Archaeology News

TAU researchers use earth’s magnetic field to verify Old Testament event

Research from Tel Aviv University (TAU) and three other Israeli universities will enable archaeologists to identify burnt materials discovered in excavations and estimate their firing temperatures. The new technique can determine whether a certain item, such as a mud brick, underwent a firing event even at relatively low temperatures, from 200°C (about 400°F) and higher…. Read More

TAU researchers among those finding oldest evidence of the use of fire to cook food

A close analysis of the remains of a carp-like fish found at the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov archaeological site in Israel shows that the fish were cooked roughly 780,000 years ago, a collaborative study that included Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers says. Until now, the earliest evidence of cooking dated to approximately 170,000 years ago. The… Read More

TAU study of geomagnetic fields reveals truth behind biblical narratives

A joint study by Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the Hebrew University has accurately dated 21 destruction layers at 17 archaeological sites in Israel by reconstructing the direction and/or intensity of the earth’s magnetic field recorded in burnt remnants. The new data verify the biblical accounts of the Egyptian, Aramean, Assyrian, and Babylonian military campaigns… Read More

TAU study finds human activity damaging local environments 3,000 years ago

Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) has found that the ancient copper industry at Timna three millennia ago was not managed in a sustainable manner, with overexploitation of local vegetation eventually leading to the disappearance of both the plants and the industry. Copper production was not renewed in this region until about a thousand years… Read More

TAU study reveals world’s earliest evidence of opium use

A new study by the Israel Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University (TAU), and The Weizmann Institute of Science has revealed the earliest known evidence of the use of the hallucinogenic drug opium, and psychoactive drugs in general, in the world. The opium residue was found in ceramic vessels discovered at Tel Yehud, in an excavation… Read More