Category Archives: Culture & Cuisine

Join My Tour of Italy this Fall

Posted on May 22, 2013 by

I am leading a group tour to Italy from October 30th through November 9th of this year. We will visit some of the best places to see in Italy, including Venice, Florence, Pisa, Pompeii, Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast, and Rome. … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Architecture, Ancient Rome, Culture & Cuisine, Europe, Interesting places to visit, Italy, Overseas trips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dead Sea Scrolls coming to Cincinnati

Posted on November 12, 2012 by

An exhibition of select Dead Sea Scrolls opens this Friday, November 16th, at the Cincinnati Museum Center (near my old stomping grounds of Mason, Ohio). The Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest surviving manuscripts of Bible books. Around 600 biblically-related … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Archaeology, Culture & Cuisine, Inscriptions and Manuscripts, Museums | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Short informational video clips on Archaeology

Posted on June 20, 2012 by

Bar Ilan University in Israel has produced some short video clips on subjects studied by its faculty. Archaeologist Aren Maeir has posted three of them here, on the Tel es-Safi/Gath blog. They are around 2 to 2-1/2 minutes each and … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Archaeology, Culture & Cuisine, General Archaeology, Links to interesting stuff, Short videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Purim begins tonight

Posted on March 19, 2011 by

Purim begins at sunset this evening and continues through tomorrow tomorrow evening. The story of Purim is in the book of Esther and describes how the Jews were saved from annihilation during the days of the Persian Empire. It’s a … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture & Cuisine | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Why Do Israel’s Arabs Munch on Matzoh (Passover Bread)?

Posted on April 3, 2010 by

Many of us know it well – the crunchy cracker-like “bread” Jews call matzoh. It is made without leaven, according to instructions for the Passover celebration. Jesus referred to unleavened Passover bread as his “body” in the Last Supper. Some churches … Continue reading →

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A Day in the Life of a Volunteer Archaeological Excavator

Posted on July 30, 2009 by

I wondered for a long time what life would be like for participants in an archaeological excavation. I took a course on Classical Greek Archaeology in my undergraduate program, but the classroom is certainly no field excavation. I knew that … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture & Cuisine, General Archaeology, Israel | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Walking through Hezekiah’s Tunnel in Jerusalem

Posted on July 25, 2009 by

Ancient Jerusalem was a strong defensive position with a glaring weakness. The city was on a hill surrounded on three sides by steep valleys, but the water supply was a spring down at the bottom of the hill. During a … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Archaeology, Culture & Cuisine, Interesting places to visit, Israel, Overseas trips, Short videos, travel | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

On the Job at the Khirbet Qeiyafa Excavation

Posted on July 21, 2009 by

I just finished Day 3 on site at the Elah Fortress (aka Khirbet Qeiyafa) excavation. Today was not as tough as the previous days due to a combination of 1) a steady breeze that mitigated some of the summer temperature, … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Archaeology, Culture & Cuisine, General Archaeology, Israel, Overseas trips | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Up to Jerusalem, via some other places

Posted on July 18, 2009 by

We slept in until 7:30 this morning before going to visit Capernaum, which the Bible describes as Jesus’ “own city” in Luke 9. He lived here for a while during his earlier ministry, possibly in Peter’s house if not His … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Archaeology, Culture & Cuisine, Israel, Overseas trips, travel | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Day 2: Harod, Jezreel and Mount Carmel

Posted on July 17, 2009 by

We visited the Spring of Harod, Jezreel, Megiddo and Mt. Carmel today. I will save most of Jezreel and all of Megiddo for later posts, but here are some highlights from the other sites. We left this morning to visit … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture & Cuisine, Israel, Overseas trips | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments