This year’s May/June issue continues our celebration of the Biblical Archaeology Society’s 35th year. Marking this watershed event in our organization’s history, BAR editor Hershel Shanks has interviewed some of the field’s most eminent scholars, and invites us in this issue to join his conversation with Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University and co-director of excavations at Megiddo. Touching upon topics that have long been debated in Biblical archeology and scholarship, Finkelstein offers his opinions on debates such as the Exodus and whether or not the palace of King David has been found in Jerusalem.

As any archaeologist will tell you, piecing together history can be a laborious and painstaking process that happens over years, decades and even centuries. Sometimes, however, a single day or hour can mark significant discoveries and insight into our past. In a series titled “The Difference a Day Makes,” BAR contributing editor Suzanne Singer relates her experiences excavating for a day at the site of Maresha, located near the Elah Valley where the Bible places David’s miraculous defeat of the Philistine giant Goliath, while BAR managing editor Dorothy D. Resig tells us about important discoveries from Maresha that shed light on events described in 2 Maccabees, and that are helping historians gain a greater understanding of events under the Seleucid dynasty.

Moving beyond the land of Israel and accompanied by a stunning pictorial layout, Oxford University professor Angelos Chaniotis’s article “Godfearers in the City of Love” examines the interactions of ancient Jews, Christians and pagans in the magnificent Hellenistic city of Aphrodisias. Set against the backdrop of one of the finest examples of Greek urban life in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Chaniotis discusses the social and religious landscape of the city in the late antique period, and narrows in on one very significant monument whose chronology could be the key to understanding the Jewish community in this most Hellenistic of cities.

As is generally the case, the pages of BAR are simply not enough to contain all of the exciting material, discoveries and research that our organization is involved with. So along with this issue we’ve posted special e-features and e-books online that expand upon some of topics in the magazine as well as other interesting articles and material. We hope you enjoy this issue—we’re proud of it, and we look forward to the continued celebration of our 35th year.

Sarah K. Yeomans is the Managing Web Editor of Biblical Archaeology Review and the Travel Study Director of the Biblical Archaeology Society. Sarah received her M.A. in archaeology from the University of Sheffield, after which she moved to Rome, Italy. In Rome, she led academic tours of the city and greater Italy with Context Travel and taught Roman history, archaeology and art history at Duquesne University’s Rome program. She is a certified archaeological speleologist and a fellow of the Explorer’s Club, and is currently adjunct faculty at West Virginia University.