Philippe Bohstrom is an archaeologist, covering archaeology for news outlets and journals in America, Europe and Asia. Bohstrom holds a master's degree in Classical Archaeology from Gothenburg University and a master´s degree in Near Eastern Archaeology and History from Tel Aviv University.
From enigmatic burials in prehistoric Jordan to the ancient Sumerian demoness Lilitu, the vampiric archetype originated early, and endures in a form the ancient Romans would recognize very well
Ancient Egypt had intimate relations with Canaan, and most of the Semitic peoples migrating there would have been Canaanite. But not all.
Pausanius was right: Priestesses of Demeter were, alone among women, allowed to watch the ancient Grecian games, from their temple now found by the racetrack
The Persian camp on the Acre plain seems to have been a base camp for King Cambyses' all-out attack on Egypt in the 520s B.C.E.
Mars may well have been one of the biggest warships in the world when it exploded off the Swedish island of Öland in 1564, sinking with all hands, but it seems some exaggeration was involved
Archaeologists exploring Montfort Castle in the Galilee discovered a previously unknown, richly decorated Gothic hall where the secretive knights' order gathered for their assemblies
Bronze disk unearthed by archaeologists in same wreck where original 2,200-year-old computer had been found; also located bits of the ship that Jacques Cousteau and looters hadn't destroyed
Finds in the northern biblical city of Dan suggest that even if King Jeroboam pushed worship of golden calves and goat demons to spite Jerusalem, there was a big YHWH temple
Is the story of the Philistine champion Goliath a distant memory of an event that took place in the 11th century B.C.E. or a fable by priests conspiring in Jerusalem 400 years later?
Imported jewelry in tombs in the Romanian heartland reveals brisk trade with Scandinavia and Mesopotamia in antiquity, but why were these gems put inside caves in the first place?
Abel Beth Maacah was famed in biblical times for conflict resolution: Now archaeologists have found a strange shrine that may have served the city's 'wise woman'
Stone structures found in the Jordan Valley wasteland may have been erected by the Israelites crossing, very slowly, into Canaan, archaeologists postulate
Years before Theodor Herzl proposed creating a Jewish state, Charles Taze Russell was traveling the world holding Jewish Mass Meetings, beginning in 1879, at which he urged Jews to find a national home in Eretz Israel
Since rabbis frowned on eating hunted animals, discovery of gazelle remains in the 1,900-year-old Galilean towns hints at parchment industry, say archaeologists
Jews have been unquestionably connected with the city for millennia, yet it functioned as their capital only for short periods in history
Debris and bodies crushed under fallen walls had led archaeologists to think Mycenaean civilization was brought down by quake. Can't be, geophysical study reports
The entire region quailed before King Sennacherib, known for horribly torturing rebel monarchs, but he didn't kill King Hezekiah. Inquiring minds have been asking why ever since
Mosaics, colored stucco and cherubs sporting on sky-blue background found in house that had been occupied for hundreds of years
Finding seal marks ostensibly from Isaiah the Prophet and Hezekiah within mere feet of each other in Jerusalem is intriguing; so are other seals of other non-visionary Isaiahs found in Israel from that time
Ceramic decorated with birth of Athena copied from Parthenon frieze, and other imported luxuries signal, that the textile dyeing business was thriving in Bethsaida 2,300 years ago
The camp discovered by Armageddon is the only full-scale Roman legionary base found so far in the East: It housed the 'Ironclad' Sixth Legion, a cremated comrade in a cooking pot, and a Sacred Eagle, whose birdly squawks would be interpreted as portents of war
Diving archaeologists were surprised to find eight sunken ships on the Cycladic resort's seabed that, however, the locals knew about all along
DNA analysis of seeds and bones unearthed on the tiny island of Motya show that they came from the ancient Levant, brought by the Phoenicians to Sicily.
Discovery of Greek dedication from 1,500 years ago indicates to archaeologists that they have finally found the Roman-Byzantine city of Ashdod-Yam, right by Ashdod
Archaeology has provided precious little evidence for the biblical account of a powerful Judaic kingdom 3,000 years ago, but the sheer extent of copper mining in Timna, when Egypt was in a state of collapse, is otherwise hard to explain
Carthage fought the Roman Navy with ships captured from them in previous battle, but lost anyway, which explains why the Sicilian seafloor is littered with remains of ships built by the side that won
Rare masks, cultic tableware, a massebah and figurines bolster the theory of pagan worship at Tel Burna over three millennia ago, says excavator
The ancient Carthaginians were so obsessed with gambling that some may have chosen the races as their final resting place, archaeologists suspect.
Eight more ancient wrecks found at Fourni, bringing total in what should have been safe harbor in the Mediterranean Sea to 53 ancient sunken ships.
Discovery of Judean-style lamp molds in remote Galilee village suggests a Judean lampmaker fled the Romans and started a new life, bringing his signature style with him