Further information: Biblical archaeology, Biblical archaeology school, and Levantine archaeology
Part of a series on the
History of Israel
Early history
Prehistoric Levant
Kebaran
Mushabian
Natufian
Harifian
Yarmukian
Lodian
Nizzanim
Ghassulian
Canaan
Retjenu
Habiru
Shasu
Late Bronze Age collapse
Ancient Israel and Judah
Iron Age I
Israelites, Philistines
12th–10th centuries BCE
United Monarchy
10th century BCE
Kingdom of Israel
10th century BCE–720 BCE
Kingdom of Judah
10th century BCE–587 BCE
Babylonian rule
587–538 BCE
Second Temple period
Persian Yehud
538–333 BCE
Hellenistic period
333–164 BCE
Hasmonean dynasty
164–37 BCE
Herodian dynasty
Kingdom
Tetrarchy
37 BCE–6 CE
Roman Judaea
(Jewish-Roman Wars)
6 CE–136 CE
Late Antiquity and Middle Ages
Syria Palaestina
136–395
Byzantine Palaestina
Prima
Secunda
395–638
Early Islamic period
(Filastin, Urdunn)
638–1099
Kingdom of Jerusalem
1099–1291
Ayyubid dynasty
1174–1260
Mamluk Sultanate
1260–1517
Modern history
Modern history (1517–1948)
Ottoman rule
Eyalet
Mutasarrifate
Old Yishuv
Zionism
OETA
British Mandate
Yishuv
State of Israel (1948–present)
Timeline
Years
Independence
Arab–Israeli conflict
Austerity
Silicon Wadi
Iran–Israel conflict
By topic
Historical maps
Historical population
Historical literature
Economic history
Judaism
Jerusalem
Zionism
Jewish leaders
Jewish warfare
Related
Jewish history
Yahwism
Hebrew calendar
Archaeology
Museums
Israel portal
v
t
e
Beit She'an ruinsHellenistic Sarcophagus unearthed in AshkelonLMLK seals with Israeli postage stamps commemorating them
The archaeology of Israel is the study of the archaeology of the present-day Israel, stretching from prehistory through three millennia of documented history. The ancient Land of Israel was a geographical bridge between the political and cultural centers of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Despite the importance of the country to three major religions, serious archaeological research only began in the 15th century.[1] Although he never travelled to the Levant, or even left the Netherlands, the first major work on the antiquities of Israel is considered to be Adriaan Reland's Antiquitates Sacrae veterum Hebraeorum, published in 1708. Edward Robinson, an American theologian who visited the country in 1838, published its first topographical studies. Lady Hester Stanhope performed the first modern excavation at Ashkelon in 1815. A Frenchman, Louis Felicien de Saucy, embarked on early "modern" excavations in 1850.[1]
Today, in Israel, there are some 30,000 sites of antiquity, the vast majority of which have never been excavated.[2]
In discussing the state of archaeology in Israel in his time, David Ussishkin commented in the 1980s that the designation "Israeli archaeology" no longer represents a single uniform methodological approach; rather, its scope covers numerous different archaeological schools, disciplines, concepts, and methods currently in existence in Israel.[3]
^ abEncyclopedia of Zionism and Israel, edited by Raphael Patai, Herzl Press and McGraw-Hill, New York, 1971, vol. I, pp. 66–71
^Dr. Eitan Klein of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), Hundreds of antique items were seized at a souvenir shop in the Mamilla mall that operated without a license on YouTube, Israel Antiquities Authority Official Channel / June 2016, minutes 0:00–0:15 (in Hebrew).
^Ussishkin, David (Spring 1982). "Where is Israeli archeology going?". Biblical Archaeologist. 45 (2): 93–95. doi:10.2307/3209706. JSTOR 3209706. S2CID 193466190.
and 26 Related for: Archaeology of Israel information
The archaeologyofIsrael is the study of the archaeologyof the present-day Israel, stretching from prehistory through three millennia of documented history...
emergence of Ancient Israel, titled The Archaeologyof the Israelite Settlement (1988); on the archaeology and history of the arid zones of the Levant...
understanding of the history of the earliest peoples of the Stone Age. Current archaeological digs in Israel are carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority...
The Israel Museum (Hebrew: מוזיאון ישראל, Muze'on Yisrael, Arabic: متحف إسرائيل) is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established...
widest definition including Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, southern Syria and the Sinai Desert. In the field ofarchaeology, the southern Levant is "the...
with the angel of the Lord. The earliest known archaeological artefact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt...
The politics ofarchaeology in Israel and Palestine refers to the significance ofarchaeology in the politics and social fabric ofIsrael and Palestine...
especially the Holy Land (also known as Land ofIsrael and Canaan), from biblical times. Biblical archaeology emerged in the late 19th century, by British...
mention of "Israel" as a people appears on the Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian inscription dating back to around 1208 BCE. Archaeological evidence...
portal ArchaeologyofIsrael Hebrew calendar History of the Arab–Israeli conflict History of the Israel Defense Forces History of Jerusalem History of the...
This is a list ofarchaeological sites in Israel and Palestine. The geographical framework of the sites listed is based on the political boundaries rather...
198–212. Finkelstein, Israel. The archaeologyof the Israelite settlement. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1988. Finkelstein, Israel, and Nadav Na'aman...
geographical and archaeological research of the Land ofIsrael. The society was founded in 1913 and again in 1920, with the object of studying the history...
covering the territory of Judah and Israel. However, during the 1980s, some biblical scholars began to argue that the archaeological evidence for an extensive...
of Archaeologyof the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, holding the Eleazer Sukenik Chair in the ArchaeologyofIsrael. His Archaeologyof the Land of the...
Syro-Palestinian archaeology and Biblical archaeology. He was the Dorot Professor of the ArchaeologyofIsrael in the Department of Near Eastern Languages...
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of...
Horsley), The Bible Unearthed : Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts (with Israel Finkelstein), and Digging for...
of inscribed artifacts, items made or given shape by humans, that are significant to biblical archaeology. This table lists inscriptions which are of...
issue in 1975, Biblical Archaeology Review has covered the latest discoveries and controversies in the archaeologyofIsrael, Turkey, Jordan and the surrounding...
the archaeological evidence relevant to a mass suicide event is ambiguous at best and rejected entirely by some scholars. Masada is one ofIsrael's most...
Global Information
Israel portal
