P. Oktor Skjaervo has posted introductory surveys (in PDFs) of:

Languages:

• Introduction to Young Avestan
• Introduction to Old Avestan
• Introduction to Old Persian
• Introduction to Sogdian

Religions:

• Introduction to Zoroastrianism
• Introduction to Manicheism

A paper has been published on a blog by a researcher in Dead Sea Scrolls, regarding certain Jewish mystical literature.

"This paper explores the relationship between the Hekhalot literature -- the pre-Kabbalistic corpus of mystical texts that give instructions on how to ascend (or "descend") to the celestial "palaces" or the "Merkavah," God's heavenly throne-chariot, and the Jewish apocalypses that survive from the early centuries C.E. and earlier."

For full details, see PaleoJudaica.

From "Joseph I. Lauer" (email: josephlauer A-T hotmail.com):
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Subject: New book on Hasidism by Dr. Rachel Elior (The Mystical
Origins of Hasidism)

Those interested in later aspects of the history of Judaism will be happy to learn of the publication on November 9, 2006 of Dr. Rachel Elior's English-language book on Hasidism. The 264 page book, entitled The Mystical Origins of Hasidism, is published by
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. Dr. Elior is the John and Golda Cohen Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Jewish Mystical Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

From El Paso Times. Believe at your own risk :)
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Biblical land
Professor's digs may be key to discovering infamous cities
By María Cortés González

El Paso Times

Stephen Collins, pictured on an excavation, will speak about his work in Jordan locating the original site of Sodom and Gomorrah on Sunday at St. Clement's Parish Hall, 600 Montana. (Photo in original)

A certain volume of esoteric/occult literature is based upon non-traditional religious materials (consider angelology and demonology for example). The academic website discussed below should be of interest here...
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From OCP

From NY Times; see also IHT
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Books on Science
An Evolutionary Theory of Right and Wrong
By NICHOLAS WADE

Moral Minds. How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and
Wrong.
By Marc D. Hauser.
489 pages. $27.95.
Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers.

Who doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong? Yet that
essential knowledge, generally assumed to come from parental
teaching or religious or legal instruction, could turn out to have
a quite different origin.

If you're curious to see what a Neo-Assyrian version of Scrabble would look like, have a look at

Neo-Assyrian Scrabble

Six years ago, archaeologists uncovered a solitary, undisturbed
tomb in the ruins of an ancient city in northern Syria. Now, in
subsequent excavations, they have exposed seven more tombs at the
site, making this the only known elite, possibly royal, cemetery in
Syria in the Early Bronze Age, from about 2500 B.C. to 2200 B.C.

From http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=1007:
[Go there for pix.]
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Digging for history in Turkey

An archaeological dig tells us more about the Garden of Eden, says Sean Thomas.