124 BETWEENnxrANDARTIFACr
workofthelateKathleenM. Kenyon,whoshowedthat,althoughsome
tcnth-centuryB.C.E.sherdswerefoundina 10mb,thesiteofancientJeri-
cho,modernTeles-Sultan, wasabandonedfromtheLlleBronzeAgeI
period(fourteenthcenturyI.I.C.E.)toIronAgeII(seventhcentury1l.C.E.).
Furthermore,evenwhatfewremainsshefoundthatcanwithconfidence
bedatedtoLBI hardlyindicatea cityofbiblicalproportions, 15 Theefforts
bysometoskiltthisproblembysuggestingthatTeles-Sullanisnotthe
siteofJericho orthattheLB cityhas"eroded"arenotconvincingand
amounttowhatonearchaeologisthascalled"wishfulthinking."
Whenthebiblicalstoryof'Ai(lash7:2-8:29)anditsarchaeological
dataarcaddedtothediscussion,thecaseforthenonhistoryofthebiblical
conquestisonlystrengthened.'Aiislocatedaboulonemileeastofthesite
ofancientBethel.TwomajorexcavationshavebeenC:lrriedoutonthe
site,Thefirst wasdirectedbyjudithKrausein the1930s,thesecondby
josephCallawayinthe1960sand19705.Bothexcavatorsconcludedthat
'Aiwasviolentlydestroyedaround 2400 It,C.E,andwasnotoccupiedagain
untilIronAgeI (ca. 1150 I3.C.I:.).16Thesitelayinmins(henceitsname'Ai,
which means"heap"or"ruin")throughouttheMiddleandLate Bronze
ages, ThereisnowaytoharmonizethewrittenaccountoftheIsraelite
destructionofbiblical'Aiwiththearchaeologicalrecord.^17
Whenthearchaeologicaldatafrommanyothersitesmentionedinthe
Bible<Ifeauueu 10 lltalfrulllJerichuand'Ai,theconclusionseemsfairly
obvious:thestoriesinjoshuaconcerninga pan-Canaaniteconquestby
Israelitenomadicwarriorsstorminginfromtheeasterndesertarea biblical
fiction.Whilethesestoriesmaycarrythetheologicalandmor:.tlconcernsof
theirallthor(s)/editor(s),theirhistoricalvalueisminimalatbest.Onemight
dowelltorememberherethatthewordhis/myisnota biblicalterm.As
onewell-knownarchaeologist(Dever)putit,thebiblicalwriterstoldthe
stOIYthewayitwouldhavehappenediftheyhadbeenincharge!
Thepointtoallofthisisthatthebiblicalexegeteneedsthearchaeolo-
gistandthearchaeologistneedsthebiblicalexegete.Eachneedstodoher
workindependentlyoftheotherandthencomparenotes.HereIamcon-
cernedprimarilywithwhatcanbesaidifonesimplylooksintheground.
ForgettheBibleforthemoment.Ifonehadonlytheknownarchaeologi-
caldata,whatreasonableconclusionscouldonedraw?Thisapproachis
especiallyusefulinthenextconsideration:thecontroversyoverwhether
ornotthere\Vasevera Davidic/Solomonicmonarchy.
IS&'CK;uhlcen1'01.Kenyon,"Jericho,~NEAEIfI.2:674-81;"t1lOmasHolbnd,"Jericho:
DEAN/;"3:220-24.
16 SecJoscphA,Call;\way,"'Ai:N/lAFJIJ.1:39-45;HobenE.Cooley,·'Ai,"OFANl::I:32-33
17 SeeDever,RecelllArchaeologicalDiscoVf!/ies.37-R4.