Even Briefer

Biblical Archaeology Today, 1990: Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Biblical Archaeology

ed. Avraham Biran and Joseph Aviram (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1993), 770 pp., $60.00

More than 600 scholars gathered to hear over 100 papers at this congress in Jerusalem from June 24 to July 4, 1990—the largest Biblical archaeology conference in history. The event, marking the 100th anniversary of Sir Flinders Petrie’s pioneering excavation at Tel Hesi, heralded the arrival of a new generation of scholars. With the passing of such luminaries as Yigael Yadin, Samuel Noah Kramer and Yigal Shiloh—who graced the First International Congress in 1984—and the less active presence of many senior scholars, younger scholars such as Thomas E. Levy, Shlomo Bunimovitz and Michal Artzy carry on the great tradition. If the growth of the proceedings represents growth in the field, then Biblical archaeology is healthy indeed. This volume and a paperback supplement (149 pp., $20.00) gather 93 papers, as well as responses and discussion, for a total of 919 pages, almost double the length of the proceedings from the first congress. (The papers in the supplement come from a pre-congress symposium on population, production and power in the ancient Near East.) The contents, virtually a state-of-the-field report, include the history of the field, papers on sites in every period from the Late Bronze through the Byzantine, cult sites, art, trade, interdisciplinary studies, the Dead Sea Scrolls and other texts.

Ancient Stone Anchors and Net Sinkers from the Sea of Galilee