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Finkelstein’s “Shiloh” Wins Best BAR Article Award

“Shiloh Yields Some, But Not All, of Its Secrets,” BAR 12:01, by Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, has received the Fellner Award as the best article to appear in Biblical Archaeology Review during 1985 and 1986. The award carries a prize of $500.

Finkelstein’s article, published in the January/February 1986 BAR, describes his excavation of Shiloh, a site in the hill country north of Jerusalem. During the first half of the 11th century B.C., Shiloh served as the religious center of the Israelite tribal federation. The Ark of the Covenant rested in the Tabernacle at Shiloh until it was captured by the Philistines in the battle of Ebenezer recounted in 1 Samuel 4. As the Bible reflects and Finkelstein’s excavations confirm, Shiloh never recovered from the Philistine attack in about 1050 B.C.

Finkelstein, a professor at Bar-Ilan University, directed excavations at Shiloh from 1981–1984. He is also co-author, with Avraham Perevolotsky, of “The Southern Sinai Exodus Route in Ecological Perspective,” BAR 11:04.