There is a common perception that the Muslim conquest of Palestine in the seventh century caused a decline in the number and prosperity of settlements throughout the country. The role played by archaeology in perpetuating this view, claims Magness, is particularly insidious, because it is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as providing “scientific” (and therefore “objective”) data. Thus, archaeological evidence is frequently cited by scholars as proof or confirmation that Palestine declined after the Muslim conquest, and especially after the rise of the Abbasids in the mid-eighth century. Instead, Magness argues that the archaeological evidence, freed insofar as possible of political and/or religious biases, supports the idea that Palestine and Syria experienced a tremendous growth in population and prosperity between the mid-sixth and mid-seventh centuries. Such a radical shift in the interpretation of the evidence guarantees that this volume will be a benchmark with which future interpretations must reckon. The book includes a CD with map and key, which provides additional information regarding the sites studied and the area examined.

In Excavations at Tall Jawa, Jordan, Volume 5, the authors present their research in the areas of regional survey, salvage excavation, zooarchaeology, ceramic typology, experimental archaeology and ethnoarchaeology. This work illustrates areas threatened and later destroyed by modern development and is a contribution to heritage documentation. These studies illuminate aspects of family and town life in the Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine and Late Ottoman–Early Mandate periods in central Jordan.

Negev, the southern desert that covers more than two thirds of the Holy Land, is terra incognita to most Christian pilgrims who visit Israel. Some journey as far south as Eilat to visit the traditional site of Mt. Sinai, but even these travellers usually have no idea that the Negev desert is also worthy of their interest. They are unaware that that desert is rich in history and archaeological remains from its Christian period – that is, from the mid-fourth century to the end of the seventh century. The book is divided into eleven chapters. In Chapter One the author discuss the Nabataean history of the Negev and the Roman annexation of the region. The final chapter reviews the Muslim invasion of the southern desert in the seventh century C.E. and how this impacted the Christian population there, finally causing its disappearance. Chapters Two to Ten deal with each of the major Byzantine settlements that have been excavated, offering a full record of the discoveries concerning Christian archaeology together with pertinent references to ancient texts and local inscriptions. A good number of photographs will illustrate the text.