Sacrificing Truth: Archaeology and the Myth of Masada

In this fascinating analysis of history in the making, Ben-Yehuda closely examines the day-by-day transcripts of the archaeologists’ conversations at Masada to determine the way in which they evaluated the findings. He skilfully demonstrates that the interpretation of the artefacts uncovered during the dig was significantly affected by the process of nation-building and the forging of a national identity, which was then underway in Israel. Nation-building required a heroic past, and the pressure of this requirement subtly led to concealing facts and even falsifying the historical evidence. Why did the archaeologists involved, all scientifically trained scholars, ignore scientific evidence in favor of a version of history that now appears to be largely a myth? The answer to this question is the focus of this study, which looks not only at Masada but at the whole issue of deception in science and the social construction of knowledge.