Between Text and Artifact: Integrating Archaeology in Biblical Studies Teaching (Archaeology and Biblical Studies)

DESSEl:INSEARCHOF11-1EGOODBOOK 79

Thesetwonewofferings,whilecontinuingthetr'Aditionestablished by

Albright,haveconsiderablyrevisedthejuxtapositionoftextandanifact.

Forthefirsttimewehaveanarchaeologicallybasedhistoryinwhichthe

tiesluthebiblicallextshavebeenconsiderablyloosened.Inlllissecond

generation,it istheIsraeliswhohavetakena leadershiproleandpro-

ducedbothpopularandscholarlysynthetichandbooksthathavebecome

mainstaysoncollegecampuses.

Archa(,.>()logyoftheLandoftheBiblebyAmihaiMazar,firstpublishedin

1990 andsoonthereafterreprintedinanaffordablepaperbackversion,isa

marvelatconcisionandelegance.Finallytherewasanupdatedvolume(at

leastthroughthe1980s)thatconstructedhisto!)'fromanexplicitlyarchae~

ologicalperspective.Thoughitisfilledwithreferencestoboththebiblical

andhistoricaltexts,Mazar'spurpose,asstatedinthepreface,wasYtopres-

enta comprehensive,updatedandasobjectiveaspossiblepictureofthe

archaeologicalresearchofPalestinerelatingtotheOldTestamentperiod."41

ThisIx>okclearlyexpressedtheviewthatSyro-Palestinianarchaeologywas

anindependentdiscipline,notinherentlylinkedtothestudyofthebiblical

texts. In this publication, Mazar hoped"to narrow thegrowing fissure

betweenarchaeologistsandotherscholarsofdisciplinesrelatingtobiblical

srudies."42Mazarbrokethetensionbetweenthearchaeologicalandbiblical

sourcematerialwithoutdiscountingtherelevanceofthetexts.^43 However,

forthefirst time,it wasthearchaeologythatwasgivenpriorityandnot

merelypluggedintoa biblicallyderivedculturehistoryandusedto«illu-

minate"pasthistoricalevents.

Theresultisa comprehensivevolumethattracessome9,500yearsof

histo!)',fromtheNeolithicperiodthroughtheendoftheIronAge,ina

succinct 572 pages.Needlesstosay,thisisa muchlongerandmorethor-

oughpresentationofa greatlyexpandeddatabasethanisfound inthe

earlierworks.Itisalsothefirstvolumefullytodigestthewealthofmate-

rialcultureproducedinthe 19705 and19805,oneoftherichestperiodsof

excavation inthesouthernLevant.Mazar,a professorofarchaeologyat

HebrewUniversity,waswellpositionedtoessaythiStask,havingextensive

excavationexperiencein theBronzeand IronAgesand,perhapsmore

R.Greenberg:NewHaven:YaleUniversityPress:TelAviv:OpenUniversityof151""Jel.1992),
whichappc,lredfirstinHebrewin 1991 asMallO/a-arkbe'ologyabsbe!Erels-YiSm'elbl-lelm-
fatba~Mikra(TelAviv:OpenUniversityofIsrael,1991).
4tMnar,Arcbaeofogyof1bchmdojlbelJible,xv.
"2Ibid.,XVI.
43 InhischaptersontheMiddleandl..aleBronzeAges,aswellastheIronAge,all
manneroftextualandcpigl""J.phicdataarcconsidcr(,'d,notonlyfortheirhistoricalcontents.
butalsofortheirarchaeological contexts.