Archaeology
A view of the Great Isaiah Scroll on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Feb. 26, 2026 (Photo by Sharon Altshul)
February 27, 2026, 9:56 am
Israel Museum displays Great Isaiah Scroll
Rare four-month exhibition offers the first full public viewing since 1968.
By Sharon Altshul
(Photo via JNS)
February 17, 2026, 9:03 am
Attempted archaeological heist uncovers Second Temple-era stone workshop in Jerusalem
The ancient workshop, located on the slopes of Mount Scopus, was found last month during an undercover surveillance operation targeting an organized gang of antiquities robbers
By JNS
A 2,000-year-old ritual bath is unearthed beneath the Western Wall Plaza in a discovery announced on Dec. 29, 2025. (Photo by Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)
December 29, 2025, 5:11 pm
2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath discovered under Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem
The mikveh still bears ash remains that testify to the destruction of the Second Temple, according to researchers.
By JNS Staff
The 2,800-year-old dam wall discovered in Jerusalem's City of David. (Credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority)
August 27, 2025, 8:41 am
Oldest dam uncovered in Jerusalem dated to biblical kings
The newly uncovered structure suggests comprehensive urban planning for managing Jerusalem’s water supply as early as the late ninth century BCE.
By JNS Staff
Egyptian-style scarabs with additional cultural influences found at a tomb complex in Israel's Negev Desert are evidence of encounters between different peoples, researchers say. (Credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)
February 5, 2025, 1:58 pm
Arrowheads from Yemen: Evidence of ancient trade caravans found in Negev
Excavation of a 2,500-year-old burial site revealed tombs of trade caravans from Yemen, Phoenicia and Egypt that traveled through the Land of Israel.
By JNS Staff
Examples of some of the plants recovered from the Gesher Bnot Ya’akov percussive tools. From left to right: oak, yellow water lily, and common oat. (Hadar Ahituv/Yoel Melamed/Bar-Ilan University)
January 9, 2025, 8:21 am
Early man ate carbs and processed food 780,000 years ago, northern Israel site shows
Analysis of basalt tools from the Hula Valley shows that Stone Age humans gathered, extracted and crushed starches from acorns, cereals, legumes and aquatic plants
By Gavriel Fiske
The Nahal Ein Gev II site, 1.25 miles east of the Sea of Galilee. (Naftali Hilger/The Institute of Archaeology/The Hebrew University)
November 14, 2024, 9:16 am
12,000-year-old spinning machine uncovered in northern Israel
A rare glimpse into the Natufian culture and the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to an agricultural one.
By Etgar Lefkovits
Aerial view of the ruins of Masada, a fortress built by Herod the Great on a clifftop in the desert of what is now Israel. (Getty Images)
September 5, 2024, 6:25 pm
New archaeological research shows siege on Masada lasted just weeks, not years
The fortress site near the Dead Sea is a major tourist destination as well as the historic site for inducting Israeli soldiers responsible for contemporary Jewish self-defense.
By Jackie Hajdenberg
A 2,700-year-old seal inscribed in paleo-Hebrew with the name “LeYeho’ezer ben Hosh’ayahu”—“For Yeho’ezer son of Hosh’ayahu.” (Photo by Eliyahu Yanai, City of David)
August 29, 2024, 10:07 am
Rare First Temple-era stone seal unearthed in Jerusalem
The ancient black stone seal is believed to date back 2,700 years.
By JNS Staff
The decorated floor of the Great Synagogue of Vilna, discovered in an archaeological dig in Lithuania, in a photo released on July 25, 2024 (Photo courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority)
August 1, 2024, 4:01 pm
Uncovered floor of Vilnius’s Great Synagogue bears witness to Nazi, Soviet devastation
Researchers find one of synagogue’s columns collapsed on its side; 17th-century prayer house, at center of Jewish metropolis, was looted by Germans, razed by Russians
By TOI Staff
Archaeologists remove the swords from the rock crevice where they were hidden some 1,900 years ago in a cave in the Judean Desert. (Emil Aladjem/IAA)
September 6, 2023, 3:57 pm
Four 1,900-year-old Roman swords found in Judean Desert, likely from Bar Kochba revolt
Apparently stolen by Jewish rebels, the incredibly well-preserved weapons are ‘an extremely rare find, the likes of which have never been found in Israel’
By Melanie Lidman
A 14th-century synagogue Utrera was unearthed by archeologists in Spain. (Courtesy Utrera City council)
February 9, 2023, 3:40 pm
A hospital-turned-church-turned-bar in Spain revealed as medieval synagogue
The synagogue complex in Utrera, in the province of Seville, is believed to be among the largest ever found on the Iberian Peninsula from the medieval era.
By Orge Castellano
The granary that was built in the 15th century on top of the medieval Jewish cemetery of Erfurt. (Photo by Shai Carmi/Hebrew University via The Times of Israel)
November 30, 2022, 2:36 pm
Largest study of ancient DNA shows medieval Ashkenazi Jewry was surprisingly diverse
Scientists find that some 700 years ago, the Jews of Erfurt, Germany, formed 2 groups; rabbinic consultants stipulated that they study only loose teeth from pre-excavated skeletons
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
A 17th century BCE inscription in early Canaanite script from Lachish, incised on an ivory lice comb. (Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority)
November 9, 2022, 3:04 pm
Researchers unearth first-ever Canaanite sentence found in Israel
Written on an ivory comb unearthed in 2017, the sentence comprises seven words—a spell against lice.
By By JNS
Athens, Greece. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
May 20, 2022, 2:46 pm
Museum exhibit dates Jewish presence in Greece to fourth century BCE
“The Jewish community is an integral part of Greek identity, a fact that has been too often denied for centuries,” Greece’s Chief Rabbi Gabriel Negrin said.
By JNS Staff
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