We are placing some different links on here for your perusal. They lead to articles, discoveries, and new scientific technology.
#1. 100 years after Tutankhamun discovery new finds reveal more of ancient Egypt’s secrets
A century after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb made headlines around the world, in the sweltering desert heat just outside Cairo, a small team is still making new finds in ancient Egypt.
Digging layer by layer at the Saqqara site in Giza, moving earth one bucket at a time, archaeologists have found a giant trove of ancient coffins and mummies, along with ceramic amulets believed to have been used in burial rituals, and thick papyrus documents.
Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s former state minister for antiquities, told NBC News Wednesday that the site contained countless other artifacts relating to another pharaoh, King Teti, and his followers who worshipped him as a god for 1,000 years after his death.
#2. Scientists use new dating technique to analyze historical accuracy of Old Testament battles
Scientists say they are using new technology that could allow them to properly date several military conquests depicted in the Bible and potentially validate the scriptures’ historical authenticity.
A study published last Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences introduces an “approach that applies archaeomagnetic investigation to the remains of ancient towns that were destroyed by fire.” The new approach enables researchers to examine “chronological insights” that will allow them to link archaeological contexts with Old Testament accounts of military campaigns against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Conducted by Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, the study involved 20 researchers from different countries and disciplines led by Yoav Vaknin of Tel Aviv University’s Institute of Archaeology.
The study purports that research accurately dated 21 destruction layers at 17 archaeological sites in Israel.
The researchers used readings from ancient geomagnetic fields that had been preserved through time to track changes in a method called archaeomagnetic dating. When subjected to high temperatures, archaeological findings such as pottery, bricks and roof tiles can record the Earth’s temperatures.
Once heated, the findings’ magnetic minerals are re-magnetized. The scientists connected them with the Earth’s geomagnetic field at a time they were subjected to such high temperatures.
#3. The Reliability of the Old Testament
The question of the reliability of the Old Testament focuses on the issues of how accurate it is about the historical people, facts, and events it recounts, and how well it gives account of the people and processes involved in its writing.
Summary
Many doubt the historical reliability of the Old Testament, but the New Testament supports it and there is a substantial body of external ancient Near Eastern historical and archaeological backing for it as well. Some of this is direct evidence for specific historical details, but even where this does not exist, there is good reason to believe the accounts are plausible. A related issue is the historical account that the Old Testament gives of its own composition: who wrote it, when they wrote it, and what were the processes involved in its writing.
New Testament passages affirm the divine inspiration and ongoing importance of the Old Testament for followers of Jesus Christ. For example, the Apostle Paul wrote,
. . . from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2Tim. 3:15b–17)
One can include both the Old Testament and New Testament in this summary, but the focus must be on the Old Testament in this passage, since the New Testament was not in existence when Timothy was a child. Nevertheless, since Paul wrote this near the end of his life and ministry, even though much of the New Testament existed by that time, the Old Testament never lost his importance to him and the church.
#4. How convincing are the arguments for a new Egyptian chronology?
The Conventional Chronology (CC) links up with the Bible in the person of Pharaoh Shoshenk I, who is identified
with the biblical Shishak. But David Rohl holds that the CC does not fit with other parts of the Bible. If the CC
is followed, there is a huge gap, a ‘dark age’, where there should be evidence for Hebrew history.On the other hand, Egyptology professor Kenneth Kitchen, who is a firm supporter of the CC, accepts no clash. He states that ‘absence of evidence is not evidence of absence’. 1
The CC is based on the king list as compiled by the Egyptian priest Manetho, and additionally what Rohl identifies
as ‘four pillars’. Rohl claims that there are compelling anomalies in the CC, as well as serious weaknesses in at
least three of the CC’s four pillars.However, according to Chris Bennett, these anomalies alone are no basis for a completely new chronology; to be certain about the distant past is difficult. Some of what is presented
on popular television as ‘undisputed fact’ appear after all to be based on questionable assumptions.Rohl’s New Chronology may not be completely correct, but the weaknesses he documents in the CC show that the
conventional wisdom regarding the ancient Egyptian timeline merits re-examination
#5. 10 Things You Should Know about Biblical Archaeology
1. Real archaeology is not like Indiana Jones.
Rarely do we actually run across a Nazi or space-alien nemesis, and I have not needed my whip in years. More to the point, a couple hundred years ago people calling themselves archaeologists did indeed break into archaeological sites (like tombs) with the primary goal of looting artifacts to bring back home. Today, archaeologists instead seek to reconstruct—through discovery—the whole cultural history of a particular locale. The best cultural data is often found in the minutiae of potsherds, animal bones, wall lines, and the many incidental items left by cultures past.
2. Biblical archaeology provides a better understanding of the cultures of the Bible.
Archaeology itself is a historical discipline that examines the material remains of past cultures. Alongside the preserved literature from those cultures, archaeology provides a vital avenue for understanding ancient everyday life.
For example, what was it like to live in an Old Testament house? Many such Israelite houses have been excavated. Often moderns are surprised to learn those homes were frequently two-story structures. Animals (like cattle and donkeys) were regularly housed overnight indoors on the ground floor. The family typically slept upstairs, perhaps benefitting from the heat emitted from the animals below. Roofs were flat, often being used by the inhabitants for such things as the drying of crops. In rural settings, such homes appeared in family compounds of two or more houses. In cities, homes could be built against the wall of a city. In times of siege warfare, the rooms adjacent to a city wall would be filled with rubble to thicken the defenses.
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