Reading between the Lines: W. F. Albright "In" the Field and "On" the Field

Abstract

Albright is considered the father of biblical archaeology and the dean of American archaeologists working in the southern Levant from the 1920s through the 1960s. Yet his impact on archaeological methodology is negligible. Although he had little interest in developing new excavation techniques, he did have strong opinions about field methodology. A rich but overlooked source for these opinions is his numerous reviews of almost all the major excavation reports published in the mid-twentieth century. Using these reviews as a lens, we are able to gain insight into Albright's thinking not only on the practice of field archaeology but on the leading Near Eastern archaeologists of the time.