Amanda Borschel-Dan

Amanda Borschel-Dan is The Times of Israel's Jewish World and Archaeology editor.

Some of the ancient coins seized in a massive illegal trade bust on May 15, 2022 in Modi'in. (Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority)

May 19, 2022, 12:31 pm

Massive bust of illegal antiquities trade seizes 1,800 coins and ancient artifacts

Man from central Israel suspected of smuggling thousands of priceless treasures abroad for years through an online store

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Herod’s calcite-alabaster bathtub found in Kypros fortress (Prof. Amos Frumkin, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

May 17, 2022, 4:48 pm

Alabaster for Herod the Great’s lavish bathtubs traced to quarry in Israel

Daughter-father scientific study rules out Egyptian quarries and shows ancient Holy Land industry was potentially much more developed than previously thought

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

The Sha'ar Ramon roadside inn. The trash midden is seen on the right next to the entrance gate. (Roy Galili)

May 12, 2022, 3:59 pm

Ancient trash a treasure in mapping first steps to globalization on Incense Route

Sifting through refuse at roadside inns from 300 BCE to 300 CE uncovers ‘social archives’ that help explain the social and economic organization of the Nabatean caravan trade

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

May 6, 2022, 12:47 pm

Podcast: Mayim Bialik on her debut film, being a Jew in Hollywood & missing Israel

With the release of ‘As They Made Us,’ Bialik she wrote and directed, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ alumna has just added the credit ‘filmmaker’ to her already unbelievable resume

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Remains of 12th century Medieval vessels discovered in Jerusalem's Old City, including (far right) a fragment of the sphero-conical vessel that was identified as containing an explosive material from Jerusalem, Israel. (Robert Mason, Royal Ontario Museum)

April 29, 2022, 12:28 pm

Was Monty Python’s ‘Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch’ fact? Crusader-era explosive found

Analysis of 11th-12th century vessel shards excavated in Jerusalem’s Old City give support to Crusader-era accounts of exploding projectiles — such as depicted in ‘The Holy Grail’

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Prof. Jodi Magness in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on April 11, 2022. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/The Times of Israel)

April 15, 2022, 12:50 pm

What does archaeology say about the location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre?

Ahead of Easter, we walk in the Jerusalem Old City church compound with top archaeologist Prof. Jodi Magness in this audio tour of the history and controversy of a unique holy spot

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Collection of 6th century BCE wine jars after the restoration process. (Dafna Gazit/Israel Antiquities Authority)

March 30, 2022, 11:01 am

6th century BCE Jerusalemite oenophiles had a taste for exotic vanilla-spice wine

New research based on First Temple City of David pottery sherds dating to the Babylonian destruction shores up theories of international trade with Kingdom of Judah

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

An Israel Antiquities Authority conservationist works on the 'Jesus' mosaic excavated at a prison in Megiddo in northern Israel, part of a structure from the third or fourth century that may be one of the earliest Christian churches. (Yoli Schwartz/IAA)

March 28, 2022, 8:21 pm

Earliest mosaic in Israel dedicated to Jesus may soon be sprung from prison

3rd-century Christian structure and 3 mosaics with inscriptions – including ‘to the God Jesus Christ’ – were uncovered at Meggido jail in 2004-08; it may now become a tourist site

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Close-up of the outside of the arguably Late Bronze Age lead curse tablet discovered on Mt. Ebal in 2019. (Michael C. Luddeni/Associates for Biblical Research)

March 24, 2022, 6:00 pm

Archaeologist claims to find oldest Hebrew text in Israel, including the name of God

Scholars date tiny ‘curse tablet,’ found at Mt. Ebal, to 1200 BCE – which would prove Israelites were literate when they entered Holy Land; but findings have not been peer-reviewed

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Ukrainian violinist Illia Bondarenko, playing in a basement shelter in Kyiv. (#ViolinistsSupportUkraine)

March 9, 2022, 4:02 pm

94 violinists from 25 countries form chorus in support of Ukraine

Young Kyiv-based violinists, filming themselves between shelling and explosions, are joined by fiddlers from around the world in a moving rendition of a Ukrainian folk song

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

(Left to Right): Prof. Ran Barkai and Bar Efrati. (Tel Aviv University)

March 7, 2022, 3:39 pm

Half a million years ago, prehistoric man may have been just as sentimental as us

Tel Aviv University study on popular settlement spot Revadim looks at personal motivations behind reuse of flint tools

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Three 1,500-year-old 'magic' incantation bowls created in the 5th-7th centuries in present day Iraq that were seized from an alleged illegal antiquities' dealer's home in Jerusalem (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)

March 7, 2022, 1:41 pm

‘Magic’ bowls among trove of ancient artifacts seized in raid on Jerusalem home

Ramat Shlomo resident suspected of illegal antiquities trade had three 1,500-year-old incantation bowls from Iraq, hundreds of other rare treasures

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Ashdod municipal police officers Sagiv Ben Gigi and Eitai Dabosh (Shira Lifshitz/Israel Antiquities Authority)

February 22, 2022, 12:45 pm

Beach-combing police find 1,500-year-old marble pillar near Ashdod

Believed to once have been part of a Byzantine era church, massive artifact likely exposed during recent winter storms

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Four lead ingots dated to the 13th–early 12th century BCE that were found as part of a shipwreck cargo in the southern anchorage of Caesarea in Israel. (Ehud Galili/University of Haifa’s Institute for Maritime Studies)

February 21, 2022, 4:55 pm

New analysis of 3,200-year-old lead ingots sinks theories about Bronze Age trade

Interdisciplinary study shows a much more central role for ‘passive’ copper-rich nation Cyprus, which was able to pivot during fall of empires in 1200 BCE

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Head of Yad Vashem Dani Dayan in his Jerusalem office, in front of a quote from murdered artist Gela Seksztajn. (Alex Kolomoisky/Yad Vashem)

January 27, 2022, 3:04 pm

Dani Dayan: Yad Vashem is fulfilling Holocaust victims’ last will and testament

The good news? ‘Outright Holocaust denial is today a marginal phenomenon,’ says the new head of Israel’s Shoah memorial. ‘But we do have a serious problem of Holocaust distortion’

By Amanda Borschel-Dan