The Palestine Oriental Society was a society for the "cultivation and publication of researches on the ancient Orient","Constitution"
''The Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society'', Vol. 1 (1920-21), pp. 3-4 (p. 3). founded on the initiative of Albert T. Clay in Jerusalem in 1920. It was established at a time when control of

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

had recently passed from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

to the British following the end of the First World War, and when archaeology was being professionalised and modernised. It published ''The Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society'' (JPOS) from 1920 until 1948, pausing only during several years of the Second World War.

Origins

The society was the idea of the Yale University

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , '' -logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

Albert T. Clay who was spending a year in Palestine as the annual professor of the American school of archaeological research in Palestine. He modelled it on the

American Oriental Society The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship. The Society encourages basic ...

which had been founded in 1842. A preliminary meeting was held on 9 January 1920 at which a number of eminent academic, political, and military figures were present, and a constitution adopted which included a statement that the object of the society be the "cultivation and publication of researches on the ancient Orient". The first general meeting of the society was held at Jerusalem on 22 March 1920 at which the papers read included: "Influence of topography in the Psalms" by

John Punnett Peters John Punnett Peters (December 16, 1852 – November 10, 1921) was an American Episcopal clergyman and Orientalist. Biography John Punnett Peters was born in New York City on December 16, 1852. He graduated from Hopkins School in 1868 and then ...

; "A Palestinian Hebrew Inscription" by Nahum Slouschz; "Some fresh meanings for Hebrew roots" by David Yellin; "Noun classes and polarity in Hamitic, and their bearing upon the origin of the Semites" by William H. Worrell; and "The Bethlehem Mosaics" by Timotheos Themelis. After the first year it had 150 members.

Officers and patrons

The first president was Père Lagrange, who was succeeded by professor John Garstang. The first patrons were the soldier

Viscount Allenby Viscount Allenby, of Megiddo and of Felixstowe in the County of Suffolk, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 7 October 1919 for the prominent military commander Field Marshal Sir Edmund Allenby, with remainder ...

who had captured Jerusalem for the British in 1917, and the first High Commissioner for Palestine,

Sir Herbert Samuel Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, (6 November 1870 – 5 February 1963) was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931 to 1935. He was the first nominally-practising Jew to serve as a Cabinet minister and to beco ...

Activities

The creation of the society coincided with a change of government in Palestine after the

lost control of the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

to the British following the end of the First World War, ushering in what the founders of the society hoped would be a new era of archaeological research under a more "enlightened" administration than had been the case under the Turks when researchers had "laboured under many and tiresome disabilities"."In Memoriam Albert T. Clay"
James A. Montgomery and Ettalene M. Grice. ''

Journal of the American Oriental Society The ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' is a quarterly academic journal published by the American Oriental Society The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the olde ...

'', Vol. 45 (1925), pp. 289-300. It also coincided with a modernisation and professionalisation of archaeological methods and the creation of new institutions to support the archaeological community in Palestine such as the Department of Antiquities and the Archaeological Advisory Board created by the new British government. In his review of "The Year's Work", and in accepting the position of second president of the society, John Garstang, Director of Antiquities of the Government of Palestine, expressed the hope that the society would become for Palestine the equivalent of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

in London and the ''

Académie An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

'' in Paris. He also outlined the basis on which he expected archaeology to be practised in Palestine, starting with the paramount principle that the "monuments and antiquities of Palestine belong to Palestine and to Palestinians.""The Year's Work", John Garstang, ''The Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society'', Vol. 1 (1920-21), pp. 145-152. He further stated that:

The days are over when the individual could be allowed to turn over ancient sites in search of antiquities for their own sake alone. The results of an excavation are to be judged not alone by the objects discovered, but more by the information as to the circumstances of discovery to be gleaned only by most patient method. The relation of an object to its surroundings is of far greater importance to history than the object itself.

Further measures included the limiting of permits to excavate to those sponsored by archaeological organisations, the creation of a register of historical sites and laws to preserve them, an inventory of dealers' and collectors' stocks of antiquities, the creation of a museum, and a programme of conservation and repairs.

Journal

The society published ''The Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society'' (JPOS) from October 1920 with the first bound volume appearing in 1921. Articles were in English, French, and German. It was not issued for several years during the Second World War, and having resumed, ceased permanently with volume 21 in 1948.The Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society.
SOLO, Bodleian Libraries. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
Volume 1
1920–1921.
Volume 2
1922.
Volume 3
1923.
Volume 4
1924.
Volume 5
1925.

References

External links

{{commons category inline, Palestine Oriental Society Archaeological organizations History of Palestine (region) Learned societies Archaeology of Palestine (region) 1920 establishments in Mandatory Palestine