Archaeologists from Tel Aviv University have unearthed 3,000-year-old fabric samples that point to the earliest instance of chemical dyeing in history. Discovered at the Timna Valley of Israel’s Arava desert, the cloth fragments likely belong to the period between 13th and 10th centuries BC. The findings of the research, recently published in the PLOS ONE…
A stunning 1,700-year-old ornate mosaic, unearthed last year in Israel, will be showcased to the public for the very first time, this week. Discovered in the city of Lod, around 15 km (or 9 miles) southeast of Tel Aviv, this mosaic fragment was originally part of the courtyard pavement in a plush villa, during the…
The Middle East, it seems, is home to a mysterious prehistoric monument that is as almost old as the famed Stonehenge in England. Located in the Golan Heights region, this spectacular monument, called “Wheel of Giants”, features five concentric circles made of heaped stone rubble, with a burial mound situated right at the center. (more…)
Back in July, we talked about a 2000-year old ritual bath (or mikveh) found hidden underneath a family’s living room, in Ein Karem, an ancient village in south-west Jerusalem (district). This discovery was pronounced as being significant, since the bath lends some support to the long-standing claim that the region was historically the birthplace of Jesus’s…
Back in January of this year, archaeologists were able to unravel a fragment of the so-called Gospel of Mark, which is estimated to be the oldest gospel in existence. Interestingly, science played its crucial role in this delicate process of salvaging the fragment from a old papyrus sheet. And now, science seemingly has once again…
Archaeologists, of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), have recently come across a remarkably well-preserved 2,000-year-old ritual bath, hidden underneath a family’s living room, in Jerusalem. Unearthed during a routine home renovation, in the ancient neighborhood of Ein Karem, the bath - commonly known as “mikveh” or “miqwe” - also contained broken pieces of stone and…
A portion of an ancient aqueduct, in Jerusalem, has been unearthed during the excavation process of a construction project in the area. Built nearly 2,000 years ago, the Lower Aqueduct was until recently one of the primary sources of water in a city, known for its long history of droughts. According to the Israel Antiquities…
Tel Aviv might have been a beer-making hub for Egyptians in the early Bronze Age, as is attested by some newly found archaeological evidences from the coastal city. These finds pertain to a whopping 17 pits in a site (along Hamasger Street) that is all about to have new office buildings. So the researchers from…
Israel Antiquities Authority is surely having a fine run in the last few weeks. Last month, they (initially aided by amateur divers) came across a stash of over a 2,000 gold coins dating from 11th century AD. And now, the archaeologists have discovered an enviable cache of jewelry and silver coins from an ancient epoch…
At its zenith during the 11th century, the Fatimid Caliphate with its later royal capital based in Cairo (al-Qāhira), spanned most of North Africa (also known as Maghreb), the sea-bordering Hijaz (west of the Red Sea), Levant (by Asiatic Mediterranean) and even Sicily. The Shia faith-fueled empire was mostly known for its cultural achievements, religious tolerance…