Features

Archaeology Odyssey’s 10 Most Endangered Sites

Any choice of the “10 Most Endangered Sites” is, at most, a kind of informed arbitrariness. Although all of the sites on our list are archaeologically important and in imminent danger, some have more value than others and some face greater threats. Our ranking takes both factors into account, as well as the collective […]

Fakes!
How Moses Shapira forged an entire civilization By Hershel Shanks

Moses Wilhelm Shapira is best known for the so-called Shapira Strips, narrow fragments of supposedly ancient parchment on which were inscribed a somewhat different version of the Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy than is known from the Bible. Said to have been found in the cliffs east of the Dead Sea, they were written in […]

“My Blood of the Covenant”
What did the apostles drink at the last supper? By Nicholas K. Rauh, Elizabeth Lyding Will

In Jerusalem around 30 C.E., an itinerant Jewish rabbi named Jesus lifted a cup of wine, passed it to his disciples and said: This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink the fruit of the vine until that day […]

Departments

Editors’ Page: Excavating the Deep
Can the market reduce underwater looting? By Hershel Shanks
Origins: One, Two…Three
Human beings learned to count at the same time that the Mesopotamian city-states were developing. Was it just a coincidence? By Denise Schmandt-Besserat
Past Perfect: In the Here and Now
The first-century A.D. poet Martial wryly—and timelessly—observes life in ancient Rome
Ancient Life: Sailing the Desert
Not the Hamill Camel
The Forum
Of Iufaa’s beaded shroud,child sacrifice and the amazing journey of a manuscript