Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel

Annotation This book discusses the role of religion in Canaanite and Israelite society, from the Middle Bronze Age through the Israelite Divided Monarchy (2000-587 BC). It contains an extensive archaeological study of all known Middle Bronze through Iron Age temples, sanctuaries, and open-air shrines, organized by period and geographic region. Social science and textually based analyses of sacrifice in antiquity reveal the many ways in which religion was related to social structure, and the author emphasizes the ways in which social, economic and political relationships determined - and were shaped by - forms of religious organization.