ABSTRACT
Time was when the fundamental narrative would have been drawn from the biblical account, with an appeal to archaeology for illumination and support alone. Biblical scholarship produced the history, and the subordinate role of the archaeologist may be judged from the observation that many archaeologists of Palestine were in fact biblical scholars by training. They turned to field work as an aid to their dominant interest. The point to be made is that, outside of the most extreme fundamentalist circles, interpretation of the Bible has always been influenced by external data, and that this often includes general changes in epistemology quite as much as single and specific discoveries. The historical narratives in the Hebrew Bible are concerned with a theological interpretation of significant events in the life of the nation and of particular individuals within it. Research strategies were devised which, it was hoped, would unearth precisely such evidence.
