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If I forget thee, O Jerusalem: archaeology, religious commemoration and nationalism in a disputed city, 1801–2001
Author(s) -
Silberman Neil Asher
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/1469-8219.00029
Subject(s) - ideology , politics , nationalism , settlement (finance) , history , trace (psycholinguistics) , interpretation (philosophy) , character (mathematics) , archaeology , antique , sociology , ancient history , law , philosophy , political science , linguistics , geometry , mathematics , world wide web , computer science , payment
The pace and agenda of archaeology in Jerusalem has always been influenced by unspoken ideological and political factors. This article attempts to trace the ideological and political contexts in which archaeological exploration and interpretation has been carried out during the last 200 years. Beginning with a brief description of the Solomonic obsessions of the late antique and medieval rulers of Jerusalem, the article describes how, over the centuries, the identification of certain monuments with the biblical events and personalities had far‐reaching effects on the character of subsequent archaeological work. The article then traces the course of modern archaeological exploration in the city from the Late Ottoman Period through the end of the twentieth century. The article concludes with an examination and analysis of the politics of archaeology in Jerusalem in the current Israeli–Palestinian conflict over Jerusalem's presumed final status in a peace settlement.