Biblical ArchaeologyThe Latest Findings

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Timeline of Findings190019101920193019401950196019701980199020002010

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1913 - Nebuchadnezzar BrickThe text reads: (1) nabu-kudurri.......................Nebuchadnezzar (2) lugal ba-bi-lu ki..................king of Babylon (3) za-nin e-sag-il......................provisioner of Esagil (4) u e-zi-da...............................and Ezida, (5) ap lu asharedu.....................prime son of (6) sha nabu-aplu-usur..............Nabopolassar (7) lugal ba-bi-lu ki...................king of Babylon (8) a na-?....................................I am, (9) e-ba-ra e sa-ma...................Ebarra temple of Shamash (10) lar-sa ki................................in Larsa (11) ?............................................as it was before, (12) sa-ma gi................................I restored for Shamash (13) ? lu........................................my Lord.

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1962 - Pilate InscriptionDiscovered at Caesarea in secondary use in a later wall, this inscription bears witness to a major New Testament figure and settles the debate over Pilots title of Prefect rather than the inferior Procurator.

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Pilate InscriptionLine One: TIBERIEUM,,Line Two: (PON) TIUSLine Three: (PRAEF) ECTUS IUDA (EAE)

This is the only known occurrence of the name Pontius Pilate in any ancient inscription. Meaning - Pilate had "dedicated a Tiberium, a public structure built in honor of the Roman emperor Tiberius."

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Plus coins..Judean bronze coin issued by Pilate in 30 CE. The Greek inscription reads (clockwise from the bottom left: Tiberiou [Ka]isaros ["of Tiberius Caesar"]. At the center is a lituus, a curved crook used by Roman augurs. Though this pagan religious symbol was used frequently on Roman coins minted outside Palestine, Pilate was the only Roman prefect to have put it on money issued for commerce among Jews.

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1968 - Crucified ManAn ossuary bearing the name "Yehochanan" contained the full skeleton of a man crucified in the first century and buried with a bent crucifixion nail through his heel bone. It is the only physical evidence of crucifixion ever discovered.

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1980 - Peters HouseCapernaum

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Peters House

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Peters House

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Peters House

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Where Jesus stayedJesus probably lived in Peter's house in Capernaum.Mt 4:13. Went and lived in CapernaumMk 1:29-35. He stayed there that evening.Mk 2:1. Home" probably same place.

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1990 - Ossuary of Caiaphas

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Ossuary of Caiaphas

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Ossuary of Caiphas

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1990 - Ossuary of CaiaphasFrom the Caiaphas family tomb in Jerusalem, this ossuary bears the inscription "Yehosef bar Qafa: (Joseph, son of Caiaphas), and it is dated to the Second Temple Period. Caiaphas is the name of the High Priest who presided over the trial of Jesus.

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Ossuary of CaiaphasOssuary contained the bones of a man of about 60 years old, a woman, two children and two infants.

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Ossuary of Caiaphas

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Caiphas Tomb Other Artifacts

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1993 - Ancient Israelite House in Egypt?Discovered at old capital Thebes (1200-1000 BC)The layout of this building bears no similarity to any of the Egyptian house types in the New Kingdom. Instead the arrangement of the rooms bears.a high degree of similarity to the so called Iron-Age Four Room house of Palestine.

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Ancient Israelite HouseHouse found in EgyptTypical Four-Room Israelite House

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1994 - House of David InscriptionTel Dan InscriptionWas no evidence of Davids existence for a long timeIn 1993 a stone inscrption was found at DanAppears to commemorate the victory of an Aramean king over the kingdoms of Israel and JudahIn 1994 they found two more pieces which linked to the first piece and gave the names of the kings Israel Jehoram and Judah Ahaziah. The new lines read I killed Jehoram son of Ahab king of Israel and I killed Ahaiahu son of Jehoram king of the House of David (2Kings 8v28-29 Recorded here this find is Hazaels account actually the two kings were killed just after the battle by Jehu 2Kings 9:21-24,27)

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House of David

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House of DavidThe inscription found at Tel-Dan, however debatable the specifics, is the oldest extra- Biblical reference to Israel in semitic script. It succeeds in bridging the Biblical narrative testimony with archaeological evidence that "proves" that the kingdoms of Israel and Judah not only existed but were important kingdoms of the time.(http://www.otal.umd.edu/~knobloch/dan.htm)

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Thus far, most scholars agree that there is no way to restore the entire text of this inscription as it was originally because that text has not been found. But Puech has proposed its complete resconstruction based on the wording of inscriptions of a similar nature and on a general knowledge of Early Aramaic. His reconstructed text and translation are as follows:

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1996 - Seal of BaruchFound in 1975 but significance only came to light in 1996.(Belonging) to Berekhyahu, the son of Neriyahu, the scribe. The suffix -yahu was a common epithet attached to names in Judah, meaning, blessed of Jehovah.As a scribe of the Prophet Jeremiah, Baruch, the son of Neriah, is mentioned no less than thrity-two times in the Bible. He played a crucial role in the life and activities of the Prophet, and is considered one of the main sources of the Book. (Jer. 36:4)

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Fingerprint of BaruchWhat is unique about this is the clear impression of a fingerprint on the upper left of the bulla. The article suggested this was the fingerprint of Jeremiahs scribe. 3 Discoveries such as this remind us that the people of the Bible were not imaginary figures from fairy tales, but real people who served our God in the past.

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1998 - Ahazs Seal2 Chr 27:9Belonging to Ahaz (son of) Yehotam, King of JudahFirst to be attributed to a biblical kingNote fingerprintBottom shows imprint of strings that tied the scroll together and the texture of the papyrus beneath

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2002 James OssuaryThe letters etched into this ancient limestone object read, 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.' Mk 6;3

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2002 James OssuaryEarliest mention of Jesus outside the BibleScans by electron microscope sho no trace of modern toolsGrammer and script appear to fit normal useage of the periodAre these John, James and Jospeh of the Bible?Common namesSome stats 40,000 men in Jerusalem at the time, suggested 20 people could fit this description but mention of brother is highly unusual on ossuaries only if famous are mentionedCould be the nail in the coffin for the Catholic debate that James was actually the cousin of Jesus

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2002 James OssuaryAramaic inscription "Ya'akov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua."

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Fact or Fake?FAKE - A committee appointed by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has declared the inscription on an ancient bone box that refers to "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" to be a modern forgery. FACT - Two other groups of specialistsfrom the Geological Survey of Israel and the Royal Ontario Museum, in Torontoalso studied the bone box and concluded the inscription was ancient. And some of the worlds leading paleographersspecialists in ancient scriptshave dated the inscriptions style of writing to the first century A.D.

Until early this century the name Neb unknown outside the Bible. In 1899 begane xcavaiting and 14 years later found bricks. Neo-Babylonian Inscribed Clay Brick of Nebuchadnezzar A clay brick section inscribed with a commemorative cuneiform text in 13 lines. The text is a dedicatory inscription recounting restorations done to the Ebarra Temple in Larsa by the famous Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar. 25m south of synagogue lies the remains of an octagonal building. it is now thought that this building is on the site of Peter's house. Octagonal building thought to be a church from Byzantine era: probably middle 5th century AD similar to some European churches east side of middle octagon contained a baptistry building faced east like most ancient churches octagonal churches built to commemorate special events which occurred at site. E.g., church of nativity in Bethlehem. Beneath church lies remains of another building, also a church.

Grati on wall: Lord JC help thy servant. Christ have mercy. Some grati in Hebrew suggesting Jews part of church. Crosses on walls. This earlier church appear to also have been a house. Some walls of building date back before Christ (approx 50 BC). Archaeologists have attempted to reconstruct the house based on what they have found. 2 interior courtyards (customary) no roof found suggesting it was straw/wood(see Mk 2:1{12) largest room appears to have been modified and had large arch built into it so that its roof could be raised. originally house was fairly ordinary, like other houses in the area. During second half of the First century, floors, walls and ceiling were plastered (unusual). The only excavated house in townwith plaster. Walls and door were replastered several times over centuries. Before walls were plastered, lots of pottery, cooking bowls, jugs, etc. After walls plastered, only storage jars and some oil lamps. Suggests building became a public meeting hall. Given later grati, it seems it became a Christian church.Later: 4th century pilgrims said they saw the house of Peter. Egeria: \In Capernaum, a house church was made out of the home of the prince of the apostles whose walls still stand today as they were." 6th century travellers. \We came to Cap. to the house of St. Peter which is now a basilica [octagonal church]".So there is reasonable evidence that this is the real thing, and if so, this is probably where Jesus lived in Capernaum.Men let through roof. Mark 2:1{12 Could dig through this sort of roof.

Bones of CaiaphasIn 1990, workers were building a park in Jerusalem. Underneath what is now a road, they accidentally uncovered an ancient burial cave. Not very surprising|the area is full of them. But this was interesting because it contained some ossuaries or bone boxes. When people were buried, their body was placed in a burial cave until its esh had decomposed. Then the bones were collected and placed in an ossuary, usually made of decorated limestone. These were sometimes inscribed with the name of the family who owned the burial chamber.OH: Caiaphas tomb

On the side of one of the ossuaries found in this cave was the name \Caiaphas". On the side of another ossuary was \Joseph, son of Caiaphas". The cave has been dated to between the rst century BC and the rst century AD. In one of the ossuaries was found a coin dated to AD 42/43. Precisely the time for the high priest Caiaphas who we know from the NT. Caiaphas was the high priest during the time of Jesus' ministry and the gospels record he took a lead- ing part in Jesus' trial and subsequent cruci-xion. In Josephus', he calls the high priest at the time \Joseph who was called Caiaphas". It seems Caiaphas was a family name and his real name was Joseph. That would explain why the ossuary was inscribed, Joseph son of Caiaphas. of the others, and no doubt belonged to a spe- cial person. Inside this beautiful ossuary, they found bones from six dierent people: two ba- bies, a child between 2 and 5, a young boy be- tween 13 and 18, an adult woman, and a male of about 60 years!Could this have been Caiaphas himself? It seems highly likely. Ceramic oil lampA potSmall glass bottle (possibly for holding precious liquids)This fragment of a monumental inscription from the First Temple Period was discovered in an excavation of the ancient city of Dan. It is the first extra-biblical reference to the "House of David" ever discovered. It appears to have been part of a monument erected by a king of Aram indicating victory over his enemies. Written in Aramaic with the words separated by dots, the inscription dates to the 9th century BCE. (http://www.tfba.org/finds.php)

Indeed, the document seals found in excavations in Israel contained the names and titles of Baruch son of Neriah, Jerahmeel son of King Jehoiakim, Seraiah, another son of Neriah, and Gmaryuhu, the son of Shaphan, a royal scribe. (Jer. 32:12, 36:26, 51:59-61 & 2Kings 22:3-10)

Bones of JamesA few months ago, another bone box was found. This was actually found at least 20 years ago, and had been sitting in someone'shouse all that time. They didn't realise how important it was.On the side it said \Jacob, the son of Joseph, the brother of Joshua". Jacob=James. Joshua=Jesus.Mark 6:3. There may have been lots of people called James who had fathers called Joseph and pos- sibly even a few who also had brothers called Jesus. But to put it on a box was unusual. Would only do it if the brother was famous! What was in box?Nothing! It had been emptied out and no-one knows what happened to the bones.Size of a toolboxA year after burial in tomb, family members would collect bones into an ossuary. Tombs wer carved into rocks and expensice so were reusedIs it real?