Free Republic

Archaeologists found a 1,600-year-old coin hoard dating to the final Jewish revolt against Romans.Archaeologists have unearthed a rare hoard of 1,600-year-old copper coins in Galilee, and the coins may have been stashed there during the last known Jewish revolt against the Romans. Researchers found the 22 copper coins in a crevice within a tunnel complex deep underneath a settlement known as Hukok. The tunnels were used by Jews as a hiding place in two early rebellions against the Romans: the Great Revolt (A.D. 66 to 70) and the Bar-Kochba (also spelled Bar-Kokhba) Revolt (A.D. 132 to 135). However, the newfound...

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state in a statement on Sunday afternoon. The move comes after the prime minister said in July the UK would shift its position in September unless Israel met conditions including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza and committing to a long-term sustainable peace deal that delivers a two-state solution. It represents a major change in British foreign policy after successive governments said recognition should come as part of a peace process and at a time of maximum impact. The move has drawn fierce criticism from the Israeli...

Britain, Canada and Australia confirmed on Sunday that they now formally recognize Palestinian statehood, piling pressure on Israel to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and putting three major U.S. allies at odds with the Trump administration. The seemingly coordinated announcements came on the eve of the annual gathering of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, at which France and Portugal are also expected to vote for recognition of Palestinian statehood. ...

A dam has broken and our media are desperate to avert our eyes from it.  I am stunned at the succession of positive developments that has followed the announcement almost a month ago that the United Arab Emirates is normalizing relations with Israel. Momentum is accelerating toward the long dreamed-of goal of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. I have to pinch myself after writing such a thing to remind myself that decade after decade of strenuous effort has failed, frustrating presidents of both parties and stymieing plan after plan put forth by diplomats and NGOs. Yet, improbable...

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced that archaeologists uncovered rare 4,000-year-old wicks that are among the oldest known examples that have been found anywhere in the world. The discovery came as a team was excavating a set of Bronze Age tombs at the site of Newe Efraim near Yehud. Among the burial offerings, which also included pottery, jewelry, and metal weapons, were three clay oil lamps that still contained wicks inside. These objects rarely survive, not only because they were made from natural material that decays easily, but because by design they are intended to be lit and burnt, eventually...

Massive 2,800-year-old Dam Discovered In Ancient Jerusalem | 32:52 Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology 44.5K subscribers | 23,824 views | August 29, 2025

In a surprising twist of fate, a wildfire that swept through Israel’s Betiha Nature Reserve in late July has unveiled significant archaeological remains believed to be the biblical village of Bethsaida.Long thought to be lost to time, this site, located along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, has been under excavation since 2016 at the official approval of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. The recent blaze, while devastating to local flora and wildlife, has provided archaeologists with an unprecedented view of structures buried for centuries.El-Araj has long been under investigation as a potential site for Bethsaida, historically...

The term "British Palestine" refers to the period of the British Mandate for Palestine, which lasted from 1920 to 1948. During this time, Britain administered the territory that had been part of the Ottoman Empire. The name "Palestine" was used as the official name for this geopolitical entity. There has never been a 'Nation or Country' of Palestine. It is a region that was designated in times before the Common Era. The earliest known references to the region are found in Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions from the 12th to 8th centuries BCE, using terms like "Peleset" and "Palashtu" to refer...

This one hour programme retraces Mark Twain's 1867 adventure as a reporter who travels to Europe from Paris and Rome to the Holy Land and ultimately Jerusalem . We hear about his many opinions and criticisms about various places. The Story Of Mark Twain's 1867 Journey To Jerusalem | 54:39 Parable - Free History Documentaries | 425K subscribers | 355,964 views | June 25, 2025

One of the things that the Arabs living in the Gaza Strip and along Israel’s eastern border with Jordan (aka “the West Bank”) routinely do is destroy anything ancient that the Earth periodically churns up. They do so because they know there’s a substantial likelihood that these archaeological finds are proof of the Bible’s historical authenticity and the Jews’ non-stop ties to the land over four millennia. However, despite its location in the West Bank, the modern marauders haven’t destroyed the digs at what was once the ancient community of Shiloh, a thriving and important location at the time of...

Archaeologists have uncovered ruins in Israel they believe once housed the Ark of the Covenant, a sacred, gold-covered chest described in the Bible. >>> While the fate of the Ark remains a mystery, it vanishes from the biblical record before the Babylonian sack of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Now, a team working at the ancient biblical site of Shiloh has unearthed a stone structure that appears to match the dimensions and orientation of the Tabernacle described in the Bible. >>> Dr Stripling now believes his team may have uncovered the very gate where Eli died, CBN reported.

In June 2009, a broken limestone mug was discovered by archaeologists in the rubble of a Jewish home on Mount Zion. The house had been destroyed in 70 C.E. when the Romans leveled Jerusalem and the Temple to stomp home the message of their victory over the unmanageable Jews.Ostensibly typical of tableware in Jewish homes of the Second Temple period, this mug was unlike any other ever found, Professor Shimon Gibson of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte reports in the recent issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, just out.Limestone dishes began to emerge in about the year 40 B.C.E.,...

  What happened to Jewish Holy Sites and places of worship in lands controlled by the Arabs? On May 28, 1948 the Arab Legion completed the capture of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, the site of numerous ancient synagogues and the Western Wall of the Temple, destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 AD. These were and remain the holiest sites in the Jewish religion.After the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem was captured, the destruction, desecration and systematic looting of Jewish sites began and continued. 57 ancient synagogues (the oldest dated to the 13th century), libraries...

Founded during the Hellenistic period by Seleucid veterans of Alexander the Great, the ancient city of Gerasa -- now Jerash in modern Jordan -- was likely named after the Gerontes. Caught between Nabataean and Jewish influence, it truly flourished after the Roman conquest, becoming one of the most impressive cities of the Decapolis. Gerasa: Rome's Forgotten City in the Jordanian Hills | 51:36 Histoire & Civilisations | 338K subscribers | 13,297 views | May 24, 2025

A series of declassified satellite images from the Cold War era have revealed hundreds of undiscovered Roman forts in Iraq and Syria. A total of 396 new sites have been identified from the images taken in the 1960s and 1970s, with the findings, published in the journal Antiquity, changing the perception of how the region functioned. A previous 1934 aerial survey, conducted by French explorer Antoine Poidebard, recorded 116 Roman forts across the region. They were previously thought to form a defensive line against incursions from Arabia and Persia along the Roman Empire’s eastern flank. The latest findings, however, suggest...

Archaeologists have identified three undiscovered Roman fortified camps across northern Arabia.The University of Oxford school of archaeology made the discovery in a remote sensing survey, using satellite imagery.It said it could be evidence of an "undocumented military campaign" across south east Jordan into Saudi Arabia.Dr Michael Fradley, who led the research, said: "We are almost certain they were built by the Roman army.In the report, published in the journal Antiquity, he explained his conclusion was based on the "typical playing card shape of the enclosures with opposing entrances along each side".Dr Fradley added that the westernmost camp was significantly larger...

The walls stand up to 20 feet tall. It was built at the start of the 4th century AD, as part of defensive works for a limes Arabicus, and held a cavalry unit of perhaps 120-150 men. The building inscription survives:Optimis maximisque principibus nostris Caio AurelioValerio Diocletiano Pio Felici Invicto Augusto etMarco Aurelio Valerio Maximiano Pio Felici Invicto Augusto etFlavio Valerio Constantio et Galerio Valerio Maximianonobilissimis Caesaribus Castra Praetorii Mobeni fossamentisAurelius Asclepiades praeses provinciae Arabiaeperfici curavit.Which tells us that the fort was called Mobene, and was constructed by the Praeses of the province of Arabia, a chap named Aurelius Asclepiades,...

One of the world’s oldest workshops for smelting copper – going back some 6,500 years – has been uncovered in Beersheba by archaeologists at Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The remnants go back to the Chalcolithic period – the word “chalcolithic” is made up of the Greek words for “copper” and “stone” – is so named because although metalworking was already in evidence, the tools used were still made of stone. An analysis of the isotopes of ore remnants in the furnace shards show that the raw ore was brought to Neveh Noy neighborhood from Wadi...

...this subterranean tomb of 52 m2... impressive number of figures (nearly 260, including gods, humans, and animals) painted on the walls of the largest chamber. Of course other Roman tombs from the Decapolis also offer sumptuous mythological decor, but none of them can hold a candle to this one in terms of iconography... Whoever entered the tomb, before it was closed, first glimpsed on his left banqueting deities lying on beds, and tasting offerings brought by humans smaller than themselves. Again to the left of the entrance, a second painting with a country landscape shows peasants busy working the earth...

...Ms Howard, otherwise known as 'Indiana Joan', volunteered on archeological digs for around 11 years with British and American archaeologists in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Israel from around 1967... Her collection includes neolithic axe heads more than 40,000 years old, pottery and weapons from the Phoenicians and the Romans, coins and seals and jewellery from the time of the pharaohs, and a precious funerary mask from Egypt. She said a favourite was a Roman dagger she found buried with the skeletal remains of its owner. Another was the wrappings of a mummy's remains and a cat claw wound...