Biblical Archaeology Review is the flagship publication of the Biblical Archaeology Society. For more than 40 years it has been making the world of archaeology in the lands of the Bible come alive for the interested layperson. Full of vivid images and articles written by leading scholars, this is a must read for anyone interested in the archaeology of the ancient Near East.
For the latest designations of the Shechem strata and dates for them, see Edward F. Campbell, Shechem III (Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2002), pp. 8–9, where Temple 1 (Migdal Temenoi 7–6) is equated with General Stratum XVI–XV; Temple 2a and 2b (Building 5700), with General Stratum XIV–XI.
Reading, with most commentators, ’elón ham-masseba; see George Foote Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (Edinburgh: T.& T. Clark, 1985), p. 244; and the discussion by Edward F. Campbell, “Judges 9 and Biblical Archaeology,” in Carol L. Meyers and Michael P. O’Connor, eds., The Word Shall Go Forth (David Noel Freedman Festschrift) (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1983), pp. 263–271.
Steiner makes the same kind of argument with the mention of Jerusalem in “Egyptian Execration” texts from the 19th or 18th century B.C.E., when, again, Steiner finds no evidence for a settlement at Jerusalem. “The mentioning of this name alone cannot be used as ‘proof’ that Jerusalem was an important town then, as the name need not specify a town—it could as easily indicate a region or a tribe.”
The project also includes this previously published work: H.J. Franken and M.L. Steiner, Excavations in Jerusalem 1961–1967, vol. 2, The Extramural Quarter on the South-East Hill (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1990). Publication of the coins, inscriptions, seals, flint, some closed pottery groups, human and animal bones, shells, stone weights, hammer stones and figurines have been assigned to specialists in these various fields. Most of the work is “still to be done” and little of it is published.
