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Despite heightened tensions, an expectation that sooner or later there will be another war, and a near-universal dislike of Secretary Kissinger, archaeology continues in Israel, if anything on an even larger scale, as if the Israelis were saying “Despite it all, we shall continue with the things that are really important; we shall not let matters of war and peace over which we have so little control deter us from pursuing a way of life that we can control and create.”
A young, almost boyish-looking archaeologist named Avi Eitan has been appointed as the new head of the Israeli Department of Antiquities and Museums. (We shall introduce him formally to BAR readers in the next issue.) He reports that already this year, permits for 35 planned excavations and 52 emergency excavations have been issued. Emergency excavations are undertaken whenever road construction, a new apartment house, a kibbutz’s plowing of a neglected field hits ancient remains. Then all work stops until the Department of Antiquities excavates the area and afterward issues the order that modern development can again resume.
Excavations in Israel are by no means an exclusively Israeli affair. American, German, Italian and Japanese institutions are also sponsoring excavations—and volunteers have come to dig from all over the world.
This season’s results have illuminated matters of interest to Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Excavations in Jerusalem have located part of the 13th century Ayubic wall of the city (together with a monumental 9-foot Arabic inscription) which was built by Saladin’s nephew, a wall which had been known up to now only from literary sources. Excavations in the École Biblique have an important bearing on the date of the Garden Tomb, one of the traditional sites of the burial of Jesus. At Tell Masos in the Negev, archaeologists have excavated some of the oldest and best preserved 4-room houses, a form of domestic architecture associated with the Israelite entry into Canaan.
And, so, archaeology goes on as if there was no Middle East conflict. And we shall be reporting the results in future issues.
Despite heightened tensions, an expectation that sooner or later there will be another war, and a near-universal dislike of Secretary Kissinger, archaeology continues in Israel, if anything on an even larger scale, as if the Israelis were saying Despite it all, we shall continue with the things that are really important; we shall not let matters of war and peace over which we have so little control deter us from pursuing a way of life that we can control and create.
