Product Description

The standard text on biblical archaeology--an award-winning, comprehensive introduction to the subject, from the very beginnings to the divided monarchy and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #403354 in Books
• Published on: 1992-10-29
• Released on: 1992-09-29
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

From the Publisher
The standard text on biblical archaeology--an award-winning, comprehensive introduction to the subject, from the very beginnings to the divided monarchy and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

From the Inside Flap
The standard text on biblical archaeology--an award-winning, comprehensive introduction to the subject, from the very beginnings to the divided monarchy and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Customer Reviews

Excellent and readable
I enjoyed every minute of Amihai Mazar's book and wished for more. He takes the reader through the entire archaeological history of Israel in a way that is understandable and fascinating, including great pictures, diagrams, and maps along the way. Very useful and illuminating.

what it is, and what it isn't
I bought this one as a pleasure read. (Yes, I know...) I was hoping that this would be an examination of the Biblical text and checking against the archaeological record. It's not. It's primarily an examination of the archaeological record, and the Bible is really only mentioned after you get about 300 pages in and is really just an incidental player in the text. It's relevant to Scriptural studies, but not the book for a beginner. However, despite my disappointment, I read the book all the way through. Despite the fact that I have little background in archaeology, I was impressed by how clear the writing was. Mazar does a fantastic job conveying the development of the area, and discussing how the people lived in each era. If you're more interested in the Bible, this isn't your book. If you're more interested in archaeology, this book is pretty good.

Great overview overall, although somewhat limited in scope.
This a ultimately an essential read for anyone interested in biblical archaeology. Due to its somewhat technical nature, before reading this book it would be best to familiarize yourself with archaeological terminology, along with the basic chronology of Egyptian and Mesopotamian history, as this book makes extensive correlations of what was going on in Palestine with what was going on in Egypt and/or Mesopotamia at the same time.

This book does not deal exclusively with the biblical period; rather, it is an archaeological overview of the region as a whole, from the beginning of the Epipaleolithic (10,500 BCE) down to the Neo-Babylonian conquest (586 BCE). A clear picture of the material culture of the region is painted, particularly of the Canaanite civilization of the Middle and Late Bronze Age. When the archaeological data is relevant to the biblical narrative, this is pointed out. I do find Mazar's argument for elements as early as the Middle Bronze Age in the Patriarchal stories to be unconvincing, but his interpretation of the evidence is solid with regards to Iron Age.

The main problem with the book is that, apart from pointing out where the evidence corroborates or contradicts biblical testimony, the focus is almost entirely on material culture. While this is no doubt important in any synthesis, no attempt is made to produce a coherent picture of either the history or culture of the pre-Israelite period. While I know this is basically impossible to do before the Late Bronze Age, the Late Bronze itself has provided us with several primary sources which remain unutilized or underutilized: the Ugaritic archives and the Amarna Letters could be detailed a lot more thoroughly than they are. The coverage of the Israelite kingdoms is significantly better, but even so, it doesn't use Assyrian and Babylonian sources nearly as much as it could. Despite this, this book is still essential reading for anyone interested in biblical archaeology.