Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 1981
Features
Animals of the Bible: Living Links to Antiquity
There were skeptics who refused to believe that the Sinai leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi) still existed in Israel. They laughed at Giora Ilani and accused him of being a dreamer. Ilani, chief zoologist with the Israeli Nature Reserves Authority (NRA), took the criticism in good spirit. He...Read more ›
Digging by the Sea
I was dreaming of the sea, paddling a rescue boat far beyond the breakers toward silence and tranquility. Tired of rowing, I dove into the water and pulled strongly downward listening to the silence of the deep. There was a ringing sensation in my ears. Half asleep...Read more ›
Prominent British Scholar Assesses Kathleen Kenyon
In the latest issue of the Palestine Exploration Quarterly (January–June 1979), P. R. S. Moorey of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford has written a remarkably candid assessment of the achievements and failures of Dame Kathleen Kenyon who for a quarter of a century before her death in...Read more ›
A Capsule History of Archaeological Method
Until about 100 years ago archaeological method in the Near East consisted primarily of aimless treasure hunting. In the latter part of the 19th century, archaeological pioneers like Heinrich Schliemann at Mycenae and Troy, and Flinders Petrie in Egypt and Palestine (see “Sir Flinders Petrie: Father of...Read more ›
Who First Excavated Stratigraphically?
Hint: He was an American. Dead giveaway: You’ve known his name since first grade.
North American Indians left few monuments of their civilization. Early European explorers and settlers in North America found no stone cities or defense walls or water systems or monumental structures built by the native Americans. The only exceptions were large earthen mounds obviously built by humans rather...Read more ›
Piety and Patriotism—Secularism and Skepticism: The Dual Problem of Archaeological Bias
It was the day before the excavation was scheduled to end. Heinrich Schliemann, the German archaeologist who discovered the site of Troy, had his crew of 80 workmen furiously digging through the tel’s various strata in quest of museum-worthy artifacts from the Homeric city (which he thought...Read more ›
Excavation Opportunities 1981
From Dan in the Galilee to Biblical Lachish, from Tel Michal on the Mediterranean Sea to Bab edh-Dhra on the eastern bank of the Dead Sea, volunteers will join archaeologists on numerous field sites in 1981. Always hoping that the next spadeful of earth will expose a...Read more ›