Beach employee searching for lost jewelry finds 2,500-year-old coin unlike any seen before in Israel
Avi Chaprak spends his days helping beachgoers in Ashdod recover rings, keys, and phones lost in the sand. About a month ago, while searching the shore for someone’s lost belongings, he turned up something considerably older.
Study solves decades-old Dead Sea Scrolls mystery: Qumran sect used a calendar doomed to fail
A calendar that governed the Qumran sect’s religious life but was mathematically guaranteed to fall apart was not merely a theological abstraction. It was used, in practice, by a community willing to base its entire religious identity on a system it must have known would eventually collapse.
Cabinet approves $9 million plan to open the biblical heartland to tourism
For decades, tourists standing at the overlook above Shiloh or walking the ancient road to Beth El faced the same problem: there was nowhere to spend the night. Israel’s Cabinet moved to change that on Sunday.
Herod built a secret tomb for himself inside the Cave of Machpelah, Israeli researchers reveal
Israeli researchers have identified a concealed burial chamber inside the Cave of Patriarchs, and they are now arguing that King Herod built the entire magnificent complex not only to honor Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but to prepare an eternal resting place for himself.
Buried 2,700-year-old pillar in Judean mansion may confirm Hezekiah’s war on idol worship
That discovery may be the strongest physical evidence yet for one of the most contested episodes in the Bible: King Hezekiah’s campaign to abolish idolatrous worship throughout Judah.
Cursed by Jesus, Korazim yields 1,500-year-old gem to Israeli schoolboy
A 12-year-old Israeli boy has uncovered a rare gemstone dating back at least 1,500 years in Korazim, the ancient Jewish village in the Galilee that appears in the New Testament as one of the communities Jesus condemned for rejecting his teachings.
Archaeological discovery in Sinai brings Ezekiel’s warning to life at Pelusium
A massive circular basin, more than 100 feet across and once filled with Nile water and silt, has emerged from the sands of northern Sinai, offering a rare glimpse into an ancient ritual complex at a site long associated with a city named in the Bible.
Ancient cistern at Tel Azekah yields mass grave of 89 infants and a window into biblical Israel
In the valley where David slew Goliath, archaeologists have uncovered something far more unsettling than ancient weapons or shattered pottery: a cistern packed with the bones of dozens of infants, buried there 2,500 years ago.
Iron blooms from the deep: what a sunken ship reveals about ancient Israel
These artifacts, just published in the journal Heritage Science, are changing what archaeologists thought they knew about Iron Age metallurgy and trade. And they carry implications that reach directly into the biblical world.
Ancient Greek sling bullet found near Sea of Galilee bears mocking message
The Greek soldier who cast that sling bullet more than two thousand years ago believed he was delivering a lesson. His sarcastic command was meant for the Jewish army as it climbed toward the city.