Biblical Archaeology_A Very Short Introduction Page 13

  For instance, Aren Maeir of Bar Ilan University, digging at the Philistine city of Tel Safi/Gath in a level dating to the tenth or ninth century BCE, found a pottery sherd that may have the ancient equivalent of the name “Goliath” scratched on it. Although the sherd (and the name) almost certainly did not belong to David’s Goliath, it does show that there was such a personal name used in the region at approximately the correct chronological period.

  At the site of Tel Zayit, Ron Tappy of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary found the oldest known written example of an abecedary (alphabet) yet discovered in the Holy Land. It was found incised (scratched) onto a thirty-eight-pound limestone boulder, which had been used as part of a stone wall. Dating to the late tenth century BCE, the abecedary at Tel Zayit is an important ancestor in the history of writing; the excavators suggest that “all successive alphabets in the ancient world (including non-Semitic ones, such as Greek) derived from the alphabet seen in the Tel Zayit Inscription.”

  And at the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa (possibly ancient Sha’arayim), Yossi Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem discovered a pottery sherd probably dating to the tenth century BCE with five inked lines of Hebrew, written using proto-Canaanite script, a precursor of the Hebrew alphabet. The words “king,” “judge,” and “slave” could be made out immediately, but the rest of the inscription was so faded that nothing more could be read by the naked eye. The ostracon was subsequently flown to the United States, where Greg Bearman, formerly of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, who has served as a pioneer in applying modern imaging technology to archaeology, used a variety of high-technology systems in Massachusetts and California to take further images, including two different imaging spectrometers (one that acquires the entire reflectance spectrum of a line at once and the other that creates both reflectance and fluorescence spectral images) and twelve-band spectral imaging with higher spatial resolution than the previous two methods. When all of the images have been analyzed, it should be possible to read the entire inscription; if so, the above advanced methods may be used on some of the fragmentary Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient inscriptions.

  As for nonwritten discoveries, biblical archaeologists Tom Levy of the University of California at San Diego and Mohammad Najjar of Jordan’s Friends of Archaeology have published evidence that the site of Khirbat en-Nahas in Jordan, an ancient copper-production site, contains industrial smelting debris more than twenty feet deep. According to Levy, the radiocarbon dates may date the site, located in the biblical kingdom of Edom, to the tenth or ninth centuries BCE, some three hundred years earlier than previously thought—and could be related to the famous copper mines of King Solomon.

  And as for Jerusalem, researchers have announced several major finds, including a layer of untouched and unexcavated remains dating to the time of the First Temple on top of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, found during repair work that was being conducted by the Islamic Waqf (which oversees the Mount). The deposit, which probably dates to the eighth through the sixth centuries BCE, contains pottery, bones, and other ancient remains, which are the first from this time period to be found on the Temple Mount. In addition, a wall, which probably dates to the first century BCE and which may be from the Second Temple, was found during the same repair work on top of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. It may be from one of the courts of the Temple; if so, it would help us begin to understand the layout of the Temple. At the same time, a quarry was found in Jerusalem that may have supplied massive stone blocks for the Second Temple. This is the first indication that such materials may have been procured locally. Finally, a huge city drain was found in Jerusalem, dating from the time of the First Jewish Revolt in the first century CE. It fits the description given by Josephus, the Jewish general turned Roman historian, of an escape route used during the Roman siege that destroyed the city and the Temple.

  Clearly, there remains much to be discovered, and much to be excited about, in the field of biblical archaeology. Although the discipline is not a new field, having been seriously practiced for more than one hundred years, it has kept pace with modern developments. At its inception the principal tools were the pick and shovel. Now biblical archaeologists use magnetometers, ground-penetrating radar, electric resistivity meters, and satellite photography alongside traditional methods of excavation, enabling them to peer beneath the ground surface before physical excavation begins. Radiocarbon dating is used alongside time-honored chronological methods such as pottery seriation and typology. And biblical archaeologists are working hand in hand with specialists in ceramic petrography, residue analysis, and DNA analysis, in order to answer more anthropologically oriented questions concerning ethnicity, gender, trade, and the rise of rulership and complex societies.

  Sometimes these tools help to confirm the biblical text and sometimes they do not. Upon occasion, the archaeologists can bring to life the people, places, and events discussed in the Bible. But biblical archaeology is not about proving or disproving the Bible; its practitioners are concerned with investigating the material culture of the lands and eras in question and reconstructing the culture and history of the Holy Land for a period lasting more than two thousand years. And that in itself is absolutely fascinating, for professionals and the general public alike.

  References

  Many of the details regarding the individuals, sites, and discoveries, including the translation of the Gezer Calendar, are derived from various entries in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, vols. 1–5, edited by Eric M. Meyers (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997). In addition, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from either the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., or the New American Standard Bible®, copyright 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, and are used by permission. Some of the material herein originally appeared in different form in From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible (Washington, DC: National Geographic Books, 2007) and “Raiders of the Faux Ark,” Boston Globe, September 30, 2007, D1–2, both by the present author, and is used here by permission.

  Part I

  Chapter 1

  Philip J. King, “Edward Robinson: Biblical Scholar,” Biblical Archaeologist 46/4 (1983): 230–32.

  Douglas L. Esse and Timothy P. Harrison, “Chapter One: History of Excavations,” in Megiddo 3: Final Report on the Stratum VI Excavations, ed. Timothy P. Harrison (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 1.

  Amihai Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible: 10,000—586 BCE (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 10–21.

  Neil A. Silberman, Digging for God and Country: Exploration, Archaeology, and the Secret Struggle for the Holy Land, 1799–1917 (New York: Random House, 1982), 86, 99, 115, 123.

  Siegfried H. Horn, “Why the Moabite Stone Was Blown to Pieces,” Biblical Archaeology Review 12/3 (1986): 50–61.

  J. Maxwell Miller and John H. Hayes, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah, 2nd ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 296 (Text 4).

  André Lemaire, “‘House of David’ Restored in Moabite Inscription,” Biblical Archaeology Review 20/3 (1994): 30–37.

  Israel Finkelstein and Neil A. Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts (New York: Free Press, 2001), 256–57.

  George Adam Smith, preface to The Historical Geography of the Holy Land (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1894).

  Chapter 2

  J. Maxwell Miller and John H. Hayes, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah, 2nd ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 39–41.

  Amihai Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible: 10,000—586BCE (London: Doubleday, 1992), 30, table 2.

  Jonathan Tubb, “Most of What We Know about Gezer comes from Macalister” (paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Boston, MA, November 19�
��22, 2008).

  Thomas W. Davis, Shifting Sands: The Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 42–44.

  Palestine Exploration Fund, “The Re-publication of The Wilderness of Zin: (PEF Annual III) by C. L. Woolley and T. E. Lawrence.” Palestine Exploration Fund website, www.pef.org.uk/Pages/Publications/PEF%20Annuals/WildZin.htm (last accessed December 27, 2008).

  Chapter 3

  Peter D. Feinman, William Foxwell Albright and the Origins of Biblical Archaeology (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2004), passim.

  Thomas W. Davis, Shifting Sands: The Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 89–92.

  P. L. O. Guy, New Light from Armageddon (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1931), 37–48.

  Robert S. Lamon and Geoffrey M. Shipton, Megiddo I: Season of 1925–1934 Strata I-V (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939), 32–47, 59.

  Chapter 4

  Bryant G. Wood, “Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho? A New Look at the Archaeological Evidence,” Biblical Archaeology Review 16/2 (1990): 44–58.

  Piotr Bienkowski, “Jericho Was Destroyed in the Middle Bronze Age, Not the Late Bronze Age,” Biblical Archaeology Review 16/5 (1990): 45–46.

  Bryant G. Wood, “Dating Jericho’s Destruction: Bienkowski Is Wrong on All Counts,” Biblical Archaeology Review 16/5 (1990): 47–49, 68–69.

  Felicity Cobbing, “John Garstang’s excavations at Jericho: A Cautionary Tale” (paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Boston, MA, November 19–22, 2008).

  Neil A. Silberman, A Prophet from Amongst You: The Life of Yigael Yadin—Soldier, Scholar, and Mythmaker of Modern Israel (New York: Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1993), passim.

  Josephus, The Jewish War 7.8–9, in The New Complete Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1999), 925–34.

  Yigael Yadin, Masada: Herod’s Last Fortress and the Zealot’s Last Stand (New York: Welcome Rain, 1998), passim.

  Nachman Ben-Yehuda, The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995), passim.

  Chapter 5

  Roni Reich, “The Israel Antiquities Authority,” in Biblical Archaeology Today, 1990. Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Biblical Archaeology; Jerusalem, June-July 1990, ed. Avraham Biran and Joseph Aviran (Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society, 1993), 27–30.

  Israel Finkelstein and Neil A. Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts (New York: Free Press, 2001), 243–45.

  Jane M. Cahill, Karl Reinhard, David Tarler, and Peter Warnock. “It Had to Happen: Scientists Examine Remains of Ancient Bathroom.” Biblical Archaeology Review 17/3 (1991): 64–69.

  Jeffrey Blakely, “Conversations with Larry Toombs on the American Method” (paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Boston, MA, November 19–22, 2008).

  William G. Dever, Archaeology and Biblical Studies: Retrospects and Prospects. The Winslow Lectures at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, 1972 (Evanston, IL: Seabury-Western, 1974), 33.

  William G. Dever, “Syro-Palestinian and Biblical Archaeology,” in The Hebrew Bible and Its Modern Interpreters, ed. Douglas A. Knight and Gene M. Tucker (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 31–74.

  David Ilan, “Archaeology Adding to the Powder Keg,” Biblical Archaeology Review 34/6 (2008): 36, 86.

  Chapter 6

  William M. Schniedewind, “Tel Dan Stela: New Light on Aramaic and Jehu’s Revolt,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 302 (1996): 77–78.

  Hershel Shanks, “Face to Face: Biblical Minimalists Meet Their Challengers,” Biblical Archaeology Review 23/4 (1997): 26–42, 66.

  Philip R. Davies, “’House of David’ Built on Sand,” Biblical Archaeology Review 20/4 (1994): 54–55.

  Aaron Demsky, “The Name of the Goddess of Ekron: A New Reading,” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 25 (1997): 1–5.

  Seymour Gitin, “Royal Philistine Temple Inscription Found at Ekron,” Biblical Archaeologist 59/3 (1996): 181–82.

  Seymour Gitin, Trude Dothan, and Joseph Naveh, “A Royal Dedicatory

  Inscription from Ekron,” Israel Exploration Journal 48 (1997): 1–18.

  J. Maxwell Miller and John H. Hayes, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah, 2nd ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 418–19 (Text 12).

  Seymour Gitin, “Excavating Ekron: Major Philistine City Survived by Absorbing Other Cultures,” Biblical Archaeology Review 31/6 (2005): 40–56.

  Eilat Mazar, “Excavate King David’s Palace!” Biblical Archaeology Review 23/1 (1997): 50–57, 74.

  _______, “Did I Find King David’s Palace?,” Biblical Archaeology Review 32/1 (2006): 16–27, 70.

  Israel Finkelstein, Ze’ev Herzog, Lily Singer-Avitz, and David Ussishkin, “Has King David’s Palace In Jerusalem Been Found?” Tel Aviv 34 (2007): 142–64.

  Israel Finkelstein and Neil A. Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts (New York: Free Press, 2001), 342–44 and passim.

  Israel Finkelstein, Amihai Mazar, and Brian B. Schmidt, The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007).

  Israel Finkelstein and Eliazer Piasetzky, “The Iron I-IIA in the Highlands and Beyond: 14C Anchors, Pottery Phases and The Shoshenq I Campaign,” Levant 38 (2006): 45–61.

  Etgar Lefkovits, “’Land of Milk and Honey’ it is,” Jerusalem Post, September 3, 2007.

  Editor, “Digs Go Digital,” Biblical Archaeology Review 35/1 (2009): 28–36.

  Part II

  Chapter 7

  Eric H. Cline, “Raiders of the Faux Ark,” Boston Globe, September 30, 2007, D1–2.

  Eric H. Cline, From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible (Washington, DC: National Geographic Books, 2007), 17–29.

  Kate Ravilious, “Noah’s Ark Discovered in Iran?,” National Geographic News, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060705-noahs-ark.html (posted July 5, 2006; last accessed March 16, 2008).

  James K. Hoffmeier, “What is the Biblical Date for the Exodus? A Response to Bryant Wood,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50/2 (2007): 225–47.

  J. Maxwell Miller and John H. Hayes, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah, 2nd ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006) 113–17.

  William G. Dever, Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003), 194–200.

  Israel Finkelstein and Neil A. Silberman, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001) 99–122, 329–39.

  Amnon Ben-Tor, “Excavating Hazor, Part I: Solomon’s City Rises from the Ashes,” Biblical Archaeology Review 25/2 (1999): 26–37, 60.

  Amnon Ben-Tor, “The Fall of Canaanite Hazor—The ‘Who’ and ‘When’ Questions,” in Mediterranean Peoples in Transition: Thirteenth to Early Tenth Centuries BCE, ed. Sy Gitin, Amihai Mazar, and Ephraim Stern (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1998), 456–68.

  Amnon Ben-Tor and Maria Teresa Rubiato, “Excavating Hazor, Part Two: Did the Israelites Destroy the Canaanite City?,” Biblical Archaeology Review 25/3 (1999): 22–39.

  Brian Hesse and Paula Wapnish, “Can Pig Remains be Used for Ethnic Diagnosis in the Ancient Near East?” in The Archaeology of Israel: Constructing the Past, Interpreting the Present, ed. Neil A. Silberman and David Small (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 238–70.

  Chapter 8

  J. Maxwell Miller and John H. Hayes, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah, 2nd ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 292, 294 (Text 3), 298, 307
(Text 5).

  David Ussishkin, “Defensive Judean Counter-Ramp Found at Lachish in 1983 Season.” Biblical Archaeology Review 10/2 (1984): 66–73.

  ______, The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish (1973–1994), vol. 1–5 (Tel Aviv, Israel: Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, 2005), passim.

  Erika Bleibtreu, “Five Ways to Conquer a City.” Biblical Archaeology Review 16/3 (1990): 37–44.

  ______, “Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death.” Biblical Archaeology Review 17/1 (1991): 52–61, 75.

  J. Maxwell Miller and John H. Hayes, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah, 2nd ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 418–19 (Text 12), 443–44 (Text 15).