96 BlrIWEENnxrANDAR11FACr
recordsofthenon-Palestiniancountries.A presentationofthehistoryof
thisperiod,asofanyotherperiodinthehistoryofPalestinewhichbeks
externaleVidence,willthereforebetentative.Thisisnot(0denythat
thereis;lOyreliableinformationinthebiblicaltexts,but,withoutthe
corroborationofexternalsourcematerial,thepictureth;l(canbepre-
sentedfrom Judges,Samueland1 Kingswillhenomorcof<Idiscus-
sionofwhatcouldhavebeenpossible.However,whensupplemented
with thearchaeologicalremains,theplausibilityofakingdom in the
hillshastobeacknowledged.^87Ahlstromclearlyunderstandsthedifficultyinworkingwiththebiblical
narratives,andthough herelieson{hemformuchofhishistorical inter-
pretation, he struggles with the entire enterprise. For Ahlstrom,
archaeologyaswellasextrabiblicaltexts areindispensableforthepur-
posesofhistorical reconstruction; thus, he hasrejected the traditional
hierarchicalorderingofthesources,withthebiblicalnarrativesatthetop.
TheCooganandShanksvolumesareuseful in that theycoverthe
timeperiodsencompassedbyboththeHebrewBibleandNewTestament,
from theBronzeAges (understoodasthe"patriarchal period") to the
Roman-Byzanlineperiod, in a relativelythorough fashion. Books that
coverthisentiretimespreadarenotallthateasytofind,thoughcourses
oftenaspireto coverthesedisparateperiods.Shanks'svolumeistradi-
tional,wilhmdividualchaptersdedicatedtospecificbiblicalperiods,such
asthepatriarch:'llageortheRomandomination,intowhichthesignificant
archaeologicalandhistoricaldataareappropriatelymelded.Therearea
considerablenumberofillustrations(thirty-fourinall),linedrawings,and
siteplansalong withseventeenmapsand ten colorplates.The color
platesincludephotographsofregions,sites,andanifaclS.Thougha great
dealofarchaeologicalmaterialisresponsiblypresented,thisisfirst and
foremost;lhistorybook.
Coogan'svolume,whichwasreissuedinpaperbackin2001,isalsoa
historybookbutisconstructedina slightlydifferentfashion. Becausethis
isnotwhollydevisedasanarchaeologytext,theamountofillustrative
material is severelylimited; thereare only {wenry~fourmaps andeight
platesofphotographs.ThefirsttwochapterscovertheNeolithicthrough
theMiddleBronzeAge,clearlypre-andprotohistoricperiodsinthesouth-
ernLevantwithlittledirectconnectionstothebiblicalnarratives.However,
theauthorsusetheirtreatmentstosketchoutthesettingintowhichthe
biblicalnarrativesareembeddedfroma varietyofperspectives:thephysi-
cal setting, social organization, Ne:u Eastern mythology, and historical
87 AhblromI·n~toryofAI/cientPalestine,35-36.