The Disneyfication of Shiloh: Biblical Historiography and Archaeology as Methodological Regimes of Military Occupation

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay examines the connection between politics, archaeology, and biblical historiography by focusing on a specific archaeological site, Tel Shiloh, centrally located in the West Bank. Tel Shiloh illustrates the popular conviction that the contested contemporary ethno-religious and socio-political situation of the West Bank originates from the Bible. The four excavations at Tel Shiloh have contributed in sometimes subtle but often in explicit ways to the massive effort of linking the biblical mention of Shiloh with today’s geopolitical ambitions of the state of Israel in the militarily occupied West Bank. The most recent link includes ambitious plans for building Tel Shiloh into an enormous tourism attraction.