Start the slideshow to view some of the archaeological discoveries made this year.

Pictured is the ancient site of Khan al-Umdan in the old city of Acre in Israel. Archaeologists announced in June that they have unearthed an old Crusaders city, which had been hidden for centuries under the port city of Acre along the Mediterranean Sea in Israel. The find was actually a complete city with an arched passageway underground, graffiti of medieval times on walls, a cobblestone street, and a row of shops that probably sold souvenirs for pilgrims, ampoules for holy water, clay figurines, and more.

Archaeologists in Rome have unearthed a large and fine wall mosaic of the Greek god Apollo, dating from the second half of the first century after Christ, near the Colosseum, Rome's city council announced in July. The building where the mosaic was found is believed to be holding many such architectural delights. Depicting Apollo and the Muses, the mosaic is linked thematically to wall paintings discovered in 1998, representing a philosopher and a Muse of an architectural background.

A marble statue of Hercules is displayed at an Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) building near Nahalal in northern Israel on Aug. 17. The half-meter marble statue of Hercules, a Greek and Roman demigod, was unearthed in the Jezreel Valley in Israel, the IAA announced in August. It said the statue, from the second century, is of “exceptional artistic quality” and was uncovered during excavations at Horvat Tarbenet, which was a Jewish settlement a century later. Hercules, son of the god Zeus, was one of the most famous mythological heroes of ancient Greece, the strongest demigod in the world, and a symbol of power, courage, and superhuman strength.

St. Philip is depicted in a painting from Peter Paul Rubens' famous Apostle Series. The tomb of Jesus’ apostle Philip was discovered in the ruins of a fifth-century church in the ancient city and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hierapolis in Turkey, archaeologists announced in early August. The tomb was unearthed near Martyrs’ Hill, which archaeologists earlier believed was the location of Philip’s tomb.

Jewish worshippers pray in the early morning at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, ahead of Yom Kippur in Jerusalem's Old City on Oct. 7. Ancient coins from A.D. 17 discovered at an excavation site beneath the Western Wall overturned beliefs about the origins of the wall, Israeli archaeologists said in November. Archaeologists said the coins raise questions over the long-held belief that the wall was built by King Herod. The ancient coins were minted 20 years after Herod's death in 4 B.C., hinting at the sacred structure’s completion by his successors.