New analysis into the residue inside ancient ceramic vessels from 11th–12th century Jerusalem has found that they were potentially used as hand grenades. Previous research into the diverse ...

12th-century capital made for the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, on view in Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (all photos by the author for ...

“Jerusalem, 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven,” at the Metropolitan Museum, is a captivating show of some two hundred objects from the era of the Crusades. There are manuscripts, maps, paintings, ...

You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email. A new analysis of a medieval ceramic vessel excavated from the Old City of Jerusalem suggests the ...

The pipes of a medieval organ, buried for centuries and discovered near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, are once more filling a Jerusalem monastery with ancient ...

Analysis of a latrine in Jerusalem that dates back over 500 years finds human parasites common in northern Europe yet very rare in Middle East at the time, suggesting long-distance trade or pilgrimage ...

Was this hand grenade used during the Crusades? If so, it’s merely the latest in a long line of medieval incendiary devices. Anthropologists have excavated sphero-conical vessels throughout the Middle ...

Early this year, the London restaurateur and food writer Yotam Ottolenghi got a call from the Metropolitan Museum medievalists Melanie Holcomb and Barbara Drake Boehm—who were five years into ...

Just as they did a thousand years ago, visitors to Jerusalem today sometimes hold mirrors to the sky. Believing the city to be situated at the gates of heaven, they hope for a glimpse of the celestial ...

One of the things archaeology consistently teaches us is that humanity is remarkably resilient in the face of crisis. Another is that poop is forever. Archaeologists have already explored the contents ...