Biblical Archaeology Society: Difference between revisions

== Activities ==

 

The Biblical Archaeology Society is the publisher of its own magazine, ''[[Biblical Archaeology Review]]'', which has generated extensive public following.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Levy |first=Thomas Evan |title=Historical Biblical Archaeology and The Future: The New Pragmatism |publisher=Routledge |year=2016}}</ref> The ''Review'' is both nonsectarian and ‘non-academic’ and as such, has been attributed with setting the agenda for discourse surrounding issues relating to both the Bible and archaeological matters.<ref name=":4" /> Shanks declared that he saw an overall failure in experts publishing the results of their excavations, and as such, sought to remedy this through the creation of the ''Review''.<ref name=":0" /> Contributors to the ''Biblical Archaeology Review'' are that of scholars, researchers and archaeological experts.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Bronder-Designer |first=Robert |title=James, Brother of Jesus; The Forgery Trial of The Century |year=2012}}</ref> The Society’s review has been suggested to have ‘a kind of de facto control’ over mainstream media regarding biblical archaeological endeavours and as such, is considered ‘the gate keeper’ for most major news outlets.<ref name=":3" />

 

The Biblical Archaeology Society has produced an additional two smaller publications, publishing the ''Bible Review'' from 1985 to 2005 and ''Archaeology Odyssey'' from 1998 to 2006.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Library|url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/library/|access-date=2022-02-07|website=Biblical Archaeology Society|language=en}}</ref> The Society also publishes the daily blog [https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/blog/ Bible History Daily] and hosts lecture series and site tours with prominent scholars in the fields of archaeology and biblical studies.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Travel|url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/travel/|access-date=2022-02-07|website=Biblical Archaeology Society|language=en}}</ref>

 

The Biblical Archaeology Society is the host of annual seminars and meetings in which contemporary archaeological and biblical matters are discussed.<ref name=":4" /> In doing this, they compete with other archaeological conferences and organisations, such as [[American Society of Overseas Research]] and the Society for Biblical Literature.<ref name=":4" />

 

The Biblical Archeology Society adopts a historical archaeology approach to their excavations, whereby their researchers seek to understand the relationship between sacred or ancient texts and the geography in which they are found.<ref name=":4" /> In 2010, The Biblical Archaeology Society published an article, ''Dig Issue,'' which listed upcoming excavation projects in Israel and Jordan for which volunteers were welcome to join.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Archaeological Dig Excavation Opportunities and Scholarships for Volunteers |url=https://www.newswire.com/news/archaeological-dig-excavation-opportunities-and-scholarships-for-23795 |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=www.newswire.com |language=en}}</ref> Additionally, the Society offers an ongoing Scholarship Program which provides funding for individuals to participate in excavations.<ref name=":6" />

 

[[File:JamesOssuary-1-.jpg|thumb|The limestone ossuary attributed to James, the brother of Jesus.]]

 

The Biblical Archaeology Society and its founder Hershel Shanks were first involved in a dispute of authenticity after the discovery of an ivory pomegranate with the inscription “Holy to the priests, belonging to the Temple of Yahweh”, said to be the only remaining artefact from the First Temple of Solomon.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal |last=Brodie |first=Neil |date=2011 |title=Congenial bedfellows? The academy and the antiquities trade. |journal=Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice |volume=27}}</ref> After being purchased by academic epigraphist Andre Lemaire in a Jerusalem antiquities dealership for US$3,000, Shanks provided an accessible account of the pomegranate's discovery in the ''Biblical Archaeology Review.''<ref name=":11" /> The pomegranate went on to sell for an inflated price, to which Shanks claimed credit due to its promotion in the Biblical Archaeology Society’s publication.<ref name=":11" /> However, the [[Israel Antiquities Authority]] later deemed the inscription a fake and charged Lemaire with forgery.<ref name=":11" />

 

The Biblical Archaeology Society was subsequently involved in a global scandal, again regarding matters of authenticity surrounding items authenticated by Lemaire.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Govier |first=Gordon |title=Biblical Archaeology's Dusty Little Secret |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/october/33.36.html |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=ChristianityToday.com |language=en}}</ref> In May 2002, Tel Aviv engineer [[Oded Golan]] purchased a limestone ossuary (burial box) from the 1st century, adorned with the Aramaic inscription “James, Son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus”.<ref name=":11" /> Realising the potential significance of the piece, Golan invited Lemaire to examine the ossuary’s inscriptions.<ref name=":12" /> Lemaire and the Biblical Archaeology Society presented the ossuary to the Geological Survey of Israel for analysis, to which they found no reason to doubt its authenticity.<ref name=":12" /> Subsequently, in 2002 Lemaire published an ‘exclusive’ article on his find in an issue of the ''[[Biblical Archaeology Review]].''<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":11" /> The following day, the Ossuary has cause a media frenzy and featured in major newspapers around the world, including the [[The New York Times|New York Times]] and [[The Washington Post]].<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":12" /> Subsequently, the Society collaborated with the [[Royal Ontario Museum]] to exhibit the ossuary, attracting 95,000 visitors and generating Shanks alone US$28,000.<ref name=":11" /> The Biblical Archaeology Society subsequently published a book and sold the television rights of the Ossuary, generating a documentary that was later released on DVD.<ref name=":11" /> The Society was suggested to have commercially exploited the object, without technically owning the Ossuary.<ref name=":12" />

 

The box’s revelation ignited divisive opinions amongst scholars, with some archaeologists promptly and publicly questioned the authenticity of the ossuary due to its purchasing from an antiquities dealer, rather than being excavated under controlled conditions by professional archaeologists.<ref name=":12" /> Again, the Israel Antiquities Authority deemed the Ossuary to be a forgery and that the inscription was a modern addition to an ancient limestone casket.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |last=Burleigh |first=Nina |date=2012 |title=Faith, forgery, science -- and the James Ossuary |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2012-mar-25-la-oe-burleigh-bible-ossuary-forgery-20120325-story.html |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The Authority suggested that the discovery was “the fraud of the century”.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Burleigh |first=Nina |title=Hoaxes From The Holy Land |work=LA Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/la-oe-burleigh29-2008nov29-story.html}}</ref> The Ossuary’s original dealer was subsequently charged, and later acquitted, for operating an international forgery ring and for faking the inscription in question.<ref name=":13" /> It has been suggested that his acquittal was a matter of an underfunded prosecution and an in-comprehensive investigation, with the judge conceding that the trial did not necessarily prove the objects authenticity.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":11" /> Shanks and his society were deemed ‘the loudest supporters’ of the object, particularly evident in their continual public persecution of scholars who deem the Ossuary to be forgery.<ref name=":13" /> Shanks maintains that scepticism surrounding the ossuary's authenticity can be deduced to two scientists on the committee for the Israeli Antiquities Authority, Professor Yuval Goren and Dr Avner Ayalon.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shanks |first=Hershel |date=2005 |title=The Editor of 'BAR' Responds |journal=Near Eastern Archaeology |volume=68}}</ref> Regarding the Biblical Archaeology Society’s ongoing insistence of the Ossuary's authenticity, some scholars have suggested at the financial motives and public exposure gained through its legitimacy.<ref name=":11" /> The authenticity of the ossuary remains undetermined, as whilst the individuals involved were acquitted, the judge refused to rule on the alleged forgery itself.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Burleigh |first=Nina |date=2013-01-29 |title=A Feud Between Biblical Archaeologists Goes to Court |language=en-US |work=Time |url=https://world.time.com/2013/01/29/a-feud-between-biblical-archaeologists-goes-to-court/ |access-date=2022-05-10 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>

 

Whilst the Biblical Archaeology Society was decisive in the releasing of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], in August 2000,<ref>{{Cite web |date=1993-04-29 |title=Two Thousand Years Later - Scrolls from the Dead Sea {{!}} Exhibitions - Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/scrolls/today.html |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=www.loc.gov}}</ref> Israeli scholar [[Elisha Qimron]] brought forth a suit against them for infringement of copyright, material and moral, in their publication of ''A Facsimile of the Dead Sea Scrolls.''<ref name=":14">{{Cite journal |last=Lim |first=Timothy |date=2002 |title=Intellectual Property and The Dead Sea Scrolls |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/15685170260295481. |journal=Dead Sea Discoveries : a Journal of Current Research on the Scrolls and Related Literature |volume=9}}</ref> Qimron objected to both the publication of a working composite scroll text ‘MMT’ of which for years he had been actively engaged in translating, in addition to the publications forward whereby Shanks alluded to the preventative and controlling behaviours of interested scholars.<ref name=":15">{{Cite news |date=2022 |title=ISRAELI COURT SAID TO BLOCK SCROLLS PHOTOS |work=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/01/23/israeli-court-said-to-block-scrolls-photos/5558fe9d-5ba9-4200-b13c-685ca2aaf379/}}</ref> Shanks and the Biblical Archaeology Society refuted this claim, suggesting that the work was published in an attempt to illuminate ‘how hard the establishment was working to keep things to themselves.’<ref name=":14" /> This argument was quashed by the District Court in that they suggested Shanks had confused ‘the right to research the Scroll… with the taking of another person’s work.’<ref name=":14" /> Shanks, through the Biblical Archeology society had been selling the volumes of photos for $195 a set.<ref name=":15" /> The court ruled that the Biblical Archaeology Society was to halt distribution of its two-volume compilation of Dead Sea Scroll photographs in Israel.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":16">{{Cite news |last=Curtius |first=Mary |date=2000 |title=Sea Scrolls Scholar Wins Copyright Case |work=LA Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-aug-31-mn-13296-story.html}}</ref> The Judge concluded that Qimron did in fact have copyright to his work due to the necessary assembly of ‘MMT’ depending on linguistic research, consisting original creation.<ref name=":16" /><ref name=":14" /> Subsequently, Shanks and the Biblical Archeology Society were sued over copyright violation and liable for $100,000 in damages due to loss of publishing royalties, loss of income, mental anguish and injury to Qimron’s reputation.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":15" />