This first book-length presentation of the results of our excavations at el-Jib has been written for the general reader who is concerned with the contribution that archaeology has made to the biblical history of the site.... In telling the story of Gibeon I have tried to show how the tale of the city unfolded week by week and year by year through excavation and study. I have sought to give in these pages a personally conducted tour, as it were, of the ruins of ancient Gibeon and what we have seen in them.... The results of the excavations at el-Jib are unique in that they can be related with a high degree of certainty to specific events described in the Old Testament. For the first time in the history of scientific archaeology in the land of the Bible an actual place name of a biblical city, neatly incised on clay, has been found under circumstances which make certain the identification of the name with the ruins.--from the Preface
"Prichard's book is a model of the scholar's report written for the layman, and describes the results of his dig at el-Jib, eight miles from Jerusalem, the site of the city where Joshua commanded the sun to stand stillâ¦. Pritchard writes lucidly, interestingly, and with just the right leaven of the dry digger's wit."--Washington Post
"An absorbing adventure story. Seldom is the layman given an opportunity to experience so vividly the drama and suspense, the frustrations and thrills of the Biblical archaeologist in almost day-by-day events."--Christian Science Monitor