Biblical Archaeology Review, Fall 2025

The Nicene Creed, which defines the Christian faith, was adopted at the church’s first ecumenical council in 325 CE. This meeting took place in Nicea—modern İznik in Turkey—but the exact location of the proceedings has never been found. Explore how archaeology may finally reveal where the highest church representatives met 1,700 years ago to settle the faith’s early theological disputes.

Thousands of pilgrims traversed the Ophel on their way up to the Jerusalem Temple. Located between the City of David to its south and the Temple complex, this area was the primary gateway to the Temple. Explore what archaeology reveals about Jerusalem pilgrimage during the last two centuries of the Second Temple period, from the Hasmoneans up to Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 CE.

In the late eighth century BCE, a series of Assyrian military campaigns devastated the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Large numbers of refugees fled south to Judah, including royal scribes who escaped with stories and traditions from the north that would later be recorded in the Hebrew Bible. Trace the evidence of these northern refugees and the critical role they may have played in Jerusalem’s royal court.

Biblical archaeology has come a long way in the past century. Emerging trends are reshaping how scholars think about and conduct archaeology in the biblical world. Learn how archaeologists today still grapple with the complexities of the past but also practice a more responsible archaeology that engages with a broader range of questions, geographies, and communities.