1109 - Georgia's Legacy Center Museum

For the last few weeks The Book & the Spade has been on the air in the Atlanta area, over WIMO in Bethlehem, Georgia. Our local partner is The Legacy Center Museum in Lawrenceville, which is having its grand opening on Sunday, December 2nd. In this program we talk with museum director Ed Bez about the mission of the museum and its history.

There aren't that many places in the U.S. where you can go to get the story of Biblical Archaeology, just a handful of museums, usually associated with a university or seminary. So the residents of the Atlanta area are fortunate to have this facility. We send congratulatoins and best wishes for their grand opening.

1108 - Tour Highlights 1985

Our first Book & the Spade tour in 1985 featured a visit to the Albright Center in Jerusalem, the home of the American Schools for Oriental Research. ASOR is the main professional organization for U.S. archaeologists who work in Israel and the Albright Center has an illustrious history, going back to the time when William F. Albright was its director, in the early 20th century.

The director for the past quarter century plus has been Si Gitin. During our visit he gave us an off-the-cuff history of archaeology in Israel, highlighting the key role played by Dr. Albright in establishing the ceramic chronology which is the foundation for understanding everything else.

Dr. Gitin himself was involved in a key archaeological excavation of the Philistine city of Ekron, the site known as Tel Mikne. He discusses the excavation, which was just getting underway at that time. We visited Tel Mikne 11 years later, during out 1996 excavation, during its last season.

1107 - Tour Highlights (1992)

On this program Professor Schoville and I revisit one of the most exciting moments of our Book & the Spade tours, our 1992 visit to Tel Dan with Avraham Biran, one of Israel's most distinguished archaeologists. We ended up sitting at the city gate as Professor Biran explained the importance of the city gate in the history of ancient Biblical cities.

Professor Schoville worked with Biran at Dan for a several years. Through Biran we have a direct connection to some of the most distinguished names in Biblical Archaeology, such as William F. Albright, Nelson Glueck and even Sir William Flinders Petrie. He was a student of Albright, worked with Glueck and knew Petrie.

1106 - 25th Anniversary Holyland Tour Details

We've been referencing our upcoming 25th anniversary Holyland Tour for the past six months; on this week's program we get down to details. It's been seven years since our last tour, 15 years since our last tour together (Dr. Schoville and I) and 22 years since our first tour. All because we like to offer our listeners the opportunity to see what we're talking about, walk where Jesus walk, and experience the biblical landscape. If you'd like to join us, tour details are posted online.