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In 701 B.C.E., an African king marched into Syria-Palestine to defend Judah against the invasion of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Second Kings 19:9 mentions "Tirhakah, king of Cush," coming to the help of Hezekiah, who was up against the Assyrian superpower. Though the Cushites are mentioned only briefly in the biblical text, a number of scholars have argued that their involvement in the conflict against Assyria was decisive in the survival of Jerusalem at this critical historical juncture...The 25th Dynasty of Egypt, which lasted for about a hundred years, from the mid-eighth century to the mid-seventh century B.C.E., was Cushite...

The channels may have been used to prepare a commodity "connected to the economy of the temple or palace", said archaeologist Yuval Gadot in the statement...The knee-deep channels, dating back 2,800 years, are located outside Jerusalem's walled Old City. They stand in two clusters, which were discovered 10 metres (30 feet) apart.Forensic testing of the channels found no blood, the Israel Antiquities Authority said - potentially ruling out a role in animal slaughter for banquets or religious sacrifice.The ducts also do not appear to have engineered a flow in a single direction, or debouched into any basin, suggesting they were...

Archaeologists recently unearthed ivory plaques found in a luxurious Iron Age residence in Jerusalem, a first-of-its-kind discovery at the site, shedding light on the owner's wealth and social status.The ivory pieces were found in a building from around the eighth or seventh century B.C., the First Temple era, in the City of David...Sifting through the ruins in the building, likely burnt during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., diggers found around 1,500 ivory fragments, said Reli Avisar from Tel Aviv University, which excavated the site along with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)...The decorations consisted of frames with rosettes...

Just north of the City of David (ancient Jerusalem), archaeologists believe they have found the first of its kind engraving on a precious gem of a biblical plant known to many as the Balm of Gilead. Deep underground in a 2,000-year-old drainage ditch next to Jerusalem’s Western Wall, archaeologists say a rare artifact from Second Temple times was uncovered. “It is a stone seal made of semi-precious amethyst stone with an engraving of a dove and a branch of a tree with fruit on the branch,” said Eli Shukron, former archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority. What was surprising was...

My father gave me Werner Keller’s The Bible as History when I was a kid. I’ve been a sucker for Biblical histories since then. Keller’s been superseded, both by the deconstructionists who claim the Bible isn’t true and by modern archeology, which has added to and reinterpreted many archeological findings since Keller’s time. And last week, in Jerusalem, an archeologist discovered an earring that helps confirms one of the most pivotal stories in the Bible: The destruction of Solomon’s Temple and the Babylonian captivity.The Bible describes how the Kingdom of Judah, under Jehoiakim, refused to pay tribute to King Nebuchadnezzar...

A team of researchers with the Israel Antiquities Authority has found evidence of a strong earthquake occurring in the city of Jerusalem approximately 2,800 years ago...Prior research had uncovered evidence of a large earthquake in Israel in the mid-eighth century B.C. at sites such as Hatzor and Tell es-Safi/Gath, but no evidence had been found in Jerusalem. In this new effort, the researchers found evidence of damage from the time at a dig site in the City of David National Park, along with references... in both the book of Zechariah and the book of Amos....they found physical evidence in the...

Stunning stone etching of two horned individuals at prayer found at mouth of rare circa-11th century citadel in Israel’s north; could predate famous Geshur site, Tel Bethsaida Dating to around the time of King David 3,000 years ago, what may be the earliest fortified settlement in the Golan Heights was recently discovered during salvage excavations ahead of the construction of a new neighborhood. Incredible rock etchings of two figures holding their arms aloft — possibly at prayer with what could be a moon — were uncovered inside the unique fort, which was dated to circa 11th-9th century BCE. The striking...

The archaeologists consider that the fort was built by the kingdom of Geshur, the ally of King David, in order to control the region. The excavation was undertaken prior to the construction of a new neighborhood in Hispin, and funded by the Ministry of Housing and Construction and the Golan Regional Council, with the participation of many residents of Hispin and Nov, and youth from the pre-military academies at Natur, Kfar Hanasi, Elrom, Metzar and Qaztrin. According to Barak Tzin and Enno Bron, excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "The complex we exposed was built at a...

The Jerusalem latrine was found in the Christian Quarter of the Old City, close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1996 during excavations of a cesspool in the courtyard of a Spanish school. A microscopic fish tapeworm egg found in the medieval latrine at Riga. (photo credit: IVY YEH) From the bowels of history comes a study published this week in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B at Cambridge University in England, which details a first attempt at using the methods of ancient bacterial detection, pioneered in studies of past epidemics, to characterize the microbial...

A "once in a lifetime" find is how the City of David described three immaculately preserved 2,700-year-old decorated column heads, or capitals, from the First Temple period that indicate a connection to the Davidic Dynasty. Archaeologists from the City of David did not expect to find anything this special when they began digging near what is now the Armon Hanatziv Promenade. "I'm still excited," said Yaakov Billig, an archaeologist with the City of David who began exploring the Armon Hanatziv area about 30 years ago. He was working at the site when the sound of a spade scraping a stone...

A Canaanite fortress from the middle of the 12th century BCE (the days of the biblical judges), was unearthed in an excavation of the Israel Antiquities Authority and volunteer youths near Kibbutz Galon outside Kiryat Gat,some 50 miles south of Tel Aviv. The size of the fortress is 60 by 60 ft. and it includes towers at the four corners. A huge threshold was preserved at the entrance to the structure, hewn from a single stone weighing about 3 tons. Inside the citadel was a courtyard paved with stone slabs which had pillars in the center. Rooms were arranged on...

The researchers found a Philistine cemetery in Israel – home to 145 human remains dating back to between the 11th and the 8th centuries BC. The discovery, made in 2013 and finally revealed in 2016, may yield answers to an enduring mystery surrounding the origins of the Philistines. It came at the end of a 30-year excavation by the Leon Levy Expedition. The Philistines were an ancient people who lived from the 12th century BC until 604 BC. They are known for their biblical conflict with the Israelites.

The location of Ziklag, a settlement mentioned several times in Jewish scriptures, has long been debated. To date, up to 15 sites have been suggested by archaeologists attempting to find the biblical town, such as Tel Halif near Kibbutz Lahav, Tel Shera in the western Negev, and Tel Sheva... According to the Book of Samuel, the city was destroyed by the Amalekites and the population was enslaved. After Saul was killed in battle with the Philistines, David left Ziklag and traveled to Hebron to be anointed king of Israel... Prof. Moshe Garsiel, professor emeritus of Bible at Bar-Ilan University, and...

A 2,700-year-old archaeological site recently uncovered in Jerusalem now offers an extraordinary glimpse into the life of the region at the time of biblical kings. Located in the southern part of the city, between Talpiot and Ramat Rachel, the Arnona neighborhood acquired international fame when two years ago it became home to the US Embassy in Israel. Quiet and green, the area presents many spectacular views over the Judean Desert and even the Dead Sea, which can often be enjoyed from the new multi-story buildings that keep on springing up. It was while preparing the site for a new residential...

Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a rare coin minted about 1,900 years ago, when the Jewish people revolted against Roman occupation, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced (IAA) last week. The bronze coin is so rare, that out of 22,000 coins found in archaeological excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem, just four are from the revolt, known as the Bar Kokhba revolt, Donald Tzvi Ariel, head of the Coin Department at the IAA, said in a statement. A cluster of grapes and the inscription, "Year Two of the Freedom of Israel," appear on one side of the coin, and on...

It's not clear why ancient people dug up these chambers, but evidence suggests they used them in everyday life. Co-director of the excavation Barak Monnickendam-Givon standing in the subterranean chambers. (Image: © Yaniv Berman-Israwl Antiquities Authority) Archaeologists recently uncovered three ancient subterranean chambers carved in the bedrock beneath the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem. The 2,000-year-old chambers, consisting of an open courtyard and two rooms, were carved on top of one another and connected by hewn staircases. Inside the chambers, archaeologists discovered clay cooking vessels, cores of oil lamps, a stone mug and a piece of a qalal, or a...

...They have also found evidence of a fierce fire, burnt mud bricks, white ash, burnt wood and numerous destroyed ceramic vessels - which coincides with the biblical account of the city being raided by the Amalekites... Scholars have been divided over the location of Ziklag, with as many as 12 potential sites put forward as contenders. But Garfinkel and co-director Dr Kyle Keimer, Senior Lecturer in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel at Macquarie University, say the assembled evidence gives Khirbet el-Rai a strong claim to be the lost biblical city... The site has yielded a wealth of artefacts including rich...

That the Bible refers to these structures as "cities" instead of merely "buildings" is likely a consequence of the magnitude of these projects. The area that these depots covered sometimes exceeded the area taken up by the temple itself. Examples of storage depots can be found surrounding several mortuary temples, for example, the Ramesseum. The reason why the temples needed such storage depots was because Egypt had a barter economy that did not use money. Any temple cult only lasted as long as there was food to make offerings and feed priests. Storing food for offerings was essential for a...

Research conducted by Tel Aviv University and Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists shed new light on these cult practices thanks to new excavations at the site of a temple uncovered in 2012.The Bible narrates that in the centuries after ancient Israelites entered the Land of Israel, many if not all of the people turned their back on the God of their Fathers for long periods of times, going back to worshiping idols, creating altars and adopting pagan practices. New research conducted by Tel Aviv University and Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists has shed new light on these cult practices, thanks to new...

Teens discover 1500-year-old church that redefines Israeli history The church was discovered near Israel’s Ramat Beit Shemesh neighbourhood. An excavation, largely completed by teens, unearthed the church which dated back to 543 AD during the time of Emperor Justinian. After three years of detailed digging, archaeologists came across mosaics, pillars, still-intact crypts, and frescoes that at one time came together to form a beautiful church. An inscription indicated the building was complete thanks to the financial support of the Emperor. Excavation director Benjamin Storchan, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, told CBN News: “Numerous written sources attest to imperial...