About this document
About this document This review looks at three sites featuring Megiddo: one from the Institute of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University (The Megiddo Expedition) and two from Pennsylvania State University (The Megiddo Expedition 98 and The Megiddo Expedition).
A Web site for the Megiddo excavation, including images, articles, information about joining the excavation, the history of the excavation, and the history of Megiddo: http://www.tau.ac.il:81/~archpubs/megiddo/index.html
Authors: None listed. However, the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University and Pennsylvania State University conduct the Megiddo Expedition. Consortium institutions include the University of Bern, Loyola Marymount University, the University of Rostock, the University of Southern California, and Vanderbilt University. Israel Finkelstein and David Ussishkin of Tel Aviv University and Baruch Halpern of the Pennsylvania State University are the directors of the Megiddo Expedition.
Site sponsor: Institute of Archaeology, Tel-Aviv University.
Audience: Teachers, scholars, and students of archaeology, Biblical archaeology, ancient art, architecture, and history, as well as individuals interested in excavating at Megiddo.
Peer review, availability, permanence: No indication, but entries in the bibliography include 2000 dates.
Publication date: No indication.
Reviewer: Judith de Luce, Department of Classics, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056; email delucej@muohio.edu
Review date: 26 July 2000
Navigation is relatively easy at this site. Arranged vertically along the left are links to a history of Megiddo, a history of the excavations at Megiddo (including some images), a chronology, a presentation, the Megiddo newsletter "Revelations", a 3D virtual flyover of Megiddo (you must download Viscape in order to see the flyover), and publications. In addiition, a link entitled "Dig Megiddo 2000" directs those interested in participating in the excavations. Visual images enliven the web site but are not uniformly clear or consistently sharp. The pop-up map of the Jazreel Valley, for example, is difficult to read.
The site does justice to Megiddo, its history, its significance in Biblical archaeology, and the on-going excavations.The accounts of the history of Megiddo and of the expeditions is succinct but thorough. Inclusion of articles such as Finkelstein and Ussishkin's "Back to Megiddo: A New Expedition Will Explore the Jewel in the Crown of Canaan/Israel" (BAR 1994 vol. 20 issue 1) supplements the historical account of the site. The segment on past and present excavations and projects includes a helpful bibliography which in turn enhances the publications segment. The site does not include links to the Penn State Megiddo Expedition 98, although that site is linked to the Tel-Aviv site.
The result is a site which suits the needs of a general reader at the same time that the scholar will find the site helpful.
A web site which summarizes the 1998 excavation at Megiddo. It is more scholarly than digmegiddo.com but written for a more general audience than parts of the Tel Aviv Megiddo web site: http://www3.la.psu.edu/jst/MEGIDDO/meg98final/index.htm
Authors: None listed.
Site sponsor: Pennsylvania State University.
Audience: Teachers and students of archaeology, Biblical archaeology, ancient history, participants in the expedition at Megiddo.
Peer review, availability, permanence: No indication, but this site is a report on the '98 excavation season and need not be updated.
Publication date: 1998
While this site does not claim to cover more than the '98 season, it actually provides a good background in the history of Megiddo and excavations there. Moreover, it is linked to the Tel Aviv site on Megiddo, which supplements the Penn State material.
Navigation is straightforward using either the hot links at the bottom of each page or the icons which duplicate the links and which run vertically down the left side. These links include history, a list of staff, a report of each area (with a clickable image of the site), diggers and dig life complete with photographs, a page of the dig artwork used in the web site, and a link to books. This site links to the Tel Aviv Megiddo site several times, e.g., the Books link takes you to the Publications link at the Tel Aviv site; discussions of the different areas at the site link you back to the Tel Aviv discussions. Thus, the '98 web site becomes part of the larger discussion in the Tel Aviv site.
As the URL implies, this Web site is geared primarily towards those interested in joining the 2000 excavation season at Megiddo: http://www.digmegiddo.com
Authors: None listed.
Site sponsor: Pennsylvania State University.
Audience: Individuals interested in excavating at Megiddo.
Peer review, availability, permanence: There is no indication of how often the site will be updated, but since it is geared to attracting volunteers for the dig, it may be reasonable to assume that the site will be updated annually to include information about the current excavation.
Publication date: None given, but this is the newest of the three sites; it is geared to the 2000 season.
While the Tel-Aviv University Megiddo Web site is a fairly complex site with material of interest to the general reader as well as to the specialist, the Penn State site is designed to attract and inform those who seek to join the Megiddo expedition. As with the Tel Aviv site, so here navigation is simple; hot links at the top of the page direct you to a series of pages which address the questions one would have if eager to participate in the dig at Megiddo: a main page with attractive claims for Megiddo and its significance as a site, an application, information about the educational programs which one can participate in, a list of the staff members, dig expectations and the preparations necessary to participate in the dig, a summary of what dig life is like, a bibliography, and dig goals and a historical overview. This last segment presents material similar to what is included in the Tel-Aviv site, but in a briefer form. The bibliography includes entries which would be very helpful if one were preparing to join the 2000 expedition. This site does not include links to the Tel-Aviv site.