This is a courageous book. It describes and analyzes what all archaeologists, when investigating ancient Jerusalem, are talking about—but not writing. Galor starts where other professional publications never arrive, even the author's own earlier works. As the focus of the revised book is on the role of archaeology in the mine field of ethnic, political, and religious conflict, also this review keeps within the limits of archaeology and does not attempt to analyze political or religious questions. I discovered the book when preparing a new edition of a “Holy Land” course. It will be one of my standard readings to inform students about the political and religious setting of cultural heritage in the Israel–Palestine region, and to introduce them to the methods, ethics, and duties of archaeologists in general.
The book offers 181 pages of text, comfortably divided into 10 chapters. Several of the 40 photographs to key arguments were taken by the author herself, many are in color and good quality; only few appear too small. The 44 pages of notes are very informative and worth reading on their own; the bibliography is exhaustive; the index is a helpful instrument, to find, for example, particular sites. The book is nearly free of typos. Preface and introduction prepare the reader well for the chapters. Some chapters have repeated scenarios, but this happens in different contexts and only guides the reader better through the jungle of contradicting opinions on the argument.
The year of publication, 2017, coincides with the decision by the US government to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and thus to accept Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. Consequently, a discussion of the city's origins, development, and status is welcome and of greatest relevance for the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In November 2019, the approval of the Jerusalem cable car project, connecting Western Jerusalem across the Palestinian Silwan quarter with the Old City, increased once again the competing interests of archaeologists and the tourism industry. The integral conservation of a cultural heritage site is at risk, only to allow thousands of visitors comfortable access.
After her archaeological publications, Galor must have felt that some elementary documentation had been left unmentioned. In the preface, she lays open her professional background and personal roots. Her long experience in archaeological fieldwork in Israel and childhood in Jewish communities in Germany and France render all her observations far more authentic and reliable than any theoretical statement about envisaged objectivity. She provides a—necessary—terminology to clarify the differing values of key expressions (pp. xiii-xiv). The introduction presents the protagonists, or better, antagonists of Jerusalem's complicated history and cultural politics. Galor divides the history of research in Jerusalem into four stages, each related to a certain political background. This systematic overview facilitates the understanding but may be taken as a first step towards an interpretation, especially for the most recent stages in the state of Israel (pp. 5–7).
The author gives a precise short description of Jerusalem's topography, from the Bronze Age until today. My compliments for this nearly impossible enterprise—I would have liked to have read more about the ancient significance of world heritage monuments, and to learn more about some sites of central importance to the religious groups. But such digressions may have distracted the reader too much; one can consult the rich notes to continue in directions other than those presented in the book (pp. 15–27). What follows is an extensive review of the history of research. Highly interesting are the details pertaining to the time of the British mandate, with excavations and administrative activity under a Western or Christian perspective. Even more one can learn about two distinct phases of Israeli archaeology, the first during the early state of Israel from 1948 to 1967, and the second after the Six-Day War and the occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967 (pp. 28–41).
Under the title “from destruction to preservation” the author describes how much has been lost from the ancient and historical sites in Jerusalem. She describes the changing approaches to excavation and restoration over time. A major issue is the so-called “salvage-excavation,” the procedure to excavate before a planned modern construction will destroy or cover an ancient site. Galor is right with her critical view that the declared rescue emergency was often a pretext for intentional digs, because any (archaeological) monument underground is by far not as threatened as a (historical) building above ground. Important also is her additional remark that Jewish heritage can be found primarily in the ground, while above ground the historically later Christian and Islamic remains prevail. These “salvage-excavations” were and still are for Israel the only way to conform with UNESCO cultural heritage laws, when excavating in the occupied territories. I tend to defend the excavator who finds himself between state and monument: Isn't it better to save at least some of the evidence, than to insist on ethics and neglect scientific excavation and documentation? How can a dedicated archaeologist withstand the chance to get access to new material evidence, when state-run projects offer him this one-time opportunity? (See p. 216 n.1: Ronny Reich on the archaeologist's role). A well-documented excavation may be exploited for now; however, without any investigation, the persisting mystery around a site may be abused for religious and political reasons as well. An interesting case is the Zion Gate that played a role during the attacks of the Jewish Haganah forces in the 1940s, with bullet-marks left on the walls. The breaches caused by the fighting between Garibaldi's and French troops in the Aurelian walls of Rome immediately came to my mind. Historically unique post-antique and recent events that left traces on ancient buildings can be of greater importance than an ordinary original monument, as in this case for the young national identity of Israel (pp. 45–58).
Demolishing ruins without enough documentation for the sake of progress, as happened in the Jewish quarter, was a quite common practice until the 1960s in many countries. The author explains that the particularity consisted in the different measures applied to Jewish heritage, that was preserved, and other monuments, that were erased. The same tendency to favor Jewish heritage is also visible by the number and professional quality of museums with a “Jewish narrative” confronted with the lack of Islamic collections. No doubt, Jerusalem's cityscape is at risk of becoming a “city as museum for Jewish history” exclusively (pp. 59–82).
The scientific research done by international and over the last decades mostly by Israeli institutes unquestionably brought results of inestimable importance, as Galor affirms. The author does well to mention that while some of the Israeli research institutes have successfully managed to integrate Jerusalem's Jewish population in the academic world—they were pioneers in what we call today “community archaeology”—Palestinian institutes have begun to approach material remains of the past only since the 1990s, a late start for archaeology due to the multifold cultural and economic obstacles (pp. 83–99).
Every archaeologist will share Galor's argumentation regarding archaeological ethics. Her critique of the first tunnel excavations, that aimed on the discovery of the 1st or Solomon's temple (destroyed by Nabuchadnezzar in 586 BCE), and of the 2nd temple (built after 516 BCE, enlarged under Herod the Great, and destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE), is utterly justified. Likewise, the description of legal problems about trafficking and the provenance of artifacts can be fully approved. More complex is the question of the Muslim and Jewish burials threatened by both urban expansion and by excavation projects. The archaeologist's conflict is to decide what counts more: research, or respect for living communities’ religion and customs (pp. xii, 100–116).
The case studies are composed gradually and are easily comprehensible. I recommend to an unprepared reader that after the introduction, move right to the case studies, this is the best place to start. A good overview on the history of archaeology stands first, second is an updated debate on research, and the various conflicting issues close each chapter (pp. 119–62). Galor gives a clear guide to understand the way from Silwan to the “City of David,” analyzing religious and political motivations. Her straightforward statement about the exhibition, “no facts, but a strong presentation,” is absolutely convincing (pp. 119–31). With the Holy Sepulcher, a new scenery is introduced. After the question about the authenticity of the buildings, Galor describes the problems with restoration caused by the various Christian communities involved. The collaboration with archaeologists, the conflict with settlers, and the indifference of the state, again show the complexity of the situation in Jerusalem. Unexpected parallels to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict can be seen from a theoretical viewpoint. The author's accurate methodology throughout the book is proven by the analysis and results on a separate political-religious field (pp. 132–45). Between the extremes “the Jewish temple never existed” and the project to rebuild a new, the 3rd temple, the reader can hardly expect a solution. But Galor supplies many facts about the dispute, e.g., the errors during the 1967 Mughrabi quarter tunnel excavations, and the recent archaeological management progress of the Israelis. Nearly unbelievable for outsiders that the administrative supervision of the temple wall depends on the wall's layers, i.e., on its division into the estimated construction phases. The escalation of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict became visible, in a symptomatic way, by the recent Israeli salvage restorations of a gate and by the Waqf preparing for a new mosque without any excavation. Was the Sifting project only a political move by Israeli nationalists to blame the Palestinian authorities’ negligence? The project certainly offered great images for such a propaganda. Nevertheless, the material came from the famous temple mount, and I appreciate the attempt to save as much as possible, even if it concerned only small finds without stratigraphic context (pp. 146–62).
The book closes with an appeal for a better future. Not a desperate hope, Galor offers practical proposals to invest more in restoration and to do this with the best coordination (still impossible under the occupation status). She recommends delaying any new excavations for the moment, so as not to cause further conflict, as has happened so many times before.
A must read for all professionals engaged in the field of cultural heritage and for everybody interested in Jerusalem. I highly recommend the book also as a complementary reading for biblical scholars and archaeologists of the Middle East, and for everybody who wants to learn about the reasons for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
