BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. - The science of biblical antiquities, that is, of the civilization of the Jewish people in the time of the Old and New Testaments.
I. NOTIONS AND SOURCES
1. Conceived in the sense of the definition given, biblical archaeology is almost equivalent to the history of ancient Israelite-Jewish culture ("Kulturgeschichte"). Nearly all Catholic works of biblical archaeology correspond to this idea, setting out the profane (private and public life) and religious (sacred places, sacred persons, worship, feasts) antiquities of the Israelites, drawing mainly on the biblical literary sources and related ones, and illustrating them by means of the material remains ("monuments") whether still exposed to the light or recovered by means of excavations.
2. In the narrower sense, used by the moderns, biblical archaeology is the science of biblical antiquities insofar as these are manifested by the ancient Palestinian "monuments."
By "monuments" here are meant all the material remains of Israelite-Jewish culture: buildings and other constructions, works of art (statues, paintings, mosaics), inscriptions, utensils of practical life (clothing, tools, ornaments, vessels, especially ceramic ware), tombs, coins. What comes into question first of all are the monuments of Palestine itself from the Israelite-Jewish period; but, since this was in close cultural relations with the neighboring countries (Egypt, Phoenicia, Mesopotamia), biblical archaeology must also take into account the research done in those regions, as well as the pre-Israelite culture of Palestine itself. By investigating and analyzing all these elements, biblical archaeology provides for the description of biblical life and civilization a new source, which, being independent of Sacred Scripture, constitutes a precious aid to the exegesis of the sacred books and to biblical history.
II. HISTORY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
1. Since Palestine suffered repeated and grave devastations in the course of history, almost all the monuments of Israelite-Jewish culture have disappeared. Therefore, before scientific excavations began, the description of ancient Palestinian culture could only be made on the basis of literary sources from authors who knew it from personal experience, before it was definitively destroyed by the Arab invasion (636). Such sources are principally, besides Sacred Scripture, the commentaries of the Mishnah and the Talmud, the works of Philo (ca. 25 B.C. - A.D. 42) and of Flavius Josephus (ca. A.D. 37-103), the Onomasticon of Eusebius (ca. 325), translated into Latin and completed by St. Jerome (ca. 390), the Itineraria of pilgrims, particularly the Bordeaux Itinerary (333), the Peregrinatio Aetheriae (Silviae; ca. 394), the Anonymous (v.) of Piacenza (ca. 570), the Breviarius de Hierosolyma (5th or 6th century), Adamnan (Arculf, v.), De locis sanctis (ca. 670), and finally the works of St. Jerome, in particular the Epistula ad Marcellam (ep. 46) and the Epitaphium s. Paulae (ep. 108). But these works, apart from Sacred Scripture, illustrate almost exclusively the last cultural period (Roman-Byzantine) of Palestine; for the more ancient periods the Bible remained, until the era of the excavations, almost the only source to which the "Biblical Archaeologies" and "Biblical Dictionaries" of past centuries could draw.
The most ancient works on biblical antiquity are collected by B. Ugolini (v.) in the Thesaurus antiquitatum sacrarum, in 34 vols. (1744-69). Among Catholic works the following stand out: C. Sigonio, De Republica Hebraeorum (1583); B. Arias Montano, Antiquitatum Iudaicarum (1593); G. St. Menocchio, De Republica Hebraeorum (1648); among Protestants: H. Relandus, Antiquitates sacrae Veterum Hebraeorum (1708); id., Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata, in 2 vols. (1714). In the 19th century numerous manuals were published, by authors both Catholic (e.g. J. M. A. Scholz, D. B. Haneberg, P. J. Schegg, A. Schäfer) and Protestant (W. M. L. de Wette, H. Ewald, C. F. Keil, W. Nowack).
2. A new period of biblical archaeology begins with the scientific excavations, which were started in Palestine only from 1867, whereas in Egypt and Mesopotamia they had been undertaken, with notable results, already some decades earlier. After the first attempts made at Jerusalem, which proved rather unpromising, more solid results were obtained after Fl. Petrie (d. 1942) introduced in 1880 the stratigraphic method and chronological dating by means of pottery. From that time archaeological research was promoted, at an ever-increasing pace, by the scientific associations established in the various nations.
The principal associations that have distinguished themselves through their archaeological research in Palestine are: Palestine Exploration Fund (1865), Deutscher Verein zur Erforschung Palästinas (1877), American School of Oriental Research (1900, reorganized in 1921), Deutsches Evangelisches Institut für Altertumskunde des Hl. Landes (1900), British School of Archaeology (1919-20), Oriental Institute of the Univ. of Chicago (1919), Palestine Oriental Society (1920), Jewish Palestine Exploration Society (1920). On the Catholic side, the following contributed to archaeological exploration: the Biblical School of St. Stephen of the Dominicans (1892), the Oriental Institute of the Görres Society (1908), the Pontifical Biblical Institute (1927), the Biblical School of the College of the Flagellation of the Franciscans and the Custody of the Holy Land, as well as various religious Orders and Congregations resident in Palestine, such as the Assumptionists, the White Fathers, the Fathers of the Sacred Heart of Bétharram, the Salesians, the religious of Our Lady of Sion, the Ladies of Nazareth. Italy is represented by an archaeological mission directed first by Giacomo Guidi and then by R. Bartoccini, which from 1927 excavated the acropolis of 'Ammān (Philadelphia).
After the war of 1914-18 the excavations in Palestine took on an enormous development. Gradually almost all the most important sites on this side of the Jordan and not a few in Transjordan were investigated.
Of particular importance, for the results achieved, are Gezer (R. A. St. Macalister, 1902-1905; 1907-1909), Megiddo (G. Schumacher, 1903-1905; Oriental Institute, 1925 ff.), Jericho (E. Sellin and C. Watzinger, 1907-1909; J. Garstang, 1930-36), Samaria (G. Reisner etc., 1900-10; J. W. Crowfoot, 1931 ff.), Shechem (E. Sellin, 1913-14; 1926-28; 1934), Beisān (Pennsylvania Univ. Museum, 1921-33), Tell Beit Mirsim = Qirjath Sepher [?] (W. F. Albright and Kyle, 1926 ff.), Tell en-Nasbeh (W. F. Badé, 1926-35), Tell el-Far'a = Saruhen [?] (Fl. Petrie, 1927-29), Tell ed-Duwer = Lachish (J. L. Starkey, 1933 ff.), Et-Tell = Hai (J. L. Marquet-K. Krause, 1933-35). Research has also repeatedly been carried out in the subsoil of Jerusalem, especially on the south-eastern hill (Ophel).
In the investigation of Christian monuments, the Dominicans of St. Stephen in Jerusalem (L. H. Vincent, F.-M. Abel) have distinguished themselves in a special way. Excavations of particular importance in Transjordan have been made at Gerasa (since 1928) and at Telelāt Gassāl (Pontifical Biblical Institute, since 1929).
3. The method of Palestinian excavations has been perfected, especially with regard to the more careful observation of stratigraphy, and with it of relative chronology, to the exact manner of describing the objects discovered, to the technique of preserving them (by means of photography, models and casts, and grouping in specially designated museums) and of interpreting them by comparing the different excavations with one another and with analogous excavations outside Palestine, and finally with regard to the keeping of the excavation journal and the manner of reporting on it in publications. Therefore the results achieved in excavations carried out with such a rigorous method can be accepted with confidence, and serve as a basis for chronological and historical discussions.
III. RESULTS AND VALUE
1. Recent excavations first of all give a concrete idea of the cultural phases traversed by Palestine and show how it fits into the general framework of human culture.
The human remains found in W. el-'Amlid (F. Turville-Petre, 1925-26), in the Ṣuqbah cave near Ramleh (D. Garrod, 1928), in the caves of Carmel near 'Atlit (D. Garrod, 1928-34), and in a cave of G. Qafzeh (Mount of the Precipice) near Nazareth (R. Neuville, 1934), prove that Palestine was already occupied by Paleolithic man (Palaeanthropus palaestinus, of the Neanderthal type). A more recent Paleolithic race has been found in various places in Palestine. The Mesolithic, represented by the "Natufian" (found in a cave of W. Naṭūf near Lidda), is encountered in various caves. Whether one can speak of a Neolithic in Palestine is disputed; some hold that from the Mesolithic one passes directly to the Chalcolithic (Eneolithic). The latter is found particularly at Teleilat Ghassul ("Ghassulian"), in stratum VIII of Jericho, and, in a somewhat more recent form, at Beisan and at Megiddo. Comparison with the analogous cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia makes it possible to fix the Palestinian Chalcolithic in the 5th and 4th millennium up to ca. 3200 B.C.
The subsequent cultural phases of the Bronze and Iron Ages, distinguished mainly by the technique and morphology of pottery, are found in many sites. The Bronze Age is divided into three periods in Palestine, chronologically determined as follows: Bronze I (Early): ca. 3200-2000; Bronze II (Middle): 2000-1600; Bronze III (Late): 1600-1200. Similarly the Iron Age (1200-300 B.C.) is distinguished into: Iron I (1200-900), Iron II (900-600), Iron III or Persian period (600-300). In the upper strata of many more ancient cities there is then represented the Hellenistic culture (300-50 B.C.), the Roman (50 B.C.-350 A.D.), and the Byzantine (350-636). The invasion of the Muslim Arabs (636) opens a new era which no longer concerns biblical archaeology.
The various archaeological strata also manifest foreign influences on Palestine and the succession of new populations (raids). In the period of Bronze I the prevailing ethnic element is that of the "Canaanites," who are then overwhelmed around 1900 B.C. by a new, more powerful stratum (called "Western Semites" or, commonly, "Amorites"); in the course of Bronze II one notes an influx of Hurrians, Arameans, "Hyksos"; in Bronze III the domination of the Egyptians, re-established in Palestine after the defeat of the Hyksos, is disturbed by the invasions of nomadic peoples (Habiri), who are then succeeded by the Israelites. The beginning of Iron I (ca. 1200) is characterized by a notable cultural decline, undoubtedly due to the occupation of the country by the Israelites, who only slowly assimilated the cultural elements found in their new homeland and later underwent new influences, especially from Phoenicia (architecture), from Egypt (artistic manufactures, ivory, pottery), and, later, from the conquering nations (Neo-Babylonians, Persians, Hellenized Syrians, Romans).
2. This survey shows the importance of recent archaeological research, first of all for the history of the people of Israel and of its ancestors. The biblical accounts fit without difficulty into the general cultural and ethnic framework now known through excavations; only in a few cases do doubts and difficulties remain (e.g., regarding the date of the fall of Canaanite Jericho and of the capture of Ai ['Aj]; cf. Jos. 8). Recent archaeological discoveries therefore provide an imposing confirmation of the truth of biblical history considered in its general lines. As for individual historical facts, the excavations prove their possibility rather than their reality, since inscriptions that would allow the exact dating of the discovered monuments have so far been almost completely lacking in Palestine. Nevertheless a certain number of biblical facts has also been confirmed by the excavations: thus, for example, the excavations of Tell el-Heleifi (v. ASIONGABER) near the Gulf of 'Aqabah show Solomon's efforts to create a commercial port for himself (I Kings 9:26); the ivory objects found in Samaria confirm I Kings 22:39 and Am. 3:15; 6:4; the letters of Lachish (18 documents, largely fragments, written on potsherds) illustrate certain accounts in the book of Jer. The archaeological confirmation of such secondary elements is particularly important for the reliability of Israelite historiography. All in all, recent discoveries have effectively contributed to overcoming the historical skepticism professed by modern rationalistic criticism.
Biblical exegesis also derives great advantage from the excavations. Since a great part of the most important places mentioned in the Bible is today known through excavations not only in general, but in the various periods of their history, the interpretation of the relevant biblical texts is facilitated or sometimes corrected. The numerous objects and tools of daily life brought to light by the excavations concretely illustrate what the Bible says about the usages, customs, trades, utensils, and writing of the Israelites, so that treatises on biblical archaeology are enriched with valuable material independent of literary sources, and therefore of the highest confirmatory value. To the history of Israelite religion, moreover, the excavations furnish a rich material that illustrates the nature and extent of the foreign cults practiced in Palestine, the idolatrous and superstitious practices of the Israelites themselves, and the religious prescriptions of the Mosaic law.