Archaeology and the Old Testament

Abstract

Professor Lance presents the biblical scholar with a solid and clear outline of the basic archaeological principles. The book is primarily concerned with methodological aspects and problems, and in that sense it satisfies a need, because in it the biblical scholar is taught how to approach published archaeological evidence in a critical way. The book is divided into four chapters. In chapter 1 there is an outline of the bearing of archaeology on Old Testament studies. Chapter II gives a lucid and reliable presentation of the basic archaeological principles of stratigraphy and typology. The following chapter provides an excellent discussion on what archaeological reports are about, how they can be classified and indeed unravelled. There is also a useful list of bibliographical collections. Chapter IV puts into practice what was said in the foregoing chapters: the author makes a thorough discussion on how one can attribute certain strata at Haror, Megiddo and Gezer to the Salamonie period. Finally, in chapter V there is a short discussion on the future of Biblical Archaeology, which the author views as a discipline in its own right within the more general branch of Palestinian archaeology. The book has a very useful glossary at the beginning and a chronological sketch at the end, in an appendix.