Just Past? The Making of Israeli Archaeology

During the last decade substantive changes have occurred in the way that archaeology is conducted in the 'Holy Land' as indeed throughout the Near East but one thing never seems to change: archaeology in Israel/Palestine always takes on a political dimension. This book tells the story of the creation of Israeli Archaeology in the 1950s and early 1960s. Unlike other books on the archaeology of the 'holy-land', it isn't just a chronological parade of important excavations and nice finds, but a history of intrigues, budgets, failures and, above all, dreams. The book is based on documentary material, often from obscure periodicals in Hebrew, as well as thousands of original documents never published before. It is the first large scale publication using preliminary archival material about Israeli archaeology. It is also an independent study that reflects the author's personal views.The documents reveal a surprising picture. Much has been written about archaeology in Palestine during the Ottoman and British Mandate periods but very little exists about Israeli archaeology after 1948. Archival documents have not been treated and biographies of Israeliarchaeologists are rare and not critical Obituaries are short and, naturally, positive The regular products of archaeological writing-excavation and survey reports and the like are focussed on specific topics and thus not helpful for examining the larger picture. Criticismsare also rare, almost always limited to very narrow arenas: the political place within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the accusation about the 'Biblical Archaeology' bias We read much about the 'myth of Masada', for example, but nothing about why, by whom and whenwas the decision made to start excavations at Masada, who gave the budget and how Yadin became the excavator. Uniquely this book gets to the heart of such decisions and the political circumstances in which they were made.In recounting the history of archaeology in Israel, the author argues that any community focused on the study of some distant human past must also acknowledge its own roots; its genesis. Without knowing the origins and history of Israeli archaeology, there can be no open-minded evaluation of it.