necessarily reflect the teachings or understandings of 119 Ministries. We found the general information of the article to be worth testing by other members of the community regardless of where one stands on the subject. Original Article Found...
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Scribes in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Looking at scribal figures at Qumran Megan Sauter • 07/23/2018 What’s in the Dead Sea Scrolls? The scrolls, which date from the third century B.C.E. to the first century C.E., mostly contain Jewish religious texts. About 40 percent of the manuscript fragments consist of texts from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Pseudepigraphal texts—that is, religious texts that did not make it into the Hebrew Bible—from the Second Temple period (c. 530...
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Daily Life in Ancient Israel
What was life like for the settlers of Canaan during the time of the Biblical Judges? What was life like for the tribes of Israel in the time of the Biblical Judges, the period archaeologists call Iron Age I (1200–1000 B.C.E.)? The evidence for the early Israelite settlers of Canaan comes from two sources: archaeological survey and excavations. Much of the area of the central highlands, where most of the settlers of Canaan established their villages, was archaeologically surveyed in...
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Hezekiah’s Religious Reform—In the Bible and Archaeology
What was King Hezekiah’s reform like on the ground? One of the most significant changes in the religious life of ancient Israel occurred during the reign of the Judahite king Hezekiah, in the late eighth century B.C.E. The Hebrew Bible provides us with this image: “He removed the high places, broke down the pillars, and cut down the sacred pole (asherah). He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to...
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What language(s) did the Philistines speak?
By: Dr. Brent Eric Davis, University of Melbourne The evidence that we have for the language(s) spoken by the Philistines is not plentiful, but what we do have is interesting (though far from conclusive). Two types of evidence predominate: (1) inscriptions that may have been produced by Philistines, and (2) Philistine words and names borrowed into other languages of the region and recorded (however imperfectly) in non-Philistine records. In terms of the first type of...
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Where Did Jesus Turn Water into Wine?
Finding Cana of Galilee, site of Jesus’ first miracle On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” —John 2:1-4 Jesus’ first miracle was performed in Cana of...
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Ophel Excavations Uncover Jewish Revolt Coins in Rebel Hideout
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem recently announced that dozens of bronze Jewish revolt coins from the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (66–70 C.E.) have been discovered in a cave just south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The coins were found during the renewed Ophel excavations led by Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar following a four-year hiatus. Mazar believes that the coins, which measure 0.6 inches in diameter, were left by Jewish residents who had fled...
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The “Original” Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Can the scrolls help expose the original Bible language within the Masoretic Text and Septuagint? Noah Wiener • 03/08/2018 For centuries, Bible scholars examined two ancient texts to elucidate the original language of the Bible: the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The Masoretic Text is a traditional Hebrew text finalized by Jewish scholars around 1000 C.E. The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Torah created by the Jews of Alexandria in the...
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Searching for the Temple of King Solomon
How the ’Ain Dara temple in Syria sheds light on King Solomon in the Bible and his famous temple For centuries, scholars have searched in vain for any remnant of Solomon's Temple. The fabled Jerusalem sanctuary, described in such exacting detail in 1 Kings 6, was no doubt one the most stunning achievements of King Solomon in the Bible, yet nothing of the building itself has been found because excavation on Jerusalem's Temple Mount site of the Temple of King Solomon, is...
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Isaiah’s Signature Uncovered in Jerusalem
Evidence of the Prophet Isaiah? Megan Sauter • 02/22/2018 he Assyrian king Sennacherib responded to Hezekiah’s rebellion with force. He campaigned against Judah—destroying many Judahite cities, such as Lachish (depicted on the Lachish reliefs, panels from Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh, now on display at the British Museum in London), and ultimately besieging the capital city of Jerusalem in 701 B.C.E The prophet Isaiah said that Jerusalem would not fall...
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Miniature Writing on Ancient Amulets
Ketef Hinnom inscriptions reveal the power of hidden writing by Robin Ngo • 01/29/2018 The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.—Numbers 6:24–26When unrolled, the two ancient amulets from Ketef Hinnom revealed miniature writing that had been painstakingly inscribed on them. Researchers discovered that the inscriptions included blessings similar to Numbers...
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Taking Out the Trash in Ancient Jerusalem
Using the archaeology of garbage to reconstruct ancient life From time immemorial, people have produced rubbish. Yet to an archaeologist, not even this discarded material is a waste! Just as archaeologists can glean information about the past by excavating ancient houses, streets, and temples, so too can they learn by studying ancient trash. What people discarded tells a lot about how they lived. One of the world’s oldest landfills was recently uncovered in...
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Aerial Technology Directs Archaeologists to Idumean Structure
Bible and archaeology news Samuel Pfister • 12/06/2017 The archaeologist’s toolbox of gadgets is always expanding. While excavations could previously rely on pickaxes, trowels, and buckets, now archaeologists are adopting the latest technologies, like ground-penetrating radar to detect buried architecture, CAT-scans to examine mummified remains, and aerial and satellite photography to survey patterns and data across broad landscapes. Use of digital technologies in the...
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Jews in Roman Turkey
Jewish presence uncovered at Limyra, Turkey Megan Sauter • 10/02/2017 Located on the coast of southwestern Turkey, Limyra has a long, rich history—although the site now lies in ruins. Occupied for more than a millennium, it served as the home for many different religious groups. A recent archaeological discovery at Limyra suggests that a Jewish community also lived there. Martin Seyer of the Austrian Archaeological Institute explains the...
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Naboth’s Vineyard Unearthed at Tel Jezreel?
“Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. And Ahab said to Naboth, ‘Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house; I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money.’ But Naboth said to Ahab, ‘The Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance.’ Ahab went home resentful and sullen because of...
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Massive section of Western Wall and Roman theater uncovered after 1,700 years
Sought for 150 years, the remarkable discovery of the small theater changes archaeologists' perceptions of Roman-conquered Jerusalem after the fall of the Second Temple Sought for 150 years, the remarkable discovery of the small theater changes archaeologists' perceptions of Roman-conquered Jerusalem after the fall of the Second Temple. And in the course of their work, which has been quietly proceeding directly beneath Wilson’s Arch — the area immediately adjacent to the...
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Jonah and the Whale
Why the Book of Jonah Is Read on Yom Kippur Nahum Sarna • 09/23/2017 The Book of Jonah is read in the synagogue on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the sacred Day of Atonement. Why, of all books in the Bible, this book this most holy day? The answer is clear. The major themes of the book are singularly appropriate to the occasion—sin and divine judgment, repentance and divine forgiveness. What is remarkable is...
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Tarshish: Hacksilber Hoards Pinpoint Solomon’s Silver Source
Hacksilber isotope analysis associates Biblical Tarshish with Sardinia In the Bible, King Hiram of Tyre supplies King Solomon with timber, craftsmen and gold for the construction of the Jerusalem Temple, and the alliance with the Phoenician ruler undoubtedly helped Solomon amass his extraordinary wealth. Biblical and other ancient texts suggest that the seafaring Phoenicians brought silver and other precious metals from the western Mediterranean in the 10th century B.C.E., the time of Hiram...
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Discoveries in Mary Magdalene’s Hometown
Four ritual baths unearthed in the Magdala excavations Mary Magdalene is arguably the best known and most popular sinner of the New Testament. A great deal of the romantic portrayal of Mary, however, has no foundation in the Scripture, but is the product of a later Christian tradition, which ultimately inspired contemporary cinematic depictions of her. Take her name and her hometown as an example. The name Mary (Miryam, in Hebrew) was so common that the Gospels always had to specify which...
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The Palace of the Kings of Israel—in the Bible and Archaeology
Samaria’s Iron Age palace What did the palace of the kings of ancient Israel look like? In the Bible, King Ahab’s palace is called an “ivory house” (2 Kings 22:39). We know from other Biblical passages that Ahab—and successive kings of the northern kingdom of Israel—ruled from Samaria. Ahab’s father, King Omri, had established Samaria as his capital and built an elaborate palace there in the ninth century B.C.E. In his lifetime, King Ahab further...
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5,000-Year-Old Egyptian Billboard Discovered
Monumental inscription communicated royal authority and solar power Nicola McCutcheon • 07/20/2017 What do you call a team of Yale Egyptologists who just discovered the oldest known monumental Egyptian hieroglyphs? “Absolutely flabbergasted,” according to Professor John Coleman Darnell, codirector of the Elkab Desert Survey Project. As reported by YaleNews, Darnell and his team came across the hieroglyphs during their study of...
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Cache of Roman letters discovered at Hadrian's Wall
A cache of 25 Roman letters has been found at Vindolanda, the fort below Hadrian’s Wall where the most famous documents from the Roman world were discovered in 1992, first-person accounts of cold feet, beer running short, and jolly birthday parties at the northernmost edge of the empire. The tablets are still being conserved, before being scanned with infrared light which should make the faint marks in black ink legible, but the cursive script is invariably a cryptic crossword puzzle...
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DNA Study of Mummies Indicates Ancient Egyptians Descended From Biblical Ham
In a scientific first, DNA taken from Egyptian mummies has been decoded, producing unexpected results about the true origins of the Egyptian people. These results confirm a controversial theory that traces the First Egyptian Dynasty back to Biblical Ham, as described in the Book of Genesis. Scientists have long been baffled by the origins of the Egyptian people. Until now, there was no empirical data to clarify the issue. The study of Egypt’s population history could only draw on...
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Was the Dead Sea Scroll Community Celibate?
One of the many fascinating questions about the Dead Sea Scroll community living at Qumran is whether its members were celibate. Did they marry and have children or not? According to the ancient Jewish historian Josephus and the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria, the Essenes were indeed celibate.1 The Roman philosopher and naturalist Pliny the Elder agrees and seems to locate an Essene community at Qumran. The question, of course, is whether the Qumran community was...
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Site-Seeing: Petra’s Temple of the Winged Lions
Petra, the 2,000-year-old capital city and trade emporium of the ancient Nabateans nestled amid the rugged mountain landscape of southern Jordan, is a marvel to behold. Visitors to the expansive site meander through narrow passageways and hike up secluded trails to take in the spectacular rock-cut architecture and enigmatic monuments built during the time the city was flourishing, when the Nabateans controlled the lucrative Arabian incense trade and laid claim to a powerful kingdom...
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53 People in the Bible Confirmed Archaeologically
In “Archaeology Confirms 50 Real People in the Bible” in the March/April 2014 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Purdue University scholar Lawrence Mykytiuk lists 50 figures from the Hebrew Bible who have been confirmed archaeologically. His follow-up article, “Archaeology Confirms 3 More Bible People,” published in the May/June 2017 issue of BAR, adds another three people to the list. The identified persons include Israelite kings and Mesopotamian monarchs as well...
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Dead Sea Scroll Search
In 1946 or 1947, a Bedouin goatherd found a number of ancient texts in a cave overlooking the Dead Sea and the ruins of the town of Qumran in the West Bank. Searches over the next decade yielded around 900 mostly fragmentary ancient Jewish texts in 11 different caves. These texts, known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, are among the greatest archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century. Written primarily on parchment and papyrus, they date from between the third century B.C. and the first...
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Discovery of High Priest's Rare Gold Bell
Amazing Discovery in Israel! Archaeologists have discovered a rare gold bell with a small loop at its end. The finding was made during an archaeological excavation in the City of David National Park (near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem) by the Israel Antiquities Authority in cooperation with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Ir David Foundation. The directors of the excavation on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, archaeologists Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich...
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Ancient Charred Hebrew Scroll Virtually Unwrapped
A new digital analysis of the extremely fragile Ein Gedi scroll — the oldest Pentateuchal scroll in Hebrew outside of the Dead Sea Scrolls — reveals the ink-based writing hidden on its untouchable, disintegrating sheets, without ever opening it. While prior research has successfully identified text within ancient artifacts, the Ein Gedi manuscript represents the first severely damaged, animal skin-based scroll to be virtually unrolled and non-invasively read line by line. The...
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Who Were the Essenes?
What social archaeology tells us about the Essenes of Qumran A recent study has sought to determine by sophisticated methods whether Khirbet Qumran was home to a Qumran community of sectarian Jews, the Essenes of Qumran. The study by Eyal Regev of Bar-Ilan University examines the architectural plan of Qumran and applies so-called “access analysis” to map the site’s spatial organization in order to uncover the social ideology of the Essenes of Qumran. Regev...
DID SOLOMON'S TEMPLE TREASURE COME TO ENGLAND?
This is an interesting proposition that was first put forward by renowned archaeologist Yigael Yadin. In January 1850 Austen Henry Layard discovered, what he was to call, "The Room of the Bronzes". He found this small room in a palace built by King Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria (c.884-859BCE). In it were twelve bronze cauldrons, some of which contained a total of 170 metal bowls and vessels. These sets of bronze items seem to have made up some form of luxurious drinking services. Some of these...
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Qumran Phylacteries Reveal Nine New Dead Sea Scrolls
Bible and archaeology news After discovering a new Dead Sea Scroll text by conducting a CT scan on a phylactery from Qumran, Ariel University scholar Yonatan Adler began to look for additional tefillin texts. According to a Times of Israel article, Adler’s quest took him to the Dead Sea Scroll lab at the Israel Museum, where he discovered additional rolled up tefillin texts inside fragments of phylactery cases. Noah Wiener • 09/23/2016 The...
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The Tel Dan Inscription: The First Historical Evidence of King David from the Bible
Tel Dan inscription references the “House of David" Few modern Biblical archaeology discoveries have caused as much excitement as the Tel Dan inscription—writing on a ninth-century B.C. stone slab (or stela) that furnished the first historical evidence of King David from the Bible. The Tel Dan inscription, or “House of David” inscription, was discovered in 1993 at the site of Tel Dan in northern Israel in an excavation directed by Israeli archaeologist Avraham...
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Alexander the Great in an Ancient Synagogue?
Stunning Huqoq mosaic unveiled Robin Ngo 09/14/2016 A 1,500-year-old mosaic that might depict a meeting between Alexander the Great and the Jewish high priest has been unveiled in full by National Geographic. The mosaic was unearthed during excavations of a fifth-century C.E. synagogue at Huqoq, a site in Israel’s Lower Galilee. Led by Jodi Magness, the Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Huqoq...
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Sifting Antiquity on the Temple Mount Sifting Project
Temple Mount Sifting Project investigates Temple Mount soil Robin Ngo • 10/20/2016 Sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is today a contested site. Archaeological excavations are not allowed here, though one project—the Temple Mount Sifting Project—has been analyzing soil that came from the Temple Mount since 2004. In “Relics in Rubble: The Temple Mount Sifting Project” in the November/December 2016 issue of...
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Gold Nero Coin Comes to Light in Jerusalem
Coin of Roman Emperor Nero discovered by the Mount Zion Project Robin Ngo • 10/17/2016 A rare gold coin depicting Roman emperor Nero was unearthed in archaeological excavations just outside the Old City of Jerusalem in Israel. The coin was found in the excavations of the Mount Zion Project, codirected by Shimon Gibson, Visiting Professor of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and James Tabor, Professor of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity at...
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What Is the Oldest Hebrew Bible?
The formation of the Hebrew Bible from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Aleppo Codex Jennifer Drummond • 11/01/2015 What is the oldest Hebrew Bible? That is a complicated question. The Dead Sea Scrolls are fragments of the oldest Hebrew Bible text, while the Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex are the oldest complete versions, written by the Masoretes in the 10th and 11th centuries, respectively. The Ashkar-Gilson Manuscript falls in between the early scrolls and the...
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Jewish Purification: Stone Vessel Workshop Discovered in Galilee
A 2,000-year-old stone production center points to ritual purity Robin Ngo • 08/25/2016 Where do the “Stone Age” and the time of Jesus meet without the aid of a space-time wormhole? At the Galilean site of ‘Einot Amitai near Nazareth in northern Israel, where archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old quarry and workshop that produced chalkstone vessels. An excavation at a cave in Galilee has uncovered what may be a 2,000-year-old stone vessel...
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The Fishy Secret to Ancient Magdala’s Economic Growth
Cornering the salted fish market Excavations and research conducted around the Sea of Galilee have revealed a great deal about the history of the Galilean towns and their populations during the first century C.E. At Magdala, hometown of Mary Magdalene in the Bible, excavations have uncovered a large marketplace with 28 shops, about 300 fishing weights, 40 pools and more than 4,000 ancient coins, the majority of which were minted in Jerusalem. Putting all of this together, the finds...
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Rare Roman mosaic 'depicting Hercules' unearthed in Cyprus
Posted 14 Jul 2016, 6:33pm Photo: The rare mosaic is dated to the Roman Period (AFP: Iakovos Hatzistavrou) A rare Roman mosaic has been uncovered in Cyprus during sewerage work on the eastern Mediterranean island. Only part of the mosaic, measuring 19 metres long and seven metres wide, has been excavated in the southern coastal city of Larnaca and officials believe more is still buried. "A preliminary estimation would suggest that scenes of the Labours of Hercules are depicted and that...
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Archaeologists Uncover Second Temple-era Priestly Quarter in Jerusalem
Archaeologists Uncover Second Temple-era Priestly Quarter of Jerusalem Luxuries, like a bathtub, signal that the 2000-year old house being dug up in Mt. Zion, near Caiaphas' home, belonged to a member of the ruling class. Philippe BohstromJul 12, 2016 4:55 PM Archaeologists find the last hideout of the Jewish Revolt in Jerusalem Ancient Romans, Jews invented trash collection, archaeology of Jerusalem hints Jerusalem even older than thought: Archaeologists find 7,000-year-old...
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First-Ever Philistine Cemetery Unearthed at Ashkelon
Discovery brings us face to face with the Israelites’ archenemy The first and only Philistine cemetery ever discovered has been found outside the walls of ancient Ashkelon. As one of the major Philistine city-states during the Iron Age, Ashkelon was a significant Mediterranean port and boasted a thriving marketplace. Excavations at Ashkelon have revealed many details about how the Philistines lived: the kind of houses they built; the food they ate; the plates, bowls, cups, pots and...
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Attalid Rulers 2200 year old grave in Turkey?
The long-lost burial site of the Attalid Dynasty, which ruled the city of Pergamon after Alexander the Great, may have been identified. A vast mound first excavated almost 200 years ago in western Turkey is the spot, Prof. Felix Pirson thinks – and hopes to prove it soon using advanced technologies. Certainly, the monumental burial site at Yiğma Tepe, atop a hill by Pergamon (today Bergama) had to have been created to commemorate somebody vastly important. "What points to the...
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Josephus on the Essenes
Flavius Josephus was a first-century Jewish historian, politician and soldier whose literary works provide crucial documentation of Roman Palestine in the first century A.D. At age 29, he was appointed general of the Jewish forces in Galilee. He was eventually captured by Vespasian, who was at that time the supreme commander of the Roman army. Josephus capitulated and sought to ingratiate himself with the Roman general, eventually becoming part of the imperial court in Rome. He was an...
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Birdwatcher Spies Egyptian Scarab Seal at Dor
Birdwatcher Spies Egyptian Scarab Seal at Dor Bible and archaeology newsRobin Ngo • 05/04/2016 The name of the scarab’s owner, his position, and ankh and djed symbols (representing eternal life and stability, respectively) are engraved on the Egyptian scarab seal. While the owner’s name hasn’t been deciphered yet, he is described on the scarab as an “overseer of the treasury.” Birdwatcher Alexander Ternopolsky made a remarkable discovery...
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2,400 Year-old Mosaic Found in Southern Turkey
2,400 Year-old Mosaic Found in Southern Turkey says'Be Cheerful, Enjoy Your Life'. A 2,400 year-old mosaic discovered during excavations in Turkey's southern Hatay province, showing a skeleton lying down with a jorum in his hand and a wine pitcher and bread on the side could be one of its kind, Turkish researchers have said. The mosaic, which is reportedly from the 3rd century BCE, was first discovered in 2012, when municipality was carrying out work to build a cable car in Antakya and found...
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2,200-year-old Bronze Artifacts Found At Biblical Site
2,200-year-old bronze artifacts found at biblical site Incense shovel, jug from Second Temple era unearthed at Magdala, on Sea of Galilee, during recent excavations An ornate Second Temple era bronze incense shovel and bronze jug were recently unearthed at the biblical site of Magdala, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Tuesday. By Ilan Ben Zion April 5, 2016, 5:04 pm The 2,200-year-old artifacts were found during excavations being carried...
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Stone Seals found from First Temple Era in shadow of Temple Mount!
TWO STONE SEALS FROM FIRST TEMPLE ERA DISCOVERED IN CITY OF DAVID, IN SHADOW OF TEMPLE MOUNT Two 2,500 year old stone seals, one belonging to a woman by the name of Elihana bat Gael, and the other belonging to a man by the name of Sa‘aryahu ben Shabenyahu, were unearthed recently as part of an archaeological dig being conducted in the City of David, located just to the south of the Temple Mount. Archaeologists describe the stones as semi-precious and they are in excellent condition...