What Is the Name of Our Discipline? Or, the Onomastic Stew That Is Archaeology in the Southern Levant

It is remarkable that despite the long history of archaeological exploration in the southern Levant, it is hard to identify a single, consistent, and certainly an uncontroversial name for this discipline, akin to Classical archaeology, for example. Disciplinary boundaries are always subjective, but in the southern Levant they are practically political. Much of the problem revolves around the name “biblical archaeology” and efforts, never entirely successful, to move away from it as the discipline has matured, not to mention the problem of how to represent the relevance of all periods studied (prehistoric to Medieval), geographical constraints, and close associations with disciplines like Jewish studies. The history of the region and its place as a crossroads of cultures and empires adds yet another dimension. All these are factors that pull on how one chooses to name (or not name) the discipline. Rather than suggest a definitive solution, this paper will explore the many ways of naming the discipline and the complexities, advantages and limitations of each, as well as how different names relate to different conceptions of the discipline and its priorities.

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