Evidence of the earliest use of silver as currency has been discovered by Israeli archaeologists. The silver hoards, dating back over 3600 years, were found during excavations in Shiloh, Megiddo, Gezer and Tel el-‘Ajjul in the Gaza Strip.
The Earliest Use of Silver as Currency(1) Read More »
One of the largest and most important rivers in Israel today, the Kishon River is amongst the most complex. It rises in the hills about Tabor and Gilboa, and flows along the Plain of Esdraelon from the Jezreel Valley to the sea at Haifa Bay.
Restoring Life to the Kishon River Read More »
The discovery of a collection of ivory plaques from the First Temple period in Jerusalem are the first to be unearthed in the city.[1] Ivory objects are among the rarest archaeological finds. Archaeologists believe that the decorated ivory objects are approximately 2700 years old.
The disco…
Recent Discoveries in Jerusalem Read More »
Lying at the bottom of the Earth’s deepest fault, the Dead Sea is 396 metres below sea level.[1] It is the saltiest body of water in the world and holds large quantities of valuable minerals. The earliest reference in the Bible calls it the Salt Sea (Gen 14:3), and it is also known as the Sea of the Plain (Deut 4:49) and the East Sea (Ezek 47:18). There are other indirect references to the Dead Sea in the Scriptures.
The Death of the Dead Sea Read More »
In 1881, Eliezer Ben Yehuda[1] began creating a Hebrew dictionary for the modern Jewish state. As a young man, Ben Yehuda “realized that Jews could never have any country of their own, or any national entity, unless they had a common language”.[2] Today, his work continues at the Acad…
How Israel is Keeping the Hebrew Language Alive Read More »
More than half desert, frequently hit with drought and subject to chronic water shortages in the past, Israel now produces 20 percent more water than it needs. But, in 2015, the gap between demand and available natural water supplies had reached 1 billion cubic metres. Israel’s rapidly growing po…
How Israel Used Innovation to Overcome its Water Crisis Read More »
This year marks the centenary of the decision by the League of Nations to entrust Great Britain with the Mandate for Palestine. Following World War I and the partition of the Turkish Empire, the League of Nations set up the mandate system to assist the liberated territories to advance toward self-go…
One Hundred Years Ago: 1922, Britain and the Palestine Mandate Read More »
It was startling to hear Russian President Putin use the term “de-Nazification”1 in his address outlining his purpose in the invasion of Ukraine. Under the pretext of “de-Nazification”, Putin accuses the Ukrainians of being Nazis and drug addicts, claiming his invasion was “to protect peop…
Ukraine, Putin’s War and the Jews Read More »
A team of archaeologists working at Lachish has reconstructed how the Assyrian army may have built a huge siege ramp used to conquer the city in 701BC.1 Led by Professor Yosef Garfinkel and Dr Madeleine Mumcuoglu of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Professors J…
Piecing Together the Assyrian Siege Ramp at Lachish Read More »
Mount Zion was conquered by Israel’s Harel Brigade on 18 May 1948, and became the only part of Jerusalem’s Old City to stay in Israeli hands until the armistice. The force on Mount Zion served as the forward position in the defence of southwest Jerusalem. For 19 years, from 1948, Jerusalem was d…
