Putting the Bible Back in Biblical Archaeology

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Biblical archaeology has witnessed dramatic change during recent decades, with some experts even moving away from the Bible as a historical source. But by expanding the biblical world’s temporal and geographical boundaries and integrating scientific approaches with a renewed commitment to biblical studies, the field can bring new life to our understanding of ancient Israel.

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Footnotes

1. See Aaron A. Burke, “The Amorites and the Bible,” BAR, Summer 2023.

2. See Yonatan Adler, “The Genesis of Judaism,” BAR, Winter 2022; Andrea Berlin, “The Rise of the Maccabees,” BAR, Summer 2023.

3. Marta Luciani, “Archaeology in the Land of Midian: Excavating the Qurayyah Oasis,” BAR, Winter 2023.

4. See, for example, the renewed excavations at Cerro del Villar in southern Spain: Carolina López-Ruiz, David Schloen, and José Suárez Padilla, “From Tyre to Tarshish: The Phoenicians in Spain,” BAR, Summer 2025.

Endnotes

1. This broader temporal, geographic, and thematic vision for biblical archaeology informs several major new publishing projects, including the Elements in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel series (Cambridge Univ. Press), edited by Jeremy Smoak and myself.

2. See Jonathan S. Greer, “The Zooarchaeology of Israelite Religion: Methods and Practice,” Religions 10.4 (2019), 254, doi.org/10.3390/rel10040254.

3. Assaf Kleiman, Sabine Kleiman, and Erez Ben-Yosef, “Qurayyah Painted Ware Outside the Hejaz: Evidence of a Community of Practice in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages?” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 43.4 (2024), pp. 332–356.