Biblical Archaeology Review, December 1976
Features
How the Wealthy Lived in Herodian Jerusalem
Since it opened last spring at the Israel Museum, the exhibition of finds from the Jewish Quarter excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem has been drawing large and enthusiastic crowds. And well it should. On display are the exciting results of six years of digging in...Read more ›
The Death and Burial of St. Peter
Literary tradition is clear that St. Peter was crucified in Rome and was buried at a place called Vatican. Archaeology has confirmed that the Church of St. Peter was built above, and to commemorate, the place of his burial. In the first 11 chapters of Acts, Peter is depicted as...Read more ›
Oldest Hebrew Letters Found Near Tel Aviv
A clay tablet containing 80 Hebrew letters arranged in five lines has been found in an excavation outside Tel Aviv at Izbet Sarte. The letters appear to date from about the end of the 11th century B.C.—the time of Saul and David. If this dating is correct,...Read more ›
BAR's Bicentennial Salute—The United States Navy Explores the Holy Land
In 1847 Lieutenant William F. Lynch of the United States Navy had completed his tour of duty in the recent Mexican War. He was restless and 46 years old. For 20 years he had had a dream. The time had come to realize his dream. In his...Read more ›
The Ancient Cardo Is Discovered in Jerusalem
1976 excavations in Jerusalem have revealed a portion of the ancient Cardo—the principal street through the city depicted on the mid-6th century A.D. Madaba map (see illustrations). This famous mosaic map of the Holy Land, which contains the earliest known representation of Jerusalem, shows the city in...Read more ›
Rare Bronze Statue of Hadrian Found by Tourist
Shortly after major pieces of an extraordinary bronze statue had been dug up illegally by an American tourist, Gideon Foerster of the Israel Department of Antiquities received an urgent call from a former student describing the find. The tourist, an American named Morton Leventhal, had been wandering...Read more ›
Yohanan Aharoni—The Man and His Work
Research in the land of the Bible has suffered a heavy loss in the untimely death of Yohanan Aharoni, chairman of the Department of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University. To his associates he has bequeathed the task of continuing and summarizing the achievements of his last great...Read more ›
The Promise of Ebla
“I agree with practically every point you make,” Ebla excavator Paolo Matthiae told BAR editor Hershel Shanks, referring to the September BAR article (Queries & Comments, BAR 02:03) cautioning against sensationalizing the already famous Ebla Tablets. “Nothing we have found can affect the historicity of the patriarchs,”...Read more ›