Clearing the ground: William G. Dever and the reorientation of Palestinian archaeology

© 2014 Dr. Malcolm Edward AndersonA creditable approach to the history of American 'biblical archaeology' is to trace it through a trajectory that links the scholarly lineage of William F. Albright, G. Ernest Wright, and William G. Dever. The substance of this dissertation is to outline a focused, intellectual biography of Dever, especially in the period after the deaths of both Albright (1971) and Wright (1974). The past forty years has been a period in which Dever, as the 'last' in a tradition, has commented extensively and forcefully on the state of archaeology in the Land of Israel, including, its relationship to the Hebrew bible. But so far as it concerns his archaeological career, the focus of this study pertains more narrowly to his plan for the reorientation of Palestinian archaeology, and his stratagem for a solution to the 'failure' of classic biblical archaeology. These objectives are pursued through a closer look at his earlier writings on the need and nature of such a reorientation (Chapter 4); by an investigation into a period of heightened controversy with so-called 'revisionists' or 'skeptics' (Chapter 5); and an examination of the impact of American 'new archaeology' upon Dever's thinking (Chapter 6). The chapters that cover these themes are preceded by a sample of thinking, both popular and scholarly, on the problem of making sense of two sources for putative historicity, the biblical text and archaeological evidence (Chapter 1). Following this, a brief intellectual biography of Dever is presented (Chapter 2), and then a chapter on the problem of finding both development and coherence in the Dever corpus (Chapter 3). The dissertation concludes with an explanation of one particular inconsistency in Dever's thinking: why one reign unattested outside the biblical corpus is fiercely defended, while many other aspects of the biblical record are dismissed trenchantly as mythical. Finally, some reflections on Dever's career and his critique of classic biblical archaeology are presented (Chapter 7). The sources for this study are principally drawn from the substantial Dever corpus, now estimated at around four hundred publications stretching over half a century. This task, while narrowly focussed, is essential for any future biography of the man: in view of the use secondary research has made of this corpus, it is crucial to gain, at the outset, a clear and cogent picture of Dever's thinking