Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2009
Features
Digs Go Digital
If you’ve ever wanted to volunteer on an archaeological dig, our annual guide to excavations has all the info you need to find a dig that’s right for you. And when it comes time to pack for your trip, don’t forget your hat, sunscreen, work gloves—and your...Read more ›
Megiddo, Israel
Armageddon: Even better the second time around!
I had wished for this summer to come ever since the last day of the 2006 season at Tel Megiddo, when I fell in love with archaeology and decided that I had found a path for my future. Everything about my experience two years ago—the expert training,...Read more ›
Tel Dor, Israel
Making an archaeologist out of me
“Get tough or die,” as Dor veteran Merrill likes to say, is the best way to describe my first day working in Area D5 at the new Tel Dor expedition. At the start of the dig, we all naively thought we were going to be able to...Read more ›
Newly Discovered: A Fortified City from King David’s Time
Answers—and questions—at Khirbet Qeiyafa
Yossi Garfinkel has gone Biblical. After years of laboring in the pleasant orchards of prehistory, Yossi decided he needed a new and different site. The voluptuous (not to say zaftig) middle-aged goddesses of Sha’ar ha-Golan (a site about a mile south of the Sea of Galilee in...Read more ›
Where Is It in the Bible?
Professor Nadav Na’aman has suggested that Khirbet Qeiyafa should be identified with the Biblical site of Gov, which was the location of two battles between the Philistines and the Israelites (2 Samuel 21:18–19), but following Anson Rainey’s suggestion, Garfinkel believes that it is Sha’arayim...Read more ›
A New Reconstruction of Paul’s Prison
Herod’s Antonia fortress
The Antonia, the palace/fortress lavishly described by the ancient Jewish historian Josephus at the northwest corner of the Herodian Temple Mount, is not mentioned by name in the New Testament. For a long time, however, it was thought to be the “praetorium” where Pilate...Read more ›
A Look Inside the Antonia
The Antonia was almost a square building, approximately 86 meters (280 ft) on a side, with four towers, one on each corner. In my proposed reconstruction, the towers project slightly beyond the basic square. Three of the towers are 19 meters (62 ft) square and the fourth,...Read more ›
The Trowel vs. the Text
How the Amarna letters challenge archaeology
“What would we ever do without the Amarna tablets?” asks the text scholar. “Oh, yeah?” replies the field archaeologist. “What would we ever do without the corrective of our excavated sites?” “Corrective?” says the text scholar. “Who needs the corrective, you or me?” And that, as they...Read more ›
Twins: A Dangerous Pregnancy
To the woman he said, “I will make most severe Your pangs in childbearing; In pain shall you bear children.” (Genesis 3:16) Bearing twins can be especially painful—and dangerous. The vulnerability of a twin pregnancy and the anxiety it could cause is vividly reflected...Read more ›
Past Perfect: Itching to Sojourn in Tiberias
Alexander William Kinglake (1809–1891) was born in Somerset, England. He practiced law and served 11 years in the House of Commons, but his wealth and position in society led to a desire to travel abroad. He toured the Levant in 1844. Kinglake’s account of that journey, Eothen...Read more ›