Biblical Archaeology Course

Lesson 1 • History of the Discipline

Traces the field from 19th-century explorers to modern scientific practice. Shows how methodology evolved and why early assumptions were revised.

Lesson 2 • Defining Biblical Archaeology

Clarifies what biblical archaeology is, what it is not, and how it differs from general Near Eastern archaeology. Sets the conceptual boundary for the entire course.

Lesson 3 • Primary Sources and Evidence Types

Introduces the categories of evidence archaeologists use, from artifacts to texts. Students learn to distinguish material culture from literary sources.

Lesson 1 • Physical Geography of the Levant

Surveys major landforms, river systems, and ecological zones of the southern Levant. Provides the spatial context needed to locate and interpret sites.

Lesson 2 • Climate Patterns and Agricultural Cycles

Explains seasonal rainfall, drought cycles, and their effect on ancient subsistence. Connects environmental data to settlement patterns discussed in later chapters.

Lesson 3 • Trade Routes and Strategic Corridors

Identifies major overland and maritime routes crossing the biblical world. Shows how geography determined political and economic power.

Lesson 1 • Digital Documentation Technologies

Introduces total station surveying, photogrammetry, and GIS for site recording. Digital tools increase precision and enable post-excavation spatial analysis.

Lesson 2 • Artifact Recovery and Processing

Details field collection, wet sieving, and flotation for small finds and organic remains. Proper recovery prevents data loss before laboratory analysis.

Lesson 3 • Stratigraphic Excavation Principles

Explains the law of superposition, locus systems, and section drawing. Stratigraphy is the backbone of chronological interpretation at any site.

Lesson 4 • Post-Excavation Laboratory Procedures

Covers artifact washing, cataloging, and preliminary analysis workflows. Connects field recovery to the interpretive reports produced after excavation.

Lesson 1 • Radiocarbon Dating

Covers the physics of carbon-14 decay, sample selection, and calibration curves. Students learn to read radiocarbon reports and assess their reliability.

Lesson 2 • Relative Dating Techniques

Explains stratigraphy, typology, and seriation as tools for establishing sequence without calendar dates. Relative dating underpins all chronological frameworks.

Lesson 3 • Archaeomagnetic and Other Physical Methods

Introduces thermoluminescence, optically stimulated luminescence, and archaeomagnetic dating. Expands the student's toolkit beyond radiocarbon for burned or ceramic contexts.

Lesson 4 • Ceramic Chronology of the Levant

Surveys pottery sequences from the Bronze Age through the Iron Age and later periods. Ceramics are the most common dating tool at biblical sites.

Lesson 1 • Late Bronze Age Collapse

Investigates destruction layers, population movements, and systemic collapse at the end of the Bronze Age. Evaluates competing explanations for widespread site abandonment.

Lesson 2 • Middle Bronze Age and the Hyksos

Examines Middle Bronze fortifications, burial practices, and Hyksos migration into Egypt. Connects archaeological data to possible Joseph-period contexts.

Lesson 3 • Late Bronze Age Canaanite Society

Analyzes palace economies, international diplomacy, and religious practices of Late Bronze Canaan. Provides context for the Exodus and conquest narratives.

Lesson 1 • Babylonian Conquest and Exile

Documents destruction layers, population decline, and Babylonian material culture in Judah. Evaluates the archaeological reality of the exile period.

Lesson 2 • United Monarchy Archaeological Debate

Presents the maximalist-minimalist debate over Solomonic-period monumental architecture. Students assess the evidence for a 10th-century BCE state.

Lesson 3 • Iron Age I and Israelite Origins

Examines collared-rim storage jars, four-room houses, and highland settlement patterns as markers of early Israel. Evaluates models of Israelite emergence.

Lesson 4 • Northern Kingdom Material Culture

Covers Omride building programs, Samaria ivories, and Assyrian destruction layers in Israel. Links material evidence to the books of Kings and Amos.

Lesson 1 • Seals, Bullae, and Personal Names

Studies seal impressions and clay bullae as evidence of individuals named in biblical texts. Evaluates authenticity issues in the antiquities market.

Lesson 2 • Major Hebrew and Aramaic Inscriptions

Analyzes key inscriptions including the Siloam Tunnel text, Tel Dan stele, and Mesha stele. Each inscription is evaluated for historical and linguistic content.

Lesson 3 • Introduction to Ancient Scripts

Surveys Proto-Sinaitic, Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek scripts used in the biblical world. Provides the paleographic foundation for reading inscriptions.

Lesson 4 • Ostraca and Administrative Texts

Examines ink-on-pottery texts from Samaria, Lachish, and Arad as evidence of daily administration. Shows how ostraca illuminate literacy and bureaucracy.

Lesson 1 • Jerusalem in the First Century

Covers the Upper City mansions, Siloam Pool, and Temple Mount remains as evidence of urban Jerusalem. Connects excavation data to the Passion narrative setting.

Lesson 2 • Early Christian Archaeological Evidence

Surveys house churches, early Christian symbols, and martyrium sites in the Roman East. Evaluates the material evidence for the earliest Christian communities.

Lesson 3 • Galilean Villages and Daily Life

Reconstructs village economy, household archaeology, and synagogue architecture in first-century Galilee. Provides the social context for the ministry of Jesus.

Lesson 4 • Jewish Sectarianism and Material Culture

Examines stone vessels, miqva'ot, and burial practices as markers of Jewish purity concerns. Connects material evidence to Pharisaic, Essene, and Sadducean groups.