90 BE1W'EENnxrANDARTIFACT
arcthestriking renderings ofartifacts that add immeasurably tothe
volume.Attheendofeachchapteris abibliography,oftensubdivided
bytopic.^68 Thesebibliographiesarcquitehelpfulandciteeithertimeless
chestnutsor,asof1994,up-la-datebooksandarticles.Fritzhasdonean
excellentjobincoveringawiderangeofimportantlopicsandintelli·
gentlydiscussingthemostimportantmaterial.
Thelast,andmostrecent,ofthisgroupisArchaeologyandtheBibleby
John Laughlin, published in 2000. Laughlin has benefited by carefully
reviewingearlieranemptsatthisexercise,resultinginavolumesimilarto
Fritz's.Laughlin'sintentisclear:"Thisbookisconcernedwithfieldarchaeol-
ogyasitispracticedintheNearEast, particularlyinthemodernstateof
Israel,anditsimplicationsforreadingandunderstandingtheBible.IIisnot
intendedforarchaeologistsand/orbiblicalspecialists.Itiswrittenforthose
whoareonlybeginninga seriousstudyofthiscomplexissue."69Hecontin-
ues:UMymainconcernwillbewiththequestionofhowbesttointerrelale
thedatanowknownthrougharchaeologicaldiscoverywiththeworldand
textoftheHebrewBible,commonlycalledtheOldTestament."70Whilethis
mightsoundmore likea prolegomenatoa "biblical"approach,Laughlin
makesitclearthatheunderstands"biblicalarchaeology"asanindependent
disciplinelinked10,butinnowaydependenton,biblicalstudies.
Thethreeintroductorychapterscoverlhehistoryofthediscipline,the
ongoingdebateovertherelalionshipbetweenarchaeologyandtheBible,
andfieldmethodology.Thedescriptionofthevariouspositionsinlhebib-
licalarchaeology"debate"isa helpfulprecis.Agreatdealofattentionis
giventoAmericancontributionsandespeciallythepositionofWilliamG.
Dever, whostronglyadvocatedfor theterm"Syro-Palestinianarchaeol-
ogy."7lItisa nicelybalancedandreasonableintroductiontothisthorny
andprobablyunresolvableissue.
Thechapteronfieldmethodologyintroducesanumberoftermsand
ideas,suchasstratigraphy,locus,andsection,thatareimportantinunder-
standing how the data are obtained. Chronology is covered more
specificallyineachperiodchapter(seebelow),butthereisa handychart
68 So,forinsl:mce,:11theendofch.7,"'Ih:E:lrlyBronzeAge:topicsincludeurbaniza,
lion,Nannt:r.andl-ylindcrsealimpressions.Foreh.9."TheIronAge"topicsincludethetem-
plesofAradandJerusalem,fortresses,tombs,Assyrianreliefs,andweighL".
69 Laughlin,Arcbaeologyal/dtbeBible,I.
70 Ibid" 2.
7tWilliamG.Dever."RetrospectsandProspectsinBiblicalandSyro-Pa1estinianArchae-
ology,"BA 45 (1982):103-7,seealsoidem,WhatDidtheBiblicalWritelSKllOWmidWhen
DidTheyK,JOWIIIWhat/beArchaeologyCanTellUsaboUl/heRealityo!AI/ciewlsmel(Grand
R:lpids:Eerdrnans.2001),for<lmuchfullerdiscussionofthisissue.SeealsoZevil,"l1m..-e
DebatesaboutBibleandArchaeology."