Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2017
Features
Each year students and volunteers from around the world travel through time by participating in excavations. We explore the history of the land of the Bible as we dig into the archaeological past. Learn about this year’s exciting excavation opportunities!
Excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa have uncovered a second city gate from the 10th century B.C.E., the time of King David’s reign. No other site from this period has more than one gate. What do Qeiyafa’s two city gates tell us about the Kingdom of Judah in David’s time?
In the Genesis creation narratives, God arguably speaks Hebrew; in fact, everyone speaks Hebrew until the Tower of Babel. If Hebrew were a holy language, one would expect it to be unique—set apart from other languages—but it is not. Perhaps Hebrew did not start out holy—but instead became holy.
Where is the original Pool of Siloam, the water pool that fed Jerusalem in the First Temple period? While the Roman-period Pool of Siloam—where Jesus cured the blind man—has recently been discovered, the earlier Pool of Siloam remains unknown. BAR’s editor investigates a possible location—another piece of the great Jerusalem water system puzzle.