MCCA:-IE:..itERI':I A.\lATKllllUU:TCA....A~ 197yearsdUll I havebeenteachingsuchcoursesatschoolsintheAmeric.1O
southea~t it hasbeenmyexperiencethatfewifanyofthosefreshfaces
thatbeamupatmefromtheirdesksonthefirstdayofclassactuJllyknow
verymuchaboutthel3ible.Ilowe\,cr,('\'enIftheyC.lnnottellGenesisfrom
Revelation,thestudentsstillbringintothecourseanunspokenpresump-
tionoftheBible'simporlance,a silentpremise(hO....everinchoate)th~1tthis
bookisspecial,unlikeanyother.Thustheycomeintoourclasses,and
theysitforfiftyminuteseveryMonday.Wednesday,andFridayIna room
fullofpeople,eachofwhomhasacopyofthisexceptionaltext,andthey
startturningpages.Theylearntorecognizetheform.sofIsr.leliteliter.tlUre,
thctcchniquesofpoeticpar.lllclbrn,andJ, E,D,~tnd P. Yetnotoneof
themeverturnsoverevena trowel-fullofdirtorseesa singleartifactinits
archaeologicalcontext.Mypointhereissimplythattheweightofa typical
biblicalstudiescourseistiltedheavilyinfavorofthetext. Boththeindi-
viclualclasssessionsandthecourseasawholesoprivilegethetext lhat
archaeology,howevercompellingourpresentationofitOlaybe,cannever
bemorethanbackground.Thusweunwittinglyperpetuateoneofthe
errorsofthebiblic-.llarchaeologb~, bytreatingmaterialcultureassecond-
arytothetext.
Tocorrectth:.serror,someofliSgofurtherandteachanentirecourse
on the subjectofarchaeology. Ilere manyof the dangers ofbiblical
::archaeologyare:J.\'oided,since:1courseonarchaeologynece........rilymake..
therecovel)'andinterpretationofm:lIerialcultureitscentr.llf(X'u",ofatlen-
lion.Thegoalofthiskindofcourseis forstudentstoacquirea broad
exposuretothedisciplineinitsownright.learning.forexample,howto
R--ad:.1Ilarchaeologicalreportandhowtorecognizeinappropriateusesof
evidence.Studentsinvestigateparticularsites,becomingfamiliarwithtypi-
calproblemsatspecificlocations.Oftentheyalsoreviewanarcklcologic:'11
period,gaininganappreciationforthebreadthofevidencethatexcava-
tionsroutinelyproduce.Certainly:Jstudentwhohaswrillcna termpaper
onthetypicalarchitecture,ceramics,coins,lamps,andburialpracticesofa
specincperiodwillneveragainunderestimatetheweightandmassofthe
m:.Heriald:'Ha.Mostimportant,ina coursefullydevotedtoarchaeologyour
student.scanperceivethedisciplineasa setoftechniquesthattodayare
employedliterallyworldwide in the controlledrecoveryofinformation
aoout thehumanpas!. All thisis rorthegcxxl, bt'C1Use itdmmatically
increasesthelikelihoodthatstudenlswillregardarchaeologyasaninde-
pendentfield.not.simplyao;a stc(Xhildtobiblicalstudies.
Bethatasitmay,Iherestillarcsignificantproblemswitha courseon
archaeology.Tobegin,il nlllsa risk thatliesattheoppositeendofthe
spectrumfromIhatofthebiblicalstudiescourse:ifthosecourst=slendto
privilegetheBibletOO much.archat..."Ology cour<>es maypriVilegeit too
little. Itis notdifTicuh toconstruct a coursesyllabuson ~Principlesof