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Amanda Borschel-Dan
Amanda Borschel-Dan
Amanda Borschel-Dan is The Times of Israel's Jewish World and Archaeology editor.
Tiny 500,000-year-old flake from Revadim site: reconstruction of hand-grip during use. (Dr. Flavia Venditti and Prof. Ran Barkai/Tel Aviv University)
September 11, 2019, 6:42 pm
Dainty 500,000-year-old blades show man used finesse to chow down on elephants
Tel Aviv University team shows early man intentionally upcycled flint byproducts of stone knapping to efficiently butcher elephants and suck the marrow out of life
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Ahmed Nassar Yassin with 4,500-year-old artifacts he discovered in a burial cave near Araba in northern Israel. (Nir Distelfeld/Israel Antiquities Authority)
September 11, 2019, 11:58 am
4,500-year-old burial artifacts chanced upon by electrician on his way to work
Ahmad Nassar Yassin, a resident of the northern Israel village of Araba, discovers remains of a previously unknown Canaanite-era settlement
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
A small 7th century BCE clay sealing reading 'Belonging to Adoniyahu, Royal Steward,' recently discovered in the City of David's sifting project, taken from earth excavated under Robinson's Arch. (Eliyahu Yanai/Courtesy City of David)
September 9, 2019, 3:01 pm
Tiny First Temple seal impression found with name of Bible-era royal steward
Inscribed with ‘Belonging to Adoniyahu, Royal Steward,’ a clay sealing from the 7th century BCE uncovered from earth excavated at the foundations of the Western Wall
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Potential bread basket from a mosaic at the 'Burnt Church' at the Hippos-Sussita Excavation Project at the Susita National Park, summer 2019. (courtesy Michael Eisenberg)
September 4, 2019, 11:00 pm
Mosaic near Sea of Galilee may mark new site for Jesus loaves and fishes miracle
Colorful 6th-century Byzantine design indicates miracle took place on the opposite side of sea from traditionally assigned spot, archaeologist proposes; mosaic expert disagrees
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Inscribed late 9th or early 8th century BCE altar that was discovered in a Moabite sanctuary at the Khirbat Ataruz site in central Jordan in 2010. (Courtesy of Adam Bean)
August 28, 2019, 7:24 pm
Newly deciphered Moabite inscription may be first use of written word ‘Hebrews’
Cylindrical altar from 3,000 years ago found in Jordan also offers first evidence of early Moabite script — and could repaint picture of geopolitics in the ancient Levantine world
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Detail from a 4th-century Greek inscription found in a Romaniote Jewish synagogue on the island of Aegina. (Courtesy Friends of the Mosaic Floor of the Aegina Synagogue Project)
August 28, 2019, 6:12 am
Campaigners bid to save rare 1,700-year-old Greek island synagogue mosaic
150,000 euros sought to preserve vivid geometric floor mosaic from what is arguably the oldest Jewish prayer house in Greece
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Volunteers at the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project, July 2018. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/Times of Israel)
July 26, 2019, 4:16 pm
Colossal ancient structures found at Gath may explain origin of story of Goliath
Newly unearthed, unusually large fortifications from the 11th century BCE could be the genesis of the biblical tall tale, says Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project director
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Conservation manager Yana Vitkalov cleans a mosaic at the 'Burnt Church' at the Hippos-Sussita Excavation Project at the Susita National Park, summer 2019. (courtesy)
July 25, 2019, 6:27 am
6th-century inscriptions near Galilee may show Christians’ fading Greek literacy
So far, ‘Burnt Church’ site at ongoing Hippos-Sussita Excavations Project has revealed three texts — all of which were misspelled and had grammar errors, say archaeologists
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Stunning 8th century BCE staircase and paved entrance hall at Tel Hazor. (The Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations in Memory of Yigael Yadin)
July 24, 2019, 5:17 am
Large 3,500-year-old staircase hints at conquered Canaanite kingdom’s grandeur
The largest biblical-era site in Israel with an estimated population of 20,000, Hazor was razed by the Israelites, according to the Book of Joshua
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Local youth participate in the excavation of a very early 7th-8th century mosque near Rahat ahead of a neighborhood expansion, July 2019. (Anat Rasiuk/Israel Antiquities Authority)
July 18, 2019, 12:54 pm
One of the earliest mosques in the Holy Land unearthed in Bedouin city of Rahat
The rural, open-air mosque dates to just after the Arab conquest in 636 CE and adds wealth of knowledge about an empire transitioning from Christianity to Islam
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
The huge settlement from the Neolithic Period that was discovered in the archaeological excavations at the Motza intersection near Jerusalem by the Antiquities Authority. (Eyal Marco, Antiquities Authority)
July 16, 2019, 1:07 pm
A ‘game changer’: Vast, developed 9,000-year-old settlement found near Jerusalem
Remains of Neolithic site near Motza, the largest ever discovered in Israel, show mix of agriculture, hunting, animal husbandry — a society at its peak, say archaeologists
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Mount Zion archaeological excavations conducted by the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, in cooperation with Ashkelon Academic College, at the Jerusalem Walls National Park, 2019. (Virginia Withers)
July 15, 2019, 4:26 pm
First evidence of Crusader siege from July 15, 1099, uncovered at Old City walls
920 years ago, Crusaders breached Jerusalem and conquered the walled Fatimid city. Now the Mount Zion Project has found a chronicled moat that to many scholars had seemed like myth
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
The three directors of the Khirbet a-Ra‘i excavation, possibly the biblical Ziklag. (Left to right) Israel Antiquities Authority's Saar Ganor, Prof. Yosef Garfinkel, head of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Dr. Kyle Keimer of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, on July 8, 2019. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/Times of Israel)
July 8, 2019, 10:44 pm
As archaeologists say they’ve found King David’s city of refuge, a debate begins
Mere hours after team claims to have uncovered 3,000-year-old biblical town of Ziklag south of Jerusalem, two of their peers insist they most certainly have not
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Volunteers excavate pottery from Khirbet a-Ra'i, which archaeologists have identified as biblical Ziklag. (Excavation expedition to Khirbet a-Ra‘i)
July 8, 2019, 10:16 am
Archaeologists say they found town where future King David took refuge from Saul
For decades scholars sought the elusive site of Ziklag, where the Bible says David was given shelter by Philistine King Achish
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Sampling petrus bone in the Department of Archaeogenetics ancient DNA laboratory at the Max PIanck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH). (Antje Wissgott)
July 3, 2019, 9:00 pm
Know thine enemy: DNA study solves ancient riddle of origins of the Philistines
High-tech analysis finds empirical proof that the Kingdom of Israel’s biblical foes came to the Holy Land from southern Europe
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
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