WHAT IS BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY?

Biblical Archaeology is the study of archaeological sites in the land of Israel. Its main task is to explore history and culture through excavation, collection and interpretation of ancient settlements and its artifacts, architecture, and material remains. •It is concerned with the recovery and interpretation of artifacts from the past. Through careful study of these material remains, archaeologists are able to learn a great deal about the peoples and cultures of ancient times.

What can it tell you about the Bible?
• •
•Archaeology can illuminate the culture and historical setting of the world of ancient Israel. • •

Archaeology can give us information about the cultural, geographic, and material setting in which the books of the Bible were written down and recorded.  Archaeology can help us understand the environment and the life settings of these texts.

 Learning about ancient peoples and cultures from their physical remains is not easy and many misinterpretations may follow.
 

What doesn't it tell you about the Bible?

Archaeology cannot tell you what to believe or what not to believe.   
Even if archaeologists find materials that collaborate the events referred to in the Bible, the archaeological evidence is subject to interpretation and much archaeological debate. For instance, finding a building from the time of King Solomon does not prove his existence.  On the other hand, not finding a city or place mentioned in the Bible does not mean that it did not exist nor does it mean that the event did not happen.

"What archaeology cannot do, however, even at its best, is to “prove” the Bible in any sense—either by demonstrating that the events claimed by the biblical writers as central to the “salvation history” actually happened, much less by validating the theological inferences that are drawn from these events, whether ancient or modern. The notion that historical proofs can confirm, or even enhance, religious faith is a contradiction in terms."

William G. Dever in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Freedman, David Noel, ed.,  (New York: Doubleday) 1997, 1992 CD Rom Version.