Katherine E. Southwood (Anthology Editor) , Stuart Weeks (Anthology Editor) , H.G.M. Williamson (Anthology Editor)
Hardback
$120.00 $108.00
Ebook (PDF)
$108.00 $86.40
Product details
Published Dec 11 2025
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 328
ISBN 9780567713001
Imprint T&T Clark
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Series The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
Description
This volume intersects with the work of John Day to illuminate major aspects of the religion of Ancient Israel in its geographical and historical context as well as by attention to the literatures of neighbouring peoples (especially, though not exclusively, Ugaritic). The introduction to the volume uses Day's scholarship as a framework within which the individual studies can be contextualized, whilst also describing broader developments within the field during the course of Day's career (such as arguments over the dating of texts, and questions about the very nature of 'ancient Israel') in order to sketch the history of scholarship in this period and discuss its directions of travel.
The chapters are organized into sections covering 'private' and 'public' religion and, whilst the volume does not seek to provide a comprehensive overview of ancient Israelite religion, it does provide a snapshot – by leading scholar scholars – that can stand as an overview of the current state of scholarly enquiry into the religious landscape of ancient Israel.
Congratulations to Professor Day!
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In terms of names, there probably was no conversion of Saul to Paul. Saul was most likely called Paul at birth. Contrary to popular belief, Saul did not drop his Jewish name to fully embrace his new life and vocation as a Christian missionary to the Gentiles. ...
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Published: 28 November 2025
248 Pages | 10 color illustrations
235x156mm
ISBN: 9780197744819
Also Available As:
E-book
Description
In a pioneering monograph-length study of the theological journey of Moses ben Shemtov de León of Guadalajara—self-proclaimed "Light of the West" and presumed writer of the Zohar, the kabbalah's crowning literary achievement—Avishai Bar-Asher and Jeremy Phillip Brown reach bold new conclusions about the kabbalah's prominence in medieval Castile. Through rigorous examinations of fragmentary texts inaccessible to scholars previously, the authors unearth critical insights about de León, specifically his regimens of pious living, discourse on gender, understanding of the Hebrew language, and signature thirteen-fold speculation. Bar-Asher and Brown correlate the large body of de León's Hebrew writings with the canonical Zohar, charting the parallel paths of their growth. They also reveal, with unprecedented clarity, the reciprocally interreferential character of the twin corpora at the heart of Castilian kabbalah.
Through the exploration of a variety of alternative contexts offering new interpretations of de León's remarkable creativity, Light is Sown offers extraordinary access to the intellectual history of the Zohar and its worlds. Ranging from those of Alfonsine Castile, where the innovation of ancient linguistic theories went hand-in-hand with imperialism and cultural annexation, to Renaissance Italy—where Christian apologists preserved kabbalistic writings that, if not for their intervention, would have otherwise been lost to time and history—the key discoveries and thematic insights offered in Light is Sown yield a timely analysis of one of the most glorious fruits of Jewish theology.
Cross-file under Zohar Watch.
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Jorunn Buckley begins her book 1800 Years of Encounters with Mandaeans with a bold claim right in the first sentence. “The Mandaean religion can be traced back to the 1st century, directly related to John the Baptist” (p.ix). I am not sure why the next statement is to concede that this “is not the regular scholarly view” since so few scholars have made this a focus of their attention. Buckley, on the other hand, has dedicated her life to the study of this tradition, and her conclusion should carry appropriate weight....
The "review" is actually an AI digest of Professor McGrath's full review in Review of Biblical Literature, which is behind the subscription wall. Welcome to 2026!
James McGrath is also an expert on the Mandeans and on John the Baptist. For more on Professor Buckley's work, see here and links. Cross-file under Mandean (Mandaean) Watch.
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This BHD essay is a good overview of some issues arising from a story I posted on here. Despite the overblown headline, AI will not be replacing archaeologists any time soon. But it will be making their job easier.
Cross file under Algorithm Watch.
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Generations of historians have represented Augustine of Hippo as the single most important figure in Christianity’s transition from antiquity to the medieval world. He is usually seen as an intransigent defender of classical values against the inevitable erosion caused by the spread of Christianity to multiple locations and populations. Yet Augustine was not Roman, nor was Latin his native tongue. He was born and raised in North Africa; Punic was the language of his childhood. Catherine Conybeare presents Augustine as a passionate and complex man who, rather than suppressing his loyalty to either Latin- or Punic-speaking churches, remained loyal both to the Roman church that baptized and ordained him and to his African identity.
[...]
It seems that there were still speakers of Punic (more precisely, Neo-Punic) in Augustine's time and that we know something about them. Some of them even constituted an "African church" with its own identity. That's the most interesting aspect of this book for me.
For more on Conybeare, Augustine the African, see here and here.
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MacDonald takes us from the Phoenicians who founded the city in the ninth century B.C.E., through the myths, and possible truths, about a canny political dissident from Tyre who came to be known as the queen Dido; we learn of the rise of Carthage as a formidable naval power, and, yes, of its eventual sacking. But we also learn about the first century afterward, when the Punic language of the city’s institutions permeated North Africa. “It is believed that Africa was never so Punic as it was after Carthage was destroyed,” MacDonald writes, as surviving Carthaginians “created a kind of Punic diaspora.”
This is a brief review of Eve MacDonald, Carthage: A New History (W. W. Norton & Company, 2026), which is new to me. For another book by Dr. MacDonald, about Hannibal, see here and links.
As I think I've commented somewhere before, few realize how close Europe came to having Punic as its lingua franca instead of Latin.
Oddly, the first paragraph of this review seems to say that there is no physical evidence for child sacrifice at Carthage. Or does that only refer to that specific episode in 310 BCE, for which there's not much evidence in the first place? In any case, for the debate about child sacrifice at Carthage, see here and many links, with my own overview comments here, with links.
Cross-file under New Book. And this seems like a good time to link to this post, which explains why PaleoJudaica pays attention to the Phoenicians, the Phoenician language, the Carthaginians, and Punic and Neo-Punic.
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Most of these are familiar from the earlier 2025 lists. For PaleoJudaica overlap, mostly see them. I did not post on "7. Davidic Bronze Production" or on "10. Exodus-Period Fortress in Sinai," although I did note the discovery of a Ptolemaic and Roman-era military fortifications in the North Sinai. Number "1. Assyrian Depiction of Jerusalem and Hezekiah" only appeared in late December, and the other lists missed it. I posted on it here.
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Wooden beams that once stood in Solomon’s Temple—timbers that witnessed the glory of the First Temple and survived its destruction—now lie exposed to the elements on the Temple Mount, covered only by a tattered blue tarp and surrounded by garbage.
The Beyadenu movement, which works to preserve Jewish heritage on the Temple Mount, recently discovered that protective coverings had been removed from these ancient beams near the Sha’ar HaRachamim (Gate of Mercy), also known as the Golden Gate. After activists reported the exposure, Beyadenu submitted an urgent request to the Israel Antiquities Authority to ensure the beams were re-covered before winter rains could inflict further damage. The Authority confirmed that the beams—many of which are identified as rare Lebanese cedar—have since been covered.
[...]
For more on these intriguing cedar beams, some of which, as the article notes, have been carbon-dated to the periods of both the First and Second Temples, see here. Whether they came from either of the Temples themselves has not been established. For a 2012 report of some of them being burned as firewood, see here.
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This four-day workshop, hosted by the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies and organized in collaboration with the Israel Science Foundation, brings together two IIAS Research Groups:
• Phoenician Identity in the Making: A Longue Durée Perspective (Prof. Naama Yahalom-Mack and Prof. Alexander Fantalkin) — exploring the processes that shaped Phoenician identity over the long term, across different regions and periods. • Can We Hear Anymore the Voice of Singing Men and Women? Recovering Phoenician Oral Poetry (Prof. Noam Mizrahi and Prof. Andrea Rotstein) — reconstructing aspects of lost Phoenician poetic traditions and their impact on neighboring cultures in the ancient Mediterranean.
The workshop will convene scholars from archaeology, history, philology, literary studies and exact sciences to discuss new multidisciplinary approaches to Phoenician history, literature, and cultural transmission.
If they can recover some Phoenician oral poetry, I will be impressed.
The workshop takes place on 2-4 February 2026 at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For further particulars, follow the link.
Cross file under Phoenician Watch.
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This study argues that the Judean scribe Shaphan ben Azaliah orchestrated a palace coup following the assassination of King Amon, enthroned the child Josiah, and engineered a sweeping political and cultic reform through the composition of the “Book of Instructions,” later known as Deuteronomy. Although this monoyahwist, Jerusalem-centered reform ultimately failed politically after Josiah’s death, the texts produced by Shaphan and his circle survived, reshaping biblical historiography and laying the foundations of the Deuteronomistic History. The study reinterprets the biblical canon as the enduring literary legacy of a failed but transformative reformist movement.
By Yigal Bin-Nun
Historian and Researcher
Tel Aviv University, Cohen Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas
December 2025
I missed this particular entry in the recent media exchange about Shaphan Ben Azaliah. I noted others here (with earlier links), here, and here.
This hypothesis has connections with Frank Moore Cross's reconstruction of the development of the priesthood in ancient Israel.
Briefly, there were two competing priestly lines, one descending from Aaron and the other from Moses. During the United Monarchy the (inferred) Moses ("Mushite") line, represented by the priest Abiathar, was demoted and retreated to Anathoth. David and Solomon established the Aaronid line in Jerusalem and then in the Temple, but further limited it to the line of the Aaronid priest Zadok. Hence, the Zadokites ran the priesthood of the Jerusalem Temple. The other Aaronids were excluded and perhaps led worship at the "high places." Jeroboam II arguably established a non-Zadokite Aaronid priesthood at Bethel.
In this context, Shaphan is inferred to have connections to the historical Mushite center at Shiloh and to the Mushite priests still at Anathoth (the latter perhaps including the prophet Jeremiah). Shaphan produced a proto-Deuteronomy that accepted a Levitical priesthood without specifying further (thus leaving open the option of reintegrating the deposed Mushites [and Aaronids??] back into the official priesthood).
All of this is possible, perhaps even plausible, but it depends on a chain of inferences that we really can't test. And some of the links are speculative. It is a fascinating reconstruction, though.
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I am grateful to Stephen Goranson for this guest post, and I must apologise that it has taken me so long to post it. I get so busy during term time that I end up neglecting the blog.
If you're interested in the controversy around the supposed letter of Clement of Alexandria to Theodore, quoting a lost, secret version of the Gospel of Mark, this timeline looks like a useful resource.
For PaleoJudaica posts on the Secret Gospel of Mark, see here and links, here, and here. Some of my own thoughts on the subject are at the first and third links.
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THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Ancient Language Textbooks, OERs, and Primers. If you want to teach yourself an ancient language, this is the list for you. There are online textbooks for Greek (many varieties), Hebrew, Latin, Sanskrit, Classical Armenian, Akkadian, Sumerian, Manichaean Sogdian, Mayan Hieroglyphics, Old Avestan, Old Persian, Kurdish, Ge'ez, Old Iranian, Ganadhari, Egyptian Demotic, Oscan, Tocharian, and Hieratic Middle Egyptian. I may have missed a few.
Anyway, pick one and go for it. Some will be easier than others!
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Series:
Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology, 122
Editors:
Rey F.M., Schorch S., Robert-Hayek S.
Price: 105 euro Year: 2025 Isbn: 9789042954687 Pages: X-388 p.
Summary:
Focusing at “Urtext”, “Variance” and further fundamental concepts of the textual history of the Hebrew Bible, the thirteen chapters collected in this volume provide analyses of their heuristic potential, methodological problems, and implications, proceeding from evidence emerging from a wide range of Biblical texts and textual witnesses.
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Paperback (for preorder)
9780300286878
Published: Tuesday, 13 Jan 2026
$22.00
Hardcover
9780300259421
Published: Tuesday, 28 Jan 2025
$35.00
eBook
9780300281187
Published: Tuesday, 28 Jan 2025
$35.00
Description
A human history of one of the planet’s most iconic lakes, and the civilizations that surrounded its shores
The Dead Sea is a place of many contradictions. Hot springs around the lake are famed for their healing properties, though its own waters are deadly to most lifeforms—even so, civilizations have built ancient cities and hilltop fortresses around its shores for centuries. The protagonists in its story are not only Jews and Arabs, but also Greeks, Nabataeans, Romans, Crusaders and Mamluks. Today it has become a tourist hotspot, but its drying basin is increasingly under threat.
In this panoramic account, Nir Arielli explores the history of the Dead Sea from the first Neolithic settlements to the present day. Moving through the ages, Arielli reveals the religious, economic, military, and scientific importance of the lake, which has been both a source of great wealth and a site of war. The Dead Sea weaves together a tapestry of the lake’s human stories—and amidst environmental degradation and renewed conflict, makes a powerful case for why it should be saved.
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If you’re new to my yearly top ten list, here are my criteria:
Here are my criteria:
1. These discoveries must be directly related to people, places or events mentioned in Scripture, or to the composition of Scripture itself. For example, in October 2025 Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced that the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep III had reopened to the public following a 20-year restoration project. Many scholars identify Amenhotep III as the pharaoh ruling during the period of the Israelite conquest. It was an important announcement of a significant site, but it was not a discovery, so it was not considered for this list.
2. They must be discoveries or new studies about discoveries, as opposed to announcements.
3. I only consider discoveries/studies that have been publicized through an official announcement by a Ministry of Antiquities or from a licensed archaeological dig with the expectation that a peer-reviewed article will follow, or ones that are published in peer-reviewed or other reputable journals.
Here then are the top ten discoveries in biblical archaeology in 2025.
Most of these are familiar from the previous 2025 lists. PaleoJudaica has posted on almost all of those too. See previous lists for links
Bryan does list two new ones, though: "10. Ancient Necropolis Unearthed at Colossae (Oct. 2025)" and "8. Moabite Inscription Unearthed at Jericho (July 2025)." The latter is of considerable interest (as Todd Bolen flags), since it has not been on any other list. Unfortunately, if you go to the linked Interim Report that publishes it (and you have to have an Academia.edu account to get that far), the promised publication note by Émile Puech on pp. 97-99 is not included.
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Baker’s work significantly advances the case for an “early and internal impetus” for the recognition of the writings that we now know as the “New Testament” as canonical scripture. If Baker is right (and I think he is), we have every reason to believe that most of our earliest manuscripts were already regarded by many of their first users as “New Testament Scripture.” On this account, though the fuzzy edges of the canon took some time to come into focus, the concept of new covenant scripture, far from being a later imposition or a response to an external threat, was already present before any of these documents was composed.
A new version of a bill whose purpose is to extend Israeli authority over antiquities and heritage sites in the West Bank, aims to include Areas A and B — where the Palestinian Authority has civilian control — under the scope of its applicability, according to the latest draft uploaded to the Knesset website on Wednesday ahead of a meeting of the Education and Culture Committee to discuss it. ...
Under the Oslo Accords, Israel’s involvement in West Bank antiquities is only supposed to extend to Area C, the 60% of the West Bank where it maintains civil and military control, while Area A and B are under the civilian control of the Palestinian Authority (in the case of Area A, the PA also maintains control over security affairs).
Under prevailing interpretations of international law, even in Area C, Israel is permitted only to conduct salvage excavations and operations to preserve antiquities and archaeological sites, rather than to initiate academic digs or site development.
On this 10th of Tevet, a day marking the onset of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, we reflect on the transition of the Temple Mount from a sacred center to a besieged stronghold. A recent discovery from the Temple Mount Sifting Project, a small, meticulously rounded stone recovered by one of our frequent visitors, 12 year old Noam Spivak, provides a tangible entry point into the mechanics of antiquity warfare.
[...]
The minor fast of the Tenth of Tevet was on 30 December.
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Archaeologists have been very busy excavating lost civilizations, but they haven't found everything. There are still prominent ancient cities, including capitals of large kingdoms and empires, that have never been unearthed by scholars.
We know these cities exist because ancient texts describe them, but their location may be lost to time.
In a few cases, looters have found these cities, and have looted large numbers of artifacts from them. But these robbers have not come forward to reveal their location. In this countdown Live Science takes a look at six ancient cities whose whereabouts are unknown.
Lest you are tempted to think that "'lost' cities archaeologists have never found" is an oxymoron, I remind you that not so long ago Egyptian archaeologists discovered the "Lost Golden City" near Luxor.
The lost city of Akkad (Agade), Sargon of Agade's capital city, is mentioned in the Bible and has come up in PaleoJudaica here, here, and here.
The lost city of Al-Yahudu is the source of of the unprovenanced, but apparently genuine, Al-Yahudu Babylonian cuneiform archive. See here and links.
The unprovenanced Sumerian archive of the lost city of Irisagrig has come up here and here, in both cases linking to articles by Owen Jarus.
PaleoJudaica has not previously referred to the lost Mitanni capital of Waššukanni or the lost Egyptian cities of Itjtawy or Thinis.
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So, what is the origin of the Feast of Hanukkah and which dedication does it refer to? Most of the historical information comes from the intertestamental books of First and Second Maccabees. Historical documents from this time are known as the deuterocanonical literature. Six other books are accepted as deuterocanonical by some ancient churches: Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, and Wisdom. Other sources are the Works of Flavius Josephus, History of the Jewish War, The Antiquities of the Jews, and Against Apion.
Overall, this is a good historical and, especially, architectural overview. But I was puzzled to read this unqualified statement:
While cleaning the Temple, a small jug with olive oil was found under the seal of the High priest that was used to fill the lamps of the Lampstand (Menorah). There was only oil sufficient for one day, but, miraculously it lasted for eight days. That is where the idea of the Hanukkiah comes from.
No mention that this story is late, first appearing in the Babylonian Talmud. Yes, also in the Megillat Ta'anit, but in a late Hebrew portion. The idea of Hanukkah comes from the "rededication" of the Temple, which is narrated in the early sources.
There are many PaleoJudaica posts exploring the complex history and reception of Hanukkah. Some are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and links, here and links, and here. If you do a search for "Hanukkah," you will find more, although many links have rotted.
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ONE MORE (FOR NOW) 2025 TOP TEN LIST: In recent years I have been concluding the year with a list of PaleoJudaica's top ten stories/posts for the year. My main criterion is stories that I found most interesting.
This year is a bit complicated. There have been endless interesting and important discoveries and advances in 2025, but very few stand out as top-ten material. That is reflected in the wide variation in earlier 2025 lists. Also, the biggest stories for PaleoJudaica have been of a more personal nature.
The following list has ten bullet points, but it's a mixture of stories, themes, and single posts. And it has a lot more than ten links. Most are not already covered in other 2025 lists. Let's start with a couple of personal stories.
● The top story of the year for PaleoJudaica was the publication of:
The first review, by Phil Long at Reading Acts, is noted here.
Noteworthy around the same time was the first paperback publication of volume 1 (hardback published in 2013). And during the year I seized some opportunies to mention MOTP2 (and MOTP1) in connection with other stories. See here, here, here, here, here,here, and here.
● The other big personal story was my visit to Cartagena, Spain, to help the locals celebrate their annual Festival of the Carthaginians and Romans. I have been noting the festival off and on for many years (see here and links), and finally got around to attending this year. The 2025 posts:
● A persistent theme throughout the year has been the use of AI for improving our understanding of ancient Judaism and the ancient past in general. Here are the posts.
Also, let's reprise a couple of 2024 posts in which I discuss the limitations of LLM AI as I see them. I will not expatiate here. Maybe in another post.
● The ongoing decipherment of the Herculaneum papyri also came up quite a bit. There continues to be steady progress, although I saw no dramatic developments like 2024's recovery of a lost biography of Plato. I'm also throwing in an extra post on other ancient libraries.
We also saw the recovery and decipherment of some other scroll material. The Nahal Zohar fragments were newly recovered in that mysterious pyramid. The tax fraud papyrus was acquired by the Israel Museum some time ago under unclear conditions. It was finally noticed in 2014 and published this year.
● An ongoing debate in Ethiopia about Ge'ez was in the news. Ge'ez is the ancient Ethiopian language that preserves the only complete texts of the ancient Jewish books of 1 Enoch and Jubilees. Is it a "dead" language? Should it be? Or should it be taught in Ethiopian schools? How important is it for Ethiopian culture today? Meanwhile, SBL Press has published a new reader's edition of Ethiopic (Ge'ez) 1 Enoch.
The Program in Jewish Studies at Yale University is offering a two-year Postdoctoral fellowship that will begin on July 1, 2026. Candidates for the fellowship must have a Ph.D. in hand by July 1, 2026 and must have received the degree no earlier than 2023. The Program seeks a specialist in Ancient Judaism/Jewish History who will work closely with appropriate members of Yale’s faculty.
[...]
Follow the link for further particulars. "The deadline for receipt of application materials is February 16, 2026."
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In the decades since Richard Hays’s groundbreaking Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), there has been a tremendous outpouring of secondary literature on the relationship between the OT and the NT, mostly focusing on the latter’s reuse of the former. This hefty edited volume, comprising a lengthy introduction and forty-two dense chapters, not only outlines the status quaestionis but also aims to advance the scholarly conversation. ...
I noted the publication of the book here and another review here.
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The end of the year marks a time to look back and reflect, and since our interest here is the biblical world, I am continuing our tradition of highlighting the most important discoveries and stories related to biblical archaeology this year.
Our survey begins with a ranked list of the top 10 discoveries of the year. Ranking discoveries is difficult and highly subjective and thus to be discouraged, but the attempt may be justified in the interest of provoking more consideration of what is most important and why.
In addition to the top 10, I have identified the most controversial stories of the year and other noteworthy stories from Jerusalem, Israel, Mesopotamia, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. Then we consider the top stories related to tourism and technology. Many significant books and digital resources were released in 2025, and some of those are noted. This annual roundup concludes by remembering scholars we lost this year and other top 10 lists of interest.
Todd's annual list is always the most comprehensive. PaleoJudaica has posted on many, but by no means all of these 2025 stories.
Ovelapping PaleoJudaica posts, limited to his main top-ten list: on Jerusalem's Siloam dam, see here; on the late-notice from the Assyrian taxman excavated in Jerusalem, see here; on the pottery evidence for Egyptians at Megiddo in Josiah's time, see here; on the three recently excavated shipwrecks at Tel Dor, see here; on the possible tomb of an Assyrian official excavated in Northern Israel, see here; on the Sifting Project's recovery of a Hebrew bulla bearing a possibly biblical name, see here; on the ancient garden excavated at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, see here; and on Jerusalem's Hasmonean-era city wall, see here and here.
PaleoJudaica's top-ten list is coming tomorrow. Watch this space!
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What were the top ten biblical archaeology stories of 2025? As the year winds down, we look back at some of the most popular news stories published on Bible History Daily in 2025. From newly identified temples in Jerusalem to discoveries about Egyptian pharaohs, this year provided some incredible archaeological news. The articles below are not listed or ranked in any particular order, though readers are welcome to share their top picks in the comments section below.
There is some overlap with other 2025 top-ten lists, but less than you might expect.
PaleoJudaica has posted on some, not all, of these stories: on the reported worship building down the road from the First Temple, see here; on the late-notice from the Assyrian taxman excavated in Jerusalem, see here; on the pottery evidence for Egyptians at Megiddo in Josiah's time, see here; on the tax-fraud trial papyrus, see here, here, and here; on the Punic lack of Levantine ancestry, see here and here.
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The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site where the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are commemorated, looms the largest of the early commemorative churches in Christian memory, imagination, and history. Its original construction was begun circa 325-326 CE in the wake of the Council of Nicaea and in tandem with the celebration of the twentieth year of the Emperor Constantine’s reign. It was finally dedicated ten years later as part of the celebration of Constantine’s thirty-year jubilee in 336 CE.
For some PaleoJudaica posts on the recent renovations and excavations in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Holy Sepulchre), and much more on the Church, see the links collected here, plus here and here.
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My goodness, Ms. Schuster has been busy! I'm just now catching up with her.
It was hot in Israel this summer, the land baking in heatwave after heatwave, dismaying farmers up and down the land and desiccating the vegetation. In the dry season, wildfires are always caused by somebody tossing a cigarette or neglecting to douse a barbecue. There are no rainstorms in summer, no lightning strikes and Israel has no active volcanoes so the wildfire that ate the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee in late August was not an act of God. But it helped clear up one of the great biblical mysteries – where the lost city of Bethsaida, home of the Apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip, really is.
In other news of early Christianity, a Byzantine-era skeleton found in chains in Jerusalem belies the assumption that all martyrs were male, archaeologists find a hitherto unknown (and wealthy) early Byzantine settlement and monastery in the desert, and child archaeologists break new ground at Chorazin (and you can too!) Here are some of the hottest stories in Christian archaeology in 2025 and one analysis courtesy of Elon Gilad: Why actually is Christmas celebrated on December 25?
For PaleoJudaica on the wildfire at Tel Araj (Bethsaida?), see here; on the late-antique (extreme ascetic?) woman found buried in chains near Jerusalem, see here and here; on the late-antique African figurines excavated in the Negev, see here; on the educational excavation at Chorazin, see here; on the Byzantine-era menorah amulet excavated near the Temple Mount, see here; on the late-antique monastery and inscribed mosaic excavated near Kiryat Gat, see here; on the Be'er Shema (Birsama) mosaic exhibition, see here; on the menorah-decorated pillar capital excavated near Jerusalem, see here. I missed Elon Gilad's article asking when Jesus was born and when December 25th was picked to celebrate, but it's worth a read. For more on those questions, start from the links here. For the late-antique Samaritan estate (with the watermelon mosaic) excavated in Israel, see here.
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We humans surprise ourselves. The earliest boomerang was made 40,000 years ago. In Poland. The agricultural revolution was eagerly embraced. Except when it wasn't. Moses wasn't the first to seek his god on a mountain, and the longest papyrus ever found in the Judean Desert – wait 'til you hear what it says. Here are those stories and many more from the world of archaeology in 2025!
For PaleoJudaica posts on the Punic lack of Levantine ancestry. see here, here, and here; on the fox-footprint find at el-Araj, see here; on the tax-fraud trial papyrus, see here, here, and here; and on the late notice from the Assyrian taxman excavated in Jerusalem, see here; and on the megalithic "Wheel of Ghosts" at Rujm el-Hiri, see here.
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Right by two of the main entrances to the Second Temple that the Romans looted and destroyed in 70 C.E. was a large mikveh that likely served locals and the many pilgrims to Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on a rainy Monday morning. ...
The bath structure dates to the Second Temple period, the archaeologists could confirm: It lay sealed beneath the Second Temple period destruction layer. Also, it was full of debris, ash and broken household items from the terrible destruction of the city and Temple in the year 70, following the Jewish rebellion that began in 66 C.E. "Buildings and streets were collapsing and burning down in the fighting," [excavation director Ari] Levy recreates the horrors of the time.
Among the shattered vessels bedded in ash in the bath were many made of stone, a hallmark of Jewish life in the Second Temple period. Stone kitchenware was believed to be impervious to contamination, whereas if a ceramic item was exposed to foulness, it had to be thrown out. The archaeologists also found also ceramic vessels as well as precious glass, as expected, says Levy. The archaeologists also found some coins.
For more on ancient Jewish stone vessels and their purity implications, see here and follow the links.
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The tool combines high-resolution drone imagery with machine learning to identify individual building stones and wall segments across archaeological sites. Within minutes, the system can map hundreds of thousands of stones and translate what looks like visual chaos into a detailed, measurable site plan. It was recently evaluated in the peer-reviewed Journal of Archaeological Science.
The article about this University of Haifa research is open access at JAS Volume 185, January 2026:
Detect stones and walls from drone imagery with deep learning.
Analyze archaeological sites using digitized stone and wall layers.
Provide open-source models and code for stone and wall detection.
Deliver an end-to-end workflow from drone images to GIS layers.
Abstract
This study presents a semi-automatic methodology for detecting building stones and wall segments in archaeological research, using drone imagery and deep learning algorithms. The immediate outputs of the methodology are a georeferenced stones layer, with each stone detected as a separate instance, and a site plan layer, composed of stones considered part of detected wall segments. We developed this model via nine sites of varying size with different vegetation coverage, ground color, and material composition, exemplifying the model's ability to perform successfully even in challenging conditions. The digital layers, along with additional attributes associated with each shape, provide a foundation for further analysis, such as identifying multiple construction styles and site organization patterns, with significant potential for large-scale multi-site studies. Evaluation results demonstrate good model performance under varied conditions. We also provide trained models, trained on data from multiple sites, for immediate use and further refinement.
Cross-file under Algorithm Watch.
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Price: 40 euro Year: 2025 Isbn: 9789042953802 Pages: XVI-172 p.
Summary:
Judith is one of very few ladies in the ancient biblical world whose life stories show us what important roles women can play in human history in addition to motherhood. Along with Ruth and Esther she is one of the only three women on whom a whole book was written. Her life story is attractive enough to be read in the Greek version, probably dating to the first century BCE, and its annotated English translation presented in this book.
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Series: New International Commentary on the Old Testament (NICOT)
Imprint: Eerdmans
960 Pages, 6.12 × 9.25 in
Hardcover
9780802875990
Publication Date: November 20, 2025v
$62.99 £48.99
eBook
9781467469753v
Publication Date: November 20, 2025
$62.99 £48.99
DESCRIPTION
An indispensable resource for preaching and teaching the book of Daniel
In this volume of the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, scholars Aubrey E. Buster and John H. Walton guide readers through chapters 1–6 of the book of Daniel. They provide historically informed, theologically sound interpretations of some of the most memorable stories and imagery in the Old Testament, including Daniel in the lion’s pit, the fiery furnace, the figure with feet of clay, and the writing on the wall. Buster and Walton also help readers understand the significance of the text’s composition, audience, historical context, genre, and structure. Accessible and insightful, this well-researched volume is an essential resource for preaching, teaching, and study of the book of Daniel.
All NICOT volumes combine superior scholarship, an evangelical view of Scripture as the Word of God, and concern for the life of faith today. Each volume features an extensive introduction treating the biblical book’s authorship, date, purpose, structure, and theology. The authors’ own translations of the original text and verse-by-verse commentary follow. The commentary itself carefully balances coverage of technical matters with exposition of the biblical text’s theology and implications. Readers who want to hear God’s voice anew through Scripture will find the New International Commentary on the Old Testament series to be a faithful, trustworthy guide.
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In a rare find, Israeli archaeologists recently uncovered the tools used some 1,400 years ago to make mementos for the travelers who made their way to the Land of Israel to visit the key sites associated with the life of Jesus and other saints as Christianity became firmly established as the Roman Empire’s dominant religion.
A Byzantine mold to craft small flasks featuring an elaborate cross and inscribed with the Greek words “Lord’s blessing from the holy places,” was among several notable artifacts recently unearthed at the Hyrcania archaeological site in the Judean Desert in the West Bank, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem told The Times of Israel on Thursday. The inscription was deciphered by Dr. Avner Ecker.
For more on the many discoveries at the Hyrcania excavation, see here and links.
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In 2010, the Israeli government adopted a decision to strengthen the enforcement and protection of antiquities in the West Bank, but it was an initial move with limited budgets and minimal attention from the military and government ministries. In July 2023, nearly a year after the current government was formed, a new government decision approved a multi-year plan to combat the destruction of antiquities and heritage sites in the West Bank. The decision, initiated by Heritage Minister Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Tourism Minister Haim Katz, allocated 120 million shekels over three years. The new budget fundamentally changed the work of the archaeology unit.
For more on the Sartaba-Alexandrium excavation, see here and links; on the Hyrcania excavation, see here and links (UPDATE: also the next two posts here and here); and on the new Sebastia excavation, here and links, here, here, and here; and on a recent academic boycott, here.
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I haven't really posted on Christmas this year, unless you want to count posts on the disappointing 2025 film The Carpenter's Son. I suppose we can count this one on Coptic magical infancy Christian apocrypha too. Otherwise, such Christmas stories that I've seen are recyclings of old ones that come up every year.
But just to make sure they are covered too, here are some old posts on perennial Christmas subjects. Each has plenty of links to follow.
DR. IRIVING FINKEL, well-known Assyriologist at the British Museum, was recently interviewed by Lex Fridman. In this clip, Dr. Finkel makes a couple of fascinating and somewhat controversial claims.
First, he notes that the Neolithic archaeological site at Göbekli Tepe, best known for its remarkable monolithic architecture bearing extensive artwork (noted here and here), has produced a small stone object that has the look of an administrative seal. The object has three marks on it that sure look like pictographic writing, possibly even phonetic writing. Dr. Finkel thinks that such a complex society would have needed at least pictographic writing for trade and administration and this artifact shows that they had it. Presumably they used it more extensively on perishable materials such as leaves.
Not noted in the clip, but similar decorated stone objects has been found at other Neolithic sites. An example from Jerf al-Ahmar in Syria is shown here. French scientists have already suggested a connection with pictographic writing. A cautious appraisal of the implications of such objects is in this open-access article. Note especially Fig. 3A‒D.
Finkel knows much more about early writing systems than I do, but I know enough to say that his proposal has some merit. Neolithic civilizations may well have already been working on pictographic writing systems in 9000 BCE. The earliest proto-cuneiform writing is from the late 3000s BCE, nearly six millenia later.
Pair that with this year's proposal that alphabetic writing was already underway in the third millennium BCE.
For another 2025 PaleoJudaica post on an intriging story about Neolithic archaeology, see here.
Second—and here Finkel speaks directly out of his expertise—he has an arresting take on Ashurbanipal's famed cuneiform library in the ruins of Nineveh, excavated in the nineteenth century. The Library of Ashurbanipal, some 30,000 tablets or so, is a major source for the Epic of Gilgamesh and other cuneiform literature. PaleoJudaica has posted on it here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Finkel's proposal, which I have not heard before, is that the Babylonian conquerers and their allies must have looted the library before they destroyed it. It would have contain vast amounts of important information in their own language which they would have wanted to keep. The huge "library" that was excavated consists only of the duplicates and the broken pieces that the Babylonians didn't bother carting off. If he's right—and as a curator of the cuneiform collection of the British Museum, where those tablets are housed, his opinion has credibility—the loss of the bulk of the original library of Ashurbanipal is a tragedy comparable to the loss of the Library of Alexandria.
Still, we are unimaginably fortune to have what we do have of it.
PaleoJudaica has noted Dr. Finkel in connection with a British Museum exhibition on Babylon here; his work on the Mesopotamian Noah's Ark story here, here, here, and here; his work on some new Cyrus Cylinder fragments here and here; an interview with him here; his comments on the completion of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary here; his work on the Babylonian World Map here; and a recent book he co-authored on Babylonian Chronographic Texts from the Hellenistic Period here.
If you're wondering, no, none of this has anything to do with Christmas. Except perhaps that Dr. Finkel does look a lot like Santa Claus.
UPDATE (28 December): Over at the Trowel and Pen Blog, archaeologist Jens Notroff—who specializes in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, who has acted as a staff member at the Göbekli Tepe excavation, and who has published on the site—has responded to Finkel's claims in the Fridman interview: Hidden in plain sight: Did archaeologists really overlook evidence for early writing at Göbekli Tepe?! It's brief, so read it all.
Mr. Notroff makes three points. First, he objects to Finkel's "subtle passive-agressive" tone toward archaeologists. Fair point. I think he was speaking tongue in cheek, but he could have skipped those opening comments.
Second, the artifact is not unique. It comes in an archaeological context of similar objects and iconography found at the site and elsewhere. Agreed. For example, I linked to a photo of the Jerf el Ahmar plaquette above.
Third, there is already a specialist literature on these objects and their iconography. Again, agreed. I cited a 2025 peer-reviewed article above as an example.
So is it proto-writing? Notroff concludes:
So, is it now writing or not? I’d still be hesitant, to be honest. These symbols are part of a communication system, I’m totally on board here. But in my humble opinion we’re not seeing phonetic values assigned to specific symbols representing spoken language here yet.
That doesn't sound far off from what Finkel (and I) said. It looks like some kind of pictographic communication. Whether it was "proto-writing," is certainly up for discussion. It could be phonetic, but need not be. We would need to know something about the language spoken by the Göbekli Tepeians to evaluate that.
If it is ever firmly established that they used (proto-)writing, that will only be through collaboration between experts on early writing systems like Dr. Finkel and specialist archaeologists like Mr. Notroff. I am glad that the latter weighed in on the subject.
I have not yet found any responses by other Assyriologists to Finkel's comments about Ashubanipal's Library.
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Megiddo, site of the biblical Armageddon and home of the discovery that capped off our top 10 list last year, continued to yield noteworthy discoveries in 2025.
This year’s archaeology stories highlight discoveries that have helped us learn more about the biblical world and the context that gave us the Bible. Some are controversial. Some are serendipitous.
The most important biblical archaeology discoveries of this year may not be known until months or years from now, as archaeologists study their findings in the lab, research them, and publish their reports in scientific journals. This list is the stories we learned about this year.
Another good list, with relatively little overlap with earlier ones.
PaleoJudaica has posted on almost all the stories: on Egyptians at Josiah's Megiddo, see here; on Jerusalem's Hasmonean-era city wall, see here and here; on that new map of Roman-era roads, see here; on the somewhat controversial new excavation at Samaria/Sebastia, see here (cf. here) and on the Civil Administration's expropriation of land in the area, see here; on Egypt's also-controversial nationalization of St. Catherine's Monastery, see here (cf. here); on the cuneiform late notice from the Assyrian taxman excavated in Jerusalem, see, here; on the AI redating of 4QDanielc, see here, here, and here; on the wildfire at Tel Araj (Bethsaida?), see here (cf. here); and on Jerusalem's Siloam dam, see here.
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A 1952 English book by Robert St. John, now out of print, offers incredible detail on this process and the man called Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. In Tongue of the Prophets, St. John conveyed what he learned from a biography written in Hebrew by Eliezer’s widow.
Ben-Yehuda’s work not only benefited the establishment of “Israel,” it also served as a mighty support to the archaeological work that would come in the years to follow. Biblical archaeology without a nation of Hebrew speakers seems impossible to imagine.
Additionally, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda was himself an archaeologist—of a linguistic sort. The kind of rigorous work he did, the scientific standards to which he adhered, are relatable to anyone leading an excavation. And they make the product of his life’s devotion all the more worthy of the highest esteem.
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Archaeologists in Iran have identified a rare motif in Elymaean rock carving that may depict a scene closely resembling the famous myth of Hercules battling the Hydra, a story widely known across the Greek world and featured on coins dating to around 325 BC. ...
The relief is carved on a trapezoid-shaped rock surface measuring about 70 by 81 centimeters (2.29 to 2.65 feet). Although erosion and deliberate defacement have damaged parts of it, three figures remain visible.
On the left, a powerful nude male figure appears in three-quarter profile, lifting a large round object that may represent a ritual mace while gripping the central creature by the throat. Researchers say the carved muscles and movement stress heroic strength.
The central figure is a three-headed serpent-like being, about 83 centimeters (2.7 feet) long. Such imagery is extremely rare in Elymaean art and is key to interpretation. On the right, a man in Parthian-style clothing stands in a frontal pose, resembling priestly figures seen in other Elymaean reliefs, possibly suggesting a ceremonial role.
The relief certainly has parallels to the Heracles/Hercules myth, but it need not depict the Greek hero. Given its location, that seems less than likely to me.
The myth of a foundational battle between a god and a multi-headed dragon is much older than our Greek sources. A third-millennium BCE stamp seal depiciting a similar scene with a seven-headed dragon was excavated at Hazor last year. See here and here.
The myth is found in the ancient Near East and repeatedly in the Bible. It may well have come to this Elymais relief via ancient Near Eastern religious traditions.
For PaleoJudaica posts on Elymais, a region in the ancient Parthian Empire, see here, here, and here.
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Archaeology isn't an exact science of unearthing the past. Only so much is uncovered, much more is assumed to be lost and a geat deal is down to interpretation. But 2025 was a great year for cracking some of the mysteries that had been bedeviling archaeologists for decades.
A good list.
PaleoJudaica has posted on some, not all, of these stories. For the proposed decipherment of Cryptic B script and the Mount Zion stone cup's Cryptic A script, see here. The Magdala Stone has been around for a while, but a couple of 2025 posts on it are here and here. It's currently on display at the Museum of the Bible in D.C. Live Science also has a recent article on it by Kristina Killgrove here. For the pottery evidence for Egyptians at Megiddo in Josiah's time, see here. For the inferred different naming patterns in Judah and Israel, see here.
I didn't post on the Neolithic massebah at e-Tell, There is another recent Neolithic archaeology story worth mentioning, but it deserves a post on its own.
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British Dental Journal volume 239, pages 851–856 (2025)
Abstract
This paper – the first of two – explores the development of dentistry and dental care practices across diverse ancient civilisations. Evidence from prehistory, from a 13,000-year-old intervention at Riparo Fredian in northern Italy, to Neolithic findings in Pakistan and Slovenia, suggests that early populations attempted to alleviate pain and manage oral conditions. In Mesopotamia, cuneiform texts detail treatments for caries and periodontal disease, accompanied by recommendations and prescriptions for oral hygiene. Although these texts describe various therapeutic approaches, there is no mention of any operative procedures, and the sparse osteological record similarly offers no evidence of dental intervention. Biblical and Talmudic sources from ancient Israel emphasise the cultural significance of dental aesthetics, offering insights into remedies and practices intended to preserve the natural look of the teeth. Discoveries from Etruria and Phoenicia, dated to the first millennium BC, including dental bridges and gold-wire appliances, reveal intricate restorative and cosmetic techniques, particularly among elite women. In the Far East, ancient Chinese and Indian texts highlight preventive measures and herbal treatments, prioritising diagnostics and hygiene over operative procedures. Collectively, these findings illustrate a broad spectrum of early dental care strategies that evolved, alongside dietary shifts, cultural values, and technological innovations, providing fascinating insights into the origins and development of dentistry and dental care.
The article is open access. The section on ancient Israel is brief. It mostly has information from the Talmud.
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