Digging Up Armageddon

Paperback

Status

Available

Call number

933.45

Genres

Religion & Spirituality

Collections

Physical Books, EvaStreet

Publication

Princeton University Press

Description

A vivid portrait of the early years of biblical archaeology from the acclaimed author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization CollapsedIn 1925, James Henry Breasted, famed Egyptologist and director of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, sent a team of archaeologists to the Holy Land to excavate the ancient site of Megiddo—Armageddon in the New Testament—which the Bible says was fortified by King Solomon. Their excavations made headlines around the world and shed light on one of the most legendary cities of biblical times, yet little has been written about what happened behind the scenes. Digging Up Armageddon brings to life one of the most important archaeological expeditions ever undertaken, describing the site and what was found there, including discoveries of gold and ivory, and providing an up-close look at the internal workings of a dig in the early years of biblical archaeology.The Chicago team left behind a trove of writings and correspondence going back more than three decades, from letters and cablegrams to cards, notes, and diaries. Eric Cline draws on these materials to paint a compelling portrait of a bygone age of archaeology. Cline masterfully sets the expedition against the backdrop of the Great Depression in America and the growing troubles and tensions in British Mandate Palestine. He gives readers an insider's perspective on the debates over what was uncovered at Megiddo, the infighting that roiled the expedition, and the stunning discoveries that transformed our understanding of the ancient world.Digging Up Armageddon is the enthralling story of an archaeological site in the interwar years and its remarkable place at the crossroads of history.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member rivkat

Archeologists: they’re just like us! Cline gives a history of the archeologists at Megiddo in Palestine, from the late nineteenth century to the thirties when the world war disrupted the dig. Megiddo has multiple cities on top of one another, so it’s archeologically rich, but this narrative

focuses on the personality conflicts among the white people at the dig. Turns out, they are just as petty and slacker-like as anyone else.

Show Less

2 more

LibraryThing member drmaf

Could just as easily been titled "The Real Archaeologists of Megiddo". The backstory behind Chicago University's 15 year excavation of the biblical city Megiddo (famously the alleged future site of Armageddon) in the 1920s and 30s, is a story as full of bitchiness, backstabbing, racism, adultery

and simple human failing as any soap opera. While the human drama dominates, in-between there is some fascinating archaeology, including the discovery of what were believed to be Solomon's stables, a massive water tunnel, hoards of gold and ivory and a number of palaces. While it does provide a rare and fascinating insight into what happened behind the scenes at a classical dig, eventually the catalogue of bitchiness gets tiresome and you really just want to know more about the history and archaeology they are finding. Luckily there's enough of that to make this a truly top-notch archaeological read.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Shrike58

Although this might be too much "human interest" and office politics for a lot of people, it's good to have a deep examination of the social dynamics, the ethnography if you will, of the early days of professional archaeology. If Cline piles the office politics and intrigue a little too high and

deep, that he worked for years on the Megiddo site himself probably fired his imagination, and allows him to credibly analyze the work of the University of Chicago expeditions in the 1920s and 1930s.

Show Less

Fewer