Wine Production in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
Winemaking is an ancient practice in the Levant. But when the Franks arrived during the Crusades they brought their own techniques.
Rethinking Austen Henry Layard
Scholars and others associate Austen Henry Layard with the site of Nineveh. But a fuller appreciation of the man, and his accomplishments, must reckon with his work as a diplomat,
Soviet Assyriology and its Aftermath
Like all aspects of academic, Soviet Assyriology took shape during the Stalin era. But as with Soviet life in general, the search for strict rules of history only highlighted contr
Ancient Egyptian Texts for the Afterlife?
Ancient Egyptian funerary texts have been a source of fascination since their discovery. But do these texts describe a coherent vision of an afterlife, or is that a 19th century ac
The Rise of Silver Coinage in the Ancient Mediterranean
Why was money invented? Metals had been mined and exchanged with other commodities for millennia. But the 7th century BCE Greek city-states had a new idea.
A Half a Century of Studying Biblical Coins
Why revise a book on coins for fifty years and six editions? For one thing there are more data than ever. For another, old questions with big implications keep sticking around, lik
David and Solomon’s Kingdom as a State: An Archaeo-Historical Anachronism
Archaeologists have spent much time and energy looking for ‘states’ in the past, including in ancient Israel. Not surprisingly, they find them. But what is a 'state', and how d
The Phaistos Disk–An Enigmatic Artifact in its Cultural Context
The Phaistos Disk is a unique Minoan object that has intrigued scholars since its discovery in 1908. Still undeciphered, the disk displays over 240 signs in a spiral. Is it authent
The Shavei Zion Figurine Assemblage. A Cultic Site at Sea
An underwater discovery off the coast of Israel revealed terracotta figurines. But there was no shipwreck and the finds dated across hundreds of years of the Iron Age. Was this an
Data Science and the Bible: Rediscovering the History of the Christian Bible in Ethiopia
Ethiopia was one of the first Christian societies to translate the Bible into a local language. Thanks to data science, the patterns of transmission are now coming into better focu