The latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) arrived a couple weeks ago. However, I have been very busy with other projects and haven’t gotten around to writing my now traditional In the BAR post.

This issue was the annual Digs issue and I had been looking forward to seeing if a friends report would be included.

In my post In the BAR VI I had mentioned that my friend Rebeka was listed in an article as a scholarship winner. She told me that she would have to write a report about her experience and that it might be published in a future issue.

Rebeka’s report about Ashkelon was not in the print issue, but was published on-line with the rest of the scholarship winners. See: 2014 Scholarship Recipients Go Digging

I really enjoyed reading all the reports and finding out about what happens on a dig.

I always like this issue as it shows some pictures for work going on at different digs. One of my favorite pictures is from the dig at Hippos-Sussita. Here is a picture that I took of Hippos-Sussita.

There was also a picture of sifting going on at Bethsaida. When you are in a tour group you often will see completed displays like the gate at Bethsaida and not see all the work that goes into a dig.

Another interesting picture was a group of workers cleaning pottery at Megiddo. Unfortunately Megiddo had a lot of extra workers as many of the digs in the southern part of Israel had to close down last summer.

You can see a few more pictures of my visit to Megiddo in my post: The Battles of Armageddon

I also enjoyed the article Looking for Arameans at Tel Abel Beth Maacah by Robert Mullins and Nava Panitz-Cohen.

Do you know who sought refuge there, and who was chasing him?

This site has just recently been excavated, but they have already made some nice finds. You can find out more about the history of this site in my post: Tel-Abel

There is also a nice article about evidence for Jesus outside the Bible and features articles about Machaerus and Gezer. I now have two more places I would like to visit some day.

Steven

Here are the previous In the BAR posts:

In the BAR

In the BAR II

In the BAR III

In the BAR IV

In the BAR V

In the BAR VI

In the BAR VII