Archaeology for Teenagers

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Archaeology can be one of the most effective ways to interest teenagers in Biblical studies. That is why Treasures from the Dust^a by Azriel Eisenberg and Dov Peretz Elkins is particularly welcome. Written for high school readers, this book invites the student to “join the adventurous groups of archaeologists who dig the ancient mounds, sift the desert sands, wash the broken potsherds, and with luck come up with the finds that make history.”

Unfortunately, the economics of modern book publishing has apparently prevented the authors from using any photographs, either color or black and white, of the discoveries they describe, although they do include drawings with varying effectiveness. Perhaps in this way they have managed to keep the price of the book within range of the affordable ($6.95), no mean feat with archaeological works these days. Though the usual teaching tools—slides, demonstration of artifacts and lectures—are by no means supplanted by this book, it does supply the need for a basic text and awakens the young reader’s imagination and interest.

The work consists of 15 chapters, each dealing with a major archaeological find. The Code of Hammurabi; Albright’s excavation of Saul’s “Palace” at Gibeah (over 50 years ago!); Yadin’s more recent excavations at Hazor (which, prior to the Israelite conquest, was, as the Bible tells us, the “head of all those kingdoms [of northern Palestine]”); Nachman Avigad’s decipherment of an inscription that identified the tomb of Shebna, the steward of King Hezekiah; the discovery of the most recent Dead Sea Scroll to come to light, the so-called Temple Scroll—all are described in a way that attracts and involves the young reader. By the senior year in high school, the student may be ready for something more challenging, however. Based on my experience with young archaeology students, I would judge this book is most suitable for the middle, rather than the late teens.

The authors stress both the human adventure of discovery, as well as the strictly archaeological significance. In the 1920’s, when the great William Foxwell Albright wanted to excavate Tell el-Ful, where he ultimately was to find what is probably King Saul’s fortress palace, he had to negotiate with each of the 66 shareholders who owned the land. In that era there were no student volunteers; the local population supplied the labor. Albright hoped to obtain laborers and a lease to excavate at one stroke by hiring a number of shareholders as members of his work force. In addition, he hired the shareholders’ representative as foreman. But the shareholders continued to insist on a rental of $1,000, an enormous sum in those days; indeed, $1,000 was the entire amount the American School of Oriental Research, which was sponsoring the project, had appropriated for the excavation! Even after a deal was struck, the shareholders continued to demand a share of the archaeological discoveries as part of their rent, suspecting that great treasure would be uncovered. They hired a lawyer from Jerusalem to negotiate for them. When the negotiations failed, they sued Professor Albright in the District Court of Jerusalem. The judge quickly realized that the suit was essentially an extortion attempt and not only exonerated Professor Albright, but admonished the owners. Thus work was able to continue and eventually the fortress palace of the rustic King Saul was discovered, proving once again the resourcefulness and endurance which are required of an archaeologist.

The authors tell their story with drama, and the discoveries are set against a human background. Dialogue—sometimes a bit cloying—is often attributed to the major characters. The authors recount how the great archaeologist Finders Petrie, in order to prevent stealing, slept in the ancient Egyptian temple at Thebes which he was excavating. One day while he was taking his afternoon nap, some American tourists wandered through the ruins. Half-asleep, 016Petrie heard one of the tourists remark, “Look here. People are still inhabiting these old temples. They are probably related to the original Pharaohs.” The authors describe how Petrie made one of the great finds of all times during that excavation—a granite stele from the funeral temple of the Pharaoh Merneptah, which contains the following passage in Egyptian hieroglyphics:

The people of Israel is laid waste,

Her seed is no more,

Palestine has become

a widow for Egypt.

This is the earliest mention of Israel as a distinct people (as opposed to Hebrews) in the extant writing of any nation.

The alleged victory over Israel is attributed to Merneptah during his brief reign between 1224 and 1216 B.C. The authors tell us this victory was apparently the most important event of his 8-year reign; so in a victory song, he greatly exaggerated both the battle and his victory: Israel obviously survived the battle and many more afterward. The authors conclude with a modern reference. When the Egyptians attacked the fledgling state of Israel in 1948, they issued a postage stamp containing the “Israel” quotation from the Merneptah stele quoted above. That report, like the original, was greatly exaggerated.

Treasures from the Dust also contains an account of some lesser known discoveries—at least to the non-professional. For centuries Biblical scholars had puzzled over a word which appears in Hebrew as pim. The verse in which it appears was, according to one eminent scholar, “hopelessly corrupt.” Scholars speculated that pim might be the plural of peh (mouth or edge), but this made little sense in the context of the verse. The Biblical setting deals with the period when iron was just coming into use in Palestine. The Bible tells us that at this time the Philistines had a monopoly on the process of smelting iron (1 Samuel 13:19). So the Israelites had to take their iron farm implements to the Philistines to be sharpened. The King James Bible translates the passage with pim in it in this way: “Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters … ” (1 Samuel 13:20). The answer to the puzzle emerged when a young boy named Shahib who lived in Jerusalem found on his way to a picnic a little bronze ball with ancient writing on it. One of the words on the ball—in old Hebrew script—turned out to be pim. Later, two other balls, about the same weight and with the same three letters were found; one in a professional excavation and the other by chance as young Shahib had found his. With this evidence in hand, a scholar named Samuel Raffaeli surmised correctly that pim was a measure of weight and also a standard of value. All the balls weighed almost exactly the same amount—about two-thirds of a shekel. A pim was the price the Israelites had to pay for sharpening their farm implements—an exorbitant price even then, which only a monopolist could charge. Now almost all Bibles translate pim as two-thirds of a shekel. Once again, archaeology had brought a Biblical passage to life.

Archaeology can be one of the most effective ways to interest teenagers in Biblical studies. That is why Treasures from the Dusta by Azriel Eisenberg and Dov Peretz Elkins is particularly welcome. Written for high school readers, this book invites the student to “join the adventurous groups of archaeologists who dig the ancient mounds, sift the desert sands, wash the broken potsherds, and with luck come up with the finds that make history.” Unfortunately, the economics of modern book publishing has apparently prevented the authors from using any photographs, either color or black and white, of the discoveries they […]