I am thrilled that this current issue features six papers that were delivered as part of an international academic conference that I organized in New York City in Fall 2019. Sponsored by Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies and held at the Yeshiva University Museum, the conference’s title “Philistines! Rehabilitating a Biblical Foe” challenged the speakers to present not only new material on the ancient Philistines but also to orient this material toward fresh paradigms. The geographic diversity of the scholars (Australia, Israel, and United States) was matched by the diversity of their primary areas of expertise (archaeological, anthropological, biblical, and botanical).
Consequently, the papers exhibit a great range of approaches. The broadest can be found in Aren Maeir’s article, which tackles both the history of archaeological research on the Philistines and how this research ultimately demanded that earlier theoretical paradigms be disbanded in favor of new ones that better...
