The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls

Google have scanned five of the Dead Sea Scrolls and in partnership with The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, made them available over the here.

The scrolls available are The Book of Isaiah, the War Scroll, the Temple Scroll, the Commentary on Habbukuk Scroll and the Community Rule Scroll.

They have been photographed at a resolution 200 times more than the average consumer camera. The result are images that show the minute details in the text and the parchment.

Find out more about the project from this Googleblog post:
"From the desert to the web: bringing the Dead Sea Scrolls online"

The Philistines were not so bad after all ...

Report from the Jerusalem Post's online edition on excavations at Gath (home town of the notorious Goliath) that throw a new light on Philistine culture and history

Rhetoric in Persian Israel: book review

Read the review of  "A palimpsest: rhetoric. ideology, stylistics and language relating to Persian Israel" (edited by Ehud Ben Zvi, Diana Edelman and Franck Polak) in Review of Biblical Literature

The reviewer is Bob Becking, Faculty Professor for Bible, Religion and Identity at Utrecht University.

Find the book in SOAS Library at QN418 / 732170

New open access journals for Ancient History / Archaeology

Two new open-access titles:

Hallesche Beitrage zur Orientwissenschaft

This academic journal published by the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (frequently in monograph format) covers a wide range of topics and countries (ancient history, archives, religions, Middle Eastern studies etc.)
It is currently available as digitized open-access texts from Vol.1 (1979) to Vol.44 (2007).

The current link address is via AWOL (Ancient World Online blog)

'Atiqot (Journal of the Israeli Antiquities Authority)

This journal covers the archaeology of "the land of Israel" from prehistory to Ottoman times. Open access coverage begins with Vol.60 (2008). You need to register first, but after that you will be able to login to view and share journal content.

Index to archaeological sites in Israel

This A-Z cumulative index of Archaeological Sites in Israel is from the website of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Click to view descriptions and photographs of sites and discoveries from Akko to Zippori