Inside BAR

004

After 20 years of publishing a magazine on Biblical archaeology, we decided it was time to ask some fundamental questions about the field: What is Biblical archaeology’s greatest achievement? Its greatest failure? What is its greatest challenge? In “Scholars Speak Out,” fourteen archaeologists and Bible scholars respond by examining past triumphs and flops, and sketching their goals for the future. We trust that their success in meeting these challenges will furnish us with at least another 20 years’ worth of BAR articles.

Our anniversary leads naturally to another query: What are the top ten discoveries in Biblical archaeology? Is it possible to choose among the thousands of intriguing tablets, scrolls, ostraca, churches, statues, altars, amulets, water systems, city walls, tombs and the like that make up the archaeological record of the Near East? We asked Michael D. Coogan to assemble a list. He narrowed the search by selecting finds that are not only important in themselves but also representative of other achievements from the Biblical world; the Gibeon water system, for example, stands for the many spectacular engineering feats of the ancient Canaanites and Israelites. Coogan chooses and describes the “10 Great Finds,” each shown in BAR’s vivid color.

Professor of religious studies at Stonehill College, North Easton, Massachusetts, Coogan has excavated in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Cyprus. He is co-editor of The Oxford Companion to the Bible (Oxford Univ. Press, 1993) and translator of Stories from Ancient Canaan (Westminster, 1978); his “The Great Gulf Between Scholars and the Pew” appeared in Bible Review, June 1994.

Our celebration would not be complete if our readers were not a part of it. Many of you responded to our call for letters from people who have been with us from the beginning or from readers whose lives have been significantly affected by our magazine. In this issue, fifteen readers describe “How BAR Changed My Life.” You will be struck, as we were, by the wide range of responses. Our thanks to everyone who wrote, including those whose letters we cannot print for lack of space.

Discovering the Ark of the Covenant—that’s the stuff that dreams, and movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark, are made of. The Bible describes in detail the portable, gold-covered chest that held the Tablets of the Law during the Israelites’ desert wanderings (Exodus 25:10–22) and that was eventually placed in the Holy of Holies of Solomon’sTemple (1 Kings 8:6). But the Bible fails to reveal the location of the Ark after the Babylonian destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 586/7 B.C. This has led to much speculation: Recently, journalist Graham Hancock, in his best-selling book, The Sign and the Seal (reviewed in Books in Brief, BAR 19:04), claimed that in the seventh century B.C. the Ark was brought to Elephantine Island on the Nile, where the local Jewish community built a temple to house it. Two hundred years later, Hancock asserts, the Ark moved on to Axum, Ethiopia, where he believes it remains today. But, according to Bezalel Porten, Hancock bases his arguments on a flawed interpretation of a hoard of papyri discovered at Elephantine. In “Did the Ark Stop at Elephantine?” Porten searches these documents for clues to the Ark’s fate.

The leading authority on the Elephantine papyri, Porten is associate professor of Jewish history at Hebrew University, in Jerusalem. He wrote Archives from Elephantine (Univ. of California, 1968; Brill, revised editon, forthcoming) and co-wrote Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt with Ada Yardeni (3 vols., Academon, 1986–1993).

If you don’t have a copy of the first part of our anniversary celebration, our March/April issue (BAR 21:02), you can order one for $4.50 (plus shipping and handling) by 005calling (1-800) 221-4644. That issue featured the results of our Readers Survey, Kenneth Kitchen’s article on the historical accuracy of the Bible’s Patriarchal Age, Shlomo Bunimowitz’s survey of how archaeologists interpret what they excavate and a fond history of BAR’s first twenty years. Apropos that last article, some readers may have wondered who wrote that history since we (inadvertently) left off the name of the author. We suspect most readers guessed who had written it (especially because he was given due credit in Inside BAR), but in the celebratory mood that still hangs over our offices we offer a year’s subscription to the reader who nominates the least likely author for that article. Send submissions to: Mystery Author, c/o BAR, 4710 41st St. NW, Washington, DC 20016.

From the Editor

Reading the previous paragraph concerning the “inadvertent” (uh-huh, I understand!) omission of my name on last issue’s “Short History of BAR,” BAR 21:02, subtly suggested to me a more egregious omission: BAR is produced by a marvelous, devoted, hard-working and very talented team.

Two people deserve special mention; I used to refer to them as my two right hands: Sue Singer (on the editorial side) and Sue Laden (on the publishing side). Two Sues seemed especially appropriate for a practicing lawyer who as an avocation originally served as BAR’s editor (but who no longer practices law, having become completely absorbed by his avocation). Alas, Sue Laden decided to retire last year. So I can no longer speak of my two Sues.

Sue Laden came aboard over 19 years ago—when my legal secretary could no longer handle subscriptions. In those years the subscription records were kept in a shoebox. Sue began by working part-time in her home. She was our only employee. Not long after she started work, she took off two weeks to have a baby, her third, but quickly made up for the time she lost; I don’t think she ever took that much time off after that. As she added staff, they all worked out of her basement. Sue’s responsibities expanded with the organization; eventually she supervised a staff of over 30. She is responsible for much of the success we ultimately achieved.

Not long after Sue Laden took over the shoebox of subscribers, Sue Singer began work as our Jerusalem correspondent. Sue had what then seemed like a basic requirement for anyone on our staff: no journalism experience. When she returned to the United States with her family in 1977, she became our first real editorial employee. With four young children, she had plenty of time to work on the magazine; most of the kids slept at night. Like Sue Laden, Sue Singer worked for years in her home, eventually with a staff of seven and a magazine type-setting machine. As our readers know full well, she quickly learned how to put out a first-class magazine—with creativity and beauty. In addition, she provides emotional support during stressful times (our life only seems idyllic from afar).

When our staff gradually started to push both the Laden and Singer families out of their homes, we got a real office—on Connecticut Avenue, opposite the Washington Zoo. (Before we recently moved to our own building, I used to say that people sometimes got confused as to which side of the street the animals were on.)

With Sue Laden gone, a vibrant new senior staff is developing—Bridget Young, our Executive Director; and Dean Roxanis, our Marketing Director. In addition, there are two employees who have been here almost as long as the two Sues: Janice Krause runs the unique tours and seminars of our travel/study program (now in its eighteenth year); and Mimi Feinsilver supervises our magazine fulfillment operation (which is so complicated no one else dares touch it). Finally, Deputy Managing Editor Steven Feldman supervises a top-flight staff and continually justifies his internal nickname, “The Sultan of Snap.”

Without all these wonderful dedicated people—named and unnamed—there would be no BAR.