A Firestorm!

History VIII

[Ebal’s Plea, fourteen of thirty-two]

Why the intense scorn about Stripling’s pronouncement?

Accepted archaeological procedure discouraged reporting a find until after it had completed peer review by the appropriate scholarly community. This protocol Stripling admittedly violated.

About this he offered the explanation given in the previous post. In sum, he feared losing his intellectual stake in his find. He thus felt compelled, despite protocol, to release publicly what he had discovered about his artifact’s nature.

Unfortunately, this happened in the wake of another biblical archaeological scandal, one that caused heightened sensitivity about scholarly procedures.¹

Israel Antiquities Authority had prematurely publicized their analysis of a Tel Lachish pottery sherd. The news release heralded it as the first found in Israel referencing King Darius the Great of Persia 2500 years ago.²

Shortly afterwards, however, a researcher specializing in ancient Aramaic confessed that she had written the inscription.

While visiting the site with her students, she had demonstrated the ancient script on a pottery sherd lying about. Once finishing her lesson, she had tossed it aside, not intending any malice.³

What she had demonstrated turned out to be quite accurate–accurate enough to fool many renowned scholars.

Great embarrassment ensued within several prestigious academic communities.

Contemporaneously into that setting Stripling’s dilemma unhappily landed.⁴

Many scholars were outraged. Stripling publicly declared a history challenging find underpinned by photos. Not only had he not navigated peer review. He had not released his photos for academic scrutiny. Without them scholars were handcuffed in vetting the allied fantastic claims.

A firestorm had been lit!

Next post: “Peer Review”

1. Melainie Kidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel, 14 May 2023, paragraph 32, 33, and 34, https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024). ↩︎
2. Breaking News, “Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet Peer Review Complete”, Appian Media, In Roads, youtube.com/watch?v=_15tYO4hqJS, (33:35), May 12, 2023. ↩︎
3. Melainie Kidman, Academic article on controversial 3,200-year old ‘curse tablet’ fails to sway experts, The Times of Israel, 14 May 2023, paragraph 32, 33, and 34, https://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-article-on-controversial-3200-year-old-curse-tablet-fails-to-sway-experts/, (7 October 2024). ↩︎
4. Id. ↩︎