Continuing their wide-ranging conversation, excavator Bill Dever and Hershel Shanks turn to a crucial issue: How the Bible and archaeology can be used—and misused—to illuminate each other. HS: What does it mean to be an Israelite in the 12th century B.C.E.? You call them proto-Israelites. What’s the difference between a proto-Israelite and an Israelite? WGD: That’s a key question. I probably tend toward being a maximalist; others are minimalists. Tel Aviv archaeologist Israel Finkelstein says that we cannot use the word “Israelite” for this period; we cannot attach “Israelite” to the material cultural remains of the 12th and 11th […]
