RELS 260-01 and 02, Archaeology and the Biblical World, Fall 2004

Abstract

This course will explore the interpretive relationship between modern archaeological research on the southern Levant and the ethnohistoric narratives of ancient Israel and Judah found the Hebrew Bible. We will address practical problems of archaeological analysis (chronology, stratigraphy, etc.) as well as theoretical approaches to material culture (ideology, political economy, etc.) in order to gain a representative picture of how modern scholars try to fashion a coherent narrative of life in ancient times. The Hebrew Bible contains intellectual, historical and literary products from the Iron Age. We will examine the potential for, and difficulties in, correlating these ancient cultural perspectives with the material record.