In this iconoclastic and provocative work, leading scholars Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman draw on recent archaeological research to present a dramatically revised portrait of ancient Israel and its neighbors. They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon suggests that many of the most famous stories in the Bible -- the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua's conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon's vast empire -- reflect the world of the later authors rather than actual historical facts.

Challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures and marshaling the latest archaeological evidence to support its new vision of ancient Israel, The Bible Unearthed offers a fascinating and controversial perspective on when and why the Bible was written and why it possesses such great spiritual and emotional power today.

Megiddo, a key site for the study of the Bronze and Iron Ages, is unique among the sites of the ancient Near East. Featuring remains from over 30 settlements, Megiddo is strategically located on the main highway of the Old World, leading from Egypt to Mesopotamia. It is mentioned in important verses in the Bible and in Egyptian and Assyrian texts. Beyond archaeology, it is of great significance to the fields of the history of ancient Israel and biblical studies. The Tel Aviv University excavations at the site aim, through the implementation of modern methods, to achieve a full stratigraphic-chronological sequence, while placing special emphasis on studies related to the exact and life sciences. The three volumes of Megiddo VI: The 2010–2014 Seasons display a rich set of finds, spanning about 1,000 years of history from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age IIB. They include a large number of studies in archaeology and the exact and life sciences, including topics such as radiocarbon dating, geoarchaeology, paleomagnetism, and metallurgy.

Three decades of dialogue, discussion, and debate within the interrelated disciplines of Syro-Palestinian archaeology, ancient Israelite history, and Hebrew Bible over the question of the relevance of the biblical account for reconstructing early Israels history have created the need for a balanced articulation of the issues and their prospective resolutions. This book brings together for the first time and under one cover, a currently emerging centrist paradigm as articulated by two leading figures in the fields of early Israelite archaeology and history. Although Finkelstein and Mazar advocate distinct views of early Israels history, they nevertheless share the position that the material cultural data, the biblical traditions, and the ancient Near Eastern written sources are all significantly relevant to the historical quest for Iron Age Israel. The results of their research are featured in accessible, parallel syntheses of the historical reconstruction of early Israel that facilitate comparison and contrast of their respective interpretations. The historical essays presented here are based on invited lectures delivered in October of 2005 at the Sixth Biennial Colloquium of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism in Detroit, Michigan.