..... Click the link for more information. of the biblical lands, especially those of the ancient Middle East. While the thousands of written texts found in the languages of the ancient Middle East illuminate the Bible itself, the artifacts uncovered by archaeologists help re-create the cultural setting of its time.
Biblical archaeology developed in earnest in the early part of the 19th cent. when the British biblical scholar Edward Robinson traveled across Palestine and opened the way for study of the area. The founding (1865) of the Palestine Exploration Fund in Great Britain further encouraged research; by 1900 biblical archaeological societies had been formed in Germany, France, and the United States. The system developed by Flinders Petrie Petrie, Sir William Matthew Flinders (pē`trē), 1853–1942, English archaeologist, a noted Egyptologist.
..... Click the link for more information. at Tel-el-Hesy (see Eglon 1 King of Moab. He was murdered by Ehud, who became judge of Israel.
2 City, ancient Palestine, near Lachish. It was one of the cities allied against Joshua, who destroyed it after the battle of Ajalon. It was excavated in 1890 by W. M. F.
..... Click the link for more information. (2)) to date pottery is of the greatest importance for the archaeology of Palestine, where spectacular monuments and written material are rarely found. Other important excavations in Palestine were undertaken at Jericho Jericho (jĕr`ĭkō) [Heb.,=fragrant, or city of the moon god], Arab. Ariha, town (2003 est. pop.
..... Click the link for more information. by John Garstang Garstang, John, 1876–1956, English archaeologist. He served as W. M. Flinders Petrie 's field assistant in Egypt in 1899 and was professor of archaeology at the Univ. of Liverpool from 1907 to 1941, when he became professor emeritus.
..... Click the link for more information. and others, as well as at Megiddo Megiddon. See also Armageddon .
Bibliography
See Megiddo (Univ. of Chicago, Parts I–II, 1939–48); G. Loud, The Megiddo Ivories (1939).
..... Click the link for more information. , Samaria Samaritans, of whom a small remnant still live at Nablus and Jaffa, Israel. The Samaritans are the descendants of non-Jewish colonists from Babylonia, Syria, and elsewhere who were settled in Samaria when the Israelites were deported (722 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. , Gibeah 1 In the Bible, home town and capital of Saul; the present-day Tell el-Ful, the West Bank, 3 mi (4.8 km) N of Jerusalem. A fortress that may have been Saul's residence was excavated there.
Bibliography
See L. A.
..... Click the link for more information. (1,) Beth-shan Beth-shan (bĕth-shăn`) or Beth-shean
..... Click the link for more information. , Lachish Lachish (lā`kĭsh), city, S ancient Palestine, SW of Jerusalem, in present-day Israel.
..... Click the link for more information. , Ezion-geber Ezion-geber (ē`zēŏn-gē`bər) or Ezion-gaber
..... Click the link for more information. , and Hazor 1 Development town of N Galilee, 5 mi (8 km) SW of Lake Hula, in present-day Israel. Strategically located in ancient Palestine on the road leading from Egypt to Syria and Asia Minor, it was occupied from the early Bronze Age to Hellenistic times.
..... Click the link for more information. (1.) Outside Palestine the important archaeological discoveries in the old lands of Egypt Egypt (ē`jĭpt), Arab. Misr, biblical Mizraim, officially Arab Republic of Egypt, republic (2005 est. pop.
..... Click the link for more information. , Sumer Sumer (s
..... Click the link for more information. (see also Ur Ur (ûr), ancient city of Sumer, S Mesopotamia. The city is also known as Ur of the Chaldees.
..... Click the link for more information. ), Babylonia Babylonia (băbĭlō`nēə), ancient empire of Mesopotamia.
..... Click the link for more information. (see also Gilgamesh Gilgamesh (gĭl`gəmĕsh), in Babylonian legend, king of Uruk.
..... Click the link for more information. and Hammurabi Hammurabi (häm
rä`bē), fl. 1792–1750 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. ), Assyria Assyria (əsĭr`ēə), ancient empire of W Asia.
..... Click the link for more information. , Byblos Byblos (bĭb`ləs), ancient city, Phoenicia, a port 17 mi (27 km) NNE of modern Beirut, Lebanon.
..... Click the link for more information. , Nuzi, Ugarit Ugarit (
..... Click the link for more information. , and Jordan Jordan, officially Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, kingdom (2005 est. pop. 5,760,000), 35,637 sq mi (92,300 sq km), SW Asia. It borders on Israel and the West Bank in the west, on Syria in the north, on Iraq in the northeast, and on Saudi Arabia in the east and south.
..... Click the link for more information. (see also Moabite stone Moabite stone (mō`əbīt'), ancient slab of stone erected in850 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. ) did much to increase knowledge of the Bible.
The Palestine Dept. of Antiquities, founded 1918, encouraged research until the turbulent years preceding the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948; since that time some of the most important archaeological work in Palestine has been conducted by Israeli archaeologists, e.g., the excavation of the ancient tel (an artificial mound formed by the debris of settlements of ancient cities) of Joppa in 1948 and 1955 and the work at Arad from 1962 to 1967. Herod the Great's impressive building projects at Caesarea are being extensively investigated. Outside the borders of Israel, a large cache of clay tablets came to light in 1975 at Ebla (Tell Mardikh in Syria)—the center of a large Caananite empire that flourished c.26th–23th cent. B.C.
After two centuries of biblical archaeology, it is possible to read the Bible in a new light. It has become clear that ancient Palestine was an integral part of the whole cultural area of the ancient Middle East. Archaeology confirms the existence of fertility cults in Canaan and supports the theory that there was not a sudden era of conquest by Hebrew tribes in the premonarchical period. Excavations have also failed to find evidence that would support many of the biblical descriptions of the monarchial period.
Archaeology cannot confirm theological truths or articles of faith. However, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient leather and papyrus scrolls first discovered in 1947 in caves on the NW shore of the Dead Sea. Most of the documents were written or copied between the 1st cent. B.C. and the first half of the 1st cent. A.D.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1947 and in the subsequent decade and the finds at sites in the vicinity of Qumran Qumran (k
..... Click the link for more information. have revolutionized the understanding of Judaism in the New Testament era. The discovery of several manuscripts of the Greek New Testament of the 2d and 3d cent. A.D., the finding of the Nag Hammadi Nag Hammadi (näg hä`mädi)
..... Click the link for more information. corpus of Gnostic scriptures in 1946, and the steady publication of Egyptian papyri in the 20th cent. have enlarged perceptions respectively of the accuracy of the New Testament text, the diversity and vibrancy of early Christianity, and the kind of Greek in which the New Testament was written.
Bibliography
See A. Negev, ed., Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land (1972); H. D. Lance, The Old Testament and the Archaeologist (1981); P. Matthiae, Ebla: An Empire Rediscovered (1981); W. G. Dever, Recent Archaeological Discoveries and Biblical Research (1990); A. Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible 10,000–586 B.C.E. (1990); F. M. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran (1995).
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