Free Republic

I thought this short video was interesting—it was certainly new to me. The crimson worm (coccus ilicis) is a small insect that was used in the ancient world to produce a deep red dye. This dye was highly valuable and used in sacred contexts, including the coloring of priestly garments and elements of the Tabernacle. The crimson worm also has unique biological characteristics that carry profound symbolic meaning. When the female is ready to lay eggs, she attaches herself permanently to a tree or wooden surface. In the process of giving life to her young, she dies, and her body...

A rare 3,000-year-old seal, from the time of King David in the 10th century BCE, was recently discovered by a 10-year-old Russian volunteer at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount Sifting Project. Dr. Gabriel Barkay, co-founder and director of the project – which sifts through thousands of tons of illegally removed earth from the contested holy site in 1999 by the Wakf religious trust to build a mosque – said that the finding is unprecedented. “The seal is the first of its kind to be found in Jerusalem,” said Barkay, a world-renowned archaeologist and Israel Prize laureate, who has led the project for...