Features

Jerusalem Rolls Out Red Carpet for Biblical Archaeology Congress
Serious issues raised concerning nature of Biblical archaeology as well as publication of Dead Sea Scrolls By Hershel Shanks

For a week in April, all Jerusalem was aglitter with archaeology. The occasion was the International Congress on Biblical Archaeology marking the 70th anniversary of the Israel Exploration Society. At the opening session, the Acting President of Israel, Menachem Savidor, greeted the audience of more than 800 scholars and nonscholars from 22 countries around […]

Fifteen Years in Sinai
Israeli archeologists discover a new world By Itzhaq Beit-Arieh

We were driving south, along the Gulf of Suez, heading for our excavation site when our jeep broke down. Fortunately, it happened on a paved road, before we turned onto the desert track that would take us to a desolate site in the interior of the Sinai Peninsula, still 65 miles away. We […]

Red Sea or Reed Sea?
How the mistake was made and what yam sûp really means By Bernard F. Batto

If there is anything that sophisticated students of the Bible know, it is that yam sûp, although traditionally translated Red Sea, really means Reed Sea, and that it was in fact the Reed Sea that the Israelites crossed on their way out of Egypt. Well, it doesn’t and it wasn’t and they’re wrong! Yam […]

The Mystery of the Unexplained Chain
A chain reaction at Lachish By Yigael Yadin

In the March/April BAR, David Ussishkin reported on the Assyrian siege ramp and the Judean counter ramp that he excavated at Lachish (see “Defensive Judean Counter-Ramp Found at Lachish in 1983 Season,” BAR 10:02). His report, together with the review of his book on the Assyrian siege of Lachish, extensively illustrated with reliefs from […]

Restoring the Reputation of Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope
A little-known episode in the beginnings of archaeology in the Holy Land By Neil Asher Silberman

Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope, granddaughter of William Pitt and daughter of the third Earl of Stanhope, was the first person who ever intentionally excavated an ancient artifact in the Holy Land. In this sense, she might be considered the first Biblical archaeologist. But when Lady Hester unearthed a huge marble statue at Tell […]

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