Biblical Archaeology Review, 2024

Deep beneath the hilltop site of Horvat Qasra in the Judean foothills is a fifth-century cave chapel dedicated to St. Salome. Originally the ancestral tomb of a first-century Jewish family that owned a large agricultural estate on the hill above, the cave complex was repurposed by early Christians as a shrine to the revered saint. But who was St. Salome, and does her shrine commemorate the burial place of one of Jesus’s first disciples?

Traces of wall paintings in the Byzantine-period village of Shivta in the Negev have been recently identified as images of Jesus. They portray Jesus’s baptism, painted in the North Church’s baptistery, and the Transfiguration, in the South Church. These rare compositions elucidate the development of early Christian iconography and cultural life in this remote region.

In the wake of two disastrous revolts against Rome, many Jews left Judah for neighboring lands, including the verdant oases of ancient North Arabia, where inscriptions bear silent witness to the lives of the early Jews who made Arabia their home. Explore what these inscriptions reveal about the Jewish presence at major oasis centers like Tayma, Al-Ula, and Hegra.

During the fourth century, monumental churches arose across Roman Palestine to commemorate major events in the life of Jesus. Starting with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, these commemorative churches became stations on a pilgrim’s Holy Land itinerary to contemplate the tenets of the Christian faith—from the annunciation to the ascension. Exploring their architecture reveals common features designed to construct the identity and beliefs of early Christians.

Despite Moab’s proximity to Israel and Judah and its prominence in the biblical account, we still know little about this ancient kingdom east of the Jordan. A more fulsome picture is coming to light thanks to excavations at the site of Khirbet Balu‘a, one of the largest Moabite sites ever discovered. Journey into the heart of Moab to see what archaeology has revealed about this ancient city and its connections to the biblical past.

Some two dozen fragments of ancient Egyptian statues have turned up in the excavations of the Canaanite city of Hazor in the Upper Galilee. Intriguingly, these statues were destroyed already in antiquity, and most were found in archaeological contexts dating centuries after the pieces were first made. Explore how, when, and why these high-end artifacts ended up at Late Bronze Age Hazor.

The Iron Age building recently excavated in the Givati Parking Lot section of the City of David was unique in Jerusalem’s ancient landscape. A magnificent residence and reception hall used for official ceremonies and social gatherings, it may be identified with the biblical “chamber,” reflecting the daily life of Jerusalem’s ruling elite at the end of the First Temple period.

A quarter-century of excavations at Tell es-Safi, site of the Philistine city of Gath, has allowed archaeologists to refine longstanding assumptions about ancient Israel’s most feared rivals and how these people of foreign origin integrated into the social and ethnic fabric of the southern Levant. Venture into this thriving metropolis to glimpse the rich and diverse culture of one of the region’s most powerful Iron Age kingdoms.

Did Solomon fortify the royal city of Gezer as the Hebrew Bible claims (1 Kings 9)? Explore new archaeological evidence that confirms he did. Monumental architecture now securely dated to the mid-tenth century BCE testifies that Gezer was a fortified administrative center already during the time of King Solomon, when the rising power of Judah was expanding westward into the Shephelah.

When the Assyrians conquered Samaria in 720 BCE, the once-prosperous Northern Kingdom of Israel came to a disastrous end. Massive deportations of Israelites followed, and the land was resettled by deportees from other parts of the Assyrian Empire. Later biblical tradition remembered these events as the disappearance of ancient Israel’s ten northern tribes. Explore the archaeological evidence from Gezer, an important stronghold in the Judean foothills.

Excavations near the City of David yielded more than 1,500 fragments of ancient ivory. Found in the ruins of Building 100, which burned down during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, the fragments came from plaques that adorned luxurious wooden furniture. Explore these unique finds and what they reveal about the lives of Jerusalem’s wealthiest residents.

The Amarna Letters, a collection of cuneiform documents discovered in Egypt, provide a wealth of insights into diplomatic relations between Egypt and the kingdoms and empires of the Late Bronze Age. The letters written from the kings of the Canaanite polities illuminate the social and political realities these rulers faced, as well as the contours of their Canaanite language.

Oriented to the east, with a broad view across the Elah Valley, the Canaanite temple at Azekah was bathed each morning in the sun’s rays. The temple’s architecture and ritual items that were found inside evidence both Levantine and Egyptian influence on local religious practice and point to Azekah’s status as a strategic, multicultural center in Late Bronze Age Canaan.

In the wake of the Late Bronze Age collapse, change swept over the eastern Mediterranean world. In the southern Levant, the once-formidable Canaanite city-states yielded to the rise of new kingdoms, including biblical Israel. Explore this historic transformation and the ways in which various peoples adapted to the shifting realities of a changed world.

The story of Jesus’s raising of Lazarus (John 11) is one of the most memorable in the Gospels. Integral to the narrative are Lazarus’s two sisters, Mary and Martha, who petition Jesus for healing and then bear witness to their brother’s resurrection. But there is manuscript evidence that an early version of the story included just one sister, Mary, possibly Mary Magdalene. Was Martha a later addition to the story?

From time to time, the world of biblical archaeology is upended by the discovery of a remarkable inscription. But is it possible that our insatiable appetite for such groundbreaking finds clouds our ability to evaluate them cautiously and fairly? A closer look at a few recent examples sheds light on how our eagerness to find the sensational can lead even experts to jump to inaccurate conclusions.