Archaeology, Arabia and the Bible

Catalog description

The Bible and archaeological research provide distinct, and sometimes conflicting, narratives of the history of ancient Israel, Palestine, Jordan and their surrounding neighbors in the ancient world. But how can archaeology help us understand the premodern development of the Middle East? In this seminar we will discuss archaeological research from the southern Levant including the northern Arabian Peninsula as it relates to the Bible and its ancient Near Eastern background. Moving chronologically from the Neolithic period into Roman Arabia, students will critically explore the relationship between biblical and archaeological scholarship and the impact of science on archaeology. Emphasis is placed on archaeological evidence, material culture, and historical sources for understanding the development of Abrahamic religions, pre-Islamic languages and culture, ancient Israelite funerary and household practices, pilgrimage and cults, Arab and Nabataean trade at the crossroads of the Arabian Peninsula, and the imperialism of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Rome each interacting within the southern Levant-northern Arabian political spheres.