What is Biblical Archaeology?

[Bevlina]

I know what Bible Archeology is thankyou Serapha, but, we can always learn so much! And that's the wonder of Bible Archeology. It brings the truth of the Bible to light. It fascinates me.
We are so happy to have you here!

 

[HiredGoon]

HI there!



Perhaps this will clarify the difference between archaeology and historical reference...

quoting from Joni Magness, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, 2002, Eerdmans publishing, page 4...

"The Oxford Companion to Archaeology defines archaeology as "the study of the past as is evident in the material remains available to us." In contrast, history is the study of the past based on information provided by written documents. In other words, although both archaeologists and historians study the past... (50 words)

The entire quote is available in the book via a search of the book at amazon.com..... page 4, continuing onto page 5

~serapha~

This is true, but the lines are not always so clear cut. Especially in the field of historical archaeology which not only studies material remains but also historical documents. I myself am mostly experienced in historical archaeology (as the sites I've worked at date from the late 17th century to the early 19th century) but I've also studied ancient near eastern archaeology. Though traditionally historical archaeology has been limited to the modern period, its techniques can be applied to any period where there are documents available for the archaeologist to study. IIRC, Israel Finkelstein in an interview said that sometimes he doesn't know wether he's an archaeologist or a historian. I also studied Public History in college and was taught as a historian to interepret artifacts and material remains as part of museum studies, something which according to the official definitions of archaeology and history should be reserved for archaeologists. Also, in some universities around the world, archaeology is taught in the history department, rather than the anthropology department where its commonly taught in the U.S. The point is, that history and archaeology are two extremely related fields, where often it is almost impossible to distinguish between the two.

 

[Serapha]

This is true, but the lines are not always so clear cut. Especially in the field of historical archaeology which not only studies material remains but also historical documents. I myself am mostly experienced in historical archaeology (as the sites I've worked at date from the late 17th century to the early 19th century) but I've also studied ancient near eastern archaeology. Though traditionally historical archaeology has been limited to the modern period, its techniques can be applied to any period where there are documents available for the archaeologist to study. IIRC, Israel Finkelstein in an interview said that sometimes he doesn't know wether he's an archaeologist or a historian. I also studied Public History in college and was taught as a historian to interepret artifacts and material remains as part of museum studies, something which according to the official definitions of archaeology and history should be reserved for archaeologists. Also, in some universities around the world, archaeology is taught in the history department, rather than the anthropology department where its commonly taught in the U.S. The point is, that history and archaeology are two extremely related fields, where often it is almost impossible to distinguish between the two.

wonderful!


There is someone available to address the postings on ancient texts.


And with experience.


~serapha~