Archaeological Work in Palestine from the Nineteenth century Problems of Motives and Scientific Standards

Abstract

The research aims to focus on the history of archaeological work in Palestine since the nineteenth century to  the present and monitors the religious and political background of foreign excavation missions, and their transformation into expansionist colonial motives. It also presents some excavation missions that adopted scientific standards in their archaeological work since the fifties. The research methodology is based on the descriptive and analytical approach to document archaeological excavations within time stages, and to study their real motives and effects. The research also used the comparative historical approach to measure the suitability of archaeological excavations in Palestine with the scientific standards of archaeological work in its objective and neutral form. The results showed the emergence of intellectual schools of thought after the1967 occupation contradicting the biblical archeological approach and adopting scientific and more objective-based approach in archaeological work in Palestine.