Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 1992
Special Section
Why Professor Qimron’s Lawsuit Is a Threat to Intellectual Freedom
In the last issue, we printed a letter from Professor Elisha Qimron of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev regarding the lawsuit he has brought against BAR and its editor (“Letters on the Qimron Lawsuit Against BAS,” BAR 18:04). Professor Qimron is claiming over $200,000 in damages because...Read more ›
Bits & Pieces
Correction on Annenberg Research Institute In “Meyers Leaves Annenberg Research Institute; Dead Sea Scrolls Project on Track,” BAR 18:04, we reported that the Annenberg Research Institute of Philadelphia will be absorbed into the University of Pennsylvania, but that its Dead Sea Scroll research project would not be...Read more ›
Did Jesus Really Die on the Cross?
Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Unlocking the Secrets of His Life Story Barbara Thiering (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992) 451 pp., $24.00 This is not really a book about the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is a fantastical reinterpretation of the...Read more ›
Features
Burial Cave of the Caiaphas Family
The history of archaeology is filled with accidental discoveries. With all our scientific tools and methodologies, chance continues to be a major component of our success. So it was that we discovered the final resting place of the Caiaphas family, one of whose priestly members presided at...Read more ›
Caiaphas Name Inscribed on Bone Boxes
Very few of the hundreds of people who walk through the pages of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament have been attested in archaeological finds.a Now, to that small list, we may add, in all probability, the high priest who presided at Jesus’ trial—or at least...Read more ›
Jewish Funerary Inscriptions—Most Are in Greek
No less than 1,600 Jewish epitaphs—funerary inscriptions—are extant from ancient Palestine and the Diaspora dating to the Hellenistic and Roman-Byzantine periods (300 B.C.E.–500 C.E.a). They tell us a great deal about the life and ideas of Jews living almost all over the then-known world. This, in turn,...Read more ›
Did Jesus Speak Greek?
That Jesus spoke Aramaic there is no doubt. By Jesus’ time numerous local dialects of Aramaic had emerged. Jesus, like other Palestinian Jews, would have spoken a local form of Middle Aramaic1 called Palestinian Aramaic. Palestinian Aramaic developed along with Nabatean Aramaic (in the area around Petra...Read more ›
The Dangers of Dividing Disciplines
I have had a long-standing public disagreement with my friend Bill Dever, one of the United States’ leading archaeologists, concerning the term “Biblical archaeology.” Some years ago Bill argued that Biblical archaeology was not an academic discipline at all and therefore the term should simply be abandoned.a...Read more ›