identified more than 200 biblical and other ancient sites. The first actual clearance of ruins, however, was undertaken in 1850 by a French consular official, Felicien de Saulcy, who brought to light the so-called tombs of the kings in Jerusalem. The real archaeological turning point came with the great Survey of Western Palestine, which was sponsored between 1872 and 1878 by the British Palestine Exploration Society (PEF) and produced the first modern, reasonably accurate surveys and maps of western Palestine. The PEF also sponsored the first systematic below-ground explorations in Palestine, the soundings of C.W. Wilson and C. Warren near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The PEF’s journal, the Palestine Exploration Quarterly, began publication in 1867 and is still published today. Other foreign archaeological societies for exploration and fieldwork in Palestine were founded at this time by the Americans (1870), Germans (1878), and French (1892).

The first real excavations, however, were those of the legendary sir william matthew flinders petrie at Tell el-Hesi in southern Palestine in 1890 (followed by the American F.J. Bliss in 1893). It was Petrie, long experienced in archaeology in Egypt, who intuitively laid the two foundations for all subsequent fieldwork: (1) stratigraphic excavation of multilayered tells or mounds and (2) comparative ceramic typology and chronology.

Twentieth-Century Palestinian Archaeology until World War I

The early twentieth century saw a flurry of large-scale archaeological projects in Palestine under several auspices. Excavations included those of Britain at Gezer (1902–1909); the United States at Samaria (1908–1910); and Germany at Ta’anach (1902–1904), Megiddo (1903–1905), Jericho (1907–1909), and Galilean synagogues (1905). Most of these excavations were amateurish when judged by more modern standards. Furthermore, results were often compromised by the typical combination of the excavators’ colonialism, nationalism, adventurism, and above all by the “biblicism” that has been irresistible in this branch of archaeology. Only george reisner’s work at Samaria in 1908–1910 rose above these limitations, but he was primarily an Egyptian archaeologist and the delay in the publication of his final report volumes until 1924 blunted his impact on the field. A final limitation on the development of Palestinian archaeology was the inefficient and even corrupt administration of antiquities and sites under Ottoman rule.

Archaeology from 1918 until 1948

The years between the two world wars constituted a “golden age” for Palestinian archaeology. The British Mandate government of 1918 established a modern Department of Antiquities and new antiquities laws. The department’s journal, the Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine, was published until 1950. The British themselves, often under the auspices of the PEF and the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, sponsored significant work at Ashkelon (1920–1922), Jerash in Transjordan (1923–1928), and the Carmel prehistoric caves (1925–1934) as well as work by Petrie at sites in the Gaza area (1926–1934), Jericho (1930– 1936), Samaria (1930–1935), Lachish (1932– 1938), Kh. el-Mefar (1935–1938), and other sites. In 1938, the Department of Antiquities, along with its collections and library, moved to a magnificent new facility, the Palestine Archaeological Museum, built in Jerusalem with funds from the Rockefeller family in the United States.

U.S. archaeology also flourished, largely under the aegis of the american school of oriental research, founded in 1900 and directed from 1920 to 1929 and 1933 to 1936 by william foxwell albright, the leading U.S. archaeologist of his era and considered by many the father of “biblical archaeology.” Among the U.S. excavations were those by Albright himself at Tell el-Fûl (1922), Bethel (1934), and especially Tell Beit Mirsim (1926–1934); by others at Tell en-Nasbeh (1926–1935) and Beth-shemesh (1928–1933); and Nelson Glueck’s explorations in Transjordan (1932–1947). Parallel to “the Albright school” and its biblical orientation were large projects undertaken by secular U.S. institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania at Beth-Shan (1921–1933), the oriental institute of the university of chicago at