Solomonia Archive: Bulldozer Archaeology

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Two Nadia Abu El-Haj posts in a single day. Found this review by an academic whose primary concern seems to be the misuse of bulldozer imagery, which actually becomes a rather effective critique. Interesting. Ralph Harrington: Bulldozer archaeology? Excavation, earthmoving and archaeological practice in Israel

It concludes [emphasis mine]:

...In general non-technical discourse the term â€˜bulldozerâ€™ is frequently applied in a loose way to a wide range of earthmoving vehicles, whether they are tracked or wheeled, are equipped with blade or bucket, or are designed for excavation or for grading; and to place such emphasis on the distinction between the bulldozer and the JCB may seem to belong to the realm of the trainspotter rather than the scholar. The fact is, however, that in this context the distinction between the two types of machine is important, and it is not unreasonable to expect a serious scholar to acquaint herself with that distinction and use the correct term in a responsible way, particularly as she is attaching such weight to the point she is trying to make with her account of Israeli â€˜bulldozer archaeologyâ€™. Equally, however, it is true that her point is given added emphasis by her use of the word â€˜bulldozerâ€™, a word which is heavily laden with symbolic significance, particularly in the context of Israel/Palestine. It makes for a much more memorable and effective denunciation of Israeli archaeology to accuse excavators of using bulldozers â€“ conjuring up images of 60-ton steel behemoths with colossal blades grinding Palestineâ€™s heritage beneath their tracks â€“ than to report that they used a JCB to dig trenches and remove topsoil, like archaeologists the world over.

Nadia Abu El-Hajâ€™s distorted picture of Israeli archaeological practice is not simply a matter of confusion over technical terms, but a conscious strategy of ideologically-motivated misrepresentation. The essential point is that Abu El-Hajâ€™s target is not Israeli archaeology at all, but the existence of Israel itself. She describes the main purpose of her book as â€˜analyz[ing] the significance of archaeology to the Israeli state and society and the role it played in the formation and enactment of its colonial-national historical imagination and in the substantiation of its territorial claimsâ€™, and exploring the contribution of archaeology to shaping â€˜the contours of the so-called â€œnew Hebrewâ€ nation and citizenryâ€™ in Palestine.[22] Israel, for Abu El-Haj, is an invention, an artificial colonial enterprise driven by an ideology, Zionism, within which colonialism and nationalism are intrinsically linked. Facts on the Ground is devoted to her argument that the nationalist archaeological tradition of the Jewish State since 1948 has played a fundamental role in inventing and sustaining the interrelated fictions of ancient and modern Israel. It is as a symbolic epitome of that claim, rather than for itself, that her notion of â€˜bulldozer archaeologyâ€™ is important to her argument; and on those grounds the archaeological bulldozers of her imagination must be dismissed as an ideologically-driven fiction themselves.

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3 Comments

Arabs are committing big archeological crimes in the Land of Israel. On the one hand, some villagers trying to make big bucks, buy metal detectors and look for archeo sites. Then, they wreck them, although if they find something that they think is valuable they take it to antiquities dealers. Thus the object is preserved, but it has been taken out of its archeological context and is not in situ, thus spoiling part of its historical value. I can appreciate the motives -to make some money- in this case, although it is disgusting. By the way, these explorers are not such poor folk. As I said above, they have metal detectors and various digging equipment.

What is more disgusting and outrageous
is what the Waqf has been doing on the Temple Mount, deliberately destroying Jewish remnants there, including the beautiful stone carvings under the surface of the Mount's platform. The Israeli govt has had a policy of not stopping them, apparently because the Waqf is supported by Western govts. We know that the Muftis of the al-Aqsa mosque regularly make vitriolic Judeophobic speeches. When Israel has complained in the past, the Jerusalem-based consuls of Western govts have defended the muftis.

#1 Eliyahu at: May 10, 2007 2:32 AM

[This essay forms part of an ongoing study of the cultural history of the bulldozer, and is very much a work in progress.]

Wow, that guy really likes bulldozers!!!!

#2 JSinger at: May 10, 2007 2:07 PM

Write directly to the President of Barnard college

President Judith Shapiro

Barnard College
Office of the President, 109 Milbank Hall
3009 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
212-854-2021
jshapiro@barnard.edu

#3 Liz at: May 15, 2007 1:49 PM

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