School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemA forgotten era in archaeology: the research conducted by early British travellers in Palestine from c.1670 to 1825( 1995)Most modem histories of Palestinian archaeology claim that the earliest work of any real archaeological significance was that conducted by the Palestine Exploration Fund in the 18608 or even that by Flinders Petrie at Tell el-Hesi in 1890. Although they generally date the advent of archaeology in Palestine to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the discussion of the research which took place prior to the 1860s is confined to published sources and, moreover, retains a superficiality which allows little or no appreciation of the archaeological merit deserved by, at least, some individuals. The mention of travellers visiting Palestine prior to the turn of the eighteenth century is rare and, when it occurs, scant. The published texts written by individual British travellers visiting Palestine between c.1670 and 1825, as well as their manuscript journals, letters and site plans, provide the primary data on which the present study is based. The abundance of this material made it necessary to be selective. Thus, the core of the thesis is composed of a detailed examination of the commentaries made by individual travellers on a few key sites. From this an evaluation of the methodology applied by these individuals in interpreting the archaeological remains and an objective analysis of their standards of research is derived. In studying the various reports and associated texts it became apparent that, for each individual traveller, one or more main motives inspiring their travels in Palestine could be discerned. The writer considered it would be both interesting and of academic value to establish whether motive and standard of research bore any correlation. Thus, each traveller is allocated to a particular group based upon the motive/s identified and the final analysis shows that the most significant archaeological research was in fact carried out by those travellers for whom the opportunity to conduct such research constituted a prime motive for their travels in Palestine. The greatest value of the present study is that it clearly demonstrates that intelligent archaeological research was conducted by early British travellers visiting Palestine between c.1670 and 1825 and that this research produced some significant original results.