Herod, Yeshua & Jerusalem's Fall — biblical archaeology discoveries

63 BCE–70 CE. 78 archaeological finds from this period that run alongside the biblical story: what was found, who found it, why it matters, the Hebrew word to know, and the Scripture passages each discovery touches.

• Herodium and Herod's Tomb
  Herod's artificial mountain palace-fortress and the mausoleum found in 2007 · found 2007
• Caesarea Maritima
  Herod's harbor city, seat of the Roman governors and home of Cornelius and Philip · found 1959
• Pilate Stone
  Latin dedication naming 'Pontius Pilatus, Prefect of Judea' · found 1961
• טַבַּעַת
  The 'Pilate' Ring from Herodium
  Copper-alloy ring reading 'of Pilatus' in Greek, found 1968–69 and read in 2018 · found 1969
• Caiaphas Ossuary
  Ornate bone box inscribed 'Yehosef bar Kayafa' from a priestly family tomb · found 1990
• מַעַזְיָה
  Miriam Daughter of Yeshua Ossuary
  Looted ossuary naming 'Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri' · found 2011
• תָּלָה
  Yehohanan's Crucified Heel Bone
  The only physical remains of a Roman crucifixion victim from Judea, with the iron nail still in place · found 1968
• אָח
  James Ossuary
  'Yaakov bar Yosef, brother of Yeshua' — an unprovenanced box at the center of a forgery trial · found 2002
• Herodian Western Wall and Temple Mount Platform
  The retaining walls of Herod's expanded Temple enclosure · found 1838
• Robinson's Arch and Wilson's Arch
  Herodian bridge and stairway arches that carried worshippers onto the Temple Mount · found 1838
• Trumpeting Place Inscription
  'To the place of trumpeting…' — a stone from the Temple's southwest corner tower · found 1968
• Temple Warning Inscription
  Greek notice forbidding foreigners to pass the Temple's inner barrier on pain of death · found 1871
• Southern Steps and Temple Mikvaot
  The pilgrim staircase to the Huldah Gates and the ritual baths beside it · found 1968
• Herodian Street and the 70 CE Collapse
  The paved market street beneath the Western Wall, still buried under stones thrown down by Titus' soldiers · found 1968
• Temple Mount Sifting Project
  Wet-sifting of debris dumped from the Temple Mount, yielding Second Temple floor tiles, coins, and seals · found 2004
• Pool of Siloam
  The Second Temple-period stepped pool where Yeshua sent the blind man to wash · found 2004
• Pool of Bethesda
  Twin pools with five porticoes beside the Church of St Anne, exactly as John 5 describes · found 1888
• עָלָה
  Pilgrimage Road (Stepped Street)
  The 600-meter stepped street from the Pool of Siloam up to the Temple Mount, built under Pilate · found 2004
• Magdala Synagogue and the Magdala Stone
  A 1st-century synagogue in Mary Magdalene's town, with a carved stone showing the Temple menorah · found 2009
• כְּפַר
  Capernaum Synagogue and 'Peter's House'
  The white limestone synagogue over a 1st-century basalt one, and the house-church venerated as Peter's · found 1866
• Ancient Galilee Boat ('Jesus Boat')
  A 1st-century fishing boat preserved in the mud of the Sea of Galilee · found 1986
• נֵצֶר
  Nazareth 1st-Century House
  Simple dwellings showing Nazareth was a small Jewish village in Yeshua's day · found 2009
• Nazareth Inscription (Decree of Caesar)
  Greek edict threatening death for tomb-robbing — once tied to the empty tomb, now traced to Kos · found 1878
• Bethsaida: et-Tell and el-Araj
  Two rival sites for the fishing village of Peter, Andrew and Philip · found 1987
• Chorazin Synagogue and the 'Seat of Moses'
  Basalt synagogue with a carved stone chair in the town Yeshua rebuked · found 1905
• בֵּית כְּנֶסֶת
  Gamla and Its Synagogue
  One of the oldest synagogues in the world, in the Golan town that fell to Vespasian in 67 CE · found 1976
• Herod's Winter Palaces at Jericho
  Three palace complexes by Wadi Qelt, where Herod died and near where Yeshua met Zacchaeus · found 1950
• Machaerus
  Herod Antipas' fortress east of the Dead Sea where John the Baptist was beheaded · found 1968
• Masada
  Herod's cliff-top palace-fortress and the last stand of the Jewish revolt in 73/74 CE · found 1838
• The Burnt House (House of Kathros)
  A priestly home in the Upper City burned in 70 CE, with the family's name on a stone weight · found 1970
• Herodian Quarter and the Palatial Mansion
  Wealthy priestly homes of the Upper City with mosaics, frescoes and ritual baths · found 1969
• Arch of Titus Menorah Relief
  Roman soldiers carrying the Temple menorah and table in Titus' triumph · found 81
• Judaea Capta Coins
  Roman coins celebrating the conquest of Judea with a weeping woman under a palm tree · found 1800
• Antonia Fortress and the Lithostrotos Pavement
  Herod's fortress beside the Temple and the stone pavement long shown as the place of Yeshua's trial · found 1857
• בֵּית הַמִּשְׁפָּט
  Herod's Jerusalem Palace and the Kishle Excavation
  The western-hill palace that most scholars now identify as Pilate's praetorium · found 1999
• Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Golgotha and the Tomb
  A 1st-century quarry, garden and rock-cut tombs beneath the traditional site of the crucifixion and burial · found 1961
• The Garden Tomb
  A beloved Protestant site for the resurrection — but an Iron Age tomb, not a 'new' one · found 1867
• Tomb of the Shroud (Akeldama)
  The only 1st-century burial shroud from Jerusalem, with the remains of a man who had leprosy · found 2000
• Rolling-Stone Tombs: Herod's Family Tomb and the Tomb of the Kings
  Elite Jerusalem tombs sealed by great round stones, like the tomb in the Gospels · found 1863
• 'Alexander Son of Simon' Ossuary (Cyrene Tomb)
  A bone box from a tomb of Cyrenian Jews that may name the son of Simon who carried the cross · found 1941
• Nicanor Ossuary
  Bone box of 'Nicanor of Alexandria who made the gates' of the Temple · found 1902
• Theodotus Synagogue Inscription
  Greek dedication of a Jerusalem synagogue 'for the reading of the Law' from before 70 CE · found 1913
• Tyrian Shekel (Temple Tax Coin)
  The silver coin required for the half-shekel Temple tax — and the likely 'thirty pieces of silver' · found 1960
• פְּרוּטָה
  The Widow's Mite (Bronze Prutah / Lepton)
  The smallest coins in circulation — Hasmonean and Herodian bronze leptons · found 1900
• Tribute Penny (Denarius of Tiberius)
  'Whose image is this?' — the silver denarius with Caesar's portrait · found 1900
• Coins of Pontius Pilate
  Small bronzes with Roman priestly symbols, minted in Jerusalem under Pilate in 29–31 CE · found 1900
• טֶטְרַרְךְ
  Coins of Herod Antipas and Herod Agrippa I
  Bronze coins of the Gospel-era Herods — Tiberias palms and Agrippa's canopy · found 1900
• כְּלִי אֶבֶן
  Stone Vessels and the Reina Quarry Cave
  Chalk jars and cups for ritual purity, and the Galilean workshop where they were made · found 2016
• Jacob's Well at Sychar
  The deep well near Shechem where Yeshua spoke with the Samaritan woman · found 333
• Kursi (Gergesa)
  Byzantine monastery on the eastern shore marking the miracle of the swine · found 1970
• שְׁאוֹל
  Caesarea Philippi (Banias) and the Grotto of Pan
  The pagan spring-shrine where Peter confessed Yeshua as Messiah · found 1988
• Emmaus: Nicopolis, Abu Ghosh and Motza
  Rival sites for the village on the road where the risen Yeshua walked with two disciples · found 1875
• יָד
  Absalom's Pillar and the Kidron Valley Tombs
  Monumental Second Temple tombs Yeshua would have seen from the Mount of Olives · found 1924
• Sepphoris (Tzippori)
  The 'ornament of all Galilee' rebuilt by Antipas an hour's walk from Nazareth · found 1931
• Bethlehem: Church of the Nativity
  Constantine's basilica over the cave of Yeshua's birth, its 4th-century mosaics and the 2013–2020 restoration · found 1934
• Gerasa (Jerash) of the Decapolis
  The best-preserved Roman city east of the Jordan, in the 'country of the Gerasenes' · found 1928
• Gadara (Umm Qais): The Country of the Gadarenes
  A Decapolis city on a ridge above the Sea of Galilee, Matthew's setting for the swine miracle · found 1974
• Petra: Nabataean Capital of Aretas IV
  The rock-cut city ruled by the king whose governor tried to arrest Paul, and the 1993 church papyri · found 1812
• Cana: Khirbet Qana and Kafr Kanna
  Two candidates for the village of the water-into-wine sign · found 1998
• Nain (Nein)
  The village where Yeshua raised a widow's son · found 1880
• Tabgha: Church of the Multiplication and the Loaves-and-Fishes Mosaic
  A 5th-century Byzantine church marking the feeding of the five thousand · found 1932
• Mount Tabor
  Deborah's mustering place and the traditional Mount of Transfiguration · found 1921
• Bethany beyond the Jordan (Al-Maghtas)
  Yochanan's baptizing place on the east bank of the Jordan · found 1996
• Bethany (el-Azariyeh) and the Tomb of Lazarus
  Village of Marta, Miriam and Elazar, with Saller's 1949–53 church excavations · found 1949
• Bethphage and the Crusader 'Bethphage Stone'
  Starting point of the Palm Sunday ride, with a painted 12th-century mounting block · found 1877
• Dominus Flevit Ossuaries
  A Second Temple cemetery on the Mount of Olives and the over-claimed 'Christian' names · found 1953
• Gethsemane: First-Century Mikveh and Byzantine Church
  A ritual bath from the days of Yeshua beside the Garden of Gethsemane (2020) · found 2020
• St Peter in Gallicantu and the 'House of Caiaphas'
  Mount Zion's Byzantine church, rock-cut cells and the 'sacred pit' · found 1888
• The Cenacle (Upper Room) on Mount Zion
  Crusader hall over Roman-Byzantine remains, read anew by 2019–2025 imaging · found 2019
• Ancient Harbors of the Sea of Galilee
  Mendel Nun's sixteen first-century harbors revealed by low water · found 1970
• Yodfat (Jotapata)
  The Galilean town where Josephus surrendered to Vespasian in 67 CE · found 1992
• Ophel Cave of 'Redemption of Zion' Coins
  A refuge cave beside the Temple Mount sealed in 70 CE with bronze coins of the revolt's last year · found 2018
• רָעָב
  Givati Parking Lot Mansion ('Queen Helena's Palace')
  A grand first-century building in the Lower City, proposed as the palace of the convert queen of Adiabene · found 2007
• The Talpiot Tomb ('Jesus Family Tomb')
  A first-century family tomb with common names that a 2007 film claimed held Yeshua's family · found 1980
• Skull Hill (Gordon's Calvary)
  The rocky knoll above the East Jerusalem bus station that Protestants proposed as Golgotha · found 1842
• Holy Sepulchre Excavations of 2022–2025
  Sapienza University's dig under the church floor: a Roman quarry, traces of a garden, and the tomb's early marble · found 2022
• Roman Theater under Wilson's Arch
  An unfinished 200-seat odeon built against the Western Wall after the Temple's fall · found 2017
• The Gabriel Revelation Stone (Hazon Gabriel)
  An ink-on-stone Hebrew prophecy from the age of Herod, unprovenanced and much argued over · found 2000

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