The archaeology of Israel is researched intensively in the universities of the region and also attracts considerable international interest on account of the region's Biblical links.
The archaeological periods of the area have been established as follows:
The Neolithic period appears to have begun when the peoples of the Natufian culture, which spread across present-day Syria, Palestine, Israel and Lebanon, began to practice agriculture. This Neolithic Revolution has been linked to the cold period known as the Younger Dryas. This agriculture in the Levant is the earliest known to have been practiced.
The Bronze Age is sometimes called the "Canaanite period" by Israeli archaeologists.
The Late Bronze Age is characterized by individual city-states, which from time to time were dominated by Egypt until the last invasion of Egypt by Merenptah in 1207 BCE. The Amarna Letters are an example of a specific period during the Late Bronze Age when the vassal kings of the Levant corresponded with their overlords in Egypt
There has been a great deal of interest among archaeologists and lay people as to whether the archaeological evidence in this period confirms or denies the historical accounts in the Hebrew Bible. Over the past thirty years, some archaeologists have led an effort to divorce archaeology in Israel from the biblical texts. Reflecting the change in biblical studies from historical reconstruction to textual criticism, the archaeology has become more sociological and processual and less a search for the realia of biblical life.
The earlier assumptions of people such as Albright and Wright who faithfully accepted the biblical events as history have now been seriously questioned. The work of the so-called "minimalists" such as Lemche, Thompson, Davies and prominent Israeli archaeologists, have led to a re-examination of what we can really say we know about the period. Apart from certain externally attested events (e.g., siege of Lachish), the answer is very little. Other authors such as Jamieson-Drake and Israel Finkelstein[3] have suggested that the empires of David and Solomon never existed - Judah not being in a position to support an extended state until at least the start of the 8th century. (Nevertheless, Finklestein accepts the existence of King David or the Kingdom of Judah, but doubts their chronology, significance and influence as described in the Bible.)[4]
The "minimalist" view suggests that the term "Israelite Period" is misleading, reflecting modern Israeli nationalistic sentiments rather than historical fact, and therefore carrying political connotations and implications, especially regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This view criticizes historical revisionism as a tool in promoting the Israeli side of that dispute. However, the minimalists have also been accused of historical revisionism in promoting the Palestinian side of the dispute.
Despite an on-going debate of the issue, the prevailing view still holds that the Bible is not wholly a work of fiction, and that the Israelite Archaeological Period corresponds (through its artifacts) with some major Biblical events and figures.
The non-"minimalist" archaeologists do not claim that all or even most of the Bible is historically accurate, merely that the Bible reflects, at the very least, the spiritual culture of the Israelites in the 1200–539 BCE period. They claim that some of the major non-supernatural Biblical story elements correspond to physical artifacts and other archaeological findings. Examples include mention of the Hebrew Kingdoms of David and Solomon in inscriptions that were traced to non-Hebrew cultural origin, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls and House of David inscription, both found in Israel.[5][6][7] Much of the debate remains centered on the chronology of the events.
This period marks the weakening of regional empires and the strengthening of local powers such as Israel, Judah and the kingdom of the Philistines. During this period, settlement of Israel led to the foundation of the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. Much of the spiritual (although not necessarily chronological/historical) content of this period is described in the Old Testament. Later in the period, the Assyrian and Babylonian empires put an end to the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel, culminating in the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.
The Israelite period is characterized by large numbers of urban dwellings and a new local culture. The rich and diverse archaeological findings attest to strong international links and trade relations. The abundance of writings found indicate a broad distribution of knowledge among common people of ancient Israel and not just scribes, a unique phenomenon in the ancient world.
Cyrus II of Persia conquered the Babylonian Empire by 539 BC and incorporated the entire area into the Persian Empire. Cyrus organized the empire into provincial administrations called satrapies. The administrators of these provinces, called satraps, had considerable independence from the emperor. The Persians allowed the Jews to return to the regions that the Babylonians had exiled them from.
The exiled Jews who returned to their traditional home encountered the Jews that had remained, surrounded by a much larger non-Jewish majority. One group of note (that exists up until this day) were the Samaritans, who adhered to most features of the Jewish rite and claimed to be descendants of the Assyrian Jews. For various reasons (at least some of which seem to be political) the returning exiles did not recognize the Samaritans as Jews. The return of the exiles from Babylon reinforced the Jewish population, which gradually became more dominant.
In the early 330s BC, Alexander the Great conquered the region, beginning an important period of Hellenistic influence in Palestine.
After Alexander's death in 323 BC, his empire was partitioned. The competing Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires occupied various portions of the eastern Mediterranean. The Jews were divided between the Hellenists who supported the adoption of Greek culture, and those who believed in keeping to the traditions of the past, which led to the Maccabean revolt of the 2nd century BC.
Each university in Israel possesses a strong department or institute of archaeology and is involved in research, excavation, conservation and training.
Israeli archaeologists frequently achieve a high profile, both at home and internationally.
Yigael Yadin, one-time Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, was one of the more influential among the older generation of Israeli archaeologists. Eilat Mazar, granddaughter of the pioneering Israeli archaeologist Benjamin Mazar, has emerged as a frequent spokesperson for concerns regarding the archaeology of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Stemming from its Biblical possibilities, controversy remains a hallmark of Israeli archaeology. Recent issues centered on the veracity of such artefacts as the Tel Dan Stela, the Jehoash Inscription and the James Ossuary,[citation needed] as well as the validity of whole chronological schemes. Amihai Mazar and Israel Finkelstein represent leading figures in the debate over the nature and chronology of the United Monarchy.
Excavation in Israel continues at a relatively rapid pace and is conducted according to generally high standards. Excavators return each year to a number of key sites that have been selected for their potential scientific and cultural interest. Current excavated sites of importance include Ashkelon, Hazor, Megiddo, Gamla and Rehov.
See also: Damage to archaeological sites in the article of Syro-Palestinian archaeology In 2000, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) charged the Sea of Galilee Drainage Authority (KDA) with causing "serious and irreversible damage" to Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, a 780,000-year-old site located on the banks of the Jordan river in northern Israel. First discovered in the 1930s, Gesher had been the site of several excavations that provided archaeologists with crucial information about how and when Homo erectus moved out of Africa, most likely through the Levantine corridor that includes Israel. "One of the rarest prehistoric sites in the world," it featured a remarkable level of organic preservation that archaeologists had not encountered at any other contemporary site in Europe or Asia.
While the KDA had procured permission from the IAA to work in a limited area to alleviate the regular flooding of farmland in the adjacent Hula Valley under the supervision of an IAA inspector, evidently frustrated with the slow pace of the work, they "entered the site at nighttime and conducted work in all areas, willfully breaking the law."
Several hundred meters of the 1.5-mile-long site were obliterated by bulldozers, and fossil remains, manmade stone artifacts, and organic material were destroyed. According to Israeli archaeologists, the material cannot be studied scientifically now because it is all out of context.
The damage at Gesher was not widely reported by the Israeli media and public. Gideon Avni, an IAA archaeologist said, "We tried to get the story on the front page of newspapers [...] But this is part of the sociology of Israel. The interest in biblical archaeology is greater than that for earlier or later periods." Ofer Bar-Yosef, a Harvard pre-historian agreed, stating, "I am quite sure that i[f] this was a matter of a biblical- or a Christian-period site, many more voices would have been raised in protest."[8]