The Book of Joshua

Abstract

"No other biblical book has been as thoroughly reviewed by the archaeological community as Joshua. The reason for this interest is that no other book of the Bible appears to be as susceptible to archaeological investigation as the book of Joshua. The stories of the patriarchs provide few concrete details that Syro-Palestinian archaeologists could investigate; nor do the other Pentateuchal books, which are largely set outside of Canaan.' Joshua, on the other hand, describes events which seemingly occur in Late Bronze Age Canaan. Among its many stories is the destruction by Joshua and the Israelites of named cities. It seems obvious that the book of Joshua is an ideal candidate for archaeological investigation. Over the past decades connections between every city mentioned in the book and identifiable tells have been made.3 The arguments and conclusions have been made on the basis of biblical, archaeological, and geographical considerations"