Archaeology in the British Mandate of Palestine between WWI and WWII

The administration of archaeology in the Mandate of Palestine took place in a very particular situation, both within the British Empire and outside of it. The Department of Antiquities (DAP) operated within the rules and framework of a bureaucracy answerable to the directions and ideals of the League of Nations on whose behalf the British Government had accepted responsibility for the administration of Palestine. The international scrutiny entailed in this unusual situation affected the administrative decision-making process, the recording of that process, and its resulting policies. This dissertation addresses what the practices of the DAP tell us about the ways that the Department and the Palestine Government related to and were affected by the mandate principles of archaeology, and the international community of the League of Nations. Those practices in turn tell us about the efficacy of the mandate antiquity laws and principles followed. This enables us to identify a number of core challenges and aims, and how these were administered and adjusted over time: securing archaeological standards, observing international obligations, and administering land and expropriations. Overall, this study is a contribution to archaeological historiography and to discussions of the formation of disciplinary knowledge and practices within a particular setting, and the role this had in advancing the procedures of archaeology in the region. The study traces the points at which individuals and small-scale organisations and institutions met larger and broader political forces, providing insight into the reality of a local, ‘colonial’ time and place. This is done through a close critical reading of archived documents, informed by their historical context, most of which were archived by the DAP. The analysis first identifies major themes and patterns in a chapter that ranges across several excavation projects. The subsequent chapters then offer deeper insight into selected thematic problems through case studies of specific sites – Shiloh, Tell Fara, Tell Ajul, Balata, and Et-Tell. The study concludes that the administration of archaeology in Palestine conducted itself according to mandate principles – and took on the nature of a ‘mandate’ department, often in opposition to other parts of the administration. This policy of the DAP reveals that the antiquity laws were efficient tools with which to secure the observance of archaeological standards, international obligations, and religious neutrality, while they were considerably less well adjusted to handle issues of land administration and expropriations. The administrative focus on proper standards and procedures became part of modernising the archaeological approaches that had been in use until the advent of mandate oversight.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Torp-Hansen, Thomas Løth

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sørensen, Marie Louise Stig

• Archaeology
• British Mandate of Palestine
• League of Nations
• Department of Antiquities

Licence

• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.92495

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/345069