by Tammi
J. Schneider, Claremont Graduate University
member, ASOR Lecture Series committee
The American
Schools of Oriental Research's (ASOR) public lecture series committee,
chaired by Ann Killebrew, finished the academic year with a flourish
by holding "The Great Debate" on June
1 at UCLA. The event featured Larry Stager of Harvard University
debating Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University over the controversy
surrounding tenth-century "Solomonic" architecture in ancient
Israel. While the topic has appeared in the literature for a number
of years, this event was different in that it was geared to the
general public. Recent articles in Science magazine announcing
Amihai Mazar's C-14 dates at Tel Rehov added timeliness to the
event.
The Great
Debate was part of series of events co-sponsored this year by
ASOR as the result of a newly formed committee on public lectures.
The mandate for the committee, in fulfillment of part of ASOR's
mission statement, is to raise ASOR's profile by holding a series
of public lectures throughout the country. The first lectures
were held at the Carlos Museum on the campus of Emory University,
thanks to the help of Oded Borowski. Tammi J. Schneider organized
another lecture at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA
by Jonathan Reed on "Excavating Jesus: Archaeology and the New
Testament." Several events are in the planning stages for next
year.
A crowd of
over three hundred people attended the Great Debate. Opening the
session, Tammi Schneider laid out the basic issues in the discussion
and the sources of information available to us. Larry Stager followed
with a critique of Finkelstein's efforts to destroy the traditional
chronology by highlighting the damage such an approach does to
the our present understanding of the chronology of Iron Age Israel
and the gaps that would ensue based on his theory. Finkelstein
countered by dismantling the basis for the connection between
the gates of Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer with Solomon and introducing
his low chronology as a replacement. The second part of the afternoon's
event featured each debater posing questions to the other, who
had three minutes to respond. Issues raised concern C-14 dating
and the labs used, the role of Shishak and Hazael and what one
can know of their destructions archaeologically, and red-burnished
pottery. Each participant then had fifteen minutes to sum up their
position before the audience posed questions.
The winner
of the debate was clearly the audience. Finkelstein and Stager
gave it their all, both in terms of scholarship and showmanship.
ASOR also came out ahead, having presented some of its finest
scholarship to the public and forging important relationships
that we hope will continue with the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
and the general public.
|
