Middle East

The Lion of Al-lāt in 2010

Ancient Statue Damaged by ISIS Resurrected in Damascus

Palmyra's Lion of Al-lāt, as the statue is known, once adorned the temple of a pre-Islamic goddess

A modern mocha

Your Mocha is Named After the Birthplace of the Coffee Trade

The port city of Mocha, in Yemen, was once a vast coffee marketplace

In this Saturday March 29, 2014 file photo, a woman drives a car on a highway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of a campaign to defy Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving. Saudi Arabia authorities announced Tuesday Sept. 26, 2017, that women will be allowed to drive for the first time in the ultra-conservative kingdom from next summer, fulfilling a key demand of women's rights activists who faced detention for defying the ban.

Saudi Women Win the Right to Drive

Next June, women in the ultra-patriarchal society will become the last in the world to receive driver's licenses

Qalatga Darband is located in the triangular spit of land beyond the bridge on the right

Drones Reveal Unexplored Ancient Settlement in Iraqi Kurdistan

The settlement was first spotted in declassified Cold War spy images from the 1960s

Farhad Moshiri, Yipeeee, 2009, private collection, London

Farhad Moshiri, Dubbed ‘the Middle East’s Andy Warhol,’ Gets First Major U.S. Exhibition

A selection of the pop artist's significant works will be displayed, fittingly, at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh

Salih reports that ISIS “looted all movable objects” from this tunnel at ancient Nineveh.

The Salvation of Mosul

An Iraqi archaeologist braved ISIS snipers and booby-trapped ruins to rescue cultural treasures in the city and nearby legendary Nineveh and Nimrud

The new Palestinian Museum in the West Bank's Birzeit

Palestinian Museum's First Exhibit Opens

In four sections, 'Jerusalem Lives' uses a variety of mediums to look at Jerusalem's history, political status and daily life

Saint Catherine's Monastery in Sinai, Egypt.

Lost Languages Discovered in One of the World's Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

The centuries-old texts were erased, and then written over, by monks at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt

Cloth Smuggled Out of Syrian Prison Bears Witness to Atrocities Wrought by the Civil War

The U.S. Holocaust Museum has received the cloth scraps, which bears the names of 82 inmates written in chicken bones, rust, and blood

Human Artifacts Found at 46 Ancient Lakes in the Arabian Desert

The finds add to evidence that a wetter "Green Arabia" was an important stop in the migration of early humans

Byzantine Wine Press Found in Israeli Desert

Its fermentation pool could hold 6,500 liters of the good stuff

Maryam Mirzakhani

Remembering the Brilliant Maryam Mirzakhani, the Only Woman to Win a Fields Medal

The Stanford professor investigated the mathematics of curved surfaces, writing many groundbreaking papers

A crowd gathers in the "Bird Migration" exhibit at the Steinhardt Museum during the inauguration event.

The Middle East Is a Treasure Trove of Natural Wonders. Now It Has a Museum to Show Them Off

Everything from early human skulls to priceless taxidermy relics will be on display in the ark-shaped museum

One of the cuneiform tablets handed over by Hobby Lobby

Hobby Lobby Hands Over 5,500 Illegally Imported Artifacts

In 2010, the arts-and-crafts retailer purchased thousands of cultural artifacts smuggled from Iraq

The ruins of the al-Nuri mosque

Mosul’s Great Mosque of al-Nuri Destroyed by ISIS Militants

The 12th-century mosque’s leaning minaret was one of Mosul’s most recognizable landmarks

Hebrew Inscription Ordering Wine Found on Ancient Pottery Shard

The shard was discovered in the 1960s and studied extensively, but researchers did not see a faded message on its reverse side

New Online Database Catalogues 20,000 Threatened Archaeological Sites

The Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa Database includes an interactive map and a detailed search function

Four Paws coordinated the rescue mission to bring Simba and Lula to safety.

Last Surviving Animals of Mosul Zoo Transported to Safety

Lula the bear and Simba the lion have been evacuated to a wildlife shelter in Jordan

Mice Have Called Human Houses Home for 15,000 Years

Even before the dawn of agriculture, house mice plagued homes

Hundreds of Liquor Bottles, Downed by British Soldiers during WWI, Found in Israel

For nine months, the troops waited for orders to advance into Jerusalem. And while they waited, they drank

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