About the Author

Thomas W. Davis is Director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute. He has more than twenty-five years of archaeological experience, having excavated in Cyprus, Jordan, Egypt, and the United States.

Reviews

Thomas Daviss Shifting Sands: The Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology could not be more timely. The long-standing question of the historicity, the truth, of the Bible; understanding the role that it has played in the now-beleaguered Western cultural tradition; seeing how archaeology is being employed today in the Middle East by all parties to create a past (or invent it) that may well shape all our futures-these are burning issues. Daviss well told
story of archaeology in the region, his balanced judgments, and his cautious optimism for an honest dialogue between archaeology and biblical studies, free of theological and nationalistic biases, offer some
hope at a time when skepticism prevails. --William G. Dever, Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology emeritus, University of Arizona
"Davis perceptively traces the history of biblical archaeology and the issues underlying its rise and demise. In recent years self-criticism within the discipline has strengthened it to face the new challenges posed by historical minimalists. Davis lays out the current debate between minimalists and maximalists with tremendous clarity. This book is necessary reading for anyone interested in the discipline and will become a standard text."--James K. Hoffmeier,
Professor of Old Testament and Near Eastern Archaeology, Trinity International University
Lucid, systematic, comprehensive: an illuminating guide to the growth and practice of Syro-Palestinian archaeology since the 19th century and its complex relationship to the study of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Israelite history. --Peter Machinist, Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages, Harvard University
"Thomas Davis's Shifting Sands: The Rise and Fall of Biblical Archaeology could not be more timely. The long-standing question of the historicity, the truth, of the Bible; understanding the role that it has played in the now-beleaguered Western cultural tradition; seeing how archaeology is being employed today in the Middle East by all parties to create a past (or invent it) that may well shape all our futures-these are burning issues. Daviss well told
story of archaeology in the region, his balanced judgments, and his cautious optimism for an honest dialogue between archaeology and biblical studies, free of theological and nationalistic biases, offer some
hope at a time when skepticism prevails." --William G. Dever, Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology emeritus, University of Arizona
"Davis perceptively traces the history of biblical archaeology and the issues underlying its rise and demise. In recent years self-criticism within the discipline has strengthened it to face the new challenges posed by historical minimalists. Davis lays out the current debate between minimalists and maximalists with tremendous clarity. This book is necessary reading for anyone interested in the discipline and will become a standard text."--James K. Hoffmeier,
Professor of Old Testament and Near Eastern Archaeology, Trinity International University
"Lucid, systematic, comprehensive: an illuminating guide to the growth and practice of Syro-Palestinian archaeology since the 19th century and its complex relationship to the study of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Israelite history." --Peter Machinist, Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages, Harvard University