Archaeology, as one recent textbook claims, is about excitement; it is about “intellectual curiosity and finding ways to turn that curiosity into knowledge about people in the past.” Archaeological endeavor can be compared to a journey to the past—a long voyage to Ithaca (to paraphrase the Greek poet Constantin Cavafy), full of adventure and discovery of harbors seen for the first time, Phoenician trading-stations and Egyptian cities. For me, the journey began at the acropolis of Hazor, amidst the layers of fallen mudbricks, burnt wooden beams and smashed pottery vessels scattered on the floors of the once-monumental Canaanite buildings. […]
