Archaeology of the Land of the Bible: 10,000 - 586 B.C.E. - Tapa dura

"A monumental volume on archaeology." Methodist Recorder "The book's strength lies in its excellent summaries, period by period, of various aspects of material culture. These treatments are illustrated throughout with photographs, line drawings and charts." Anvil "Extremely well written and well organised. ... The pottery section is most useful as it presents in simple format the most salient points of each repertoire with a minimum of examples, very important for non-specialists ... will be most used as advanced text and reference. The many plates of line drawings of pottery, reliefs and objects are very clear." Palestine Exploration Quarterly

Israeli archaeologist Amihai Mazar introduces the achievements of the dynamic archaeological research in Israel and Jordan and discusses its implications for our knowledge of the world of the Old Testament. The volume covers the period starting with the first permanent settlements around 10,000 B.C.E., and ends with the destruction of the First Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.E. and the Babylonian domination of the country. Each of the archaeological periods is presented against its historical and biblical background. Various aspects of the material culture of each period are discussed: the distribution of settlements, the discoveries in the main sites, aspects of civil and religious architecture, pottery making, metallurgy, agriculture, crafts and arts, weapons, jewellery, ritual objects, writing, burial customs, and evidence for trade and cultural relations with neighbouring countries. All these subjects are briefly introduced to create the jigsaw puzzle out of which archaeologists reconstruct the cultural history of the country. The relationship between the archaeological evidence and biblical history is discussed in all relevant chapters. Step-by-step, era-by-era, Amihai Mazar shows just what each archaeological age has to teach the modern reader about the past. The book is illustrated with hundreds of line drawings, maps, photographs, and charts. Bibliographic references provide access to the most recent publications on each of the issues under discussion. This introductory synthesis was written for students and scholars, as well as for those readers interested in expanding their knowledge of the Bible and its world.