Revisiting the role of archaeology in the Bible reminds me of how much information about the Bible was lost, and how important it is to make sense of what is left. For example, the site of Jericho being near fault lines that would have commonly caused seismic activity makes a lot of sense with the biblical story told about it. This, to me, doesn’t discredit any of the biblical meaning of the story, it just adds another layer to it. From a believer’s perspective, this shows the dependency of the natural world on God and his plan. In a literary sense, having this information alongside the story is a little ironic. This case is also thought-provoking, considering the amount of information gleaned from both modern archaeological sites and ancient writings handed down from the time period of their origin. So many buildings, artworks, and writings have been lost over time and we don’t even know it! There could be hundreds of stories or even pieces of pottery that alter entire religions, and there just hasn’t been a shard to wash up or a slip of paper to slide out from behind something. It’s amazing to think about how much hard work has gone into the Bible that we know today.