Biblical Archaeology

The increase of interest that the study of ancient monuments had raised, mainly from the eighteenth century, attracted many individuals to the classical lands. There, as explained in the last chapter, a search for the roots of Western civilization and of the flourishing nineteenth-century empires took place. In addition, however, in some of those countries—mainly in Egypt and Mesopotamia—this concern would not be the only one which boosted scholars’ interests. These lands had witnessed some of the accounts related in the Christian Holy Book, the Bible, and therefore the search for classical antiquity came together with—and was sometimes overshadowed by—research on the biblical past. Work focused first on Egypt, then on Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and parts of Iran), and then moved to other areas: Palestine, and to a certain degree Lebanon and Turkey. After the first travellers who managed to overcome the difficulties of access imposed by the Ottoman Empire, there followed diplomats in the area working for the various imperial countries as well as more specialized explorers, including geographers and antiquarians. Later on, especially in Palestine, many of those who looked for ancient remains were in one way or another connected with religious institutions. Therefore, imperialism will not be the only factor to consider in the development of archaeology in the area described in this chapter, for religion also had an essential role. As explained in the following pages, these were overlapping, complementary forces. The influence of religion on the archaeology of the biblical lands can be seen both in the religious beliefs of those who undertook it, as well as, more importantly, in how it had an effect on research. The aim of most of the archaeologists working in the biblical land—especially in the core area of Palestine and Lebanon—was to illustrate, confirm, or challenge the biblical account, and they were not interested in any period dated either before or after the events related in the Holy Book. Thus, an interest in the Islamic archaeology of the area would only appear at the end of the period dealt with in this book (Ettinghausen 1951; Vernoit 1997: 4–5), and pre-biblical archaeology would develop later.

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