The Red-Haired Archaeologist

Summary:

In this episode, you’ll learn how archaeological discoveries from the Middle Bronze Age shed light on Abram’s world and travels across Mesopotamia and Canaan. By reexamining evidence, scholars now suggest that Abram’s birthplace may have been near Haran in northern Mesopotamia—not the distant Sumerian Ur—highlighting how imprecise headlines have sometimes misled biblical geography.

Episode links:

Code of Hammurabi: https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010174436

“Ur, Iraq,” Online Collection at the Penn Museum: https://www.penn.museum/collections/highlights/neareast/location/ur.php

"A Spectacular Discovery." Expedition Magazine 60, no. 1 (May, 2018): -. Accessed October 09, 2025. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/a-spectacular-discovery/

Objects from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, Online Collection at British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/x32510

Sanlıurfa Museum: https://www.turkishmuseums.com/museum/detail/2227-sanliurfa-museum/2227/4

Amanda Hope Haley, “Big Digs, Bad Detectives” in Christianity Today: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/03/big-digs-bad-detectives/

Red-Haired Archaeologist® links:

First Friday Freebie: https://redhairedarchaeologist.myflodesk.com/firstfridayfreebie

Website: ⁠https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/⁠

Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/AmandaHopeHaley/⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/amandahopehaley/⁠

Book: https://stonesstillspeak.com

Learn more about my fabulous video editor, Tanya Yaremkiv, by visiting her website at ⁠https://tanyaremkiv.com⁠ and listening to her podcast, Through the Bible podcast with Tanya Yaremkiv. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram @tanyaremkiv.

Summary:

In this week’s episode, we will explore the Bible’s use of metaphorical language (such as symbolic numbers) to convey meaning rather than timelines. You’ll also learn how the word yom in Genesis can mean either “day” or a longer period of time, showing that creation and the flood narratives are written to teach theological truths, not to serve as scientific accounts.

Episode links:

Nashville Rising: Our Story of the 2010 Flood: https://maps.nashville.gov/npl_2010FloodStory/

Samuel Noah Kramer, "Reflections on the Mesopotamian Flood," Expedition Magazine 9, no. 4 (July, 1967): 15. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/reflections-on-the-mesopotamian-flood/

Map: Kingdom of Urartu: https://www.asor.org/resources/photo-collection/maps/mid000036

Amanda’s blog post about the Ark Encounter: https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/arkencounter/

Red-Haired Archaeologist® links:

First Friday Freebie: https://redhairedarchaeologist.myflodesk.com/firstfridayfreebie

Website: ⁠https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/⁠

Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/AmandaHopeHaley/⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/amandahopehaley/⁠

Book: https://stonesstillspeak.com

Learn more about my fabulous video editor, Tanya Yaremkiv, by visiting her website at ⁠https://tanyaremkiv.com⁠ and listening to her podcast, Through the Bible podcast with Tanya Yaremkiv. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram @tanyaremkiv

Summary:

Episode 2 explores our understandings of Creation accounts within the Bible and in historical traditions, including theories for Eden’s location and the impact Renaissance art on Western images of Adam and Eve, the serpent, and cherubim.

Episode links:

“The cave of Machpelah (Part one),” The Zohar, Kabbalah Centre International, https://www.zohar.com/zohar/Chayei%20Sarah/chapters/14

The Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs: https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/11/02/the-secrets-of-the-cave-of-the-patriarchs/

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), Adam and Eve, Ca. 1550. Oil on canvas. https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/adam-and-eve/e0ca4331-fb89-47a7-9ba0-be0ece23426b.

The destruction of the temple at Ain Dara: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42858265

Red-Haired Archaeologist® links:

First Friday Freebie: https://redhairedarchaeologist.myflodesk.com/firstfridayfreebie

Website: ⁠https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/⁠

Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/AmandaHopeHaley/⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/amandahopehaley/⁠

Book: https://stonesstillspeak.com

Learn more about my fabulous video editor, Tanya Yaremkiv, by visiting her website at ⁠https://tanyaremkiv.com⁠ and listening to her podcast, Through the Bible podcast with Tanya Yaremkiv. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram @tanyaremkiv.

Summary:

Join Amanda as she begins season 5 and introduces her new book, Stones Still Speak, with an explanation of her inspiration and hopes for the book. Then consider the stones throughout the ancient world that were first stacked and erected as memorials and signposts, but were eventually used to build the cities that many archaeologists excavate.

Episode links:

Origins of clickbait: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/skeleton-giant-photo-hoax

Stonehenge: https://www.stonehenge.co.uk/about-stonehenge

Inukshuk: https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=322

Tel Beer Sheva: https://en.parks.org.il/reserve-park/tel-beer-sheva-national-park/

Red-Haired Archaeologist® links:

First Friday Freebie: https://redhairedarchaeologist.myflodesk.com/firstfridayfreebie

Website: ⁠https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/⁠

Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/AmandaHopeHaley/⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/amandahopehaley/⁠

Book: https://stonesstillspeak.com

Learn more about my fabulous video editor, Tanya Yaremkiv, by visiting her website at ⁠https://tanyaremkiv.com⁠ and listening to her podcast, Through the Bible podcast with Tanya Yaremkiv. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram @tanyaremkiv.

Amanda and her family have relocated to Nashville, TN, where she is now preparing for the launch of Stones Still Speak: How Biblical Archaeology Illuminates the Stories You Thought You Knew on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, from Revell (a division of Baker Publishing Group). Season 5 of the Red-Haired Archaeologist® Podcast is now planned for the fall, when each episode will correspond to a chapter in the book and explore the content with visuals.

Red-Haired Archaeologist® links:

First Friday Freebie: https://redhairedarchaeologist.myflodesk.com/firstfridayfreebie

Website: ⁠https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/⁠

Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/AmandaHopeHaley/⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/amandahopehaley/⁠

Learn more about my fabulous video editor, Tanya Yaremkiv, by visiting her website at ⁠https://tanyaremkiv.com⁠ and listening to her podcast, Through the Bible podcast with Tanya Yaremkiv. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram @tanyaremkiv

Amanda is hard at work perfecting her next book, which will release on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, from Revell (a division of Baker Publishing Group). Season 5 of the Red-Haired Archaeologist® Podcast will release in early 2025, but in the meantime, you can continue to connect with her through social media, the RHA® website, and her monthly email, the First Friday Freebie!

Red-Haired Archaeologist® links:

First Friday Freebie: https://redhairedarchaeologist.myflodesk.com/firstfridayfreebie

Website: ⁠https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/⁠

Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/AmandaHopeHaley/⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/redhairedarchaeologist/⁠

Learn more about my fabulous video editor, Tanya Yaremkiv, by visiting her website at ⁠https://tanyaremkiv.com⁠ and listening to her podcast, Through the Bible podcast with Tanya Yaremkiv. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram @tanyaremkiv.

During this episode of the Red-Haired Archaeologist® Podcast, learn about the Neo-Babylonians’ defeat by the Persian Empire and how that changed all exiles’ lives; understand the differences between the terms “Hebrew,” “Israelite,” and “Jew”; and consider why Chronicles is critical to the re-development of Jerusalem in the 6th and 5th centuries.

Episode links:

Tablet from the Marushu Archive, Penn Museum: https://www.penn.museum/collections/object/372377

“cylinder,” British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1880-0617-1941

“Cyrus Cylinder,” Livius: https://www.livius.org/sources/content/cyrus-cylinder/

Jackson Landers, “How a German Archaeologist Rediscovered in Iran the Tomb of Cyrus,” Smithsonian Magazine (16 Feb 2016): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-german-archaeologist-rediscovered-tomb-cyrus-180958142/

“Bisotun,” UNESCO World Heritage Convention, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1222/

“naos; door,” British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA37496

Living in Exile Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3JAfqQvQ8U3kk6rKpnGAGz?si=69d5d722ab4845e4

Red-Haired Archaeologist® links:

https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/free

https://www.facebook.com/AmandaHopeHaley/

https://www.instagram.com/redhairedarchaeologist/

https://amandahopehaley.square.site/

Learn more about my fabulous video editor, Tanya Yaremkiv, by visiting her website at ⁠https://tanyaremkiv.com⁠ and listening to her podcast, Through the Bible podcast with Tanya Yaremkiv. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram @tanyaremkiv.

During this episode of the Red-Haired Archaeologist® Podcast, learn how both Egypt and the Southern Kingdom fell to Nebuchadnezzar of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, what ancient documents help us to better understand the biblical narrative of ancient Israel’s fall, and where some traditions locate the Ark of the Covenant today.

Episode links:

“Why the brick lions that protected the streets of Babylon feel alive” The Met Museum, https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/videos/2013/10/babylonian-striding-lions-art-explained

Tower of Babel Stele: https://www.schoyencollection.com/history-collection-introduction/babylonian-history-collection/tower-babel-stele-ms-2063

The Mesopotamian Chronicles: https://www.livius.org/sources/about/mesopotamian-chronicles/

The Lachish Letters at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIB996

Paul Raffaele, “Keepers of the Lost Ark? Christians in Ethiopia have long claimed to have the ark of the covenant” Smithsonian Magazine (December 2007): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/keepers-of-the-lost-ark-179998820/

Amanda Hope Haley, “When Did We Lose the Ark?” https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/when-did-we-lose-the-ark-2/

Red-Haired Archaeologist® links:

https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/free

https://www.facebook.com/AmandaHopeHaley/

https://www.instagram.com/redhairedarchaeologist/

https://amandahopehaley.square.site/

Learn more about my fabulous video editor, Tanya Yaremkiv, by visiting her website at ⁠https://tanyaremkiv.com⁠ and listening to her podcast, Through the Bible podcast with Tanya Yaremkiv. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram @tanyaremkiv.

During this episode of the Red-Haired Archaeologist® Podcast, learn about Josiah's religious reforms and military interactions. Consider what the "book of the law" looked like and contained, how the Neo-Assyrian Empire lost ground to the growing Neo-Babylonians, why Egypt flipped from friend to foe, and where the first (and last?) battle in recorded history was fought.

Episode links:

The Dead Sea Scrolls: https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/explore-the-archive

Ketef Hinnoam scroll: Jeremy D. Smoak, “Words Unseen,” Biblical Archaeology Review 44, no. 1 (2018): 52–59, 70; https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/article/words-unseen/

“ABC 2 (early Years of Nabopolassar),” Livius.org, https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-2-early-years-of-nabopolassar/

D. J. Wiseman, Chroicles of the Chaldean Kings (626-556 B.C.) in the British Museum (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1956), https://etana.org/sites/default/files/coretexts/20337.pdf

“tablet, asset number 157679001,” British Museum, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1896-0409-152

Tel Megiddo: https://en.parks.org.il/reserve-park/tel-megiddo-armageddon-national-park/

Red-Haired Archaeologist® links:

https://redhairedarchaeologist.com/free

https://www.facebook.com/AmandaHopeHaley/

https://www.instagram.com/redhairedarchaeologist/

https://amandahopehaley.square.site/

Learn more about my fabulous video editor, Tanya Yaremkiv, by visiting her website at ⁠https://tanyaremkiv.com⁠ and listening to her podcast, Through the Bible podcast with Tanya Yaremkiv. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram @tanyaremkiv.