A Feud Over "Biblical Archaeology" Goes to Court

A million-dollar lawsuit in Israel [...] Simcha Jacobovici, a Canadian documentary maker specializing in biblical archaeology, is suing a retired scientist and former archaeological museum curator named Joe Zias, who has accused him of publicizing scientifically dubious theories.

Profoundly ridiculous. I guess this also raises the question of what is archaeology? Is it the relativistic "anything goes" of the metal detectorist?

American biblical scholar James West, who also blogs on biblical archaeology, said of the lawsuit: “Disagreements are fine, but vendettas (which is what this seems to one outside the proceedings) are improper. Perhaps Zias and Jacobovici should settle their differences the old-fashioned way — in a public debate. Scholars disagree all the time, and they can get quite nasty at it. But I have never once heard of a scholar suing another scholar because their work was eviscerated.” 

Somebody here tried it with me once, so I am on Zias' side. I do not like what Jakobovici is doing one little bit.

Nina Burleigh, 'A Feud Between Biblical Archaeologists Goes to Court', Time World, Jan. 29, 2013