(Image- Princeton) Just before Easter, James Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici made all sorts of sensational claims about their discovery of a new ‘Patio’ tomb at Talpiot. These are the same guys who brought us the supposed ‘Jesus Family Tomb’ a couple of years ago. They produced a book and a documentary all about their new [...]

Here’s NT Scholar Dr. Ben Witherington’s take on the discovery of the ‘lead codies’: “Lead or Mislead—- The Curious Case of the Lead Codices”

(Catacombs by nd_architecture_library via Flickr) Early icons of four Apostles have been discovered in catacombs in Rome. The likenesses of Peter, Paul, John, and Andrew dating from the late 4th century are being touted as the earliest known icons of the Apostles. But is that really the case? I would expect earlier examples from Asia [...]

  How does the popular expression go? Been there, done that, have the t-shirt to prove it! Oh yes—and I saw the movie too! That is my initial reaction to the latest finding of Noah’s Ark. I have been duped too many times before to really take it all that serious. However, the team that [...]

(Wall by Brian Negin via Flickr) Lately it has become fashionable to question whether the Biblical accounts of a strong kingdom ruled by David and Solomon could have even existed in the 10 century BC (BCE). Many scholars consider the accounts to be rather mythical in nature. Now a recent archeological finding lends strong support to the Biblical record. [...]

(Image-University of Haifa) An Israeli Scholar recently concluded that parts of the Bible were probably written far earlier than most modern scholars thought. Professor Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa came to that conclusion after translating an inscription on a 3,000 year old piece of pottery. The message contained reflected social teachings and a [...]

(Shrine where the Ethiopian Ark is housed) The Orthodox Church of Ethiopia has claimed for years that they actually have the original Ark of the Covenant spoken of in the Bible. One of the problems with the claim is that they have never allowed archeologists to inspect or test the artifact which most scholars believe [...]

April 8, 2009 – Archeologists at Haifa University have announced a major find connected to the Israelite exodus from Egypt just in time for Passover. According to archaeologist Prof. Adam Zertal of the University of Haifa: "The structures that we found in the Jordan valley are the first sites that the people of Israel built [...]

Reuters: A Syriac Bible manuscript was found by Turkish Cypriot police in a raid on suspected antiquity smugglers. The police in a court hearing characterized the Bible as being about 2,000 years old. However, Bible scholars are certain that the manuscript in question is much later. Peter Williams, Warden of Tyndale House, University of Cambridge [...]

Found this update on the trial at Ben Witherinton’s blog. The trial over the authenticity of the inscription on the ossuary is nearly over. Opponents to the historicity of the ossuary had held that the first part of the inscription could well be genuine but that the last part, saying ‘brother of Jesus’ was forged. [...]