This book addresses one of the most timely and urgent topics in archaeology and biblical studies - the origins of early Israel. For centuries, the Western tradition has traced its beginnings back to ancient Israel, but recently some historians and archaeologists have questioned the reality of Israel[...]

The Lives of Ordinary People tells the untold story of how the vast majority of Israelites the people who are usually overlooked in "typical" histories of ancient Israel lived during the eighth century b.c.e. William G. Dever applies the latest archaeological evidence and his own considerable expert[...]