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For the first time, the royal seal of King Hezekiah in the Bible was found in an archaeological excavation. The stamped clay seal, also known as a bulla, was discovered in the Ophel excavations led by Dr. Eilat Mazar at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The discovery was announced in a press release by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology, under whose auspices the excavations were conducted. The bulla, which measures just over a centimeter in diameter, bears a seal impression depicting a two-winged sun disk flanked by ankh symbols and...

A newly discovered species of ancient shark has been named after a 1980s arcade game. The shark swam in the rivers of what is now South Dakota, US, about 67 million years ago, living alongside iconic dinosaur species such as T. rex. It's been named Galagadon, after the 1981 Japanese-US game Galaga, because its teeth resemble the spaceships in the game. The specimen is described in the Journal of Paleontology. "It may seem odd today, but about 67 million years ago, what is now South Dakota was covered in forests, swamps and winding rivers," said co-author Terry Gates, from North...

A 2,000-year-old ring was uncovered in archaeological excavations in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem, dating back to the Second Temple period. Source: City of David A ring with a solitaire gem stone was found by Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in what appears to be an ancient Mikveh (ritual bath) on the Pilgrimage Road which dates back to the time of the Second Temple period. The ancient paved road runs up from the Shiloach (Siloam) pool to the Temple Mount and is thought to have been the main thoroughfare taken by pilgrims to the Temple. According to archaeologists...

Unearthed in excavation of the monumental Pilgrims’ Path, the Second Temple-era adornment likely fell after use of a ritual bath, say archaeologists A 2,000-year-old bronze ring with a solitaire gem stone was uncovered in archaeological excavations in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem. (City of David) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Some 2,000 years ago, a Jewish penitent misplaced a bronze ring during his climb of a 600-meter-long (about 2,000 feet) pilgrims’ thoroughfare leading to the Temple Mount. While the recently recovered ring is today heavily corroded, its central blue semi-precious stone still sparkles. The ring was recently discovered at the City...

A 2,000-year-old bronze ring found near Bethlehem bears the name of Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who ordered Jesus Christ to be crucified, archeologists have revealed.

Researchers have deciphered an ancient inscription on a bronze ring first found 50 years ago pointing to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who ordered Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. Haaretz reported that the ring in question was first discovered at the site of Herodion near the West Bank’s Bethlehem by professor Gideon Forster from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shortly after the Six-Day War in 1968-69. The owner of the ring had remained a mystery for some 50 years, however, but a recent cleansing and special camera work at the Israel Antiquities Authority labs found Greek writing on the ring, which translates...

The Israeli daily Ha’aretz is reporting that a bronze ring found 50 years ago at the Herodion excavation near Bethlehem has been discovered to bear the name of Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Jerusalem and the man who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus, according to the New Testament. Ha’aretz reports that the name was discovered on the ring with the use of a special camera at the Israel Antiquities Authority labs. The letters on the ring spelled out in Greek writing “Pilatus.” The words surrounded a picture of a wine vessel. Hebrew University Professor Danny Schwartz told Ha’aretz that Pilatus...

University of Haifa researchers have made an important discovery underwater: a rare inscription from the period preceding the Bar Kochva revolt offers for the first time the definite identification of Gargilius Antiques as the Roman prefect of Judea at that time. The inscription was found in a University of Haifa underwater excavation at Tel Dor, on Israel’s Mediterranean coast, about 20 miles south of Haifa. “For the first time, we can state with certainty the name of the Roman prefect of Judea during the critical period leading up to the Bar Kochva revolt,” stated Prof. Assaf Yasur-Landau of the University...

A modern verification of an ancient event and tangible evidence of an ancient person. And once again, biblical history is verified.Our team of thinkers and writers at the Colson Center are archaeology nerds. Seriously, we get giddy whenever another archaeological discovery sheds light on biblical narratives or confirms their historical accuracy. And even more fun, it seems to happen all the time these days.Keep in mind that biblical faith is grounded in historical events, events to which the Bible testifies. This is one of the factors that sets the Bible apart from other religious texts. Recently, two announcements made illustrate...

New analysis has revealed an unusual inscription on a copper-alloy finger ring uncovered at Herodium 50 years ago. Documented by a team of archaeologists in Israel Exploration Journal, the ring briefly caught the media’s attention last month.Based on the surrounding material, the ring was presumably deposited towards the latter half of the first century, probably about the period of the first Jewish revolt against Rome in AD 66-71. The broken hoop has a diameter of two-thirds of an inch, while the oval bezel measures one-half inch by one-third inch. The bezel relief features a krater (mixing vessel) as the...

A 4,500-year-old tomb of an Egyptian princess has been discovered near Cairo, Egypt -- A princess's tomb dating from the fifth dynasty (around 2500 BC) has been discovered in the Abu Sir region near Cairo. Mohamed Ibrahim, Egypt's antiquities minister, announced the discovery on Friday. "We have discovered the antechamber to Princess Shert Nebti's tomb which contains four limestone pillars," he said. He described the pillars as having "hieroglyphic inscriptions giving the princess's name and her titles, which include 'the daughter of the king Men Salbo and his lover venerated before God the all-powerful'." The Czech Institute of Egyptology's...

SIX archaeologists died mysteriously just months after they opened up an ancient Egyptian coffin, a bombshell documentary has revealed. The curse of the pharaohs is an alleged spell said to be cast upon any person who disturbs the mummy of a powerful Egyptian. This curse, which apparently does not differentiate between thieves and archaeologists, is said to cause bad luck, illness or even death. Since the mid-20th century, many historians have even argued the curse is real, due to the unexplainable circumstances that occur after the ancient coffin. For many years, pharaohs were buried in the Valley of the Kings...

During the construction of London's massive "super sewer," archaeologists discovered something unusual in the mud: a 500-year-old skeleton of a man still wearing his thigh-high leather boots. The Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) announced this week that the skeleton was unearthed on the shores of the Thames, near a bend in the river downstream from the Tower of London. "By studying the boots, we've been able to gain a fascinating glimpse into the daily life of a man who lived as many as 500 years ago," said Beth Richardson, a finds specialist who analyzes artifacts at MOLA Headland, a consortium...

Israeli archeologist Ronit Lupu holds a rare stone mask dating to the Neolithic period which was found at the Pnei Hever region of southern Hebron mount, in this picture taken on November 28, 2018 ============================================================ JÉRUSALEM - The Israel Antiquities Authority on Wednesday unveiled what it said was a rare 9,000-year-old stone mask linked to the beginnings of agricultural society. The pink and yellow sandstone object was discovered in a field at the Jewish settlement of Pnei Hever, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the IAA. The artefact was handed in to authorities in early 2018. "The mask is very...

Olympia, the Sanctuary of Zeus and venue of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, was probably destroyed by tsunamis that reached far inland, and not as previously believed, by earthquakes and river flooding... Paläotsunamis that have taken place over the last 11,000 years along the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean. The Olympic-tsunami hypothesis has been put forward due to sediments found in the vicinity of Olympia, which were buried under an 8 metres thick layer of sand and other debris, and only rediscovered around 250 years ago. "The composition and thickness of the sediments we have found, do not fit...

Musical scholar Ziad Ajjan composed eight poetry and musical pieces from the musical archaeological cuneiform tablet known as "Hymn of Supplication" H6 discovered in Ugarit in the early 20th century. Ajjan composed three musical pieces based on the musical notes in the tablet which dates back to 1400 BC, naming the pieces "Sunrise," "Sunset" and "Holiday in Ugarit." This marks the recording of the oldest music notation in the history of the world. Ajjan said he is still working on the tablet based on information he reached after extensive study and previous experiment, making use of previous research by fellow...

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” IN limestone caves hidden deep in the jungle of Borneo, archaeologists have discovered the oldest known figurative drawing created by a human artist, dating back at least 40,000 years. The ancient artwork is incomplete, but appears to depict a large mammal — probably a type of wild cow — with an oval-shaped body, thin legs and a spear sticking out of its rump. “To our knowledge, the large animal painting is the oldest figurative rock art in the world,” the researchers wrote in a study describing the find published Wednesday in Nature. The authors also note that the painting...

Through excavation of the Debra L. Friedkin site northwest of Austin, Texas, a team of archaeologists has identified a particular style of projectile point dated between 13,500 and 15,500 years ago — this is earlier than typical Clovis-style technologies dated to 13,000 years ago. The team found more than 100,000 artifacts, including 328 tools and 12 complete and fragmented projectile points (about 3-4 inches, or 7.6-10.2 cm, long), excavated from the Buttermilk Creek Complex horizon of the Debra L. Friedkin site.From 19 optically stimulated luminescence dates of sediments, they determined the artifacts were between 13,500- and 15,500- years-old.“There is no...

An archaeological mission from Egypt's Ain Shams University has completed the excavation of a shrine to King Ramses II discovered last year in Cairo's Matariya district. The head of the mission Mamdouh El-Damaty explains that the shrine was once used during festivals. The mission has also unearthed a collection of lintels, scarabs, amulets, clay pots and blocks engraved with hieroglyphic text. El-Damaty says the discovery is important because it is a unique shrine from the New Kingdom that was used for the Heb Sed festival, not only during the reign of King Ramses II but throughout the Ramesside period.