Cultural Bias in the Archaeology of Palestine

One of the positive developments in archaeology in recent years is the increasing awareness of the role of "bias." I am not referring here to "operational bias"-the way in which natural and cultural forces (e.g., climate and sediment cover, the presence or absence of scavenging living communities) distort the archaeological record. Rather, I want to discuss the cultural bias of the archaeologist that distorts our understanding of the past.

Albert Glock, the head of the archaeology department and the founder and director of the Institute of Archaeology at Birzeit University, was murdered by unknown assailants in 1992. He wrote this article, previously unpublished, in late November 1987 for presentation to several universities in India and Pakistan.