Absorbing Archaeology at the Jerusalem Congress

A congress on Biblical archaeology can’t help but be successful in Jerusalem. The subject seeps from Jerusalem’s stones. And the Second International Congress on Biblical Archaeology, held between June 24 and July 4, 1990, was indeed successful.^a

Imagine: The festive opening held in the ancient Citadel of the Old City, a structure dating back to Herodian times and even earlier. More than 600 people from all over the world—from Japan to Brazil, from South Africa to Norway, from Czechoslovakia and Romania to the United States, Canada, England and France, indeed from 25 countries from the four corners of the earth, including many of the greatest living Biblical scholars and archaeologists—seated on stone tiers, listening first to a brass ensemble play Vivaldi and Handel; then to greetings from the president of Israel, Chaim Herzog (for whose entrance we all rise); the mayor of the city, Teddy Kollek; and the chairman of the organizing committee, the venerable Israeli archaeologist and excavator of Tel Dan, Avraham Biran.

In the words of Professor Biran: