AN EXCERPT from Nadia Abu El-Haj's Facts on the Ground has been posted on the blog of the University of Chicago Press. The excerpt deals with the views of the Israeli archaeologists Yigael Yadin and Yohanan Aharoni about archaeology and the biblical Conquest traditions, with special reference to the excavation of Hazor. Broadly speaking, the account of the views and disagreements of Yadin and Aharoni look right to me, but this isn't my area of specialty. If any archaeologists have comments, please send them to me. (Send them to jrd4 at st-andrews dot ac dot uk -- I haven't forgotten that I need to get the paleojudaica address fixed, but I'm unbelievably busy this week and I'm doing well to manage any blogging at all.)

(Heads up, Chuck Jones.)

UPDATE (2 December): More here.