DESSEI.:II\'SEARCHOFTIlEGOOD(JOOK 91thatpresentstheperiodizationasfoundinOEANEandtheNEAEHL72This
chapterisbasedtoa largedegreeonUlughlin'sexperiencesatthesiteof
Banias,whichaddstoilsreadabilityandmakesthebookaccessibletothe
desiredaudience.
Theheartofthebookcomprisesfivechaptersdevotedtospecific
periods,withthe greatestattentiondevotedtotheMiddleBronzeAge
through the Iron Age [I. Prehistory is given shari shrift, packing the
NeolithicthroughtheEarlyBronzeAge,some6,500years,intooneshort
chapter,tooshortreallytobeofanyuse.Ontheotherhand,theIronAge
getstwochapters(theIronAgeIand11). [nallcases,thesechaptersare
dividedbytopic,denotedbythejudicioususeofsubheadings.[nmost
casesthetopicsincludeanintroduCliontotheperiod(s),chronology,set-
tlement pattern and population, architecture, material culture (often
dividedintopotteryandothercommonartifactcategories), burialprac-
tices, historical and/or biblical texts and contexts, and a useful
considerationofhowtheperiodended.Specificissuesaregiventheir
ownsubheadings;inthiswayEgyptianconnectionsintheEarlyBronzeI,
theHyksosintheMiddleBronzeAge,theAmarnaAgeanclthe"problem
ofthe'exodus'outofEgypt" fortheLateBronzeAge,theemergenceof
theIsraelitesintheIronAgeI,andinscriptionalmaterialintheIronAgeII
receivespecialattention.
Ofcourse,theindusionoftopicssuchasthehistorical3CCUI",.lCyofthe
exodusisextremelyproblematicforanarchaeologyhandbook,althoughit
isa legitimatetopicforbiblicalhistory.Whilethisissuehasbecomequite
popular,there isabsolutelynoindependentarchaeologicalorhistorical
clata tosubstantiate thestoryoftheIsraeliteexodusfrom Egypt.73The
inclusionofthisasatopicmoreusuallyindicatesa"biblical~A1brightian"
orientationmtherthana "secular"one,so,forinstance,Frilzdoesnoteven
raisethisissueinhisbook.However,asInotebelow,Laughlin'sbookis
inmanywaysa verypersonalexploration,andobviouslythisisanissuein
whichheisinvested.ThctopicoftheemergenceoftheIsraelitesisabit
differentfromthatofthe"exodus"anddoesrequiremoreseriousatten-
tion.WiththeappearanceofthetermIsraelintheMerneptahStelaancl
theneedtoexplainavarictyofchangesintheIronAgeI settlementpat-
tern,therearereal~Irch:leologicalandhistoricalproblemsth:oltneedtobe
72 Meyers, O:iford H/lcyclopedia ofArchaeoloRY; ,stern, New E/lcyclopellia of
ArchaeologicalExcavmiollsillII)eI-Io{v1.lI/ld.
73 SCeeSflc::dallyErnestFreridts;tndI.conLesko.eds..E:"odlls;tbeIfgJplirlllEvidcm;('
(Winona[~1.ke,Ind" Eiscnbrouns.11)97);FinkelsteinandSilberman,71JeIJihleUllwrtlx>d,fora
moreliter:11intcrprewlion.secJamesK.Hoffmeier,IsraelillIfgJpt(NewYork:OxfordUniver-
sityPress,191)7).