Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1990 - 61

have pointed out the precise sites of famous biblical stories; supplied visitors with suitably miraculous legends;
and offered saints' bones and other ancient relics for
sale as sacred souvenirs. Yet, even though the lure of
relics has given way to the appeal of modern archaeology, the urge to explore the Holy Land endures. Its
power is evident in Israel at the start of every summer,
as dozens of foreign and local archaeological expeditions get underway.
During the past century, hundreds of excavations
have been undertaken throughout the country, scores of
biblical sites have been identified, and our understanding of the material world of the Bible has changed dramatically. In place of fabled biblical events and personalities have come carefully documented archaeological
cultures; in place of colorful legends have come detailed
chronologies. We now know the lines of development of
material cultures in Canaan, and their connections with
cultures of the eastern Mediterranean from the earliest
permanent settlements of the Palaeolithic to the citystates of the Late Bronze Age.
We can now chart the main development of the later
Israelite and Judean kingdoms, detailing their industrial
technology, city planning, and royal administration.
What's more, digs at a number of important biblical
sites have uncovered clear destruction levels that seem
to confirm the violence of Assyrian, Babylonian, and
Persian military campaigns. Of the later Roman and
Byzantine periods, archaeology has provided a wealth
of material evidence - ancient synagogues, churches,
and private dwellings - to further our understanding of
the world of Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity.
Yet, except for the chance
discovery of a few minor biblical names on seals, seal impressions, and inscriptions, a
century of intensive archaeological research has not been
able to verify the existence of
the main personalities of biblical history. After a hundred
years of intensive exploration
and digging, the lives and activities of Abraham, Moses,
Joshua, Saul, David, Solomon, John the Baptist, Jesus,
and individual apostles have
yet to be documented by
specific archaeological finds.
That the lure of the biblical past still beckons was particularly evident last summer when more than 750
scholars, students, and amateur archaeologists gathered
here for the Second International Congress on Biblical
Archaeology (the First International Congress was held
here in 1984). This year's conference was convened by
the Israel Exploration Society to mark the centenary of
modern excavations in the land of the Bible, an era beginning with Sir Flinders Petrie's pioneering 1890 dig at
30 Archaeology

the Judean site of Tell el-Hesy, the first excavation of a
biblical site conducted on modern stratigraphie principles. As was clear from many papers at the congress,
Petrie's scholarly legacy is enormous, both to the study
of the world of the Bible and to modern Israel.
Few other nations in the world devote as much public
effort and funding to the discovery of the material remains of the past. With a population of less than 5 million, Israel has an impressive array of archaeological
institutions and a strong tradition of archaeological research. In addition to the Israel Antiquities Authority,
which protects and administers the antiquities of the
country, five universities and two major museums carry
out extensive archaeological work. One must also add
the projects of the American, British, French, German,
and Italian archaeological schools in the country. Significantly, the scientific search for the Holy Land's past
has recently been joined by Bir Zeit University, the most
prominent Palestinian university.
In Israel, archaeology is not merely a scholarly endeavor; it is a powerful public ritual that often provides
ammunition for modern political and religious debates.
The issues of historical contention are many. Surveys
and excavations of early Israelite settlements on the
West Bank have called into question the circumstances
of the ancient conquest of Canaan and have sparked
new debates concerning traditional territorial claims.
The mountain fortress of Masada has, over the years,
become a powerful political symbol, even though the
reported archaeological confirmation of the mass suicide
said to have taken place there is still subject to debate.
No less controversial are recent finds that challenge
traditional accounts of the Islamic Conquest, suggesting
that it came as the result of a gradual social transformation rather than a lightning military campaign.
It has been this way from the beginning; the interpretation of the most venerated landmarks and shrines of
the land of the Bible has always been intimately linked
to religious and political concerns. From the efforts of
the ancient Judean kings to gain supremacy over internal and external rivals by memorializing the tombs
of their ancestors; to the Roman client-king Herod's
expansion of the Temple at Jerusalem as a means of
consolidating power; through the Byzantine Empress
Helena's miraculous "discovery" of the True Cross in
Jerusalem as a sign of divine favor for the Christianization of the Roman Empire; to the Umayyad caliphs'
sanctification of the rock in Jerusalem from which Muhammed ascended to heaven, the successive rulers of
this country have, almost without exception, found it
useful to gain or maintain power through the public
celebration of their direct connection with the past.
Modern archaeology springs from a fairly recent
theological conflict. Throughout the Middle Ages, the
traditional Christian shrines of the Holy Land were
maintained by representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, but following the Reformation, many
western European Protestants came to challenge the
sanctity of these shrines. The wider historical traditions

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Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1990

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - November/December 1990
