Review of A Museum in Baghdad
Hannah Khalil’s new play A Museum in Baghad is an ambitious mix of fact, fiction, debate, and magical realism, which tells a fascinating story about individuals and the country of Iraq.
Ashurbanipal
The king Ashurbanipal was the king of Assyria at the height of the Assyrian Empire’s power. I recently visited the excellent Ashurbanipal exhibition at the British Museum, which is well worth a visit.
Review of Transforming the Way we Think
How do we transform the way that we usually think? One answer to that question is to talk to people who think differently to us! This is the approach taken by Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Studies. This book summarises those discussions so far.
Seven best posts from 2015
This has been a hard and busy year (and I’m fully aware that it hasn’t been half as hard and busy for me as it has been for others), but looking back it’s good to reflect on the highlights as well. As part of that I thought that I’d again choose my seven favourite posts…
Seven posts for 2014
What are your best memories of 2014? Looking back over a year is always challenging, particularly one that has been as hard for so many people as this one. But, I thought that I’d choose my personal seven favourite posts from the past year (it was going to be five, but I couldn’t decide which…
Archaeology and the United Monarchy
What does radiocarbon dating have to do with understanding the world of the Bible? Quite a lot (if you use it properly…!). Does it have anything to say about King David? Quite possibly…
No other gods…
The Ancient Israel site of Kuntillet ‘Arjud shows that the commandment to “have no other gods” was regularly broken. I’m not quite sure why that should be either controversial or presented as a new discovery, but every so often it is!
The importance of archaeology
What’s the point of archaeology? Quite a lot actually! This is my reflection on the importance and wonder of archaeological discovery, with the help of Doctor Who…
The Ice Age Mind
40,000 years ago, were people thinking, believing and feeling like us? The answer that the British Museum’s exhibition on Ice Age Art gives is a resounding ‘yes’.
Destruction levels
One of the (many!) misunderstandings between biblical scholars and archaeologists seems to be over destruction levels. On many sites that have been occupied for a significant amount of time there will probably be evidence, sooner or later, of at least one major destruction of the site. This is usually a layer of burning which may…
Go on a dig!
I was pleased to read John Byron’s recent blogpost on Why Biblical Scholars Should Participate in at Least One Dig. He talks about the experience giving him new ways to think about history and how we construct it, about the skills of observation and interpretation (as well as hard work!) required, and about how it…
Basalt procurement
The title of my PhD thesis was Basaltic-rock procurement systems of the southern Levant: Case studies from the Chalcolithic-Early Bronze I and the Late Bronze-Iron Ages. I get the very occasional request for it, so thought that I’d make it available for download (8.4 Mb). The data is probably still worth publishing, and is one…
olem - From the past to eternity 