Abstract
A review of more than a century of data reveals a dearth of Orthodox Christian involvement in the archaeology of the Holy Land compared per capita to their Catholic and Protestant counterparts. Bequeathing the question for why this may be so will be left to philosophers, theologians, and neuroscientists. This chapter provides a concise overview of the history and methods of so-called biblical archaeology, with special interest in Orthodox participation. This relative lack of participation should not be interpreted as disinterest on the part of Orthodox scholars, nor does it discount seventeen centuries of eastern Christian identification and maintenance of pilgrimage sites in Palestine, or Roman-period projects around the Mediterranean basin and Anatolia. The information is based on data gleaned from this (Orthodox) writer’s twenty years of active experience in archaeology in association with other professionals who excavate, publish reports, and share their discoveries at professional conferences throughout the world.