AN OPEN COLLECTION THESE RECORDS CAME FROM

Wikidata & Wikimedia Commons

Wikidata holds no object. It is how the named objects were resolved: each one was looked up once, checked against its expected name, and rejected if it turned out to be a person or a modern paper. The photographs come from Wikimedia Commons, each with its own licence and its own photographer.

50

records held

50

listed on this page

43

openly licensed photographs

49

matched to our catalogue

THE OBJECTS

What we hold for this collection.

Amarna letters

diplomatic correspondence; archives; archaeological artefact

Wikimedia Commons · no author recorded by the source (opens in a new tab) Public domain

Fourteenth-century BC diplomatic archive naming Canaanite city-states.

archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru during the New Kingdom

CULTURE

diplomatic correspondence; archives; archaeological artefact

RECORDED HOLDER

not stated in Wikidata

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-058 Late Bronze Age political and geographic context

What it supports. Berlin's museum catalog identifies EA289 as correspondence from Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem within the Amarna archive.

What it does not. Habiru terminology cannot simply be equated with biblical Hebrews; these letters do not independently narrate Joshua's conquest.

Bears on: Canaan and Jerusalem before Israel's monarchy

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Arad ostraca

discovered text; ostracon

פעמי-עליון (opens in a new tab) CC BY-SA 4.0 · share-alike

Hebrew ostraca from the Judahite fort at Arad.

collection of more than 100 inscribed pottery shards

CULTURE

discovered text; ostracon

FINDSPOT

Tel Arad

RECORDED HOLDER

not stated in Wikidata

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-044 administrative and writing context

What it supports. Arad military correspondence documents late-monarchic Judahite administration; the authors discuss a reference to the house of YHWH.

What it does not. A literacy analysis cannot directly date the composition of individual biblical books or prove their narratives.

Bears on: Judah's military and religious administration

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Atra-Hasis

human whose existence is disputed; mythical character

SpeakingArch (opens in a new tab) CC BY-SA 4.0 · share-alike

Old Babylonian flood and creation poem.

protagonist in Akkadian creation myth

CULTURE

human whose existence is disputed; mythical character

RECORDED HOLDER

not stated in Wikidata

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-117 flood literary parallels; global-event claim unestablished

What it supports. The museum catalogs an Atrahasis flood-text fragment; its object trail separately describes Gilgamesh's eleventh tablet and Utnapishtim.

What it does not. Literary flood traditions and local flood deposits do not establish a single simultaneous global flood. Regional sediment sequences were not individually audited.

Bears on: Genesis 6-9

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Baal with Thunderbolt

1499 BC · sculpture; stele · limestone

Jastrow (opens in a new tab) Public domain

Ugaritic stele of Baal, the deity the prophets contend with.

Ugarit stele

DATE

1499 BC

CULTURE

sculpture; stele

FINDSPOT

Ugarit

MEDIUM

limestone

MUSEUM NUMBER

AO 15775

RECORDED HOLDER

Department of Near Eastern Antiquities of the Louvre

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-128

Its reach, and its limit. Iconography supplies visual context for the Baal cult. It provides no archaeological verification of Elijah's miracle.

Bears on: 1 Kings 18 (storm-god context)

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

archaeological artefact; inscription; sculpture · diorite

Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) (opens in a new tab) CC BY-SA 4.0 · share-alike

Shows Jehu of Israel, or his envoy, bringing tribute to Shalmaneser III.

black limestone Assyrian sculpture with inscriptions

CULTURE

archaeological artefact; inscription; sculpture

FINDSPOT

Nimrud

MEDIUM

diorite

MUSEUM NUMBER

1848-11-04, 0001

RECORDED HOLDER

British Museum

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-005

Its reach, and its limit. Names Jehu's tribute; depicted kneeling figure may be a representative.

Bears on: 2 Kings 9-10

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Bodmer Papyri

manuscript · papyrus

Mediatus/Kopie eines Originalbriefes; Kopist unbekannt (opens in a new tab) Public domain

Early Greek biblical papyri including P66 and P75.

manuscript

CULTURE

manuscript

MEDIUM

papyrus

RECORDED HOLDER

Vatican Library; Bodmer Foundation

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-096 Gospel textual transmission

What it supports. The Vatican Library publishes transcription and images of Luke11 and John1 in Bodmer XIV-XV, P75; Bodmer's foundation separately identifies P66 as John.

What it does not. The sampled pages verify textual witnesses, not every Bodmer papyrus or the historicity of the Gospel events; paleographic dates are estimates.

Bears on: Luke, John and other biblical books

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Bubastite Portal

Markh at English Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) CC BY-SA 3.0 · share-alike

Shoshenq I's campaign list, beside the Shishak invasion of 1 Kings 14.

No Wikidata item exists for this object. Recorded from its Wikimedia Commons category of photographs.

RECORDED HOLDER

not stated by the source

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-011 historical campaign context

What it supports. The Bubastite Portal preserves Shoshenq I's royal imagery and a southern-Levant place list.

What it does not. The Shishak identification is historical comparison; preserved names do not independently document the plundering of Jerusalem.

Bears on: 1 Kings 14:25-26; 2 Chronicles 12

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Caiaphas ossuary

ossuary

deror_avi (opens in a new tab) CC BY-SA 3.0 · share-alike

Ossuary inscribed for the high priest Joseph Caiaphas.

Ceremonial burial chest for high priest of Biblical Jerusalem

CULTURE

ossuary

RECORDED HOLDER

not stated in Wikidata

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-029

Its reach, and its limit. Widely identified with the high priest's family; bones are not independently identified individuals.

Bears on: Matthew 26:57; John 11:49

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Chester Beatty Papyri

biblical manuscript

Unknown authorUnknown author (opens in a new tab) Public domain

Early Greek biblical papyri.

biblical manuscript

CULTURE

biblical manuscript

RECORDED HOLDER

not stated in Wikidata

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-095

Its reach, and its limit. Manuscript collections and textual witnesses; separately catalog P45, P46, P47.

Bears on: Gospels, Acts, Paul, Revelation

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Code of Hammurabi

code of law

Mbzt (opens in a new tab) CC BY 3.0

Old Babylonian law stele, the standard comparison for the Mosaic law codes.

Babylonian code of law or conduct

CULTURE

code of law

RECORDED HOLDER

not stated in Wikidata

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-136

Its reach, and its limit. Provides a primary comparative source for ancient Near Eastern law. Legal parallels neither establish direct copying nor prove divine origin.

Bears on: Exodus 21-23; Deuteronomy (legal comparison)

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Cyrus cylinder

AD 539 · archaeological artefact; archaeological find; inscription · clay

Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). Modifications by مانفی (opens in a new tab) CC BY-SA 4.0 · share-alike

Cyrus's Babylonian proclamation, read beside the return decree of Ezra 1.

ancient cylinder covered with Akkadian cuneiform script

DATE

AD 539

CULTURE

archaeological artefact; archaeological find; inscription

FINDSPOT

Babylon

MEDIUM

clay

MUSEUM NUMBER

90920

RECORDED HOLDER

British Museum

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-022

Its reach, and its limit. Restoration of cults and populations; does not explicitly name Jews or Jerusalem.

Bears on: Ezra 1; 2 Chronicles 36:22-23

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Dead Sea scrolls

archaeological artefact; group of manuscripts; discovered text

Israel Museum (opens in a new tab) Public domain

The Qumran biblical manuscripts.

15,000 fragments of about 850 scrolls from ancient Judaism

CULTURE

archaeological artefact; group of manuscripts; discovered text

FINDSPOT

Qumran Caves; Judaean Desert

RECORDED HOLDER

not stated in Wikidata

ARCHAEOLOGY CATALOGUE · ROW BA-088 biblical textual transmission

What it supports. IAA's catalog identifies biblical scrolls from Qumran and displays dated, named examples.

What it does not. The corpus contains textual variants and non-biblical works; preservation of a biblical text is not independent verification of its narrated events.

Bears on: Hebrew Bible

Matches a row of this project's archaeology catalogue

Records and photographs are the museums' and archives' own, used under the licences each one states. A record here is a record, not an endorsement of any reading of the object.

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