Archaeology and the Occupied Territories

I was going to post something on the AUT boycott of some Israeli universities alleged to be profiteering from the Occupation after reading about it in Crooked Timber, but I don’t need the headache. There’s also the issue that I don’t have much idea of the facts of the case, but that doesn’t seem to stop other people from talking on it.

Instead I’ll point to an extract of one of the best archaeology books I’ve read. Sacred Geography by Edward Fox (released under a variety of other titles too). It’s about the murder of Albert Glock, an American archaeologist, by someone with an Israeli Army gun. Fox paints a very claustrophobic picture of reasonable humans on both sides of the divide held hostage by extremists in their own communities. I’ve lent it to a few people and I think each one has come to a different conclusion over who killed Glock. The New Statesman has a review / article ‘Archaeology is not a Science, It’s a Vendetta’.