The Society of Biblical Archaeology was not theWrst learned association of its
kind. There was another one already in existence from 1864, the Palestine
Exploration Fund. In 1873 a prospectus explained that:
No country should be of so much interest to us as that in which the documents of our
Faith were written, and the momentous events they describe enacted... Much would
be gained by obtaining an accurate map of the country; by settling disputed points of
topography; by identifying ancient towns of Holy Writ with the modern villages
which are their successors.
(Shaw 2002: 60).In accordance with this, the aim of the fund was to provide ‘for the accurate
and systematic investigation of the archaeology, topography, geology and
physical geography, natural history, manners and customs of the Holy
Land, for biblical illustration’ (in Moorey 1991: 19). As well as the production
of a map of the country, research concentrated on Jerusalem mainly through
excavations. Under the aegis of the fund, the Survey of Western Palestine was
organized, coveringWrst Jerusalem (1865), then Sinai (1868–9), western
(1871–7) and eastern Palestine (1881), by men such as Lt Claude Regnier
Conder (1848–1910), Lt Horation H. Kitchener (1850–1916) and others.
Their research was published between 1871 and 1878, with a map issued in
1880 on a scale of one inch to the mile. The latter included an area from Tyre
to the Egyptian desert and from Jordan to the Mediterranean, with some nine
thousand Arabic names recorded. The accompanyingMemoirscontained a
description of many sites. Although many imperfections were identiWed at a
later stage, it obviously constituted a key step in the archaeological under-
standing of Palestine. In contrast, lack of appropriate techniques in the
excavations undertaken in Palestine, as well as other sites such as Jerusalem,
by Captain Charles Wilson (1865–6) and later by Captain Charles Warren
(1867–70), led to conclusions of disputed usefulness (Moorey 1991: 19–20;
Silberman 1982: chs. 9 and 10; 2001: 493–4). They were not unaware of the
political signiWcance of their work. As Wilson said in a memo, ‘the map would
be of great importance as a military map should... Palestine ever be the scene
of military operations’ (in Abu El-Haj 2001: 23). Mapping and imperialism
intersected, as happened in many other parts of the colonial world. Yet,
mapmaking involved the production of knowledge, in this case not only of
imperialist knowledge but also religious understanding of the territory. Local
Arab populations were dispossessed of their own history by selecting from
their place names those which suggested an older Judaeo-Christian topo-
graphy. Arabic names were not recorded because of their intrinsic value, but
because of their Hebrew and Christian roots (Abu El-Haj 2001; Silberman
1982: ch. 12).
150 Archaeology of Informal Imperialism