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archaeology

Archaeology
Purple from Holy Temple objects traced to snail guts at 3,000-year-old Haifa factory
By Melanie Lidman
Archaeologists uncover new evidence at a Phoenician dye factory that suggests the site was conquered by Israelites around the mid-9th century BCE
An example of fibers dyed using the purple color from sea snails. (courtesy Jonathan Gottlieb)
June 22, 2023, 10:57 am
Purple from Holy Temple objects traced to snail guts at 3,000-year-old Haifa factory
Archaeologists uncover new evidence at a Phoenician dye factory that suggests the site was conquered by Israelites around the mid-9th century BCE
By Melanie Lidman
A selection of Akkadian cuneiform translated with AI. (courtesy, Gai Gutherz)
June 17, 2023, 9:57 am
Groundbreaking AI project translates 5,000-year-old cuneiform at push of a button
‘Google Translate’-like program for Akkadian cuneiform will enable tens of thousands of digitized but unread tablets to be translated to English. Accuracy is debatable
By Melanie Lidman
IAA archaeologist Marwan Masarwah holds a 1,700-year-old anchor in front of a sign advertising the campaign to encourage citizens to return illegally-held antiquities on June 15, 2023. (courtesy IAA)
June 15, 2023, 11:10 pm
New campaign to anonymously return illegally held antiquities nets thousands of items
15% of public estimated to be holding antiquities in their homes that by law belong to the state; Israel Antiquities Authority’s collection drive extended another week
By Melanie Lidman
Hebrew University post-doctoral fellow Dr. Laurent Davin plays a recreated 12,000-year-old flute discovered in northern Israel. (credit Laurent Davin)
June 9, 2023, 2:11 pm
Archaeologists discover and replicate earliest musical instrument in the Middle East
Tiny 12,000-year-old bone hunting flute likely used to attract birds of prey for Natufian settlements in Hula Valley
By Melanie Lidman
The interactive globe at the newly renovated Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem, reopening June 1, 2023 (Courtesy Ricky Rachman)
May 29, 2023, 5:12 pm
Modern and ancient coexist in $50 million Tower of David renovation
Museum in age-old citadel becomes capital’s official gateway to the Old City
By Jessica Steinberg
An Egyptian archeologist points at a colored painting showing a sacrifice offering at a recently uncovered tomb that was said to belong to a top official of the fifth Dynasty named 'Ne Hesut Ba' (2,400 BCE), at the site of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, Egypt, May 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
May 27, 2023, 6:26 pm
Egypt unveils recently discovered ancient workshops, tombs in Saqqara necropolis
Site at ancient capital of Memphis used to mummify humans and animals nearly 2,500 years ago
By AP
Tasting the biblical-style beer produced from ancient yeast strains dormant for thousands of years. (Yaniv Berman/ Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)
May 26, 2023, 3:08 pm
Brew your own ancient beer: Yeast from 3,000-year-old Philistine beer jug now on sale
Israeli multi-disciplinary research team’s first yeast strain available on preorder for December shipping; Israel Museum and Shikma Brewery launch limited edition commercial batch
By Melanie Lidman
Inspectors for the Israel Antiquities Authority Theft Prevention Unit with three ossuaries recovered from a burial cave in northern Israel that was nearly destroyed by construction. (courtesy Yoli Schwartz/IAA)
May 23, 2023, 2:58 pm
Family building a house in northern Israel destroys 1,800-year-old burial cave
Inspectors raid construction site where bulldozers flattened cave, find ossuaries; owner to be indicted for failing to report antiquity discovery
By Melanie Lidman
An ancient Egyptian sarcophagus undergoing a CT scan at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, May 21, 2023. (Shaare Zedek Medical Center)
May 22, 2023, 1:00 am
Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi undergo CT scans in Jerusalem hospital to reveal craft
Israel Museum expert says CT scans offer best way to examine how coffins, including one almost 3,000 years old, were made and decorated
By ToI Staff
Part of the handwritten list of words attributed to Maimonides from the Cambridge University Genizah Research Unit. (courtesy Cambridge University/José Martínez Delgado)
May 19, 2023, 4:36 pm
Mysterious trilingual Cairo Geniza vocab list found to be penned by Maimonides
Housed at Cambridge University’s Genizah Research Unit, crib sheet with words in Hebrew, Arabic and a Romance dialect gives a glimpse into renowned philosopher’s method of thinking
By Melanie Lidman
The 2,000-year-old inscription bearing the financial record discovered near ancient Jerusalem's Pilgrimage Path. (Eliyahu Yanai, City of David)
May 17, 2023, 11:56 am
2,000-year-old ledger found in City of David points to widespread 2nd Temple literacy
Discovered near Pilgrimage Path, inscribed chalkstone slab that appears to be ossuary maker’s accounting record adds to physical evidence of ancient Jerusalem shuk in lower city
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
An Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist checks out pieces of 1,800-year-old marble from a shipwreck off the shore of Beit Yanai in central Israel. (Israel Antiquities Authority's Theft Prevention Unit)
May 15, 2023, 11:43 am
Swimmer discovers precious marble cargo from 1,800-year-old Mediterranean shipwreck
Roman-era raw materials likely came from Turkey and were on their way to a southern Holy Land port; archaeologists hope to find wood remains of ship during excavations next week
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Closeup of the outside of the arguably Late Bronze Age lead curse tablet discovered on Mount Ebal in 2019. (Michael C. Luddeni/Associates for Biblical Research)
May 14, 2023, 5:23 pm
Academic article on controversial 3,200-year-old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts
Year after team hails bombshell discovery of oldest Hebrew writing in Israel, details of the find hit a peer-reviewed journal. But some academics don’t see any inscription at all
By Melanie Lidman
In Sussita, a marble pillar lies next to a platform that likely once held a statue donated by a prosperous couple who moved to Caesarea. (Shmuel Bar-Am)
May 13, 2023, 12:18 pm
Revamped as a national park, ancient Sussita’s rich history is even more accessible
Settled 2,200 years ago and razed in an earthquake in 740 CE, the Golan Heights site changed hands numerous times over the years. It is now easier to reach for intrepid visitors
By Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am
Israelis visit the site of the ancient village of Sebastia near the West Bank city of Nablus, on April 22, 2019, during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. (Hillel Maeir/Flash90)
May 7, 2023, 6:33 pm
Government approves $8.8m budget to restore ancient Israel’s capital in West Bank
Funds to go toward development of Sebastia archaeological park near Nablus, with remains from 10 different periods, over which Israelis and Palestinians have fought for years
By ToI Staff
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