Digging under the British Mandate

Between 1917 and 1948, archaeology in Palestine entered a new era of professional organization and international research. The Department of Antiquities brought legislation, systematic excavation, museums, conservation, and archaeological administration together within an institutional framework.

Major excavations by international expeditions helped shape the methods and ambitions of modern Near Eastern archaeology. The event examines who decided what to excavate, preserve, or display; how British, American, European, and local scholars approached the ancient past differently; and how the exploration of antiquity became an organized profession as well as an intellectual pursuit.