War and tourism make archaeology in the Holy Land a challenging field of study to say the least. Today, we conclude our Geopolitics of Archaeology series with a conversation about the complicated and recent history of the Holy Land.

A simple look at the number of players who’ve been in power in the Holy Land gives you some idea of how complicated and heated the debate over archaeology has been in this historical region. There are religious economic and political factors involved.

There are religious economic and political factors involved. Up to the 1970s, Biblical Scholar and archaeologist, William Albright, was in charge of a biblical archaeology theory that’s been knocked down in recent years. We’ll discuss Holy Land Archaeology today with Sandra Scham, Lecturer of Anthropology at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and a Contributing Editor to Archaeology Magazine.

Sandra is also Editor of the forthcoming volume Forgotten Past: Reader in the Archaeology of Palestine by Palestinians.

Sandra has taught at Jerusalem University College and served as Associate Curator at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem.  She’s excavated at Teleilat Ghassul and Wadi Adrafa in Jordan and Caesarea in Israel and coordinates an academic exchange project on Heritage Conservation in Israel and Palestine at the Wye River Plantation Conference Center for the U.S. State Department.

Jerome asked Sandra about the complicated modern history of Biblical Archaeology…