Judean Desert from Masada
I recently spent a few days in Israel, which is a fascinating, complicated country in all sorts of ways. It was particularly interesting to see the role archaeology plays there, especially in contrast to the way it works in the US. Archaeology is much more visible and important in Israel for both historical and ideological reasons. I haven’t yet had enough time to come to any major conclusions about the implications of this, but I’m thinking about it and may discuss it in future posts. It was also interesting to compare the geography of Israel with that of the Southwestern US. Physically and climatically Israel is very similar to California. It has deserts, humid coastal lowlands, and forested hills, and as in most countries that have both desert and non-desert areas the vast majority of the population lives in the non-desert areas, even though the deserts make up a huge portion of the total land area. There is a common perception in the US that Israel is a desert country full of camels, but while there certainly are deserts and camels there the majority of the country’s population has little to no contact with them. Anyway, it was interesting to see a country so different from the US in some ways and yet so similar to it in others, and I’m still processing everything I saw and learned while I was there. I may or may not discuss Israel at length here, but having seen it will certainly inform my interpretations of archaeology and other issues in the American context from here on out.
Ramesses Gate, Jaffa
It’s my impression that, tho I tend to think of SW archaeology of recent years as excessively politicized, that the Middle East, not just Israel, has carried the political implications of field work to remarkable extremes. A relief to be spared at least some of it. Will be interested in how your observations are colored by your trip.
My impression is that some other Middle Eastern countries have indeed carried the politicization of archaeology to much greater extremes than Israel has, as have some European countries. Israel is an interesting case, however, since it’s an odd combination of the function of archaeology in nation-states (establishing the antiquity of the nation) and its function in settler states (understanding the pre-settlement past of the land). Both of these functions are political, but they carry very different implications. Israel, as the only settler nation-state, is probably unique in having both present at once. I probably should do a more detailed post on this at some point.