Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel (Asor Books)

Archaeological data, when viewed objectively, provide independent witness to the religious practices of the ancient inhabitants of Syria-Palestine and help to identify the integral part that religion played in the social and political worlds of the Israelites and Canaanites. By applying current anthropological and sociological theory to ancient materials excavated over the past eighty years, the author offers a new way of looking at the archaeological data. 'Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel' summarizes and analyzes the archaeological remains from all known Middle Bronze through Iron Age temples, sanctuaries, and open-air shrines to reveal the ways in which social, economic and political relationships determined—and were shaped by—forms of religious organization.