archaeology

Times Will Tell Podcast

Podcast: At the Israel Museum, touring 7 new wonders of the ancient world

Hear our host find spots on the treasure map that is the new archaeologically inspired exhibit Disrupted Layer, and match her impressions with the artist’s intentions

A collection of pharaoh statues is on display during a press conference at the Saqqara necropolis, where a gold-laced mummy and four tombs including of an ancient king's 'secret keeper' were discovered, south of Cairo on January 26, 2023. (Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

January 29, 2023, 11:13 am

Egypt unveils ancient tombs of ‘secret keeper’ tomb, gold-leaf-covered mummy

Finds in Saqqara necropolis date back to 25th to 22nd centuries BCE, include sarcophagus that was still sealed, statues, and amulets

By Agencies

Curator Tali Sharvit (from left) with artist Zohar Gotesman and co-curator Sally Haftel Naveh clown around next to the first of seven contemporary art sculptures inspired by the Israel Museum's archaeology wing. (© Israel Museum, Jerusalem, by Zohar Shemesh)

January 27, 2023, 10:37 am

Podcast: At the Israel Museum, touring 7 new wonders of the ancient world

Hear our host find spots on the treasure map that is the new archaeologically inspired exhibit Disrupted Layer, and match her impressions with the artist’s intentions

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Prof. Israel Finkelstein speaks at a seminar launching the collaboration between the University of Haifa School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures and the Technion at the Technion in Haifa on January 18, 2023. (Rami Slush/Technion).

January 20, 2023, 3:28 am

Israel’s Technion, U of Haifa announce game-changing microarchaeology collaboration

With excavators in need of cutting-edge science and advanced lab equipment to study finds on a molecular level, academics say the partnership will benefit both institutions

By Melanie Lidman

Textile finds from the Nahal Omer site in the Arava region in southern Israel, prepared for analysis in the laboratory (Israel Silk Road Project/Nofar Shamir)

January 19, 2023, 1:46 pm

First evidence of unknown ancient ‘Israeli Silk Road’ uncovered in Arava trash dump

Results from sifting 1,600-year-old garbage during a first excavation season at Nahal Omer suggest luxury goods from East were in high demand in the 8th century CE, researchers say

By Tobias Siegal

A 3D reconstruction of a male face published in December 2022, based on a 9,000-year-old plastered skull unearthed in the West Bank city of Jericho in 1953. (Cicero Moraes/Thiago Beaini/Moacir Santos)

January 16, 2023, 8:22 pm

9,000-year-old Jericho skull gets virtual facelift using plastic surgery techniques

Brazilian team of researchers reforms facial features and adds hair to create new 3D-image from remains found near West Bank city 70 years ago

By Michael Horovitz

A girl jumps from Caesarea's old aqueduct in the Mediterranean Sea near the port of Caesarea, Israel, Monday, Dec. 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

January 12, 2023, 9:17 pm

Still standing: Researchers crack the secret of ancient Rome’s self-healing concrete

Scientists have long wondered what made the material so durable. Now a new MIT study utilizing microarchaeology and infrared cameras gives insight into Herod’s enduring monuments

By Melanie Lidman

Ostrich eggs found in the Nitzana dunes excavations, southern Israel (Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)

January 12, 2023, 2:31 pm

8 ostrich eggs over 4,000 years old found near excavated firepit in south

Israel Antiquities Authority says campsite discovery can shed light on lives of nomadic desert population; experts believe eggs were used for food as well as decoration

By TOI staff

A collection of hacksilber from Tel el-Ajjul in Gaza. (Courtesy IAA)

January 8, 2023, 4:24 pm

Newly analyzed 3,600-year-old silver pieces are 1st currency in Levant, study shows

Silver pieces from Anatolia reveal robust trade routes and the use of currency 500 years earlier than previously thought, University of Haifa and Hebrew University research finds

By Melanie Lidman

One of the images from the City of David's Siloam Tunnel in which Prof. Gershon Galil claims he reads the names and deeds of the biblical King Hezekiah of Judah in ancient Israel. (Eli Shukrun)

December 26, 2022, 5:28 pm

Bible scholar’s sensational Hezekiah inscription claims prompt researchers’ outcry

Academics publish open letter calling for scientific treatment of ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ claims after new round of unsupported popular press headlines regarding Jerusalem ‘discovery’

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Religious icons left by prior visitors are seen inside a 2,000-year-old Second Temple-Period burial cave designated the Salome Cave that was recently uncovered in the Lachish Forest in Israel, December 20, 2022. (AP Photo/ Maya Alleruzzo)

December 20, 2022, 2:10 pm

Burial cave dedicated to Jesus midwife Salome reveals treasures; will open to public

Dozens of intricately carved oil lamps found outside a 2,000-year-old central Israel tomb, which is being developed as part of a massive 100-kilometer Judean Kings Trail

By Melanie Lidman

File: A site where a 1,600-year-old mosaic was uncovered during archaeological excavations in Yavne (Assaf Peretz/Israel Antiquities Authority)

December 19, 2022, 6:10 pm

Israel embarks on challenge to find sensor tech to map archaeological sites

Israel Antiquities Authority seeks to deploy remote sensing as a standard tool in the archaeologist’s toolbox to discover ancient treasures

By Sharon Wrobel

Grade four students Alon Cohen, Liam Atias, and Rotem Levnat with an ancient oil lamp they discovered in Kibbutz Parod, December 2022. (Israel Antiquities Authority)

December 19, 2022, 1:29 pm

Children out for a stroll in north discover 2,000-year-old lamp in the ground

Clay item found at Kibbutz Parod; location provides new insights into size of ancient Jewish community that lived there

By TOI staff

Archaeologists excavate a room at Tsaf where researchers discovered remains of 7,000-year-old cotton fibers. (Courtesy University of Haifa)

December 18, 2022, 4:43 pm

7,000-year-old fibers in Jordan Valley oldest known evidence of cotton in Near East

Team from University of Haifa, US and Germany studies sediments under a microscope to identify remains of cotton fibers, pointing to Tel Tsaf’s important role as a global trade hub

By Melanie Lidman

Jessica Lewinsky (left), a conservator, and Ravit Ninner-Soriano, a curator with the Tower of David, pack up the arrowheads to get ready for installation into their permanent display case on December 13, 2022 in Jerusalem. (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)

December 13, 2022, 4:09 pm

Surprise Maccabean-era arrowheads discovered while cleaning house at Tower of David

Some 60 bronze and iron arrowheads were forgotten in a box for decades, but will take center stage in newly renovated museum during Hannukah

By Melanie Lidman

2,200-year-old silver coins that were discovered in a wooden box inside a cave in Wadi Muraba‘at near the Dead Sea. (Shai Halevy, Israel Antiquities Authority)

December 13, 2022, 8:32 am

2,200-year-old coin hoard gives hard proof of Book of Maccabees, say archaeologists

Trove of silver coins – two months’ average salary – documents bloody persecution preceding the famous Hanukkah revolt when Jews fled to the desert, as written in I Maccabees 2:29

By Amanda Borschel-Dan