Biblical archeology and the latest discoveries of scientists. Paradoxes of Biblical Archeology

BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY, a science that studies historical events reflected in the Bible (mainly in the Old Testament), based on material sources, in the context of archaeological research in the Middle East. The chronological framework of biblical archeology covers the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Early Iron Age.

The concept of “biblical archeology” was established in the mid-19th century, when, simultaneously with the advent of research on the antiquities of the Middle East, attempts were made to compare their results with the text of the Bible. The main goals of biblical archeology are: reconstruction based on discovered material sources of historical and cultural context Old Testament; introduction into scientific circulation of extra-biblical sources on biblical history, including written monuments (papyri, epigraphic materials).

The 2nd half of the 18th - 1st half of the 19th centuries dates back to the beginning of a systematic description and subsequent study of the antiquities of Mesopotamia - Nineveh (K. Niebuhr, P.E. Botta; 1842-46), the cities of Babylonia (O. G. Layard; 1845-47), as well as the Syro-Palestine region (I. L. Burckhardt, E. Smith, E. Robinson). Research included several areas: excavations; description, measurement and classification of archaeological sites; their mapping; comparative analysis of Hebrew, Arabic and Greek toponyms, taking into account data from late antique authors (for example, Eusebius of Caesarea). This made it possible to identify the ruins of a number of cities mentioned in the Bible. The result of the research undertaken was the discovery of a number of monuments important for biblical history: the “black obelisk” with a description of the wars of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, including with the Kingdom of Israel; depiction of the siege of Lachish (from the palace complex of the Assyrian king Sennacherib in Nineveh); library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal - cuneiform texts of the Babylonian era. In 1865, the British Palestine Exploration Fund was founded to carry out archaeological research in Jerusalem and Palestine in general. Mapping of the archaeological sites of Western Palestine was carried out by K. R. Conder and G. Kitchener (in 1871-78), Hauran and Northern Jordan - A. Musil and others (in 1896-1901).

A significant scientific event was the discovery by Clermont-Ganneau of a number of Palestinian epigraphic monuments: the stele of the Moabite king Mesha, graffiti on ossuaries. In the last third of the 19th and early 20th centuries, research in the field of biblical archeology was carried out by Russian scientists with the support of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem and the Emperor of the Palestinian Orthodox Society. In the 1890s, expeditions to Palestine were organized at the expense of the latter under the leadership of N. P. Kondakov, M. I. Rostovtsev, N. Ya. Marr.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the weakening Ottoman Empire and the development of the Middle East by European states led to the intensification of archaeological research in this region. In the 1890s, significant contributions to the study of the archaeological sites of Palestine were made by W. M. Flinders Petrie (Great Britain) and F. Bliss (USA). Having chosen Tell el-Hesi for research, Flinders Petrie undertook to record the cultural layers according to the type of ceramics characteristic of each of them. Following his method, Bliss, in the course of work at Tell el-Hesi, compiled a chronological scale of ceramic stratification (the so-called Petrie-Bliss scale, 1894), starting from 1500 BC. This was the first, albeit local, stratigraphic scale that became the basis for dating archaeological sites for a long period. The studies of Flinders Petrie and Bliss were followed by the work of other scientists on a number of tells (hills) of Shephelah - southwest Palestine (A. J. Evans, F. S. Dickie; 1894-1900), as well as in Gezer (R. McAllister; 1902-09), Jericho (E. Sellin, K. Watzinger; 1907-09), Shechem, Megiddo (1903-05), on Taanach (1901-04).

The period of the British Mandate in Palestine and the first post-war decades (1920-60s) are called the “golden age” of biblical archaeology. Thus, the 1920-30s were marked by the discovery (1925) in the ancient city of Nuzi (Hurrian era) of an “archive” - tablets containing information about the era of the Old Testament patriarchs; excavations (1922-34), undertaken under the leadership of L. Woolley, at the site of ancient Ur; excavations in biblical Lachish, which made it possible to collect information about the era of the preaching of the prophet Jeremiah. The research of the American archaeologist W. F. Albright and his students (on Tell el-Ful, Kiriath Sefer, Bet Tzur, Bet Shemesh, as well as Ras Shamra and Jerusalem) acquired particular importance during this period. Thanks to Albright's research, it was possible to compile a chronological scale of Iron Age ceramics (later refined thanks to local data). In the 1930s, J. Garstang began excavations in Jericho (continued by K. Kenyon in the 1950s). In 1947, information appeared about the Dead Sea manuscripts (Qumran manuscripts; see Qumran studies). In 1949, R. de Vaux began archaeological research at the site of Qumran and the rural settlement of Ain Feshka.

In the 1950s and 60s, Western European and American scientific projects remained the basis of Middle Eastern research in the field of biblical archeology. However, one of the major projects of the 1970-80s - long-term excavations in Gezer (W. Dever and others) - allowed the formation of a generation of Israeli archaeologists, who then began work on the sites of synagogues in the Galilee, on Tell el-Hesi, Tell Mikne and others. A significant contribution to the study of Mesopotamia was made by the Russian expedition led by R. M. Munchaev, N. Ya. Merpert, I.O. Badera, who worked since 1969 in Iraq and Syria (monuments of the 7-3rd millennium BC were studied). The independent states that emerged after World War II (primarily Israel and Jordan) were interested in the development of biblical archeology. Israeli scientists paid great attention to local history and comprehensive surveys of territories (N. Gluck's exploration in the Negev Desert), and actively studied archaeological sites not only of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, but also of the Second Temple period, up to the Bar Kokhba uprising. Thus, in the 1960s, I. Yadin managed to determine from aerial photographs the site of the Roman camp at Ein Gedi; Soon the remains of the Masada fortress were explored. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, excavations began in Jerusalem (in the Old City) and Sinai.

Generally governmental support helped Israeli archeology in the 1970-90s to withstand competition in field research and quickly create generalized works reconstructing the course of the historical process in the Syro-Palestinian region from the Neolithic era to antiquity.

In the last third of the 20th century, the conceptual crisis of biblical archeology worsened, caused by increased criticism of the historical reliability of the early books of the Bible. Researchers such as F. Z. Davis, T. L. Thompson, N. P. Lemhe, adhering to the later (not earlier than the Persian era) origin of the texts of the Old Testament, found it impossible to rely on them when reconstructing socio-political and ethnic history Eastern Mediterranean. The possibility of proving (on the basis of archaeological monuments) the historical authenticity of the conquest of Canaan by the Jewish tribes, the creation of a single Israeli-Judean kingdom, and the temple construction of the era of Solomon was questioned. In addition, it was proposed (W. Dever, I. Finkelstein) to abandon the term “biblical archeology” in favor of a more neutral one, for example, “Syro-Palestinian archeology”, “archeology of the Middle East of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages”.

The first years of the 21st century are marked by new trends. In biblical archeology, there has been a division into two research directions: one direction studies material culture, using methods of field work accepted in modern archeology (with the aim of reconstructing the ethnocultural history of the Eastern Mediterranean of the 8th-1st millennia BC), the other direction remains primarily a branch of biblical studies and seeks, through archaeological research, to gain a deeper understanding of the Bible as a complex historical source.

Lit.: Archaeology and Biblical interpretation. Atlanta, 1987; Weippert N. Palästina in vorhellenistischer Zeit. Münch., 1988; Mazar A., ​​Stern E. Archeology of the land of the Bible: In 2 vol. N. Y., 1990-2001; Kuhnen N. R. Palästina in griechisch-römischer Zeit. Münch., 1990; The Archeology of ancient Israel. New Haven, 1992; Belyaev L. A. Christian antiquities. 2nd ed. M., 2000; Merpert N. Ya. Essays on the archeology of biblical countries. M., 2000.

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Archaeologists, of course, cannot prove that the Bible is completely true, but they often make discoveries that help to better understand or interpret certain biblical events. Many artifacts found by scientists actually confirm the events described in the Book of Books.

1. The Great Flood

There is an opinion among scientists that the source of the story of the biblical Flood was most likely a devastating flood in Mesopotamia. If this is true, then the scale of such a flood was simply exaggerated in the imagination of the authors of this story. During excavations in 1928-1929 in southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), British archaeologist Leonard Woolley discovered a 3-meter layer of silt dating back to 4000 to 3500 BC. in the ancient city of Ur.

Woolley interpreted this as evidence of the biblical flood. Similar evidence has been found at many other sites in the region, but they date back to different years. Floods were common in Mesopotamia. While there is no archaeological evidence for a planetary-scale flood, there is evidence of a catastrophic flood (or several) in Mesopotamia.

2. Genealogy of Abraham

The story of Abraham begins with how he and his family lived in the Mesopotamian city of Ur, from where they moved to Canaan. The second half of Genesis goes into some detail about Abraham's family tree and mentions dozens of names. Modern historians believe that Abraham must have lived sometime between 2000 and 1500 BC. Excavations at Mari, an ancient city on the Euphrates (in modern-day Syria), uncovered the ruins of an impressive royal palace and thousands of tablets that were once part of the royal archives.

After studying tablets from the archives of Mari, which date from 2300 to 1760 BC, it was discovered that the names found in Abraham's genealogy were used in this area. This find does not confirm the validity of Abraham's family tree, but it does suggest that the story may not be completely fictional.

3. Abraham's Handmaid

Genesis tells us that Abraham's wife Sarah could not have children. She agreed for Abraham to take a second wife who could bear him a son - an Egyptian maid named Hagar. This practice is confirmed by many texts found by archaeologists. The Alalakh Texts (18th century BC) and even the Code of Hammurabi indicate that this was a generally accepted custom.

The Nuzi tablets, which were found in ancient Hurrian excavations in modern Iraq, date back to the second half of the 15th century BC. These texts mention that a barren wife could provide her husband with a slave so that she would bear him a son.

4. City of Sodom

Genesis describes the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah due to the sins of their inhabitants. A team of archaeologists believe they have discovered the ruins of the ancient city of Sodom, located in Tell el-Hammam, east of the Jordan River. The age of the excavated ruins is consistent with the early historical period of the Bible (3500 - 1540 BC). Its location is not the only reason why the ruins were considered the ancient city of Sodom. Archaeologists believe that the city was suddenly abandoned towards the end of the Middle Bronze Age, which matches the biblical picture of the destruction of Sodom.

5. Silver Scrolls of Ketef Hinnom

The archaeological site of Ketef Hinnom is a complex of a series of rock burial chambers located southwest of the Old City of Jerusalem, on the road to Bethlehem. In 1979, archaeologists made important discovery in this place: they found two silver plates, rolled up like scrolls. They were inscribed in Old Hebrew. These scrolls are believed to have been used as amulets and date back to the 7th century BC. The texts on these amulets contain the oldest surviving quotations from the Torah.

6. Deir Allah inscriptions

During the Exodus, the Israelites passed through the Sinai Peninsula and reached the kingdoms of Edom and Moab. There is a chapter in Numbers that tells how the king of Moab, concerned about the presence of the Israelites, asked a prophet named Balaam to curse the people of Israel. About 8 km from the Jordan River, a Bronze Age sanctuary called Deir Allah was excavated. An ancient Aramaic inscription was found in the sanctuary, which actually contained the prophetic curse of Balaam. The inscription describes a divine vision, foreshadowing the destruction and punishment of the “malevolent gods” for it.

7. Captivity of the Samaritans

Samaria fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC. Assyrian records state that King Sargon II captured 27,290 prisoners and sent them into exile in various places under Assyrian control, including Halah and Habor. This event is confirmed by the texts of the Book of Kings, as well as some physical evidence. In Mesopotamian excavations, archaeologists found fragments of pottery with the names of the Israelites written on the surface.

8. Assyrian invasion

In 701 BC, the Assyrian king Sennacherib invaded Judea. Many cities fell under the onslaught of his army, including Lachish, which is mentioned in the Book of Kings. After the siege, the city was captured by the Assyrians, and several archaeological finds are entirely consistent with this event. At the site of Lachish, archaeologists discovered arrowheads, siege structures, helmets, and a chain that the defenders used against a siege battering ram. And on the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh (Northern Iraq) reliefs and sculptures were found depicting the capture of Lachish.

9. End of Babylonian exile

When the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great captured Babylon in 539 BC, he ordered the release of Jews and other peoples who were held in captivity. This historical episode is described in the Book of Ezra. There are also other historical documents that describe Cyrus the Great's policy of allowing many of the inhabitants of Babylon to return to their homeland. One of the most famous of these documents is the Cyrus Cylinder - a small clay cylinder on which Cyrus ordered a list of his victories and merciful deeds to be engraved in cuneiform.

10. Herod's Palace

Traces of Herod the Great's ambitious building projects are found throughout Palestine. What were believed to be the remains of King Herod's palace were discovered during excavations in an abandoned building in the Old City of Jerusalem, near the Tower of David. The main significance of this find is that it was in this place that the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus to death.

And to continue the topic, we decided to remember.

Fake sensations

Much has been said about the fact that science and religion follow different paths. One should not expect, for example, from science “material” confirmation of biblical events. Scientists - linguists, archaeologists, restorers - do not work for this. If you want to derive faith from fresh scientific data, you risk falling into the bait of a false sensation and being seriously disappointed. We invite the reader, as an example, to recall several sensational stories that happened recently.

Mysterious Artifact

In the spring of 2012, early in the Kyiv morning, I had an appointment in a park near the Golden Gate. Its initiator was a man whom I knew only from books and articles - the famous publicist Israel Shamir, a former Israeli special forces soldier, a war correspondent, and a keen expert on Judaism. When we met, Shamir also introduced himself by his new name, received in Holy Baptism - Adam.

Our conversation revolved around scientific research into the corpus of Old Testament books of the Holy Scriptures. In response to his question, I told him that I was engaged in deciphering and translating extra-biblical epigraphic monuments from the period of the First Temple (X-VI centuries BC). At the time of our meeting, I had just completed the study of the stele from Tel Dan. It is important for biblical studies because it is the first extra-biblical archaeological artifact in which King David, or more precisely, his ruling dynasty - the “House of David” in Judea - is mentioned as actually existing in the Holy Land.

Unexpectedly for me, my interlocutor said that I was wasting my time, since in the scientific circles of Israel this monument - the stele from Tel Dan - is recognized as a modern fake! For me, this information was like a cold shower! Later, having sorted it out, I realized what had happened.

By the time of our meeting in Israel, the trial related to a whole series of falsifications of archaeological artifacts had indeed ended. And one of the central monuments that figured in this process was the stele of King Joash (it will become the main subject of our story). Thanks to the Israeli media, which widely covered this trial, my interlocutor, without going into details, concluded that all recent archaeological finds confirming the historical realities of the biblical context are fakes.

The fact is that in Israel itself, ideas of revaluing biblical history have recently begun to be heard more and more often. Thus, historians from Tel Aviv University, called minimalists, declared to the astonished public that, it turns out, the United Israeli Kingdom of David and Solomon never existed in nature, that it was just a “historiosophical fiction”, not supported by any evidence!

While participating in archaeological work at what seems to be the largest excavation site in Israel, Hanion Givati, I noticed that here in Jerusalem, among the stratigraphic layers, there is nothing that could tell us about the times of the monarchs David and Solomon. This cultural layer simply does not exist: it is “shaved off” by later buildings. There is an earlier Jerusalem, there is a later one, but the cultural layer of the 10th century BC is simply missing.

And so, when in June 2001 the message spread around the world that scientists had come into possession of a unique monument with an inscription written in Hebrew in Phoenician letters, it was a miracle! After all, the text of the epigraphic monument reported on restoration work in the Jerusalem Temple under King Joash! King Joash himself, according to the biblical context, was the son of the Judah king Ahaziah, who reigned in Judea from 840 to 801 BC.

In the stele of King Joash, which attracted everyone's attention scientific world, it was also about reconstruction work that was supposed to update the Jerusalem Temple.

What was unique about the monument that mentioned King Joash? The text of the newfound stele actually duplicated the Holy Scriptures. “I, Joash, son of Ahaziah, king of the land of Judah, when the oath of everyone on earth to measure out generously of silver as a sacred gift was fulfilled... I restored the structure and corrected the damage in the Temple and on the walls around it,” read the text of the stele of King Joash.

Chapter 12 of 2 Kings actually describes a fundraiser initiated by King Joash: And Joash said to the priests: All the silver that is dedicated, which is brought into the house of the Lord, the silver from those who come, the silver that is brought in for each soul according to the assessment, all the silver, as much as it comes to anyone’s heart to bring to the house of the Lord, let the priests take it for themselves, each one from his acquaintance, and let them repair what is damaged in the Temple, wherever there is damage(2 Kings 12, 4-5).

It is noteworthy that King Joash of Judah lived approximately 100 years after the death of King Solomon, who built the Temple in Jerusalem.

The scientific world has come into possession of a truly unique extra-biblical artifact, confirming not only the biblical narrative, but also the existence of the Jerusalem Temple and the royal personage - King Joash, the direct heir of King David! The conclusions that were drawn after the first studies of the monument posed a serious challenge to the aforementioned minimalists, who argued that the historical books of the Bible are an artificial history of the Holy Land, and King David, King Solomon and many others are just legendary figures who did not exist in reality.

However, in addition to reading the text of the monument, it was necessary to conduct an appropriate examination to establish its authenticity. First of all, scientists began to study patina - a thin layer that forms on the surface of an archaeological artifact through the interaction of chemicals in the air or soil with the minerals of the stone itself. Positive result It didn’t take long to wait: the patina covered with a uniform layer of 1 mm the entire front part of the stele and the recesses of the letters carved in the stone, which confirmed the antiquity of the inscription. How ancient was the inscription?

The stone itself cannot be dated, but when examining the stele, particles of charcoal were found in the patina, which are amenable to carbon analysis. After appropriate laboratory studies, it was found that the particles are 2300 years old! Therefore, the text carved in stone is even older! In addition, the patina, in addition to fragments of charcoal, contained tiny particles gold! In fact, this confirmed: the stele of King Joash was located in the perimeter of the Jerusalem Temple, decorated, according to the biblical text, with gold and trimmed with Lebanese cedar, and the presence of particles of coal and gold in the patina confirmed the facts of fires that the Temple repeatedly experienced.

In January 2003, the monument - the stele of King Joash - was officially recognized as authentic.

It is noteworthy that the owner of this monument continued to remain anonymous even after the artifact was offered for purchase to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The asking price was US$4 million. The management, of course, before the purchase asked the intermediaries about the place and circumstances of the discovery of the stele. Any important archaeological find must first of all be reliably dated, and knowledge of the circumstances and location of its discovery is absolutely invaluable in this regard. In response, there was a vague message that the stele was found among construction debris being removed from the Temple Mount.

It should be noted that today no excavations are being carried out on the Temple Mount, they are simply impossible: any archaeological activity causes instant protest from the Arabs not only in Israel, but also beyond its borders. The garbage that the intermediaries mentioned was actually removed from the Temple Mount in whole tons - the Muslim authorities, despite the scandal about this, continued to remove soil from the vaults completed in the Herodian period, expanding the space of the underground mosque.

The idea to sift through the mountains of soil removed by Muslims belongs to Israeli archaeologist Gabi Barkai. As a result of a thorough examination of the garbage, many remarkable things were discovered, but what will be more interesting to us is the fact that Gabi Barkai knew nothing about the stele that was allegedly discovered among the garbage from the Temple Mount and was offered to the Israel Museum.

The surprise of the museum management knew no bounds when it turned out that the intermediary, along with the unique artifact, had simply disappeared. This happened after the Israel Museum announced its intention to conduct its own independent examination.

In 1985, security units were created under the Department of Antiquities of the State of Israel, whose task is to counter “black archaeologists.” These bodies are well equipped with advanced equipment, have their own intelligence, and operate in close connection with Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian law enforcement agencies. The unit managed to prevent the looting of many archaeological sites and detained the thieves of antiquities and their customers.

It was these bodies that began to search for an intermediary with the disappeared epigraphic relic. After more than nine months, they managed to find him. During the interview, the intermediary pointed to Oded Golan, who hired him.

Oded Golan is a fairly well-known person in antiquity circles. He owns the largest private collection of archaeological artifacts in Israel. In the past, Oded Golan is a Tel Aviv engineer who also worked as a travel agent and guide (Egypt, Japan, Singapore). He is just over 50, unmarried, childless, owns two small companies, and also owns the Golan publishing house. He became interested in antiquities as a child, and at the age of 11 he participated in the excavations of Masada, where he was patronized by Yigal Yadin himself, an outstanding Israeli archaeologist and politician. At age 16, Golan began collecting ancient pottery, buying it from Arab traders in the Old City of Jerusalem. Many in Israel consider Oded Golan to be a brilliant archaeologist.

During his first contacts with the investigation, Golan said that the stele of King Joash came to him back in 1999 from a Palestinian Arab who asked for help in selling it. Golan could not answer where the stele is currently located, saying that the owner of the monument, the aforementioned Palestinian, recently died, and he does not know where his widow lives.

But the investigation still managed to obtain some positive information from O. Golan: according to the deceased Palestinian owner, the monument was discovered in a Muslim cemetery near the eastern wall of the Temple Mount - which means there is hope that the stone with the epigraphic inscription still has a direct relation to the history of the Temple.

However, the stele of King Joash completely disappeared from the field of view of detectives.

Pseudo-tomb of Jacob

In parallel with these events, the world of archeology was shocked by a new sensation: a material witness to the Gospel story was discovered - the ossuary (ossuary) of the Lord's brother James, the first bishop of Jerusalem, the author of the conciliar letter from the corpus of New Testament books! The epigraphic inscription on the ossuary read: “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” In fact, this was the first mention of the Savior’s name on an archaeological site! The ossuary has already, it would seem, begun its triumphal march through the most famous museums in the world...

Imagine the surprise of the investigative team of the Israeli Department of Antiquities when it turned out that the owner of this unique monument was their compatriot, the same Oded Golan. Incredible - the same person was involved in both sensational artifacts! What is this incredible luck? Or is there something wrong here?

A search was conducted in Oded Golan's house and his property. The beautiful story about the deceased Palestinian - the owner of the stele of King Joash - and his widow, the new owner of the monument, living in the Palestinian Authority, has crumbled. The stele was in the collector's house!

The story of the discovery of the ossuary, apparently also prepared the day before, looked no less convincing. According to Golan’s story, he purchased the ossuary for $200 in one of the antiquities shops of the Old City in Jerusalem, but he doesn’t remember exactly which one, since it was either in the late 70s or early 80s. He would not have attached any importance to the artifact if his friend, Sorbonne professor Andre Lemaire, who first read the unique Aramaic inscription, had not become involved. Golan hid from investigators that before sending it to the exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (Canada), he insured the ossuary for $1 million.

After a painstaking study of the ossuary by leading archaeologists in Israel, a verdict was made - the ossuary is genuine! But paleographers were interested in the inscription. Indeed, the names mentioned on the wall of the ossuary (Jacob, Joseph and Yeshua) were quite widely used by the inhabitants of the Holy Land at the turn of the era. And if the formulation “So-and-so, son of so-and-so” was found in epigraphy, then the version recorded on the ossuary was sensational: no one ever indicated on the ossuaries who was who’s brother. Someone took great pains to ensure that the modern reader of the inscription understands which Joseph’s son is the one buried in the presented ossuary. One got the impression that the inscription was made not by Jacob’s contemporaries, but by our contemporaries - with us in mind!

At the same time, paleographers began to study the stele of King Joash. The sublime, elegant style of the inscription was impressive, and many philologists admitted: “This inscription is pleasant to read.” But a specialist in Hebrew epigraphy, Viktor Gurvits, drew attention to one anachronism found in the inscription. This is the verb בדק from the key phrase: “And he repaired (the damage to) the Temple” - בדק הבית. It is noteworthy that in First Temple times this verb was an antonym of its meaning in modern Hebrew. In ancient times, the verb בדק meant “destroyed.” It turns out that if you read this inscription in the context of the rules of the Hebrew language of the First Temple period, King Joash proudly stated that he destroyed the Temple?!

So, in the histories of both monuments, errors were made in epigraphic contexts that were not compatible with the traditions and philological rules of the eras to which the artifacts were artificially erected!

But what about the patina that evenly covers the surface with the inscription on both the ossuary and the stele?

It is noteworthy that when the investigative team visited the house of O. Golan, blanks for forging other artifacts (seals, bulls, coins), a workshop with many tools for engraving, as well as a whole laboratory with containers containing soil from the Temple Mount were discovered. It was precisely this that was used in the chemical composition of the patina in order to confirm the location of artifacts in the perimeter of the Jerusalem Temple. It should be noted that after suspicion of falsification of the monuments, a fragment from the back side of the stele was taken for study, because before this the patina was studied in detail only on the front side, where the inscription was located. The surprise of scientists knew no bounds when it turned out that instead of the expected calcium carbonate, which is really characteristic of Jerusalem and its environs, scientists found quartz at the base of the patina - and such an element could hardly be contained in the patina formed on the Temple Mount!

Another thing was strange for the ancient inscription: when the patina was cleared from the indentations of the letters, traces of mechanical tools were exposed! Moreover, the patina extracted from the letters contained particles of marine fossils...

After repeated studies of the chemical composition of the patina, scientists came to the conclusion that during the artificial creation of the patina, fragments of charcoal, gold dust and chalk were added to its composition. It was the latter that provided the calcium carbonate content. This clarified where the marine fossils in the letters of King Joash's stele came from.

How to steal a million?

Willy-nilly, I remember the wonderful film “How to Steal a Million” (1966), the action of which takes place in Paris. A young girl, Nicole Bonet (Audrey Hepburn), the daughter of a millionaire who forges works of art, and her accomplice organize the theft of one of her father’s “masterpieces” from a museum in order to save him from exposure. So, at the very beginning of the film, Charles Bonnet (the father) takes from his daughter’s hands a plate with a prepared composition for aging Van Gogh’s “masterpieces” with the following words: “My primer! Or rather, not mine, but Van Gogh himself or one of his students. I scraped it with my own hands from old canvases of the 19th century. It takes weeks, but without it there is no aroma of authenticity.” In fact, here is a recipe for creating “antiquities” at home.

In general, the entire film is filled with unique quotes that help to understand the “concern” of the creators of fake relics: “In his entire life, Van Gogh sold only one painting, and your father, to perpetuate his tragic genius, has already sold... two!”

Before an examination that could expose an artificial masterpiece - “Venus”, supposedly Cellini, the master of forgery Charles Bonet exclaims: “Truly we live in a consumer society without faith and ideals!”

The viewer can perceive a certain “roll call” of the plot of the film with the life of the real creator of false antiquities, who lived in the 19th century - Moses Wilhelm Shapiro, a baptized Polish Jew, who for many years was engaged in the antiquities trade in Jerusalem. It was he who supplied the libraries of Berlin and London with valuable Hebrew texts, originating mainly from Yemen. But his reputation was ruined by the sale of “Moab idols” to the Berlin Museum - an outrageously crude fake, which was exposed by the French orientalist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, who managed to trace the path of the fake from the place of manufacture in Shapiro’s workshop to Berlin.

So, just like Charles Bonnet, the hero of the film, Moses Shapiro had a daughter who knew what her father was doing. And by now it is generally accepted that Shapiro’s daughter had no doubts about the correctness of her opponents who accused her father of manufacturing archaeological artifacts. Perhaps these people served as some kind of prototypes for the film script? It is interesting that in her book “The Young Daughter of Jerusalem,” published in 1914 in Jerusalem and signed under the pseudonym Miriam Harry, Shapiro’s daughter never mentioned her father as a falsifier of antiquities, unlike the heroine of the film, Nicole Bonet, who made every effort to so that the parent stops in his large-scale lie.

It should be noted that archeology as such was born in the Renaissance out of interest in beautiful things - Roman, Greek, etc. Antiquities were bought up, without much interest in the historical context, both by the owners of private collections and famous museums of the world. Buyers of artifacts did not skimp on shelling out fortunes. This is what prompted real masters of their craft to create fake antiquities. How can one not recall one of Charles Bonnet’s remarks: “My clients are millionaires, they want masterpieces - and they get them.”

Giovani Bastiani, brothers Enrico and Pier Penelli, Alfred Fiorovanti, brothers Riccardi, icon painter from Jerusalem Arab Selim, Odessa jeweler Israel Rukhomsky, Alcheo Dussen, Joseph Auer, Francesco Cremonese, Malskat and many others who had not only their own workshops, but entire schools of students ... Who knows how many skillful works of these masters, having passed more than one examination and leaving no shadow of doubt among the leading experts of their time, still adorn the main museums of the world...

The end of the Golan Affair

But let's return to Oded Golan.

In 2004, Golan was initially charged with transferring the ossuary to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto without proper paperwork. The fact is that in 1978, Israel adopted the Antiquities Law, according to which all antiquities recovered from Israeli excavations are “national treasure.” They can only be sold domestically and cannot be exported without special permission. And if Golan, according to his own testimony, acquired the ossuary after this time, he is guilty of smuggling the artifact.

In addition, Golan was charged with forgery and trafficking in stolen items. The process began in 2005 and was completed only in March 2012. Over a hundred hearings were held involving dozens of the best specialists from all over the world, the case reports are printed on 12 thousand pages...

In April 2012, an amazing verdict was announced: “Oded Golan was acquitted of the main charge due to insufficient evidence!” The conclusion of Judge Aaron Farkas sounds very ambivalent: on the one hand, the forgery of the inscription is unproven, on the other, there is no evidence that the inscription is genuine. Oded Golan faces only charges of illegal trade in antiques, which threatens him with a fine.

I called my friend in Jerusalem, Yana Chekhanovets, a famous Israeli archaeologist leading excavations in the “City of David” (Hanion Givati), in order to find out about the resolution of the O. Golan case. She answered briefly: “Oded Golan had very good lawyers...”.

By the way, the BBC channel conducted its own investigation, which resulted in a wonderful documentary"King Solomon's Tablet of Stone" (Tablets of King Solomon, 2004). The film was made based on the testimony of scientists and members of the investigative team who participated in the process related to the falsification of archaeological artifacts.

Disappointment or vaccination against future fraud?

It is easy to imagine the rejoicing in the ranks of the minimalists at the publicity of the falsification - both the stele of King Joash and the ossuary in which the Apostle James was allegedly buried.

But for us this is not a reason to be upset. As archaeologist Professor Eric Klein emphasizes, “The goal of biblical archeology is not to prove or disprove the Bible. Archaeologists must study the culture and history of the Holy Land as it actually existed.”

The public, of course, is excited by news that has little to do with science related to the search for the Tower of Babel, Noah’s Ark, the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Ark of the Covenant, etc. In search of these relics, tons of soil have been dug up and sifted, and kilograms have been spent describing expeditions paper and a lot of time. But such “discoveries” are unlikely to deserve the attention of representatives of classical archeology.

Suffice it to recall the recent sensation - “The Gospel of Judas.” How much noise was made around this monument! Once again, as in the “good old days,” they started talking about the falsification of Christianity, about the deliberate distortion of history by churchmen, etc. Following the books of Dan Brown, the authors of pseudo-scientific detective stories again raised their hand to the most sacred concepts for many millions of Christian believers in the world. Someone started talking about the fact that it was a fake, trying in this way to distance themselves from all the pseudoscientific nonsense that accompanied the “revelations” of Christianity. But it was church archaeologists and biblical scholars who stood up to defend the authenticity of this ancient text document. We know for certain that this monument was created in the 2nd century AD among the Gnostics. It is mentioned by our holy fathers when describing sects professing Gnostic doctrine (for example, Saint Irenaeus of Lyons). This means that the “Gospel of Judas” was known to the Church. Moreover, this monument helped science to present the worldview of the group of sectarians in whose midst this text appeared.

But archaeological finds, which are extremely exciting for serious scientists, leave the general public indifferent. These are ceramics, fragments of buildings, household items from the biblical era - all those antiquities that archaeologists extract from the depths of stratigraphic layers almost every day. True archeology is not as dynamic a science as some would like. From the discovery of an archaeological artifact to its interpretation, sometimes years, and sometimes decades, pass. Haste in archaeology, and especially biblical archaeology, is dangerous!

It can be said that real archaeological scientists and the sensation-hungry public have completely different interests and motives. Thanks to scientific archeology, we have learned a lot about the life of people of the biblical era. We know the details of their life, we know what calendar they lived by, we know how the inhabitants of the Holy Land buried their dead, how they extracted and stored water for themselves and their domestic animals, because without water life in this region is impossible - and much more. For the sake of details that are simply not interesting to the average person, entire conferences and symposiums are convened. Therefore, recognizing fakes of archaeological artifacts is by no means a failure in the work of true scientists. Of course, counterfeit relics deal a greater blow to the consciousness of those people who expect that this or that antiquity guarantees the truth of the biblical narrative. That is why the archaeologist’s impartial attitude to the study of artifacts and excavation data is so important. Only an objective attitude to the subject will correspond to the level of responsibility that work in this amazing region - the Holy Land - implies.

The main step towards the scientific study of the East. antiquities in the 1st half. XIX century Work began on deciphering Assyro-Babylonian cuneiform and Egypt. hieroglyphic writing. At the same time, European diplomats, military instructors and travelers made the first attempts at measurements and excavations in the “biblical countries”, laying the foundation for archaeological research of such monuments as Babylon, biblical Ascalon, the tombs of the pharaohs and temples of Egypt, the Behistun inscription, Nineveh (Kuyunjik) and Khorsabad with the palace of Sargon II , and then Nimrud.

Mesopotamian archeology began with the work of P. E. Bott in Nineveh (1842-1846) and O. G. Layard in the cities of Babylonia (1845-1848). A number of monuments important for biblical history were discovered: a “black obelisk” with a description of the Assyrian wars. King Shalmaneser III, including with the Kingdom of Israel; an image of the siege of Lachish, found in the palaces of Sennacherib on Kuyundzhik, and most importantly - the library of Ashurbanipal, in which cuneiform texts of the Babylonian era were kept. In 1850, Loftus continued his description of the monuments in the Euphrates Valley, starting with the biblical Erech (Uruk).

Syro-Palestinian period

All R. XIX century archeology dr. Egypt, M. Asia and the Syro-Palestine region took only the first steps: in Egypt in 1842-1845. a Prussian expedition worked (K.R. Lepsius), which published its research “Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien” (12 volumes); in 1850 to Egypt for Copts. O. F. Mariette went with the manuscripts; in Asia, the British Museum began excavations at Ephesus.

Particularly important for the development of A. b. There were studies in the Holy Land, but work here progressed slowly. The scientific stage began with a trip to Palestine in 1838 by Amer. Hebraist E. Robinson and missionary E. Smith. They described a number of archaeological sites on the spot, identifying them with cities known from the Bible (Robinson E., Smith E. Biblical Research of Palestine and Adjacent Regions. N. Y., 1841-1842, 1956. 3 vol.). He continued the matter silently. researcher T. Tobler and the Frenchman V. Guerin, who began in 1852 a project to map monuments and measure them. Mapping of Western monuments. Palestine in 1871-1878. conducted by K. R. Conder and G. G. Kitchener; Haurana and North. Jordan in 1896-1901 - G. Schumacher and A. Musil; much later than Yuzh. Jordan and the Negev Desert - N. Gluck.

An important step was the founding in 1865 of the Palestine Exploration Fund for the Study of Jerusalem. Excavations here have been carried out since 1848, when L. F. de Solsi cleared the site of the “royal tombs” (the graves of the kings of Adiabene). Scientific study of the topography and history of the city began in the 60s. XIX century Foundation staff, Brit. officers C. Warren and C. Wilson. De Solcy and Warren were not archaeologists, so their work in Jerusalem and Jericho was ineffective and gave rise to confusion: monuments from the era of Herod the Great (1st century BC) were attributed to King Solomon, and Tell el-Ful (the Maccabean fortress) was attributed to the era of the Crusades. In 1872-1878. for examination Zap. Palestine The Palestine Exploration Fund organized an expedition under the leadership of. Kitchener and Conder; the latter's books about the results of his work served many people. generations of researchers and have retained their significance to the present day. time.

A significant event in the history of the formation of A. b. there were finds by C. Clermont-Ganneau, French. consul in Palestine (since 1867), who laid the foundations of Palestinian epigraphy, introducing into scientific circulation a number of the most important for A. b. objects: stele of the Moabite king Mesha, inscription in Greek. language prohibiting non-Jews from entering the courtyard of the Jerusalem temple, graffiti on ossuaries; he also identified the ruins of the city of Gezer and others. In the 60s. XIX century Russians were involved in the study of ancient Jerusalem. scientists. Having headed the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem in 1865, Archimandrite. Antonin (Kapustin) organized the excavations and the publication of their results at a scientific level that was advanced for its time. He discovered the second circuit of the city wall (445 BC), the “Gate of Judgment” and part of the structures of the basilica of the emperor. Constantine (see the articles “Jerusalem”, “Church of the Holy Sepulcher”). In those same years, Prof. KDA A. A. Olesnitsky began to publish essays on the antiquities of Palestine (The Fate of the Ancient Monuments of the Holy Land. St. Petersburg, 1875; The Old Testament Temple in Jerusalem. St. Petersburg, 1889, etc.). The basic role in their field study was played by imp. Palestinian Orthodox Society (since 1882). In the 90s XIX century he supported a number of expeditions to the Holy Land under his leadership. N. P. Kondakova, M. I. Rostovtseva, N. Ya. Marra, in the 10s. XX century it was supposed to open Russian. archaeological institute in Jerusalem (see Belyaev L.A. et al. Church science: Biblical archeology // PE. T.: ROC. P. 435-437).

In con. XIX - early XX century

the study of antiquities that are important for A. b. accelerated. This had extra-scientific geopolitical prerequisites (the weakening of Turkey, the “development” of the Middle East by European states) and was associated with the formation of methods of scientific archeology, with the need for theologians to refute the conclusions of hyper-critics on the basis of archaeological sources (see Hypercriticism).

The disproportion in the development of field research still remained: primacy remained with the objects of Mesopotamia and Egypt, the lands of which were better studied, and the monuments provided many written sources. In 1872, among 25 thousand texts from the library of Ashurbanipal, a Babylonian version of the description of the flood, “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, was discovered; the missing part of the text of the epic was found by J. Smith in Kuyundzhik.

In Nineveh, a clay prism with the annals of Ashurbanipal and 4 cylinders describing the campaigns of Sennacherib, including the invasion of Judea and the siege of Jerusalem, were found. The discoveries of more ancient monuments of Sumer followed, a systematic study of Babylon by R. Koldewey (1899-1917), who recreated the structure of the fortifications, residential areas, palaces and temples of the city, the discovery of C. L. Woolley of the city of Alalakh beyond the river. Orontes. In the beginning. XX century Hettology appeared: in 1906 German. the scientist G. Winkler began work in Sidon and Bogazkoy, but the texts from Bogazkoy, written in the Hittite language, were deciphered only 10 years later by Czech. scientist F. Grozny.

Since the 80s XIX century a new flowering of archeology began in Egypt. In 1887, the first tablets with Amarna letters were accidentally discovered in the ruins of Tell el-Amarna, containing new information about the life and politics of Egypt and ancient Canaan before its settlement by the ancient Jews.

In the Syro-Palestinian region, the period of exploration dragged on for a long time. Although in the 70-80s. XX century The American Palestine Research Society and Lutherans arose here. German Palestine Union (1877), Russian. Orthodox Palestine Society (1882), Dominican French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research (1894), Franciscan Bible School, and later “schools” in Jerusalem (German Evangelical Institute for the Study of Antiquities of the Holy Land, American Schools of Oriental Research (1900) , British Archaeological School in Jerusalem (1919)), they were unable to organize scientific basis long-term excavations at large sites. Nevertheless, the reconnaissance work they carried out allowed them to continue the tradition. reconstruction of the historical geography of Palestine, which led to the creation of the classic work of J. Smith (The Historical Geography of the Holy Land. N.Y., 18973).

Interwar years

(Especially 1920-1935) is called the “golden age” of the Middle East. archeology. After the First World War, the lands of the former were opened for archaeological work. The Turkish Empire, for which England and France received mandates to govern them. Near In the East, excavation methods developed by prehistoric and classical archeology were increasingly used. Of particular importance were the increased interest in archeology, as well as the continuation of the theological polemics between “modernists” and “traditionalists.”

Since the 20s XX century discoveries followed one after another: El Amarna (where J. Pendlebury began work) and Byblos (biblical Ebal), the port of ancient Phenicia, where P. Monte discovered the tomb with the sarcophagus of King Ahiram (see Ahiram sarcophagus), Beth Shean in Decapolis, where C. S. Fisher, A. Rowe and G. Fitzgerald uncovered layers up to the 3rd millennium BC; C. L. Woolley (until 1914 he led the work in Carchemish) led an expedition of the British Museum (until 1934) to the ruins of Ur, the city of Abraham (Ur, or Tell el-Mukayyar); 1925 - opening of an “archive” in Nuzi, containing information about the era of the Old Testament patriarchs (Yorgan Tepe, northern Baghdad, near the mountains of Southern Kurdistan).

For the development of archeology of the Holy Land favorable time began with the establishment of Briton. mandate (1917). Authorities for the protection of monuments were created, similar to the British. (Palestinian Department of Antiquities). Of particular importance was the beginning of the work of the American Schools of Oriental Research under the leadership. W. Albright. Arriving in Jerusalem in 1919, he organized work on Tell el-Ful and Kiriath Sefer (1922). His students also worked at Bet Tzur (see Beth Tzur), Tell Beit Mirsim, Bet Shemeshei, etc. The excavation area quickly expanded, work was carried out in Ras Shamra (Ugarit) and Ascalon, in different parts of Jerusalem (McAlister , K. Duncan and J. W. Crowfoot since 1923 explored the Ophel Hill; E. L. Sukenik - city walls) and in caves above the Galilee Sea, where traces of prehistoric man were found. At the same time, one of the first agricultural crops, Natufian, was discovered and studied (D. Garrod, 1928-1934). Excavations began at Megiddo (Fisher et al.), Geras in Jordan (Horsfield and Crowfoot), at Mizpah (Tell en Nasbeh) and Tell Beit Mirsim southwest of Hebron. The organization of work and fixation of excavated objects were brought to the proper level. Albright was able to draw up a clear typology and chronology of Iron Age pottery (refined by Fidian-Adams at Ascalon, Albright himself at Giveath and Tell Beit Mirsim, works at Bethel (see Bethel) and Megiddo), Crowfoot at Samaria and E. Grant (excavations on Bet Shemesh, which opened the period of its capture by ancient Jews in the 12th-9th centuries BC).

Seal with the inscription: "Shem, servants of Jeroboam." VIII century (?) BC Megiddo. Copy

30s XX century were marked by the work of J. Garstang (Palestinian Department of Antiquities) in Jericho, where the first urban Neolithic culture was discovered (in 1952-1958 by K. Kenyon). Excavations began at the Maccabean era fortress at Beth Tzur. J.L. Starkey dug at Lachish and collected important information about the era of the preaching of the prophet. Jeremiah (626/27-586 BC). Work in the biblical Ai made it possible to further identify this city. Of particular importance were the 13-year surveys of Transjordan, from the Gulf of Aqaba. to sir. borders. N. Gluck identified and dated the Nabatean-era cemetery at Jebel et Tannur (1937), northeast of Dead Sea, and in post-war period- Etzion-Gever. B. Mazar began studying the largest Heb. Beth Shearim cemeteries. The results of the excavations of Mari (Tell Hariri) on the Euphrates, which continued until 1960 (A. Parro), as well as the work of K. Schaeffer on Ras Shamra (Ugarit), which provided examples of the world's oldest alphabetic writing, are important.

During the interwar period, expeditions were better organized, their composition became more professional, reports were written more carefully, and materials were analyzed more quickly, compared with others, and published. On the eve of the Second World War, relations between the colonial authorities and the local population took on a conflictual form, sometimes leading to the death of archaeologists.

2nd half XX century

The basis of work in the 50-60s. Western European projects remained. and Amer. scientific schools: complex excavations of Jericho were carried out under the guidance of K. Kenyon (1952-1968); work in Shechem (under the direction of E. Wright) proved that the city dates back to the Bronze Age. They dug at Gibethon (J.B. Pritchard), at Jericho rome. era (D. L. Kelso, J. B. Pritchard), in Beth-san (N. Zori), in Divon (W. Merton) and Dothan (J. P. Free). P. Lapp excavated Arak el-Emir, Taanakh, a settlement of the 4th millennium BC Bab-ed-Dra (with a large necropolis) and discovered a papyrus from Samaria near Jericho, dated 722 BC. During excavations An inscription mentioning Pontius Pilate was found in Caesarea. In the 70-80s. a major project was carried out - long-term excavations in Gezer (W. Dever, J. D. Seger, etc.). Israeli archaeologists trained in Gezer then began work on the sites of synagogues in Galilee, Tell el-Hesi, Sepphoris, Lahav, Tell Mikna and other places.

Work was especially widespread in Petra: in the 50s. The Jordanian Department of Antiquities began restoration of monuments and excavations (F. Hammond), from the 60s. continued by an expedition from Princeton Theological Seminary. In Marib, many works of Sabaean art and an 8th century temple of the Moon goddess have been identified. BC J. Perrault worked in Tell Abu Matara (near Beersheba). A number of Chalcolithic settlements to the east were found and studied. shore of the Dead Sea, in Jordan (Teleilat el-Ghassoul).

The Russian expedition under the leadership also made a significant contribution to the research of Mesopotamia. R. M. Munchaeva, N. Ya. Merpert and N. O. Bader, who worked since 1969 in Iraq and Syria on monuments of the 7th-3rd millennium BC.

The independent states that formed after the war, and especially Israel, were interested in the study of archeology. Along with Western European. and Amer. Scientists began to develop work in the museums of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the Israeli Research Society, the Jewish University and other organizations. They were led by the first generation of local archaeologists, who had been educated in Europe and America even before the war - Mazar, Sukenik, Avigad, Avi-Yona, etc. The first information about the manuscripts of the Dead M. (see Qumran manuscripts), which appeared in 1947, played a major role 2 years later, R. de Vaux launched research at the site of Qumran and the rural settlement of Ain Feshka.

Israeli archaeologists adhered to several. methods other than European ones. and Amer. They paid more attention to local history and comprehensive surveys of territories (N. Gluck’s exploration in the Negev Desert, etc.), and purposefully studied the Late Bronze Age; early iron; Second Temple period. I. Yadin launched a search for monuments of the last phase of the history of Dr. Israel, especially the period of the Bar Kochba rebellion (the first serious finds were made in 1951 by Harding and de Vaux, including the “copper scroll” - a list of Qumranite treasures). In the 60s, while exploring the Dead Sea, Yadin determined the site of Rome from aerial photographs. camp near En Gedi and found the remains of Bar Kochba fighters in the surrounding caves. Soon the remains of the Israeli fortress of Masada were explored.

Israeli scientists of the new generation since the 50s. began to dig in Hazor (since 1955), on Ramat Rachel and Arad (Aharoni, 50-60s of the twentieth century), in Ashdod and in Caesarea (Avi Yona, A. Negev), explored synagogues of the first centuries R. Kh., Mampsis - the easternmost. city ​​Center Negev. In con. 60s excavations began in the Old City of Jerusalem (in 1968 under the direction of Mazar, south of the Temple Mount) and in Sinai. Finds followed one after another: a scroll from Qumran - a “textbook” of religions. rules, notes for the construction of the temple and even a plan for military mobilization; in one of the many ossuaries the remains of a man subjected to crucifixion were found; inscriptions containing plural names mentioned in the Gospels and Acts. Work begun in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem (under the direction of Avigad) revealed villas and cobbled streets of the Hellenistic era, the remains of ancient walls, the residence of Herod, baths, and Byzantium. church.

The works of the 70s played an important role. at Tell el-Hesi, showing the complexity of the fortifications and the high level of development of the Bronze Age city. It has been proven that the habitation of Tell Hisban dates back to approximately 1200 BC and it could have been ancient Sihon. When working in the yard, arm. Church on Mount Zion (Jerusalem) a settlement of the 7th century was discovered. BC, where figurines of animals and people were found; in 1975, a cemetery of the 7th-8th centuries was opened. BC on the slope of the Kidron Valley, north of the Damascus Gate; In Dana, they found a “horned altar” of the ancient Jews (a cubic block of limestone from the 9th century BC), standing in the courtyard on a hill. New materials from the era of the Second Temple have appeared: in Jerusalem, these are streets built in the era of Herod. The first sanctuaries of the Philistines were also discovered (for example, the temple in Tell Kasil, the remains of 2 wooden columns resemble those described in the Book of Judges (16.26)). In the 70s In Lachish, storage vessels with royal seals were discovered, levels of destruction of the city by Sennacherib (beginning of the 8th century BC) and Nebuchadnezzar II (6th century BC), as well as Egypt. inscription in the 12th century, which made it possible to attribute the death of the Canaanite city to the era of the conquest of Canaan by Heb. tribes. The most important for A. b. discoveries were made in Syria - Ras Shamra (Ugarit), in Lebanon - Baalbek, Byblos, Sidon, Tire, Kamed el-Loz (Kumidi) and Zarefat, Eble (Tell Mardih, near Aleppo). Italian archaeologist P. Mattie found evidence that the inhabitants of Ebla, the city-state of the 2nd half. III millennium BC, they spoke a special Semitic language. language, their beliefs can be correlated with information from the OT.

Outside the Holy Land, the study of monuments important for Abkhazia has intensified in the widest range, from the “era of the patriarchs” to New Testament times, and over a vast territory: from the North. Africa to Ephesus and Corinth, from the East Nile to England. In 1979, the opening of Egypt was announced. archaeologists of the ancient city of Yona, where Joseph, Moses, and Plato visited.

Based on new data that has appeared, A. b. scientists came to the conclusion about the special role of the Middle. The East and its ancient history in the development of mankind: thus, agriculture discovered in this region turned out to be more ancient than previously thought. The most important link in the transition to sedentism and the creation of “proto-villages” (the Natufian culture of the Mesolithic) was identified. K. Kenyon’s excavations in Jericho showed the following stage: the flourishing of the productive economy and the formation of the first “cities”. Based on a developed system of stratigraphy, Kenyon discovered layers of a previously unknown era - the “pre-ceramic Neolithic”. It turned out that already in the 9th-7th millennium BC, humanity firmly mastered the skills of agriculture and the construction of stone fortresses, that monuments close to ancient Jericho cover the south of Asia, the foothills of the Zagros Mountains, the North. Mesopotamia, Jordan (Beida), Syro-Palestinian region (Ain Ghazal, Beisaman, etc.).

Archaeological evidence for the biblical history of the OT

Archaeological sites Nearby The East has features that allow us to reconstruct history over many centuries. centuries. The most important of them are telli - hills formed by the remains of long-term settlements (including cities that grew up on the basis of an agricultural economy), successively layered one on top of another. This sequence reflects the continuity of development, sometimes with short or long breaks marking natural or historical cataclysms: seismic and climatic shifts, wars, migrations, regrouping or change of population. The average chronological framework for the existence of tells is from 1 to 2 thousand years, but among them there are such “long-livers” as Tell es-Sultan, first inhabited more than 11 thousand years ago (on its top stands modern Jericho). In Palestine, telli are characteristic primarily of coastal, intermountain and river valleys; their height in some cases exceeds 20 m, the area ranges on average from 2.8 to 8 hectares, very small (0.8 hectares) hills and telly giants are known (Asor, 80 hectares). The information content of the tells is exceptionally great: they are standards both for establishing the relative chronology of monuments and for the historical interpretation of their materials.

Single-layer monuments, which are not as durable as telli, are also important. Their diversity (partly dictated by the sharp difference in the natural zones of the Holy Land, see the article “Biblical Geography”) makes it possible to study the structure of the region’s settlement. Known to many thousands of settlements: from agricultural villages, coastal and river valleys with adobe above-ground houses to karst caves and basalt houses of mountain areas, underground dwellings and mines of ancient miners. Special group Monuments include copper mines, documenting the special role of the Holy Land in the emergence of metallurgy. For judging the ideology, worldview and spiritual culture of the population, funerary monuments are the most important. In Palestine, a variety of forms of ritual are recorded: corpses in pits (extended or crouched), secondary burials of bones in ossuaries, above-ground (dolmens, stone boxes, domed tombs, etc.) and underground structures. Some burials are accompanied by funeral gifts, sometimes quite rich and informative. To religious monuments include less common desert sanctuaries and single stone zoomorphic images. The most important view finds (relatively rare in Palestine) are ancient inscriptions on stone, clay and other materials, starting from the famous Gezer calendar (X century BC) and the Mesha stele (IX century BC) to the Qumran manuscripts .

Development of a unified generally accepted methodology for comparing archaeological materials with the texts of the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures are still far from complete, since the task of combining archaeological and written data is complicated by two apparently opposite trends: attempts to find accurate archaeological confirmation even of those biblical events that could hardly have left a significant archaeological trace at all, or, conversely, to refute the biblical tradition of little use for this archaeological material. In addition, the researcher is faced with the temptation to somehow connect every significant monument in the region with biblical history. Even very prominent scientists made similar attempts, for example. from N. Gluck, who, according to the data of his excavations, connected the desolation of Transjordan in the middle. II millennium BC with the raid of Chedorlaomer on this territory (Genesis 14), although such a raid could hardly have significantly affected the settlement of the region, subsequent excavations showed that there was no desolation itself. On the other hand, information from the Bible about the capture of a particular city is often questioned, since archaeological excavations have not revealed traces of destruction there in the corresponding era; however, traces can only remain from a defeat on a large scale, and it may not have been reflected in the biblical narrative.

Archeology, as a rule, records individual details of cultural development or the main stages of the history of settlements and regions, reflecting large-scale processes - climatic, economic and social change, but it cannot accurately determine either the cause-and-effect relationship or what exactly caused these processes and changes.

For a long time, the era of the Old Testament patriarchs was associated with the period known from the excavations of Mari (XIX-XVIII centuries BC), since both the biblical narrative and these excavations depict the life of the “nomadic” Westerners. Semites; however, a similar way of life was extended to the Middle East. East both in earlier and in later times and only by chance became known through the discovery of Marie's archive.

In the Holy Land for the period earlier than the end. XI - 1st half. X century BC (the reign of kings David and Solomon), archaeological material paints a general picture of development, but does not reveal specific events in biblical history: the vicissitudes of the existence of a small ancient Hebrew. group, the material culture of the swarm is not distinguished from the related Semites. environments known from the Bible are still archaeologically elusive. But since the emergence of the Hebrew kingdoms, when the scale and illumination of the ancient Hebrew. stories grow in comparison with previous eras, archaeological correlates of many. major events Priest stories can be established.

A. b. shows that the process of settlement of Palestine by Israeli groups starting from the early 12th century. BC covered the Central Highlands, a number of regions of Transjordan and Northern. Negev, while in Galilee it is recorded mainly in the 11th century. BC XI century BC pl. the villages were abandoned and not revived (Silom, Ai, Tell Masos, etc.). Others (Beth Tzur, Hebron, Tell Beit Mirsim, Dan, Hazor, Tell en Nasbeh) were restored and flourished during the One Kingdom period, which was associated with the concentration of population in the emerging Israeli cities and, apparently, the Philistine invasions, however, most of the settlements lack fortification, and their layout speaks of the building traditions of semi-nomadic Bedouins.

Direct archaeological evidence of the era of the United Kingdom of David and Solomon is small, with the exception of Jerusalem and other cities that have preserved the remains of their construction activities, but these traces are not always sufficiently definite (which is partly due to the difficulties of archaeological work in Jerusalem).

Jebusite Jerusalem was located on the high hill of Ophel, its natural security was complemented from the very beginning by fortifications. Appearing back on Wed. Bronze Age, they were subsequently rebuilt many times, supplemented, and replaced with new ones. The wall of the era of the Jebusites and King David repeated the line of the wall cf. Bronze Age and enclosed an area of ​​approx. 4.4 hectares. On the steep east. on the hillside, above the Gihon spring, a gigantic supporting wall supported a destroyed monumental structure - perhaps the Jebusite “fortress of Zion,” taken during the assault on Jerusalem and becoming the “city of David” (1 Chron. 11.5). Under Solomon, the citadel was shifted to the north.

It is assumed that the Temple of Solomon was located to the west of the sacred rock, which possibly played the role of an altar-altar (now covered with a large dome and included in the complex of the Muslim shrine of Haram el-Sherif), and its long axis was oriented from east to west.

The era of David includes modest, unfortified villages that arose on the ruins of those destroyed during the wars. XI - beginning X century BC Canaanite and Philistine cities (Megiddo, layer V B; Tell Kasile, layer IX). Lachish, defeated in the middle. XII century BC, was revived in the 10th century. BC on a limited, initially unfortified area (layer V). These monuments are considered indicators of the urbanization process that has begun in Israel. For the X century. BC, a similar picture of the origin of Israeli settlements on the ruins of cities was recorded by excavations at Tell Beit Mirsim and Timna.

Evidence of Israel's exit to the Aqaba Hall. and the flourishing of the Red Sea trade under Solomon, described in the Bible (1 Kings 9. 26-28), is considered to be powerful fortifications in the Elath region (Tell Keleifa, dated according to ceramics of the 10th century BC). Probably, control over the routes is associated with the rapid and widespread appearance of new settlements in the Negev desert (including about 50 fortified ones), dating back to the time of kings David and Solomon. They arose primarily at water sources where agriculture was possible; houses were placed outside the fortresses, along rivers and wadis. The ceramics of the settlements demonstrate the symbiosis of the newcomer settled agricultural (Israeli?) and local semi-nomadic population: vessels of the same group are common for the period of the United Kingdom, ch. arr. for Judea; the second is the so-called Negev pottery, related to that used among local nomads since the Late Bronze Age.

Excavations also confirm the capture of the Assyrians. King Sennacherib in 701 BC in the densely built-up city of Lachish. It was protected by 2 walls: the outer one, in the middle part of the hill, and the inner one, the edges enclosed the top and reached six meters in thickness; The six-chamber internal gates (exceeding in size the gates of Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer) were particularly powerful. The palace-fortress stood on a high (6 m) podium - the largest of the Iron Age structures known in Palestine, varying in size from a square of 32´ 32 m to a rectangle of 36´ 76 m.

Direct archaeological evidence from Layer III of Lachish fits well with biblical texts, written and pictorial evidence of the Assyrians about the defeat of the city. Judging by the relief of the palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh, one can imagine the assault on both walls with gates and towers: the defenders of the city threw stones from slings, arrows, stones and torches, battering rams pulled up along specially built ramps hammered the walls. Indeed, in the southwest. corner of the city wall, a siege stone ramp was discovered, equal in height to it, accumulations of sling stones and iron arrowheads, powerful fire layers, heavy blocks of stone thrown by the city’s defenders onto the enemies, a counter-ramp built by them, which strengthened the wall against the ram, and even a chain for catching and stopping the ram (assumption by I. Yadin).

Picture of the fall of the euro. kingdoms is complemented by the complete destruction of Samaria, which resisted until 722: even the foundations of its fortifications and the royal quarter, which were razed to the ground, were chosen. The city was turned into one of the centers of Assyrian domination: the casemate walls preserved around the top now protected structures built according to completely different plans, and the ceramics also changed dramatically. A complete break in the course of the cultural process is recorded in Megiddo, Tell el-Far and a number of other cities. Dominion of Assyria in the 7th century. BC demonstrates the appearance in Palestine of forms of the so-called. Nimrud style and the development of cities in Assyria. and sire. (Aram.) traditions (documented by the III layer of Megiddo, turned into a typical center of the Assyrian province).

The invasion of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar is archaeologically recorded in many ways. cities of Judea, some of which (Tell Beit Mirsim, Bethsami) were no longer restored. The destructiveness of Babylonian policy for the country’s economy is also confirmed: it could no longer support the densely populated cities of Heb. kingdoms Lachish was defeated and burned twice (in 597 and 588 BC). The third layer of the city is covered with calcined building remains, the palace-fort is completely destroyed, and a huge accumulation of human skeletons(over 2 thousand), placed in an ancient cave tomb.

After the defeat of 598 BC, Lachish was partially restored, but in 588 BC it was burned a second time, as they say. “Lakhish letters” - a cluster of 18 ostracons in the layer of the fire, in the security room between the outer and inner gates of the city. Some of the letters are military reports from Hoshayahu, the commander of the forward fortification, to Yaush, the ruler of Lachish, including about the cessation of communication with Azek (cf. the role of Azek in Jer 34.7). It is believed that the "Lachish letters" reflected the confrontation between adherents and opponents (the prophets Jeremiah and Uriah) of resistance to the enemy.

About the siege and fall of Jerusalem in 588-587. BC says the condition of the city walls. The fortifications withstood the Babylonian assaults for many months; sections of them were even reconstructed and strengthened (for example, the eastern wall above the Kidron Valley). But during the final assaults, the lower walls, the outer edge of the terrace system resting on them, and the structures standing on these terraces collapsed (the stones of the old wall were partially used by Nehemiah when building a new wall upon his return from Babylonian captivity). After the Babylonian defeat big cities The Jews are actually turning into villages, the centuries-old tradition of the development of the material culture of Palestine is suppressed forever, the monuments of later times (for example, the Nehemiah bypass wall in Jerusalem) belong to a different tradition, formed in the multi-tribal power of the Achaemenids, with the undivided dominance of the Ars. influence in the Syro-Palestinian region.

A. b. and archeology of the Syro-Palestinian region: problems of methodology and interpretation

As a field of biblical studies A. b. uses general archaeological methods of field and desk research, borrowed from classical, primitive and Middle Eastern studies. archeology. However, the approach to interpreting sources in A. b. for a long time was determined by a special view of the object under study and was formed both in connection with the unfolding of field work and in discussions of theology, history and religion. and even political in nature.

Recently, professional archaeologists are increasingly abandoning the name A. b. in favor of “archeology of the Syro-Palestinian region”, “archeology of the Near. East of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages" (cf. the titles of the publications "Near Eastern Archaeologist" and "Encyclopaedia of the Near Eastern Archaeology", etc.). Behind these names there is a complete distinction between two scientific fields. One studies material culture using accepted modern methods. archeology, methods of field work and an integrated analytical approach with the aim of restoring the historical and cultural process as part of the global one. The second remains a branch of biblical studies and seeks through archeology to more deeply, comprehensively understand the Bible both as a complex historical source and as a sacred book.

At the pre-scientific stage, the incentive to study antiquities was to treat them as relics. During the era of the birth of rational knowledge, 2 schools of religious studies arose. antiquities - Rome. and Protestant. (see section “Christian Archeology”), which during this period in the East set themselves not so much archaeological as biblical-geographical tasks: to identify the places described in the Bible with the real landscape and thereby “illustrate” the information, known from the Holy Scriptures.

In the 2nd half. XIX century The task of identification was supplemented by the need to confirm the historicity of the OT messages as a reaction to the development of modern history. historical-lit. criticism of the Bible (see article “Biblical Studies”). The search for independent, external arguments led theologians to the need to study the archeology of Palestine. It was from this time that the methodological level of field work and the procedures of desk analysis in the field of A. b. began to lag behind the general development of science, since research was often carried out by theologians who were not professional archaeologists. A significant part of the work was controlled by monastic orders (Italian Franciscans, French Dominicans) and other religions. org-tions.

Archaeologists were not interested in Palestine for a long time, because it did not promise bright field discoveries; the finds were modest compared to Ugarit, Ur or Egypt. But scientists who set themselves the goal of apologizing the Bible, starting from the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. studied Palestine very actively. They chose first of all those monuments that could be directly connected with the OT (for example, Jericho, Shechem), and tried to “dig up” direct confirmation of the sacred text. The obtained facts of ancient history were considered strictly within the framework of the Old Testament - observations that were not correlated with the text were simply not taken into account. A. b. began to develop separately, the materials of individual works were not compared for a long time, and a general chronological scale for Palestine was not created.

fundamentalism and modernism. Bloom of A. b. in the 20-60s. XX century determined the efforts of the head of the Amer. school of W. Albright, who proved the fundamental possibility of forming this scientific field. Under his influence, a research method was finally formed, in many ways akin to the old “Roman school,” where the goals and methods of archeology were subordinated to the tasks of interpreting the Bible. The choice of excavation site had to be justified by the candidate. biblical text, personnel were selected almost exclusively from teachers of theological educational institutions, financial and business support was provided to religions. (mostly Protestant.) structures. Albright considered it possible to archaeologically confirm the historicity of the figures of the Old Testament patriarchs and Moses, the early appearance of monotheism, and the conquest of Canaan. The position of his follower E. Wright, who argued that “today belief in the Bible depends entirely on the answer to the question whether the main events described in it really took place” (God Who Acts: Biblical Theology as Recital. L., 1952), was closer to fundamentalism than Albright's historicism.

Changes in A. b. occurred in the 70-80s. Although plural US archaeologists remained within the framework of tradition. A. b. (J. A. Gallaway, P. Lapp, J. B. Pritchard), the younger generation of Albright’s students became convinced in practice that the field methods and scientific approaches of A. b. needs to be updated. For the development of A. b. influenced by the “stratigraphic revolution” Kenyon, as well as the complexity of excavations, which required abandoning the services of amateurs and creating professional personnel, increased many times and cash security works The emergence of “field schools” and the involvement of students of secular high boots in the work led to the improvement of the methodology. The most important “field school” of the new direction of archeology in Palestine was the work in Gezer, where in the 60-80s. methods were tested and a cadre of scientists was formed.

A. b. succeeded in the 80s. connect modern methods of working with more traditions. approaches. Mn. Scientists, especially Americans, sharply criticized the “old” AB, accusing it of confessional bias and a narrowly pragmatic approach to the history of the Middle East. East. They announced the birth of an academic discipline, independent of biblical studies, with strictly scientific methods of collecting and analyzing materials and broader goals, and the abandonment of the name A. b. in favor of the term “Syro-Palestinian archeology” (proposed by Albright in the 30s). Dr. Canaan (including biblical Iron Age Israel) became just one (albeit very important) area of ​​research for her.

2nd half XX century turned out to be for A. b. no less tense in the political-religious. respect. The struggle between powers for influence in the Syro-Palestinian region has intensified due to the confrontation between Israel and the Arabs. Mr. you. The ability to build a system of national ideology for these states and justify the rights to settlement or control over territories often depended on the solution to issues of ancient history. Already in the 20-30s. XX century Jewish youth organizations in Palestine demanded that young settlers participate in archaeological work, believing that direct contact with antiquities would be one of the means of forming the nation’s identity. Later, Israeli archaeologists created their own system for studying the “biblical past” and aimed to fill the gaps in the history of the “age of conquest” of Canaan, the formation of monotheism, the era of the Second Temple and the Jewish wars. State support helped Israeli archeology in the 70-90s. not only withstand competition in field research, but also quickly create generalizing works that reconstruct the course of the historical process in the Syro-Palestine region in the era from the Bronze Age to the Roman Empire.

The results of the discoveries were used in ideological, political and religious fields. struggle. However, already in the 80s. Some history researchers Dr. In Israel, they started talking about the excessive one-sidedness of the “Israeli paradigm” in the study of the Holy Land. A number of scholars (F.Z. Davis, T.L. Thompson, N.P. Lemhe) accused them of “stealing history”, of trying to appropriate the “heritage of Palestine” belonging to Muslim Palestinians. They proceed from the fact that the texts of the OT date no earlier than the time of the Persians. captivity or the Hellenistic era and are therefore unsuitable for reconstructing the history of ancient Israel. Traditional A. b. They are accused of incorrect conclusions regarding the absence of cities in the center of Bronze Age Palestine, of the failure to develop criteria for distinguishing the cultures of the Canaanites and Jews, and even of the lack of archaeological evidence of the existence of the Canaanites, and of the impossibility of the existence of a state in Judea before the 7th century. BC due to its weak population, etc. This caused a reaction from the younger generation of Albright’s students, led by W. Dever, who countered the refusal to recognize the antiquities of the early Iron Age as “Israelite” with specific finds, such as inscriptions 9th century BC from Dan (Northern Israel), where the “House of David” and the “King of Israel” are mentioned, as well as the polyethnicity of the monuments of Palestine of the Iron Age era, attributing them to different cultures (Gezer - Canaanites, Izbet-Sartakh - proto-Israelites, Tell Mikna - Philistines, etc.).

Prospects for interaction between archeology and biblical studies

Archaeology is an independent field of study of monuments of the material culture of the past, closely connected with related disciplines (general archaeology, ethnography, sociology), with the natural and exact sciences. Unlike A. b. Syro-Palestinian archeology does not consider the history of ancient Israel as unique, Holy. history, but studies Canaan and Israel as part of the complex process of the development of life on Dr. East, as part of the “history of settlement”, trying to reveal the course of the real cultural process and the very phenomenon of culture in Palestine. Archeology, not having its own confessional interests, is capable of opening up new possibilities for studying the Bible as a historical source and is almost the only one capable of introducing independent sources and new data about the events described in the Bible into scientific circulation. Archaeological finds provide insight into the cultural background of Dr. East, in which, through comparative research, the features of Israel as a cultural and historical region are revealed.

Lit.: Macalister R. A. A Century of Excavations in Palestine. L., 1925; Watzinger C. Denkmäler Palaestinas. Lpz., 1933-1935. 2 Bde; Aharoni Y. The Present State of Syro-Palestinian Archaeology // The Haverford Symp. on Archeology and the Bible / Ed. E. Grant. New Haven, 1938. P. 1-46; idem. The Old Testament and the Archeology of Palestine // The Old Testament and Modern Study / Ed. H. R. Rowley. Oxf., 1951. P. 1-26; idem. The Archeology of Palestine, 1960; idem. The Impact of Archeology on Biblical Research // New Directions in Biblical Archaeology / Ed. D. N. Freedman, J. C. Greenfield. Garden City (N.Y.), 1969. P. 1-14; idem. The Archeology of the Land of Israel. Phil., 1979; Wright G. E. The Present State of Biblical Archaeology // The Study of the Bible Today and Tomorrow / Ed. H. R. Willoughby. Chicago, 1947. P. 74-97; idem. Archeology and Old Testament Studies // JBL. 1958. Vol. 77. P. 39-51; idem. Biblical Archeology Today // New Directions in Biblical Archaeology / Ed. D. N. Freedman, J. C. Greenfield. Garden City (N.Y.), 1969. P. 149-165; idem. Archaeological Method in Palestine // Eretz Israel. 1969. Vol. 9. P. 13-24; idem. The “New Archaeology” // BiblArch. 1974. Vol. 38. P. 104-115; Dever W. G. Archaeology and Biblical Studies: Retrospects and Prospects. Evanston, 1973; idem. Two Approaches to Archaeological Method - The Architectural and the Stratigraphic // Eretz Israel. 1974. P. 1-8; idem. Biblical Theology and Biblical Archaeology: An Appreciation of G. Ernest Wright // HarvTR. 1980. Vol. 73. P. 1-15; idem. Archaeological Method in Israel: A Continuing Revolution // BiblArch. 1980. Vol. 43. P. 40-48; idem. The Impact of the “New Archaeology” on Syro-Palestinian Archaeology // BASOR. 1981. Vol. 242. P. 14-29; idem. Syro-Palestinian and Biblical Archaeology // The Hebrew Bible and Its Modern Interpreters / Ed. D. A. Knight, G. M. Tucker. Phil., 1985. P. 31-74; Smith M. S. The Present State of Old Testament Studies // JBL. 1969. Vol. 88.Vol. 19-35; Lapp P. W. Biblical Archeology and History. Cleveland, 1969; Frank H. Th. Bible, Archeology and Faith. Nashville (N.Y.), 1971; Ben-Arieh Y. The Rediscovery of the Holy Land in the Nineteenth Century. Jerusalem, 1979; Harker R. Digging up the Bible Lands. 1972; Kroll G. Auf den Spuren Jesu. Stuttg., 19808; Toombs L. E. The Development of Palestinian Archeology as a Discipline // BiblArch. 1982. Vol. 45. P. 89-91; idem. A Perspective on the New Archaeology // Archaeology and Biblical Interpretation / Ed. L. G. Perdue, L. E. Toombs, G. L. Johnson. Atlanta, 1987. P. 41-52; Klaiber W. Archäologie und Neues Testament // ZNW. 1981. Bd. 72. S. 195-215; Lance H. D. The Old Testament and the Archaeologist. Phil., 1981; Moorey P. R. S. Excavation in Palestine. Grand Rapids., 1981; Sauer J. A. Syro-Palestinian Archaeology, History, and Biblical Studies // BiblArch. 1982. Vol. 45. P. 201-209; Bar-Yosef O., Mazar A. Israeli Archeology // World Archaeology. 1982. Vol. 13. P. 310-325; Silberman N. A. Digging for God and Country: Exploration, Archaeology, and the Secret Struggle for the Holy Land, 1798-1917. N.Y., 1982; Dornemann R. H. The Archeology of the Transjordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Milwaukee, 1983; Kempinski A. Syrien und Palästina (Kanaan) in der letzten Phase der Mittlebronze IIB-Zeit (1650-1570 v. Chr.). Wiesbaden, 1983; King P. J. American Archeology in the Mideast. Phil., 1983; Recent Archeology in the Land of Israel / Eds. H. Shanks, B. Mazar. Washington, 1984; Stern E. The Bible and Israeli Archaeology // Archeology and Biblical Interpretation / Ed. L. G. Perdue, L. E. Toombs, G. L. Johnson. Atlanta, 1987. P. 31-40; Mazar B. Archeology of the Land of the Bible: 10000 - 586 BCE. N.Y., 1988; Weippert H. Palästina in vorhellenistischer Zeit. Münch., 1988; Kuhnen H.-P. Palästina in griechisch-römischer Zeit. Münch., 1990; The Archeology of Ancient Israel / Ed. Ben-Tor A. New Haven, 1992; Belyaev L. A . Christian Antiquities. M., 1998; Deopik D. IN . Biblical archeology and the ancient history of the Holy Land: A course of lectures. M., 1998; Merpert N. I . Essays on the archeology of biblical countries. M., 2000; Bibliography: Thomsen P. Die Palästina-Literatur. Lpz.; B., 1908-1972. 7 Bde. [Bibliography 1878-1945]; R ö hrich R . Bibliotheca geographica Palaestinae. Jerusalem, 1963. [Bibliography. before 1878]; Vogel E. K. Bibliography of Holy Land Sites: Comp. in Honor of Dr. N. Glueck // Hebrew Union College Annual. 1971. Vol. 42. P. 1-96; Vogel E. K., Holtzclaw B. Bibliography of Holy Land Sites II // Ibid. 1981. Vol. 52. P. 1-91 [Bibliography. before 1980]; Elenchus Bibliographicus Biblicus R., 1968-1984. Vol. 49-65; Elenchus of Biblica. R., 1988-.; Intern. Zeitschriftenschau für Bibelwissenschaft und Grenzgebiete. Leiden, 1954-. Bd. 1-.; Atiqot: Engl. Ser. Jerusalem, 1965-.

L. A. Belyaev, N. Ya. Merpert