THE DARK SIDE

The British Mandatory period is “generally regarded as the formative ‘Golden Age’ of Archaeology in Palestine” (Gibson 1999: 115, with references). True, the period signalled unprecedented progress, but it was not very difficult to improve Ottoman Palestine. There remained many dark spots: ethnic groups were segregated; the bulk of archaeological research was carried out by foreigners; the Law of Antiquities was accomplished at the price of creating legal trade in antiquities (Kletter & Kersel, forthcoming) and each separate group was interested in “our past” (Jews in synagogues; Arabs in Islamic periods and so on) (Broshi 1986: 25–6; Gibson 1999; Ben-Arieh 1999a,b, 2001; Abu el-Haj 2002).

Early Israeli archaeology was very popular (Fig. 29).By 1958 the IES had 1,500 local members and 200 members abroad (BIES 16 (1951/52): 76). Hundreds were attending annual conferences: 300 in 1948, 500 in 1949, 800 in 1957 (BIES 15 (1949/50): 124, 19 (1960–61): 87; Alon 3 (1951): 57). The young were also interested (Yeivin 1960: 2; cf. Dever 1985: 43; Elon 1997: 41–3; Rosen, in press). IES members came, as a whole, from the upper classes. State leaders were enthusiastic about archaeology: President Ben-Zvi was a keen scholar and David Ben-Gurion chaired a Bible study circle.