ARCH100 - Archaeology of Ancient Israel

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Nil

Unit rationale, description and aim

Archaeology graduates and professionals need to understand and address the crucial yet controversial role that archaeology plays in shaping our understanding of ancient Israel and especially the historicity of the Hebrew Bible. Arguments rage as archaeological excavation throughout the Near East continues to contribute to our understanding of the events, places, and characters mentioned in Ancient Near Eastern texts, inscriptions and the Hebrew Bible. This unit will focus on a broad integration of archaeological, literary and epigraphical data from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem (ca. 3300 BCE–CE 70) with the aim of evaluating this evidence and its relevance for understanding historical, political, socioeconomic and religious development in ancient Israel.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 – Explain and compare the major sources used to inform our understanding of ancient Israel (GA4, GA5)

LO2 – Critically analyse the impact of archaeological discoveries on our understanding of the historical and political narrative of ancient Israel (GA4, GA8)

LO3 - Evaluate and communicate the key influences on political, socioeconomic and religious development in ancient Israel (GA4, GA8, GA9)

Graduate attributes

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

Topics will include:

• Introduction to the archaeology of Israel. 
• Survey of relevant major excavations. 
• Review of the literary and epigraphical sources.  
• Explanation of the impact of archaeological discoveries on our understanding of the historical and political narrative of ancient Israel.
• Evaluation of the key influences on political, socioeconomic and religious development in ancient Israel. 
• Interpretation of biblical literature in light of the archaeological record. 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, or the equivalent of 12.5 hours per week for 12 weeks. The total includes lectures, tutorials and teacher-guided research. The remaining hours typically involve reading, preparation and submission of assessment tasks.  

The unit is offered fully online. Students will learn through formally structured and sequenced learning activities that support the achievement of the learning outcomes. Students will be asked to learn, analyse and evaluate new information, and then effectively communicate what you have learned. 

The learning activities enables students to acquire and assimilate knowledge of the archaeology of ancient Israel seeing where it complements and corrects the literary and epigraphical evidence, especially the Hebrew Bible, through modern interpretative approaches, supported by the presence and articulation of the lecturer and tutors. Students will be guided to develop the academic skills needed for further study of the archaeology of ancient Israel.  

ARCH100 treats students as active, adult learners who engages best when what they are learning is relevant and interesting and gives them the opportunity to be responsible for themselves. Active participation in this unit is essential. Learning is designed to be an engaging and supportive experience, which helps to develop analytical and communication skills. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for students to progressively demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome.  

Task 1 requires the student to briefly explain and compare the major types of sources used to inform our understanding of Ancient Israel. This task is designed to allow students to display achievement of Learning Outcome 1. It is a relatively low-risk assessment which will test interpretative skills, as well as academic writing techniques. Feedback provided from Task 1 will help with the other two assessment tasks. 

Task 2 invites you to critically analyse one significant impact of an archaeological discovery on our understanding of the historical and political narrative of Ancient Israel. This is to be demonstrated by analysing the archaeological discovery and comparing it with historical evidence. The principal focus of this task is to display achievement of Learning Outcomes 1 and 2. 

Task 3 asks the student to research and evaluate the key influences on either the political or socioeconomic or religious development of ancient Israel. The principal focus of this task is to display achievement of Learning Outcomes 2 and 3. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Beckman, G. M. & T. Lewis, Text, artifact, and image: Revealing ancient Israelite religion. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007. 

Borowski, Oded. Daily life in Biblical times. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003. 

Cline, Eric H. Biblical archaeology: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. 

Dever, William G. What did the biblical writers know, and when did they know it? What Archaeology can tell us about the reality of Ancient Israel. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001. 

Kitchen, K. A. On the reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids,: Eerdmans, 2003. 

Master, D., ed. THE OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLE AND ARCHAEOLOGY. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.