MBA incised reed recovered from Wadi Murabbaʿat Cave 2

ORGANIC MATERIAL CULTURE: Mysterious 3,700-Year-Old Decorated Reed Revealed in Judaean Desert Cave First of its kind in the Southern Levant, the Middle Bronze Age object still keeps its purpose secret (oguz kayra, Arkeonews).

A slender reed fragment found deep inside a cave in the Judaean Desert has emerged as one of the most unusual objects known from the Middle Bronze Age Southern Levant. It is small, fragile, and incomplete, yet its incised surface carries a set of deliberate designs that have survived for nearly 3,700 years in the dry darkness of Wadi Murabbaʿat Cave 2.

A new study published in Tel Aviv identifies the object as the first known reed item from this period ever reported in the Southern Levant. Radiocarbon dating places it between 1743 and 1542 BCE, in the second half of the Middle Bronze Age. Its exact purpose remains unresolved, but the evidence points to an object that was handled, decorated, and possibly connected to a ritual or funerary setting.

[...]

The Tel Aviv article is open access:

A Decorated Middle Bronze Age Reed from Wadi Murabbaʿat

Matthew Susnow, Roi Porat & Uri Davidovich
Published online: 08 Jul 2026
Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2026.2620264

Abstract

This paper presents a recently discovered incised reed object from Wadi Murabbaʿat Cave 2, in the northern Judaean Desert, that dates to the early second millennium BCE. This is the first reed object from this period to be discovered in the Southern Levant. The incised decorations recall decorative motifs known from a plethora of objects of different materials, functionality and contexts. The reed belongs to a small group of Middle Bronze Age objects found in the cave in the 1950s, many of which are found in contemporaneous burials, including at Jericho. The study argues that the object was likely produced on site, and not by a professional craftsperson. The precise meaning of the object remains unknown, but the pervasiveness of the reed’s decorations within the artistic traditions of the region suggests a widespread cultural template that was rooted in long-term regional symbolism.

And if an incised decorated reed could survive in this environment, why not an inscribed papyrus or parchment scroll? Such things existed in the Middle Bronze Age. Several complete literary compositions survive in scrolls from the Middle Kingdom in Egypt. Fragments too. And a scroll of the Egyptian Book of the Dead dating to the New Kingdom has turned up recently.

Comparably old (c. 1600 BCE) organic remains have been found at Megiddo. And quite early (tenth century BCE) remains in the Timna Valley. And more generally, see here and links.

I would like to think it's only a matter of time before scrolls from the Iron Age or even earlier turn up in Israel. We'll see.

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Does 1 Enoch say that the watchers are buried in Antarctica? No.

OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Ancient book banned from the Bible fuels theory of fallen angels imprisoned beneath Antarctica (Stacy Liberatore, Daily Mail).

That book is, of course, the Book of 1 Enoch, specifically the Book of Watchers (chapters 1-36).

Supporters of the theory cite passages describing imprisoned heavenly beings awaiting God's final judgment, along with references to the 'ends of the earth,' sealed 'chambers of cold' and burning mountains.

They claim the descriptions align with East Antarctica, its network of subglacial lakes and the buried Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, a vast range concealed beneath up to two miles of ice.

Between 2007 and 2009, an international research team used airborne radar and other geophysical instruments to map the Gamburtsev Mountains, revealing peaks hidden beneath the ice sheet.

While proponents say the similarities are too striking to dismiss, mainstream biblical scholars generally interpret the passages as symbolic descriptions of a supernatural realm rather than a literal location on Earth.

I think biblical scholars would say that the writer of the Book of Watchers likely believed that the watchers were buried in some specific, but perhaps undisclosed, literal location on earth. But, in reality, there was no such location. Certainly not Antarctica. The location was entirely imaginary.

The Mail article goes on to mention YouTube as the source of this daft Lovecraftian notion, but it does not give a link. Perhaps because there are quite a few videos advancing it, some going back as much as eight years, other much more recent.

I flag this story not because it has any scientific merit, but because it illustrates that there is considerable and, I think, increasing interest in the Book of 1 Enoch and the story of the rise and fall of the watchers. This Antarctica nonsense is well on the fringe end, but some of the interest comes from a more mainstream curiousity about surviving scriptures that Western Christians and interested secular people don't find in their own Bibles.

These matters are, as you know, near to my own heart. I have collected more stories on interest in 1 Enoch and will get to them when I can. I encourage specialists to keep up with these things. They can provide teaching moments when they come up.

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Is Egypt dismantling the legal status of Saint Catherine's Monastery?

SAINT CATHERINE'S MONASTERY: New Report Warns St. Catherine’s Monastery Has Reached a Decisive Stage in the Dismantling of Its Fifteen-Century Legal Status (Standard Newswire).

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2026 /Standard Newswire/ — Coptic Solidarity today released a new report warning that the crisis surrounding St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is not an isolated property dispute but the culmination of a decade-long process through which the Egyptian state has progressively challenged the centuries-old legal and institutional status of one of the world’s oldest continuously functioning Christian monasteries and one of UNESCO’s most emblematic World Heritage Sites.

[..]

This press release summarizes the Coptic Solidarity report. It includes a link, so you can read the whole report if you like.

I have been following this controversy for the last year or so and have posted on it here and here. As before, I have no insider information and I don't know what is really going on. But, whatever is happening, it should happen in the full light of the world's scrutiny.

For many other PaleoJudaica posts on Saint Catherine's Monastery and its important collection of manuscripts, start here (cf. here, and here and links) and follow the links.

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More on that solar calendar

CALENDAR MYSTERY CONTINUED: Prof. Eshbal Ratzon's Tarbiz article about the ancient Jewish 364-day solar calendar is getting lots of attention.

The original TAU press release is posted by Popular Archaeology (and elsewhere): Hasmonean history is combined with the enigma of the Qumran calendar – to solve an ancient mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. You can download the full text of the Hebrew Tarbiz article at her Academia.edu page here.

A couple of other articles cover the issues throughly. I think Prof. Ratzon is interviewed in both, although the Haaretz article doesn't specify this:

Did Breakoff Ancient Jews Really Use a 'Divine' 364-day Calendar? While grimly pitted against the Romans, the Jews hated each other too, which may have led some to adopt an alternative calendar handed down to Moses, according to the apocrypha (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz). This one also has some good photographs of manuscripts of 1 Enoch and Jubilees in various languages.

Power of 7: Could an ancient political feud explain Qumran sect’s faulty 364-day calendar?. New theory offers a solution to one of the Dead Sea Scrolls’ longest-running puzzles, arguing the out-of-sync calendar was used for ideological reasons — until it felt safe to abandon it (Zev Stub, Times of Israel).

I noted the 2014 Haaretz piece on the Hebrew calendar by Elon Gilad (mentioned in the current Haaretz article) here, with comments. Happily, it did not disappear behind the paywall!

Background and comments on Prof. Ratzon's Tarbiz article here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The movement ecology of Hannibal's route across the Alps?

PUNIC WATCH: A Bioenergetic Study Places the Col de la Traversette as the Most Probable Route for Hannibal’s Crossing of the Alps. An international study applies African elephant energy expenditure models to resolve the historic debate over the Carthaginian army’s passage in 218 B.C. (Guillermo Carvajal, LBV).

For another analysis of Hannibal's route from a quite different evidence base (ancient poop), see here and links. It also argues for the Col de la Traversette as the likely pathway.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on Hannibal Barca, the Carthaginian general who fought and nearly won the Second Punic War, start here and (cinematically, but canceled) here and follow the links.

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More on the British Museum's Palestine-labels controversy

ONOMASTIC POLITICS, CONTINUED: Row continues over removal of term ‘Palestine’ from British Museum displays. Campaigners claim internal emails show decision was driven by ‘undue political influence’ (Museums Journal Staff).

If I find a substantive response to these claims from the British Museum, I will let you know.

Background to the story is here and links. Follow-up related posts are here and links.

I discuss the Second Temple-era usage of the term "Palestine" here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The Rephaim and the Greek Meropes?

PROF. AMAR ANNUS:The Rephaim—Biblical Memories of West Semitic Ancestral Giants and Shades (TheTorah.com).

Standing in the Transjordan, Moses describes how the previous inhabitants had been the frightening, gigantic Rephaim (lit. “healers”). Elsewhere in the Bible, rephaim are powerless shades, living in the underworld, Sheol. Greek epic also preserves a memory of Meropes as a population of giants living on the island of Cos, and the term meropes also refers to “healers” who serve as priests of the god Asklepius. In both cases, these memories derive from the West Semitic Rapi’ūma, deified royal ancestors invoked in Ugaritic rituals to bless king and land.

It's always fun to go back to the Rephaim again. I don't recall hearing about this proposed connection with the Meropes before. I did know that the late Prof. Astour proposed some creative West Semitic connections with Greek mythology.

I have discussed the Rephaim especially here and here (in connection with the giants). For many other posts, see the links collected here (cf. here).

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

On the 364-day solar calendar

CALENDAR MYSTERY: Dead Sea Scrolls mystery: Qumran’s 364-day calendar may have been real, until it failed. Tel Aviv University study argues the calendar was not only a religious ideal but was used by the sect in its early years, before seasonal drift and political changes made it impractical (YNet News).

The study suggests that the calendar was indeed used in practice during the sect’s early period and even stood at the heart of the dispute that led to its separation from the Jerusalem religious establishment. Over time, however, the calendar was abandoned because of a built-in flaw that made it impossible to maintain and because of political changes that brought the sect closer to the Hasmonean leadership under Alexander Jannaeus.

The study was conducted by Prof. Eshbal Ratzon of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Jewish Philosophy and its Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas. It was published in the journal Tarbiz.

The article is publsihed in Tarbiz 91.1-2 (2026). Tarbiz is a Hebrew journal that seems to be available only in print form.

Whether anyone actually used the Jewish 364-day solar calendar is an old problem. I have touched on it occasionally over the years, notably here (especially), here, here, here, here, and here. I have not read this Tarbiz article, but Prof. Ratzon's case as summarized in the YNet article seems plausible. I doubt we will ever know for sure.

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Hidden portal in the Giza Pyramid to be opened?

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Hidden Passage In Great Pyramid Of Giza Could Unlock New Secrets, May Rewrite History In 2026. Egypt’s most prominent archaeologist has announced that an international team of scientists will unveil a major archaeological discovery inside the ancient wonder (Saurabh Verma, News18.com).

According to [Dr. Zahi] Hawass, advanced scanning technology and remote-controlled robotics have successfully mapped a massive, previously inaccessible 30-meter-long (98-foot) hidden corridor deep within the body of King Khufu’s pyramid. Even more tantalisingly, the passage terminates at a completely sealed, ancient stone door—a threshold Hawass promises will “rewrite a chapter in the history of the pharaohs," Futura-Sciences reported.

The full, official physical exploration and opening of what lies behind that door is slated to be broadcast globally.

Thanks to non-invasive and non-destructive technologies, we've know about this corridor and the chamber for some time. See the links collected here. But the news seems to be the corridor has been robotically mapped and that there is some kind of plan to open the mystery door. The Pulse has more on the robot's adventure, with an unlabeled photo, presumably taken by the robot, of what seems to be the corridor and door.

What is behind the portal? We'll see. 🚪🤖

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Second Temple-era discoveries at Shiloh

ARCHAEOLOGY: Archaeologists uncover Second Temple period treasures at Ancient Shiloh Heritage Site. Days before Tisha B’Av, archaeologists uncovered rare Second Temple-era treasures at ancient Shiloh, including a lavish ritual bath and a purple-dye snail shell once used for sacred garments, shedding new light on the site’s historic Jewish connection (Idan Bloemhof, YNet News).

For more on Tyrian purple dye and the Israelite telekhet dye, both made from the murex snail, see here and many links.

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Review of Roller, Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike. Books 21-40

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike. Books 21-40: from the battle of Ipsos (301 BC) to the Catilinarian conspiracy (62 BC).

Duane W. Roller, Diodoros of Sicily: Bibliotheke Historike. Books 21-40: from the battle of Ipsos (301 BC) to the Catilinarian conspiracy (62 BC). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025. Pp. 384. ISBN 9781009277495.

Review by
Charles E. Muntz, University of Arkansas. cmuntz@uark.edu>

The Bibliotheke, or Historical Library, of Diodorus Siculus, is the longest extant work of Greek history to survive from antiquity. Yet only 15 of the original 40 books survive complete. For the remaining 25 books we have an extensive number of fragments, and while obviously these are no substitute for the original books, they are still of vital importance to ancient historians, containing much information not available from other sources. For instance, it is largely from the fragments that we know about the massive slave revolts that rocked Roman Sicily. Now Duane Roller has provided a fine new translation with extensive notes of the fragments of books 21-40, which originally covered the years from 301 to approximately 60 BCE.

[...]

For more on Diodorus and why his work is of interest to PaleoJudaica, see here and links.

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Dr Albertina Oegema appointed to the Protestant Theological University

CONGRATULATIONS TO DR OEGEMA AND TO THE PTHU: Dr Albertina Oegema appointed Assistant Professor of New Testament (PThU press release).

9 July 2026 The Protestant Theological University (PThU) has appointed Dr Albertina Oegema as Assistant Professor of New Testament. On 8 July 2026, the Executive Committee (moderamen) of the General Synod of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands approved the appointment. This makes the appointment by the Executive Board final. Oegema will begin her new position on 1 August. ...

Dr Albertina Oegema is a postdoctoral researcher in New Testament at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. From 2020 to 2022 she was affiliated with the Protestant Theological University, among other roles as a postdoctoral researcher. She studied at the University of Groningen (Bachelor's degree and Research Master's degree cum laude) and obtained her PhD cum laude at Utrecht University with a dissertation on early rabbinic parables. Her work demonstrates her considerable philological expertise in the interpretation of rabbinic sources. Oegema uses interdisciplinary perspectives and methods from the humanities in the fields of gender studies, childhood and youth studies, agency, and emotion to open up new ways of interpreting ancient texts.

I first met Dr. Oegema at a postgraduate conference in St Andrews back in 2011, when she was still a doctoral student at Gronigen. It's been good to see her career progressing since then.

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Anderson, Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John (Eerdmans)

NEW BOOK FROM EERDMANS:

Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John
What Recent Discoveries Show Us

by Paul N. Anderson

Imprint: Eerdmans

650 Pages, 6.00 × 9.00 in

Hardcover
9780802879899
Publication Date: May 26, 2026
$99.99
£73.99
Out of Stock

eBook
9781467463584
Publication Date: May 26, 2026
$99.99
£73.99

Description

Discover the Fourth Gospel’s significance for historical Jesus studies.

For years, the Gospel of John has been excluded from historical Jesus studies because of its distinctive theological and literary features. Yet, while John’s Gospel is often characterized as “the spiritual gospel,” it actually contains more archaeologically attested content and topographical details than all the other gospels combined. In this groundbreaking volume, renowned archaeologists discuss the Fourth Gospel’s material features and show how those features enrich our understanding of the historical Jesus.

More than two dozen contributors present evidence of the Fourth Gospel’s historical reliability. Some of the contributors focus on Johannine descriptions of Jesus’s ministry, using archaeological expertise to illuminate narrative details ranging from the stone jars in Cana to the fishing industry in Galilee. Other contributors focus on Johannine discussions of places and customs, bringing archaeological research to bear on narrative references to worship sites on Mt. Gerazim, the second pool of Siloam, crucifixion practices of imperial Rome, and more. Throughout the volume, research findings are documented with compelling images. Following discussions of specific archaeological data, the book concludes with a broad overview of the implications for historical Jesus studies. By challenging the longstanding critical bias against the Fourth Gospel’s historical content, Archaeology, Jesus, and the Gospel of John lays the groundwork for a new quest for the historical Jesus—an inclusive quest that fully engages the Johannine account.

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Vayntrub, Body Language (Yale)

NEW BOOK FROM YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Body Language

Voice, Embodiment, and Textuality in the Hebrew Bible

by Jacqueline Vayntrub

Series: The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library

232 Pages, 6.12 × 9.25 in

Hardcover
9780300230901
Published: Tuesday, 23 Jun 2026
$50.00

eBook
9780300291575
Published: Tuesday, 23 Jun 2026
$50.00
Out of Stock

eBook
9780300291551
Published: Tuesday, 23 Jun 2026
$50.00

Description

A revelatory study of embodied voice and its function in biblical texts

Performance, transmission, and corporeality were essential to ancient understandings of textuality. Far more than an aide-mémoire, written text constituted a powerful mechanism for capturing and transmitting embodied vocal presence. In this bold and provocative book, Jacqueline Vayntrub demonstrates how embedded concepts of embodied speechmaking shaped a tradition of aesthetics and interpretation in the Hebrew Bible.

For authors and readers alike, biblical texts functioned as vessels containing voices for posterity, preserving otherwise fleeting moments of performance and transporting audiences into an idealized or stylized past. Through incisive readings of passages from diverse genres and examinations of the social and material dimensions of speech in the ancient Near East, Vayntrub offers a striking reconceptualization of the biblical authors’ understanding of literary craft.

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Noncanonical scriptures in the Enlightenment

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: How The Enlightenment Discovered The Alternative Scriptures (Philip Jenkins).

I have long worked on what we might call alternative Christianities and especially the scriptures they produced. In the modern world, we are well used to the idea of early systems that get labeled heresies, but which actually (many believe) conveyed many of the authentic teachings of the early church. As we known from the work of Elaine Pagels, Bart Ehrman, Karen King, and so many others, there were whole gospels that somehow got excluded from the emerging canon. Based on my own readings, I think that process of discovery started much earlier than we usually suppose, closer to 1900 than to 2000. But increasingly, I am finding much deeper roots, which are not well known or discussed. Today’s blog concerns what I find a startling wave of discoveries that happened still earlier, in the Enlightenment years around 1700, which look far more modern than we might ever have thought. Much of the main work came from clergy themselves, usually situated within the established churches. Even then, some people claimed to find whole new gospels.

[...]

Johann Albert Fabricius and I go way back. We dedicated the 2013 MOTP1 volume to him and tho R. H. Charles on the respective three hundredth and one hundredth anniversaries of the publication of their Old Testament Pseudepigrapha collections.

The post above is a continuation of Professor Jenkins's Lost and Found Scriptures series. For earlier posts, see here and links.

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The journey of the Great Isaiah Scroll

BECAUSE YOU SHOULD KNOW THESE THINGS: The remarkable 12,000 mile journey of the Isaiah scroll from Qumran to Jerusalem (Jo Elizabeth, Israel National News).

The Isaiah Scroll, the most complete and important of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Qumran, is currently on display at the Israel Museum for the first time since 1968.

Although the distance from Qumran to Jerusalem is a mere 23 kilometers (14 miles), the manuscript has traveled thousands of miles on an epic journey since its discovery in 1947.

[...]

This is a great story that is worth retelling. This article is substantially accurate, although Kando was a Syrian Orthodox Christian, not a Bedouin. That's not an insignficant point, since it explains why he consulted with the Syriac Orthodox Church.

For more on the current exhibition of the Great Isaiah Scroll in the Israel Museum, see here and links.

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Ritual boundaries in late-antique magic

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

Shared Symbols and Religious Boundaries in Late Antiquity: A View from Personal Experience and Late Antique Magic

Shared religious symbols do not necessarily mean weak or blurred religious boundaries. Christian ritual texts that combine anti-Jewish rhetoric with names for God often labeled “Jewish” show that cultural sharing and sharp religious differentiation could coexist. This calls for more care in how scholars interpret religious identity, boundaries, and “mixing” in late antique lived religion.

See also Ritual Boundaries: Magic and Differentiation in Late Antique Christianity (University of California Press, 2024; open access).

By Joseph E. Sanzo
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Center for the Study of Lived Religion
July 2026

Ritual boundaries are complicated. Rituals mean something by their actions. They are often open to quite different interpretations depending on their framing. The meaning of ritual "magic" is especially elusive and provocative.

For more on the book and the author's work, see here and here.

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