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Biblical archaeology

What is biblical archaeology?

Biblical archaeology is the study of what has been found in the lands of the Bible and what each find does and does not show. It began as a search for biblical places and became the archaeology of the southern Levant. It attests many places, peoples and rulers the biblical books name, but does not test theological claims.

  • 124Sources
  • 12Traditions
  • 16Dated entries
  • 13Minutes

Study v1.1, 31 October 2026

Biblical archaeology

At a glance

Why it matters for reading Scripture

What has been found, and what it does and does not show. It lets the question whether the Bible is historically true be answered with evidence and with care.

What the study found

Inscriptions and destruction layers attest many kings, peoples and events from the 9th century BC onward; earlier periods yield settings and debate, while forgeries and unprovenanced objects warn against claims archaeology cannot carry.

Where traditions divide

They divide on the patriarchs, the exodus and the conquest, on the scale of David and Solomon's kingdom, on 10th-century dates, and on whether archaeology should test Scripture at all.

How the traditions compare

  • Evangelical apologetic

    Aims to show the reliability of the Bible.

    The Associates for Biblical Research, founded in 1969 by David Livingston, describes its work as an "apologetic mission", associates an early Exodus and conquest in the fifteenth century BC with Bryant Wood's work at Jericho and with Khirbet el-Maqatir as Ai, and excavates at Shiloh under license from the Israeli Civil Administration. Its Mount Ebal lead object, announced in 2022 before peer review, was found by Aren Maeir and Christopher Rollston to have no "discernible letters".

    Sources1–5

  • Evangelical academic

    Holds that ancient Near Eastern evidence shows biblical history to be supported or plausible.

    Kenneth Kitchen's On the Reliability of the Old Testament (2003) works back from the monarchies to the primeval history and frames its case as history, literature and culture rather than theology, and James Hoffmeier's Israel in Egypt (1999) argues that current Egyptological evidence supports the biblical account. Evangelicals do not speak with one voice: Kitchen and Hoffmeier are usually placed in a late, thirteenth-century school for the Exodus, and a critic on Kitchen's own side, writing in the Calvin Theological Journal, judged that his natural explanations of the Exodus miracles "surrender too much" to critics of miracles.

    Sources6–7

  • Critical scholarship

    Treats the biblical text as one ancient source among others and applies the same standards to claims that seem to support it as to those that do not.

    It is practiced by scholars of every confession and of none. When a 2021 paper linked a cosmic airburst at Tall el-Hammam to the Sodom tradition, the objections concerned method, data and image handling, not belief, and Scientific Reports retracted the paper on 24 April 2025.

    Sources8–10

  • Minimalist

    From the 1970s a group of scholars associated with Copenhagen and Sheffield argued that the biblical history is largely a late literary work, composed in the Persian period at the earliest, and that historical Israel descended from the land's Bronze Age inhabitants, not from Egypt.

    Ziony Zevit names Niels Peter Lemche as the movement's methodological spokesman, and Keith Whitelam's The Invention of Ancient Israel (1996) argues that scholarship invented ancient Israel in the image of a European nation state.

    Sources11–12

  • Maximalist and middle ground

    Zevit notes that "maximalist" covers the great majority of scholars, who regard the core conclusions of minimalism as unproven and contradicted by evidence.

    In the middle ground where most scholars now stand, William Dever and Israel Finkelstein, opposed in tone, both accept a historical Iron Age Israel, and Finkelstein, Dever, Ann Killebrew and Avraham Faust agree on largely local origins for Israel and differ on the mix.

    Sources1113–18

  • Catholic

    Dei Verbum (1965) places the truth of Scripture in what is taught "for the sake of salvation", which leaves historical detail open to inquiry.

    The Pontifical Biblical Commission's The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church (1993) calls the historical-critical method "the indispensable method for the scientific study of the meaning of ancient texts" and rejects treating everything recounted in the past tense as history. The École biblique and the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, whose friars have excavated Mount Nebo since 1933, are among the most active excavators in the region.

    Sources19–23

  • Orthodox and Oriental churches

    Engage with archaeology chiefly through the custody and conservation of holy places rather than through testing biblical history.

    The Edicule over the tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was restored in 2016 and 2017 under a 2015 agreement with the Jerusalem Patriarchate and a 2016 agreement of the three communities who are Guardians of the Tomb, and the Status Quo, first issued in 1757 and reasserted in 1852, governs all such work.

    Sources24–27

  • Jewish, non-historical

    One strand holds that the Torah's authority does not rest on historical fact at all.

    For Yeshayahu Leibowitz, as Daniel Rynhold summarizes him, "the Torah, qua Holy Scripture, cannot be read as a repository of historical fact".

    Sources28

  • Jewish, liberal and Orthodox

    Range from acceptance of critical findings with faith kept to the defense of biblical events as historical.

    In 2001 Rabbi David Wolpe of a Conservative congregation said that nearly all archaeologists who have studied the Exodus agree it did not happen as described, and that "faith is independent of doubt"; Orthodox rabbis criticized him and Dennis Prager argued that denial undermines Judaism.

    Sources29

  • Israeli national presentation

    Presents sites as showing Jewish history and return.

    The City of David Foundation presents its sites as a sign of Jewish return to Jerusalem, and Nadav Shragai defends the excavations there as professional science and argues that criticism of them forms part of a denial of Jewish ties to Jerusalem.

    Sources30–31

  • Israeli critical

    Studies the national uses of archaeology.

    Raz Kletter's Just Past? (2006) examines the origins of Israeli archaeology from unpublished documents, Nachman Ben-Yehuda's The Masada Myth argues that a story recorded only by Josephus was reshaped into a national myth, and the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh holds that archaeological sites cannot prove that any nation, ethnic group or religion has precedence over a place.

    Sources32–35

  • Palestinian

    Palestinian archaeology is a field of excavation, conservation and research, and its critique of biblical archaeology comes from within that work.

    Albert Glock argued that Western, especially biblical, archaeology alienated Palestinian Muslims and Christians from their own cultural past and called for an archaeology of village life and the polyethnic past; Hamdan Taha criticizes the "political and ideological use of data".

    Sources36–38

How the field developed

  1. Modern
    1838

    Edward Robinson makes his first journey, identifying sites from ancient geographical lists, from place names kept in local Arabic and from the lie of the land. His Biblical Researches in Palestine appears in 1841, and the scientific study of the land's biblical geography begins with him.391140

  2. Modern
    1865

    The Palestine Exploration Fund is founded at a meeting in Westminster Abbey. Its Survey of Western Palestine, carried out from 1871 to 1878, produces the first precise scientific survey and detailed maps of the region.4142

  3. Modern
    1890

    Flinders Petrie digs Tell el-Hesi and shows that the mound is a stack of superimposed settlements, the first demonstration that a tell can be read as a sequence.4143

  4. Modern
    1896

    Petrie finds the Merneptah Stele at Thebes. Dated about 1207 BC, it names a people called Israel in Canaan and is used across all schools as the earliest secure mention of Israel outside the Bible.4445

  5. Modern
    1900

    The American School of Oriental Study and Research in Palestine is founded in Jerusalem; it is renamed the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) in 1921.4647

  6. Modern
    1908

    The Harvard expedition to Samaria begins, and by 1909, ASOR states, George Reisner has brought systematic excavation and recording methods to Palestinian archaeology there.4647

  7. Modern
    1926 to 1932

    W. F. Albright's excavations at Tell Beit Mirsim produce the first definitive ceramic chronology for the Bronze and Iron Age Levant.48

  8. Modern
    1947

    A Ta'amireh Bedouin shepherd finds the first cave near Qumran, and ten more follow over the next nine years. With further finds from sites such as Masada, there are a few nearly complete scrolls and tens of thousands of fragments from over 900 texts.49

  9. Modern
    1952 to 1958

    Kathleen Kenyon excavates Jericho and shows that the walls John Garstang had dated to about 1400 BC and linked to Joshua belong to the Early Bronze Age, about 1,300 years earlier.505152

  10. Modern
    1968

    Yohanan Aharoni leaves the Hebrew University for Tel Aviv to found an Institute of Archaeology, whose excavations include Arad, Beersheba, Lachish and Megiddo.53

  11. Modern
    1970s

    William Dever argues that the discipline should be called Syro-Palestinian archaeology, keeping "biblical archaeology" for the dialogue between archaeology and the Bible. In his view it had become an independent discipline by the early 1970s.1154

  12. Modern
    1974

    Thomas Thompson's The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives compares Genesis with evidence from Mari, Nuzi and Egypt; with Van Seters's book of 1975 it is counted among the most effective critiques of a second millennium setting for the patriarchs.5556

  13. Modern
    1993

    Fragment A of the Tel Dan Stele is found in Avraham Biran's excavations and published that year. Its Old Aramaic text, now commonly dated to the late 9th century BC, contains the sequence "house of David".57585960

  14. Modern
    1995 to 1996

    Israel Finkelstein proposes the Low Chronology, which lowers Iron I and Iron IIA assemblages by about 75 to 100 years and prompts the large radiocarbon projects that follow.6162

  15. Modern
    2020

    IntCal20 becomes the current Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon calibration curve, extended to 55,000 years before present.63

  16. Modern
    2025

    Scientific Reports retracts, on 24 April, the 2021 paper proposing that an airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam, its editors concluding that the data did not sufficiently support the claim.1064

How to study biblical archaeology

The questions it asks

  • Do the customs, names and material details of a story fit one period better than another?5665
  • Does a good fit show only that a story preserves an authentic background, or that the events happened?56
  • Which pottery phase belongs to which century, and so how much monumental building can be assigned to the time of David and Solomon?666267
  • Can missing evidence count against a reconstruction that predicts remains that should survive and be detectable?
  • Where did an object come from: a documented excavation or the market?68

Its method

Start

  1. Excavate by stratigraphy, recording each locus, the smallest identifiable feature, by its physical relations to the others: under, over, equals, abuts, seals against, cut by69.

  2. Sieve all excavated debris and float organic-rich deposits in water to recover seeds, bones and small objects69.

  3. Order the layers by pottery, which gives relative dates: it shows which layer is older, not which year a layer belongs to66.

  4. Fix calendar years from outside: written records that name a datable king or event, astronomy such as the solar eclipse of 15 June 763 BC, and natural-science methods7071.

  5. Date short-lived samples such as seeds and grain by radiocarbon, calibrate them against IntCal20, and combine them with the known order of strata in a Bayesian model727374.

  6. Test where clay came from by ceramic petrography and neutron activation analysis, which do not show who carried the vessel or why7576.

  7. Read bones, plants, ancient DNA, residues and the ancient magnetic field, remembering that archaeomagnetism dates the fire, not the attacker77787980.

  8. Map settlement across whole regions by surface survey, which shows patterns over time but says nothing of who settled15.

  9. Weigh each source by kind: final reports and peer-reviewed articles first, museum records by their provenance, and popular press and advocacy only with a label and an independent check688182.

What to read

Its primary witnesses

  • Royal inscriptions: the Merneptah Stele, the Mesha Stele, dated by the Louvre to about 830 to 805 BC, and the Tel Dan Stele, which names the "house of David"448360.
  • Assyrian and Babylonian records: Shalmaneser III's Kurkh Monolith and Black Obelisk, naming Ahab and Jehu, and the Babylonian chronicle of the capture of Jerusalem in 597 BC848586.
  • The list of Shoshenq I, the biblical Shishak, on the Bubastite Portal at Karnak8788.
  • Destruction layers, among them Lachish Level III, which preserves the Assyrian siege of 701 BC, and the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem8990.
  • The Lachish reliefs from Sennacherib's South West Palace at Nineveh, now in the British Museum9192.
  • The Ketef Hinnom amulets, two rolled silver sheets ending with forms of the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24 to 269394.
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls, among them the Great Isaiah Scroll, copied in the 2nd century BC4995.
  • The Cyrus Cylinder, which does not name the Jews, and the papyri of the Jewish military colony at Elephantine969798.
  • The Pilate stone from Caesarea and the Caiaphas family tomb in Jerusalem99100.
  • Early New Testament papyri such as P52, which the John Rylands Library now places nearer AD 200101.

Standard reference works

  • Amihai Mazar's Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000 to 586 BCE (1990)102.
  • The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, the standard site-by-site reference, whose period system most authors cite103.
  • The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant c. 8000 to 332 BCE (2014), edited by Margreet Steiner and Ann Killebrew104.
  • Seymour Gitin's The Ancient Pottery of Israel and Its Neighbors (first two volumes 2015)105.
  • Ancient Egyptian Chronology (2006), edited by Hornung, Krauss and Warburton106.
  • Alan Millard's The Eponyms of the Assyrian Empire 910 to 612 BC (1994), the standard edition of the eponym lists70.
  • The IntCal20 calibration curve and the OxCal program6373.
  • The journals BASOR, Near Eastern Archaeology, Israel Exploration Journal, Tel Aviv and Palestine Exploration Quarterly8110759108109.
  • The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, run by the Israel Antiquities Authority110111.

Scholarship referenced in this study

The works below shaped the field and are cited in this study, from the earliest to the most recent. Hover over a book, or select it, to see its author and the sources behind it.

  • 1841Biblical Researches in PalestineEdward RobinsonBiblical Researches in Palestine (1841)Edward Robinson (1794 to 1863)Sources39–40
  • 1952God Who ActsG. Ernest WrightGod Who Acts (1952)G. Ernest WrightSources54
  • 1974The Historicity of the Patriarchal NarrativesThomas ThompsonThe Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives (1974)Thomas ThompsonSources55
  • 1990Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000 to 586 BCEAmihai MazarArchaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000 to 586 BCE (1990)Amihai MazarSources102
  • 1990, published 1994Archaeology as Cultural Survival: The Future of the Palestinian PastAlbert GlockArchaeology as Cultural Survival: The Future of the Palestinian Past (1990, published 1994)Albert Glock (January 1992)Sources36
  • 1996The Invention of Ancient IsraelKeith WhitelamThe Invention of Ancient Israel (1996)Keith WhitelamSources12
  • 1999Israel in EgyptJames HoffmeierIsrael in Egypt (1999)James HoffmeierSources7
  • 2001The Bible UnearthedIsrael FinkelsteinThe Bible Unearthed (2001)Israel Finkelstein, with Neil SilbermanSources14
  • 2003On the Reliability of the Old TestamentKenneth KitchenOn the Reliability of the Old Testament (2003)Kenneth KitchenSources6
  • 2006Just Past? The Making of Israeli ArchaeologyRaz KletterJust Past? The Making of Israeli Archaeology (2006)Raz KletterSources32
  • 2014The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant c. 8000 to 332 BCEMargreet SteinerThe Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant c. 8000 to 332 BCE (2014)Margreet Steiner, with Ann KillebrewSources104
  • 2015The Ancient Pottery of Israel and Its NeighborsSeymour GitinThe Ancient Pottery of Israel and Its Neighbors (2015)Seymour GitinSources105

Listed because this study draws on their published work; no association with or endorsement of Numa Verse is implied. Suggest a correction.

Key terms

The words that carry the most weight in this field, each defined from the sources of this study. Turn a card over to read its definition.

A mound built up by successive settlements, which Petrie first showed could be read as a sequence43.

The smallest meaningfully identifiable feature of an excavation, such as an earth layer, wall, hearth or pit, numbered in sequence69.

Excavation in squares of roughly 5 by 5 meters separated by 1 meter baulks, which keep the vertical section visible51.

Israel Finkelstein's proposal of 1995 and 1996 to lower Iron I and Iron IIA assemblages by about 75 to 100 years, moving Iron IIA out of the Solomonic era into the ninth century6162112.

Amihai Mazar's scheme of a long Iron IIA, from about 980 to 840 or 830 BC, spanning both the tenth and the ninth centuries113103.

The problem that charcoal from long-lived trees can date older than the layer it lies in, so Finkelstein and Piasetzky insist on short-lived samples such as seeds and grain72.

The study of the direction and strength of the Earth's magnetic field recorded in burnt clay and mud brick at the moment they cooled; it dates the fire, not the attacker9080.

The Assyrian official after whom each year was named; one eponym list records the solar eclipse of 15 June 763 BC, which anchors the list back to 910 BC70.

The documented origin of an object. A museum record is strong when it rests on a documented excavation and weak when it rests on the market, and material analysis cannot prove an object authentic, only fail to contradict it68114.

The position, associated from the 1970s with Copenhagen and Sheffield, that the biblical history is largely a late literary work11.

Where it sits

Builds on

Biblical archaeology

Questions people ask

Neither "archaeology proves the Bible" nor "archaeology disproves the Bible" describes the evidence. Archaeology attests many places, peoples, rulers and events the biblical books name, especially from the 9th century BC onward: the Black Obelisk records tribute from Jehu, and the Assyrian conquest of Lachish in 701 BC is one of the best attested events of the biblical period8589115. It does not test theological claims: a stele can confirm that a king reigned, not that God acted in his reign.

No find names a patriarch or Moses, so the debate turns on settings: customs, names, animals, peoples and places56116. A good fit can show that a story preserves an authentic background; it cannot show that the events happened56. The Merneptah Stele places a people called Israel in Canaan about 1207 BC4445.

No inscription from the 10th century BC names David or Solomon117. The Tel Dan Stele, of the late 9th century BC, names the "house of David"6057. Khirbet Qeiyafa was destroyed about 1000 BC on radiocarbon from olive pits; the date is secure, but its excavators' reading of it as a town of the Kingdom of Judah, and the size of the kingdom, remain debated118119.

They show both continuity and variation. The Great Isaiah Scroll, about a thousand years older than the medieval Masoretic codices, generally agrees with them but carries "well over 2,600" variants, spelling differences and scribal errors95. The Ketef Hinnom blessing is shorter than the form in Numbers94, and P52, once commonly dated about AD 125, is now placed nearer AD 200 by the John Rylands Library101.

Some are. Scholars agree that the sixteen Museum of the Bible Dead Sea Scroll fragments are modern forgeries120121. The James ossuary box is ancient, but two Israel Antiquities Authority committees concluded in 2003 that its inscription, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus", is a forgery; a group of geologists and André Lemaire dispute that, and a court acquittal in 2012 is not a finding of authenticity122123124.

Contribute to biblical archaeology

Register to contribute

  1. 1Who founded ABR? (Associates for Biblical Research; advocacy)https://biblearchaeology.org/faqs/who-founded-abr/ (opens in a new tab)
  2. 2FAQs (Associates for Biblical Research; advocacy)https://biblearchaeology.org/faqs (opens in a new tab)
  3. 3Conquest of Canaan, research category page (Associates for Biblical Research; advocacy)https://biblearchaeology.org/research/chronological-categories/conquest-of-canaan (opens in a new tab)
  4. 4Are ABR's excavations in Israel legal? (Associates for Biblical Research; advocacy)https://biblearchaeology.org/faqs/are-abrs-excavations-in-israel-legal/ (opens in a new tab)
  5. 5New academic articles heap fresh doubt on Mount Ebal 'curse tablet' interpretation, Gavriel Fiske (The Times of Israel, 7 December 2023)https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-academic-articles-heap-fresh-doubt-on-mount-ebal-curse-tablet-interpretation/ (opens in a new tab)
  6. 6Michael J. Williams, review of K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Calvin Theological Journal)https://www.calvin.edu/library/database/crcpi/fulltext/ctj/117800.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  7. 7Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, faculty book page (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School)https://www.tiu.edu/divinity/books/israel-in-egypt-the-evidence-for-the-authenticity-of-the-exodus-tradition/ (opens in a new tab)
  8. 8Criticism engulfs paper claiming an asteroid destroyed Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah (Retraction Watch, 2021; popular press)https://retractionwatch.com/2021/10/01/criticism-engulfs-paper-claiming-an-asteroid-destroyed-biblical-sodom-and-gomorrah (opens in a new tab)
  9. 9Scientific meltdown over controversial claim about biblical Sodom (Religion News Service, The Christian Century, 2022; popular press)https://www.christiancentury.org/article/news/scientific-meltdown-over-controversial-claim-about-biblical-sodom (opens in a new tab)
  10. 10Did a Cosmic Airburst Destroy the City of Sodom?, Christopher R. Moore, with 2025 retraction notice (SAPIENS; popular press)https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/asteroid-sodom/ (opens in a new tab)
  11. 11Zevit, "Three Debates about Bible and Archaeology", Biblica 83 (2002)https://www.bsw.org/biblica/vol-83-2002/three-debates-about-bible-and-archaeology/219/article-p2.html (opens in a new tab)
  12. 12Whitelam, The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History, book page (Routledge)https://www.routledge.com/The-Invention-of-Ancient-Israel-The-Silencing-of-Palestinian-History/Whitelam/p/book/9780415107594 (opens in a new tab)
  13. 13Shanks, "Is This Man a Biblical Archaeologist? BAR Interviews William Dever, Part One", Biblical Archaeology Review 22:4 (1996), reprinted by the Center for Online Judaic Studies (popular press)https://cojs.org/is_this_man_a_biblical_archaeologist-_bar_interviews_william_dever-part_one-_hershel_shanks-_bar_22-04-_jul-aug_1996/ (opens in a new tab)
  14. 14Finkelstein and Silberman, The Bible Unearthed, book page (Simon and Schuster)https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Bible-Unearthed/Israel-Finkelstein/9780684869131 (opens in a new tab)
  15. 15Finkelstein and Silberman, "Who Were the Israelites?", The Bible Unearthed (2001), pp. 105 to 120 (University of Michigan course reader PDF)https://courses.lsa.umich.edu/israel-palestine/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2013/12/016.-I.Finkelstein_N.A-Silberman-105-120_01.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  16. 16Dever, Who Were the Early Israelites, description (Press Warehouse, Eerdmans distributor)https://cart.presswarehouse.com/products/who-were-the-early-israelites-and-where-did-they-come-from (opens in a new tab)
  17. 17Faust, "The Emergence of Iron Age Israel: On Origins and Habitus" (Springer, 2015; Academia)https://www.academia.edu/11906343 (opens in a new tab)
  18. 18Evdoxiadi-Verniory, review of Killebrew 2005, Papers from the Institute of Archaeology 17 (UCL, 2006)https://student-journals.ucl.ac.uk/pia/article/277/galley/405/view (opens in a new tab)
  19. 19Dei Verbum, Second Vatican Council, 1965 (The Holy See)https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html (opens in a new tab)
  20. 20The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, Pontifical Biblical Commission, 1993, full text (Catholic Resources)https://catholic-resources.org/ChurchDocs/PBC_Interp-FullText.htm (opens in a new tab)
  21. 21École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem, home pagehttps://www.ebaf.edu/en/ (opens in a new tab)
  22. 22Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, home pagehttps://sbf.custodia.org/en (opens in a new tab)
  23. 23A terrace overlooking eternity, Francesco Patton (L'Osservatore Romano, 2026)https://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/2026-02/ing-002/a-terrace-overlooking-eternity.html (opens in a new tab)
  24. 24The oldest map of the Holy Land is actually a magnificent mosaic, Ruben Montoya (National Geographic, 2021; popular press)https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/madaba-mosaic-oldest-map-jerusalem-holy-land (opens in a new tab)
  25. 25The ceremony marking the completion of the restoration project of the Sacred Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre (Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, 2017)https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/?p=31037 (opens in a new tab)
  26. 26The rehabilitation of the Holy Aedicule of the Tomb of Christ in Jerusalem (NTUA Laboratory of Photogrammetry, National Technical University of Athens)https://photogrammetry.survey.ntua.gr/project/the-rehabilitation-of-the-holy-aedicule-of-the-tomb-of-christ-in-jerusalem/ (opens in a new tab)
  27. 27In the Holy Land, Six Christian Faiths Jockey for Power at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Hanna Nebiyu Vioque (New Lines Magazine, 2023)https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/in-the-holy-land-six-christian-faiths-jockey-for-power-at-the-church-of-the-holy-sepulchre/ (opens in a new tab)
  28. 28Daniel Rynhold, Yeshayahu Leibowitz (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Spring 2019 archive)https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/leibowitz-yeshayahu/ (opens in a new tab)
  29. 29Furor over L.A. rabbi's reading of Exodus, Tom Tugend (JTA, 26 April 2001)https://jta.org/archive/furor-over-l-a-rabbis-reading-of-exodus (opens in a new tab)
  30. 30Inauguration of ancient first century pilgrimage road (City of David Foundation; advocacy)https://cityofdavid.org.il/en/innuguration-of-ancient-first-century-pilgramge-road-eng (opens in a new tab)
  31. 31The Truth about Jerusalem's City of David and the Lies about Silwan, Nadav Shragai (Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, 2019; advocacy)https://jcfa.org/article/the-truth-about-jerusalems-city-of-david-the-lies-about-silwan/ (opens in a new tab)
  32. 32Kletter, Just past? The making of Israeli archaeology, catalogue record (Bibliothèque nationale de France)https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb41099815w (opens in a new tab)
  33. 33Ben-Yehuda, Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel (University of Wisconsin Press, Project MUSE)https://muse.jhu.edu/book/8432 (opens in a new tab)
  34. 34About (Emek Shaveh; advocacy)https://emekshaveh.org/en/about/ (opens in a new tab)
  35. 35Mizrachi, Silwan (East Jerusalem): Trying to Breach the Archaeological Siege of a Community under Occupation (Equinox, 2024)https://equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=44993 (opens in a new tab)
  36. 36Albert Glock, Archaeology as Cultural Survival: The Future of the Palestinian Past, Journal of Palestine Studies 23(3), 1994 (Birzeit University repository)https://fada.birzeit.edu/jspui/bitstream/20.500.11889/8293/1/Archaeology%20As%20Cultural%20Survival%20The%20Future%20of%20the%20Palestinian%20Past.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  37. 37Hamdan Taha, The Current State of Archaeology in Palestine, Present Pasts 2(1), 2010https://presentpasts.info/article/view/pp.17/34/ (opens in a new tab)
  38. 38Tell es-Sultan/Gerico (Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Antiquities)https://dipantichita.web.uniroma1.it/en/node/133 (opens in a new tab)
  39. 39Robinson and Smith, Biblical Researches in Palestine, vol. 3, library record (TUM Library)https://search.ub.tum.de/vufind/Record/DE-604.BV043915093 (opens in a new tab)
  40. 40Edward Robinson (Encyclopaedia Britannica)https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edward-Robinson (opens in a new tab)
  41. 41About the PEF / History (Palestine Exploration Fund)https://www.pef.org.uk/?p=110 (opens in a new tab)
  42. 42Gurevich and Kidd (eds), Exploring the Holy Land, chapter page "Marking 150 Years of the Palestine Exploration Fund" (Equinox, 2019)https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=34537 (opens in a new tab)
  43. 43"Petrie, Sir William Matthew Flinders" (Jewish Virtual Library, Encyclopaedia Judaica)https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/petrie-sir-william-matthew-flinders-x00b0 (opens in a new tab)
  44. 44Stelae and Reliefs of Pharaoh Merneptah, c. 1207 BCE (Center for Online Judaic Studies)https://cojs.org/Stelae_and_Reliefs_of_Pharaoh_Merneptah-_c-_1207_BCE/ (opens in a new tab)
  45. 45Hasel, "Israel in the Merneptah Stela", BASOR 296 (1994), preview (Academia)https://www.academia.edu/37321491 (opens in a new tab)
  46. 46A History of ASOR: The First Decades, J. Koller (ASOR, 2020)https://www.asor.org/news/2020/04/history-first-decades (opens in a new tab)
  47. 47History (ASOR)https://www.asor.org/about-asor/history/ (opens in a new tab)
  48. 48History (W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research)https://aiar.org/history/ (opens in a new tab)
  49. 49Discovery and Publication (Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, Israel Antiquities Authority)https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/learn-about-the-scrolls/discovery-and-publication (opens in a new tab)
  50. 50Wagemakers, "Jericho off the record" (Bulletin of the Council for British Research in the Levant, 2020)https://cbrl.ac.uk/?p=2767 (opens in a new tab)
  51. 51Dame Kathleen Kenyon, 1906 to 1978 (Palestine Exploration Fund)https://www.pef.org.uk/?p=2256 (opens in a new tab)
  52. 52Kathleen Kenyon and Jericho (Bible Odyssey, Society of Biblical Literature)https://www.bibleodyssey.org/articles/kathleen-kenyon-and-jericho/ (opens in a new tab)
  53. 53The History of The Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology (Tel Aviv University)https://en-humanities.tau.ac.il/Archaeology-institute/about/about_the_institute/history (opens in a new tab)
  54. 54Dever, "Biblical Theology and Biblical Archaeology: An Appreciation of G. Ernest Wright", Harvard Theological Review 73 (1980)https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/harvard-theological-review/article/abs/biblical-theology-and-biblical-archaeology-an-appreciation-of-g-ernest-wright/B06EDAF0892233880497997EC4F55959 (opens in a new tab)
  55. 55Thompson, The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives, BZAW 133 (De Gruyter Brill)https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110841442/html?lang=en (opens in a new tab)
  56. 56McCarter, revised by Hendel, "The Patriarchal Age: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" (Biblical Archaeology Society, via Center for Online Judaic Studies; popular press)https://cojs.org/wp-content/uploads/Patriarchal_Age.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  57. 57Hagelia, The Dan Debate: The Tel Dan Inscription in Recent Research (Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009; PDF hosted by the Society of Biblical Literature)https://www.sbl-site.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Hagelia_Dan.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  58. 58"'David' Found at Dan", Biblical Archaeology Review 20:02 (1994), reprint (Center for Online Judaic Studies)https://cojs.org/david-found-at-dan/ (opens in a new tab)
  59. 59Biran and Naveh, "An Aramaic Stele Fragment from Tel Dan", IEJ 43 (1993), bibliographic record (Syriaca.org)https://syri.ac/node/5109 (opens in a new tab)
  60. 60Tel Dan Stele, c. 840 BCE (Center for Online Judaic Studies)https://cojs.org/tel_dan_stele-_c-_840_bce/ (opens in a new tab)
  61. 61Finkelstein, "A Low Chronology Update: Archaeology, History and Bible" (University of Haifa research portal)https://cris.haifa.ac.il/en/publications/a-low-chronology-update-archaeology-history-and-bible/ (opens in a new tab)
  62. 62Finkelstein, "Una actualización de la Cronología Baja: arqueología, historia y Biblia", Antiguo Oriente 6 (2008)https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/bitstream/123456789/11996/1/actualizacion-cronologia-baja-arqueologia%20%281%29.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  63. 63Reimer et al., "The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0 to 55 cal kBP)", Radiocarbon 62(4), 2020https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/intcal20-northern-hemisphere-radiocarbon-age-calibration-curve-055-cal-kbp/83257B63DC3AF9CFA6243F59D7503EFF (opens in a new tab)
  64. 64Bunch et al. 2021, article page titled "RETRACTED ARTICLE" (Scientific Reports)https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97778-3 (opens in a new tab)
  65. 65Kitchen, "The Patriarchal Age: Myth or History?", BAR 21/2 (1995), via Center for Online Judaic Studies (popular press)https://cojs.org/The_Patriarchal_Age-_Myth_or_History?_Kenneth_A-_Kitchen-_BAR_21-02-_Mar-Apr_1995 (opens in a new tab)
  66. 66Finkelstein and Piasetzky, "Radiocarbon dating the Iron Age in the Levant: a Bayesian model for six ceramic phases and six transitions", Antiquity 84 (2010)https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/E72C4C510B5BB3283097679686F8181E (opens in a new tab)
  67. 67Bruins, van der Plicht and Mazar, "14C Dates from Tel Rehov: Iron-Age Chronology, Pharaohs, and Hebrew Kings", Science 300 (2003), record (Hebrew University)https://cris.huji.ac.il/en/publications/sup14supc-dates-from-tel-rehov-iron-age-chronology-pharaohs-and-h/ (opens in a new tab)
  68. 68Policy on Professional Conduct (ASOR, 2015, amended 2019)https://www.asor.org/about-asor/policies/policy-on-professional-conduct/ (opens in a new tab)
  69. 69Madaba Plains Project Excavation Manual: Handbook of Recording Procedures (Madaba Plains Project, 2011)https://madabaplains.org/umayri/excavation-manual-2.htm (opens in a new tab)
  70. 70van Gent, "Babylonian and Assyrian chronology" bibliography (Utrecht University)https://webspace.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/babylon/babybibl_chronology.htm (opens in a new tab)
  71. 71Total Solar Eclipse of -762 June 15 (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=-07620615 (opens in a new tab)
  72. 72Finkelstein and Piasetzky, "The Iron I/IIA Transition in the Levant: A Reply to Mazar and Bronk Ramsey and a New Perspective", Radiocarbon 52(4), 2010https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/D4B3131D98CD0B75F6DC544DFF9E2D48/S003382220005640Xa.pdf/the-iron-iiia-transition-in-the-levant-a-reply-to-mazar-and-bronk-ramsey-and-a-new-perspective.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  73. 73OxCal (Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of Oxford)https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal.html (opens in a new tab)
  74. 74Bronk Ramsey, "Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates", Radiocarbon 51(1), 2009https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/bayesian-analysis-of-radiocarbon-dates/F622173B70F9C1597F2738DEFC597114 (opens in a new tab)
  75. 75Goren, Finkelstein and Na'aman, Inscribed in Clay, catalogue record (HathiTrust)https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004918568 (opens in a new tab)
  76. 76Ben-Shlomo, Mommsen and Sterba, Back to Nasbeh: New Compositional Analysis of Philistine Bichrome Pottery, Archaeometry 63(4), 2021 (IUCC record)https://cris.iucc.ac.il/en/publications/back-to-na%E1%B9%A3beh-new-compositional-analysis-of-philistine-bichrome-/ (opens in a new tab)
  77. 77Sapir-Hen, Meiri and Finkelstein, "Iron Age pigs: new evidence on their origin and role in forming identity boundaries", Radiocarbon 57(2), 2015 (IUCC record)https://cris.iucc.ac.il/en/publications/iron-age-pigs-new-evidence-on-their-origin-and-role-in-forming-id/ (opens in a new tab)
  78. 78Agranat-Tamir et al., "The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant", Cell 181(5), 2020 (University of Haifa record)https://cris.haifa.ac.il/en/publications/the-genomic-history-of-the-bronze-age-southern-levant/ (opens in a new tab)
  79. 79Arie, Rosen and Namdar, "Cannabis and Frankincense at the Judahite Shrine of Arad", Tel Aviv 47(1), 2020 (University of Haifa record)https://cris.haifa.ac.il/en/publications/cannabis-and-frankincense-at-the-judahite-shrine-of-arad/ (opens in a new tab)
  80. 80Vaknin et al., "Reconstructing biblical military campaigns using geomagnetic field data", PNAS 119(44), 2022 (Tel Aviv University record)https://cris.tau.ac.il/en/publications/reconstructing-biblical-military-campaigns-using-geomagnetic-fiel/ (opens in a new tab)
  81. 81Bulletin of ASOR (American Society of Overseas Research)https://asor.org/asor-publications/basor/ (opens in a new tab)
  82. 82About the Biblical Archaeology Society (Biblical Archaeology Society; popular press)https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/about-the-biblical-archaeology-society/ (opens in a new tab)
  83. 83Stèle de Mesha, AO 5066 (Musée du Louvre)https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010120339 (opens in a new tab)
  84. 84Kurkh Stele, 853 BCE (Center for Online Judaic Studies; popular press)https://cojs.org/?p=6525 (opens in a new tab)
  85. 85"The Black Obelisk", collection object 118885 (British Museum)https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1848-1104-1 (opens in a new tab)
  86. 86"ABC 5 (Jerusalem Chronicle)", after Grayson and Glassner (Livius.org; popular press)https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-5-jerusalem-chronicle/ (opens in a new tab)
  87. 87Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak, Volume III: The Bubastite Portal (Epigraphic Survey, Oriental Institute, now ISAC, University of Chicago, 1954)https://isac.uchicago.edu/publications/reliefs-and-inscriptions-karnak-volume-iii-bubastite (opens in a new tab)
  88. 88Höflmayer and Gundacker, "Sheshonq (Shishak) in Palestine: Old Paradigms and New Vistas", The Ancient Near East Today 9.4 (ASOR, 2021)https://anetoday.org/sheshonq-in-palestine/ (opens in a new tab)
  89. 89P. J. King, "Why Lachish Matters", Biblical Archaeology Review 31:04 (2005), via Center for Online Judaic Studies (popular press)https://cojs.org/?p=8571 (opens in a new tab)
  90. 90Vaknin et al., "The Earth's magnetic field in Jerusalem during the Babylonian destruction", PLoS ONE 15(8), 2020 (PMC)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7413505 (opens in a new tab)
  91. 91Lakhish Reliefs at Nineveh, c. 700 BCE (Center for Online Judaic Studies)https://cojs.org/lakhish_reliefs_at_nineveh-_c-_700_bce/ (opens in a new tab)
  92. 92Wall panel, museum number 124911, Lachish relief (British Museum)https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1856-0909-14_7 (opens in a new tab)
  93. 93Silver Scroll Amulets from Ketef Hinnom, c. 600 BCE (Center for Online Judaic Studies)https://cojs.org/silver_scroll_amulets_from_ketef_hinnom-_c-_600_bce/ (opens in a new tab)
  94. 94Jeremy D. Smoak, The Ketef Hinnom Amulets: Wearing the Priestly Blessing for Protection (TheTorah.com)https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-ketef-hinnom-amulets-wearing-the-priestly-blessing-for-protection (opens in a new tab)
  95. 95The Great Isaiah Scroll (Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Digital Dead Sea Scrolls)http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/isaiah (opens in a new tab)
  96. 96The Cyrus Cylinder, BM 90920 (British Museum Collection Online)https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1880-0617-1941 (opens in a new tab)
  97. 97Cyrus Cylinder, J. Lendering (ed.) (Livius.org)https://www.livius.org/sources/content/cyrus-cylinder/ (opens in a new tab)
  98. 98E. Bresciani, Elephantine (Encyclopaedia Iranica)https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elephantine (opens in a new tab)
  99. 99Dedication by Pontius Pilate in Judea (CIIP II, 1277) (Judaism and Rome database)https://heurist.huma-num.fr/heurist/judaism_and_rome/view/288 (opens in a new tab)
  100. 100Ossuary of the High Priest Caiaphas, 18-36 CE (Center for Online Judaic Studies)https://cojs.org/ossuary_of_the_high_priest_caiaphas-_18-36_ce/ (opens in a new tab)
  101. 101P.Ryl. Gr. 457, St John Fragment, P52 (John Rylands Library Digital Collections, University of Manchester)https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/MS-GREEK-P-00457/1 (opens in a new tab)
  102. 102Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 10,000 to 586 B.C.E., record (tDAR)https://core.tdar.org/document/241710/archaeology-of-the-land-of-the-bible-10000-586-bce (opens in a new tab)
  103. 103Mazar, "The Iron Age" (Israeli Institute of Archaeology)https://www.israeliarchaeology.org/periods/the-iron-age/?lang=en (opens in a new tab)
  104. 104Kiely, review of Steiner and Killebrew (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant c. 8000 to 332 BCE (Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2017)https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2017/2017.02.29 (opens in a new tab)
  105. 105Dorot Director Emeritus Seymour Gitin Publishes First Two Volumes of Comprehensive Corpus of Ceramic Forms (W. F. Albright Institute, 2015)https://aiar.org/archives/1325 (opens in a new tab)
  106. 106Hornung, Krauss and Warburton (eds), Ancient Egyptian Chronology, Handbook of Oriental Studies 1.83 (De Gruyter Brill, 2006)https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/isbn/9789047404002/html (opens in a new tab)
  107. 107Near Eastern Archaeology: About (University of Chicago Press Journals)https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/nea/about (opens in a new tab)
  108. 108Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University (Tel Aviv University)https://en-humanities.tau.ac.il/node/3303 (opens in a new tab)
  109. 109About (Palestine Exploration Fund)https://www.pef.org.uk/about/ (opens in a new tab)
  110. 110The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, home page (Israel Antiquities Authority)https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/ (opens in a new tab)
  111. 111The Digital Library (Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, Israel Antiquities Authority)https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/about-the-project/the-digital-library (opens in a new tab)
  112. 112Sharon, Gilboa, Jull and Boaretto, "Report on the First Stage of the Iron Age Dating Project in Israel: Supporting a Low Chronology", Radiocarbon 49(1), 2007 (University of Arizona repository)https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/653723?show=full (opens in a new tab)
  113. 113Mazar and Bronk Ramsey, "14C Dates and the Iron Age Chronology of Israel: A Response", Radiocarbon 50(2), 2008https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/EE7512F17C9DCAC978ED25AE66E05F77/S0033822200033506a.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  114. 114Davis et al., "Nine Dubious 'Dead Sea Scrolls' Fragments from the Twenty-First Century", Dead Sea Discoveries 24 (2017)https://michaellanglois.fr/medias/davis-et-alii-2017-nine-dubious-dead-sea-scrolls-fragments-in-dsd-24-2-p--189-228.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  115. 115The Lachish Reliefs (Tyndale House, Cambridge; advocacy)https://tyndale.cam.ac.uk/explore/articles/the-lachish-reliefs/ (opens in a new tab)
  116. 116Byers, The Beni Hasan Asiatics and the Biblical Patriarchs (Associates for Biblical Research; advocacy)https://biblearchaeology.org/?p=70967 (opens in a new tab)
  117. 117Garfinkel, The 10th Century BCE in Judah: Archaeology and the Biblical Tradition, Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology 1 (2021)https://jjar.huji.ac.il/publications/10th-century-bce-judah-archaeology-and-biblical-tradition-0 (opens in a new tab)
  118. 118Garfinkel, Streit, Ganor and Hasel, "State Formation in Judah: Biblical Tradition, Modern Historical Theories, and Radiometric Dates at Khirbet Qeiyafa", Radiocarbon 54 (2012), record (IUCC)https://cris.iucc.ac.il/en/publications/state-formation-in-judah-biblical-tradition-modern-historical-the/ (opens in a new tab)
  119. 119Garfinkel, Streit, Ganor and Reimer, "King David's City at Khirbet Qeiyafa: Results of the Second Radiocarbon Dating Project", Radiocarbon 57(5), 2015, record (Hebrew University)https://cris.huji.ac.il/en/publications/king-davids-city-at-khirbet-qeiyafa-results-of-the-second-radioca/ (opens in a new tab)
  120. 120Museum of the Bible Dead Sea Scroll Collection: Scientific Research and Analysis, Final Report, November 2019 (Museum of the Bible)https://museumofthebible.cdn.prismic.io/museumofthebible/8ee1c3b3-8398-481a-bc7a-4da593c38728_MOTB-DSS-Report-FINAL-web.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  121. 121Dead Sea Scroll Fragments, statement page (Museum of the Bible)https://www.museumofthebible.org/dead-sea-scroll-fragments (opens in a new tab)
  122. 122Dahari, "The Committees' Establishment and Selection of Members", IAA summary report (Bible and Interpretation, 2003)https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/node/4305 (opens in a new tab)
  123. 123Is the 'Brother of Jesus' Inscription on the James Ossuary a Forgery? (Biblical Archaeology Society, Bible History Daily, 2015; popular press)https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/artifacts-and-the-bible/is-the-brother-of-jesus-inscription-on-the-james-ossuary-a-forgery/ (opens in a new tab)
  124. 124Verdict report on the Golan trial (Times of Israel, 2012; popular press)https://www.timesofisrael.com/8-years-after-trial-began-verdict-expected-in-biblical-antiquities-forgery-case/ (opens in a new tab)

Page record

Reviewed and approved by Duane Herholdt, BA (Theology), Chief Executive Officer, Numa Verse

Study version: v1.1, 31 October 2026 (theology map v1.27)

Last reviewed: 7 November 2026

How these pages are made

  • 7 November 2026: First draft from the approved assessment v1.1.