ABSTRACT
The official narrative posits a clear distinction between Israelites and Canaanites, painting Israelites as heroes and Canaanites as enemies that existed only to be vanquished to fulfill God’s will. The modern-day inheritors of the Israelite legacy are understood to be the Jews, on the unspoken assumption that Jewish identity has been basically constant for 3,000 years. The alternative narrative is provided by Emek Shaveh, an Israeli NGO that monitors archaeological work in Israel. In 2011, it published a visitors’ guide to the City of David co-written by Tel Aviv University archaeology professor Raphael Greenberg, who has actively worked to change the City of David narrative. The debate over whether the City of David should be excavated to find evidence of an ancient Jewish past or whether it should be excavated to learn more about the past to which all current inhabitants of the area belong is a contemporary phase of the debates this project has explored.
