This Week in the Ancient Near East

40:35

Mikvah Mania in Second Temple Period Jerusalem, or,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/10/04

The discovery of two big ritual bath complexes in Jerusalem right next to the Temple Mount has us asking questions. Where’s all the water coming from? Were there signs showing pilgrims where to line up? And who had the towel concession? With memories of immersions sacred and profane from yours truly!

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40:14

A Judean Pillar Figurine Industry Grows in Jerusalem,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/09/15

The discovery in Iron Age Jerusalem of a mold for the heads of voluptuous Judean Pillar Figurines has us wondering, like, hello, idolatry? After all there are hundreds of these things. Or with a figure like that, is something else going on? Also, who does her hair? Wait, she has hair?

en

42:15

The Case of the Middle Bronze Age Siege That Took...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/08/25

A new excavation in northern Iraq at a site with the terrific name of Kurd Qaburstan has revealed evidence of siege warfare. But we sort of knew this already from the stele of King Dadusha of Eshnunna who said that he had conquered the site. In ten days. As always the destruction itself, bad for the locals, good for the archaeologists. But how big was it, really? Maybe the ten days thing wasn’t just Dadusha doing a bit. With special shout outs to Steven Spielberg and a man called Creekmore!

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40:44

Odyssey? Shmoddesy?, or, The Gang Goes to the Movie

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/08/03

A low budget art film recently came and went from the theaters. You may have heard of it, The Odyssey? What’s all the fuss about? Is it a deep if selective exploration of Homer’s difficult to understand text or a 21st century sword and sandals epic? Not surprisingly, our contestants disagree, this time in rather epic fashion.

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38:11

The Roman Mummy Who Swallowed the Iliad, or, Take...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/07/21

A Roman mummy from the fabulously named site of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt has tested positive for the Iliad. But why put a snippet of Homer’s tale on a mummy, especially a fairly dull list of ships and places? Maybe it was to audition for a Christopher Nolan movie?

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41:27

Home on the Range at Iron Age Hazor, Isotope Edition,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/06/30

Iron Age Hazor sat in the middle of a complicated geo-political situation: Aram-Damascus to the north, the Phoenicians to the northwest, and Israel to the south. This made no difference to cows, who were taken to graze all over regardless of what the map said. Of course, they couldn’t read maps. Except maybe cow 5754. Suspicious. With a host of bovine reminiscences from your hosts!

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59:44

Sennacherib’s Throne Room of Doom, or Hezekiah Can...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/06/09

The Assyrian king Sennacherib’s throne room depicted gruesome scenes of warfare and visitors got the message that he was not to be defied. But now it seems that at the end of all the scenes of siege, torture and exile, there’s Judean king Hezekiah, standing alone. So what’s the real message? You don’t want to be the star of an Assyrian relief.

en

39:58

Seeing the Writing on the Wall at Pompeii (Thanks to...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/05/18

New photographic techniques have shown that that walls in Pompeii were covered with graffiti, including pictures of gladiator fights, lewd poetry, and inscriptions in non-local languages like Safaitic. So sort of like New York City subways in the 1970s. Who says the past doesn’t repeat itself?

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48:31

The Archaeology of Grumpy Old Men (and Women) in the...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/04/20

A new study suggests that Iron Age Judean grandparents lived on the ground floor. Sure, it’s not like they were going up and down the ladder to the roof. But did they get their own suites and hey hey stop that, that’s a cooking pot!

en

36:03

The Case of the Elephant Bone in Third Century BCE...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/04/06

The discovery of an elephant bone in third century BCE Spain has us asking questions. Was the circus in town or was it a war elephant, like one of those Hannibal used to climb the Alps? But where did it come from and how did Carthaginians learn to drive them? After all, the trunk is in the front.

en

42:25

Please Don’t Eat the Halafian Daisies, or Plant Based...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/03/23

New research suggests that the painted designs on prehistoric Halafian pottery represent mathematical reasoning. If you count all the leaves and bushes, this tracks. What kind of crazy people count the leaves and bushes? Archaeologists, that’s who.

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38:13

For Quick Energy, Mamluks Choose Sugar! or, The...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/03/09

Did Mamluks mill sugar in the Beth Shean Valley of Israel using water powered mills? Do elites own industries creating tasty and addictive foodstuffs and foist the products on the unsuspecting? Talk about a sugar rush!

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38:13

The Opium Trail from Egypt to Persia, or Putting Your...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/02/23

The discovery of opium residues in an Egyptian alabaster jar with the Achaemenid king Xerxes’ name on it has us wondering. How stoned were they in the past? Was that why the jar ended up at Yale? Talk about a legacy admission!

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40:58

The Case of the Very Different Iron Age Shipwrecks at...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/02/09

The lagoon off Tel Dor is filled with shipwrecks and wouldn’t you know it, new excavations have turned up three from the Iron Age. Our contestants talk about the finds, changing patterns of Mediterranean trade, and the problem of getting insurance. Iron Age maritime economies? Learn to swim.

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36:21

A Prehistoric Figurine of Problematic Possibilities,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/01/26

The discovery of a teeny tiny figurine at the 12,000 year old site of Nahal En Gev II has us asking uncomfortable questions. Why is the woman carrying the goose on her back? Why does the goose seem pleased about this? Are women and geese separate parts of nature or sort of the same? Wait, what? It’s the Mother Goose mythogram of the millennia!

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38:11

Dear Judah, This is Not a Bill, Except It Really Is,...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2026/01/12

In Iron Age Jerusalem, finding a tiny bit of a cuneiform tablet is a big deal, since in that town, they use the alphabet. But when the Neo-Assyrian authorities ask, hey, where’s our tax money, they can do it in any script and language they want. So you’d better read the email, otherwise -there- will be a meeting, and you won’t like it.

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41:09

The Great Nubian Gold Rush (of the Second Millennium...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/12/29

How much gold was mined in antiquity anyway? A new economic analysis suggests that second millennium BCE Nubia produced hundreds of tons of the stuff, which is way more than anyone ever thought. Mining expeditions were super profitable too. So where’s the archaeological and textual evidence? Screw that, where’s all the gold now dammit?

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36:02

All I Want for Chanukah is a New Hasmonean Wall in...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/12/15

The discovery in Jerusalem of a big section of the late second century BCE Hasmonean city wall from has us asking the usual questions. Actually the reverse of the usual questions: not who put it up but who took it down, the Hasmoneans themselves or that Herod guy? Which satisfying, text based historical scenario should we choose? With a seasonally appropriate and tasty lightning round!

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41:36

Does Anybody at Iron Age Arad Really Know What Time...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/12/01

At the 6th century BCE Arad fortress Judean soldiers waited patiently for resupply every week. But new research shows that a week was really six days, which added up to a 360 day year. This may not have been a problem for military logistics but it certainly made sending birthday cards harder.

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41:11

To Live and Die at Late Bronze Age Yavne Yam, or, I...

This Week in the Ancient Near East ·

2025/11/17

A wealthy Late Bronze Age tomb at Yavne Yam on the coast of Israel has us talking about trade, class, and real estate. How did folks at a pokey little port afford all that stuff, not to mention all the opium? Is this the Southern Levant’s Boca Raton? Come for the wide-ranging discussion of social inequality, stay for shoutouts to the one and only ‘Grandpa’ Al Lewis and the classic hit by Golden Earring, Radar Love!

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