Responding to: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/02/the-biblical-pseudo-archeologists-pillaging-the-west-bank/273488/
Biblical archeology is a theoretical approach I dislike. While it masquerades as a type of historical archeology, the motivation is not to determine actual information available from an excavation and how this might relate to the available historical record. These ‘archeologists’, most of whom are not trained in any manner of archeology or anthropology, are only interested in proving biblical accounts. Information which does not support their views, or is irrelevant to their views is likely to be overlooked. Additionally, the highly religious and xenophobic views held by the Israeli Government and the ADCA (Archaeology Department of the Civil Administration). This highly unscientific approach is compounded on the West Bank by the Israeli Government’s disregard for The Hague convention and other regulations that prohibit them from removing any artefacts from occupied territory.
Additionally, the artefacts removed by the ADCA are “not for the public or for students. Even for Israeli students, they cannot come in.” This ruling is determined by the head of the ADCA who is appointed for a lifetime term. Academically this seems to be a thinly veiled attempt to keep actual researchers from seeing artefacts that would not support the religious obsession which is common in the area. If a researcher is not open to all interpretations of a site, then the research is useless for anything other than proving the disregard for the truth held by these religiously motivated political groups.
These ‘archeologists’ at the ADCA would do well to take a basic lesson in positivism and ethnocentricity. While mythology can be useful in some aspects, as can historical records, they should never take the place of attempting to interpret the data empirically. Additionally, the leaps of logic used here have the potential to make even phenomenologists cringe. Such as this jump detailed below:
Remains of a still undated camp from relatively deep strata which also contained animal bones was found on the West Bank, according to the religious group who is excavating, must be the remains of either the last supper or the animal killed for the leather used to make the Dead Sea scrolls.
If religious views cannot survive even attempting to find historical truth, then perhaps they no longer have a place in modern society. I am hopeful that a new generation of academics will see the flaws in this. However, at the moment, untrained religious zealots are permitted to run rampant and excavate; without regard for the objectivity of the archeological record, this is analogous to Schliemann’s destructive search for Troy. One can be hopeful that this will change before too much information is lost. Human history belongs to all of humanity, to allow us to learn from our past and look to our future. locking it away to maintain support for religious or political views is detrimental to everyone, especially the people whose culture is being denied them, this is an abhorrent abuse of power.
These problems would be helped by the addition of basic processual and post-processual theories, as well as by use of the scientific method. Processual to account for potential site formation and artefact processes and post-processual to begin accounting for the bias of the religious obsession these researchers display. Additionally, international groups should be enforcing the rulings of The Hague Convention. This lack of oversight has allowed hundreds of thousands of artefacts from occupied territory, including the West Bank, to be illegally transported to and buried in the ASCA storage so they cannot be studied.
I agree with your statement that locking artifacts away only to support religious or political views is detrimental. History should be accessible to anyone who desires it, and yes, it is an abuse of power to simply claim “proof” of any specific politics or belief without allowing access to different views or proper examination. However, I have to disagree with your statement that “if religious views cannot survive even attempting to find historical truth, then perhaps they no longer have a place in modern society.” Of course, it is ridiculous to claim that a seemingly random undated camp contains the remains of the last supper. I agree that these pseudo-archaeologists make unsubstantiated claims. But, I do not think that this jumping-to-conclusions way of practice accounts for all Christians, (and in fact, I think many would actually oppose this way of doing things) since there are uncountable variations of how people have faith. It is not the nature of the belief system that is the problem; it is the manner in which these “archaeologists”, or any other religious zealot for that matter go about their practice.