New Discovery Park exhibit invites visitors to explore the ancient world

Families, students and visitors curious about ancient civilizations can encounter thousands of years of history in “The Ancient World Unearthed: Artifacts from the Biblical Archaeology Museum,” now open at Discovery Park of America, in Union City, Tenn.
Located in the Enlightenment Gallery, the exhibit features dozens of objects connected with ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Judea, Greece, Rome, Persia, Arabia and other regions. Through objects once used in daily life, visitors can discover how ancient people worked, traded, communicated, worshipped and recorded their stories.
The artifacts are on loan from Brent and Angie MacDonald of the Biblical Archaeology Museum in Nashville. The exhibit will remain open through Aug. 26, 2027.
“This exhibit gives visitors an opportunity to see the objects and discover the people and cultures behind them,” said Jennifer Hunter, director of exhibits at Discovery Park. “Families can explore the galleries together, students can connect the objects with what they are learning in school and anyone interested in history can find something that sparks a new question.”
Highlights include a Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet dating to the third millennium B.C.; an Egyptian ushabti dating from approximately 2600 to 2100 B.C.; a Bronze Age cow-shaped vessel from Israel; Roman jewelry, pottery and medical instruments; and oil lamps from Jerusalem, Petra and Tunisia.
Visitors can also examine coins from the ancient world, including a coin issued under Pontius Pilate in Judea around A.D. 30, Roman silver denarii and Byzantine coins. Written materials include Torah manuscript fragments, a Syriac Bible leaf written in Aramaic and leaves from early printed Bibles.
The collection also provides historical context for people, places and cultures described in biblical texts, giving church groups and visitors interested in biblical history another way to engage with the exhibit.
MacDonald’s interest in the ancient world began while growing up and hearing accounts of ancient people, places and cultures in the Bible. Describing himself as a natural skeptic, he began studying archaeology and biblical history to learn more about the historical settings of those accounts.
In the 1990s, MacDonald was invited to travel to the Middle East to photograph and film archaeological sites in Greece, Israel, Jordan and Egypt. That experience led to additional research trips and the beginning of a collection that eventually became the Biblical Archaeology Museum.
MacDonald has since visited more than 500 archaeological sites across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. His work has included research, photography and participation in excavations in Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Sudan and Iraq. His photographic archive documents archaeological discoveries as well as changes to sites caused by continued excavation, weather, vandalism and conflict.
Angie MacDonald assists with the couple’s travels, research and collection. She serves as a backup photographer at archaeological sites, helps maintain records and itineraries, assists with artifact restoration and played a role in constructing the Biblical Archaeology Museum, which formally opened in 2018.
Discovery Park presents the MacDonalds’ story alongside the broader history represented by the collection, with artifacts interpreted through their archaeological and cultural contexts.
The Biblical Archaeology Museum is associated with Cottage Cove Ministries, which provides outreach to at-risk children and youth in Nashville.
“The Ancient World Unearthed” is located inside Discovery Park’s museum at 830 Everett Blvd. in Union City. Admission to the exhibit is included with general admission. For ticket information and hours, visit discoveryparkofamerica.com.