Bible QuestDavid Plotz takes readers' questions on archaeology in the Holy Land.

Slate deputy editor David Plotz was online at Washingtonpost.com on Thursday, Jan. 17, to discuss his recent travels to Israel to search for archaeological evidence of the Bible's stories, an extension of his "Blogging the Bible" project. An unedited transcript of the chat follows.

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Washington: What's your opinion of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky.?

washingtonpost.com: A Monument to Creation (Post, May 27)

David Plotz: I've never been there, but my wife, Hanna Rosin, who used to cover religion for the Post, actually went there recently and wrote a piece for the New York Times (boo, hiss, enemy!) about it. I think it's weird. I find it incredibly troubling that a significant plurality of Americans believe in the literal truth of Creation. And I find it even more troubling that Creationists are harnessing bogus science to support these beliefs.

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Albany, N.Y.: Dude, you aren't getting Jerusalem syndrome, are you? Your piece on the Dead Sea Scrolls just vibrated. Blogging the Bible rocked, but this "follow-up" is amazing. Maybe I'll go to Africa and see if I can lose my irony, too. Your mom must be so proud. You rock.

washingtonpost.com: The Weirdo Cult That Saved the Bible (Slate, Jan. 17)

David Plotz: Thanks. I think. (Unless this a super-double-secret layer of sarcasm that I am not getting).

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Detroit: I went to Israel during the '60s and '70s and have visited most of the major archeological sites. What new discoveries or sites have been found since then that you feel would be worth seeing if I returned?

David Plotz: Great question: The City of David excavations, just outside the old city walls in the Arab town of Silwan, are amazing. These were on the Jordanian side, pre-'67. Whether or not they have found the Palace of King David there, they have certainly found some fascinating stuff—an astounding fortress protecting the town spring, some wonderful Book of Kings-era houses, the wall of Nehemiah.

Herodion is also incredible, especially now that they have found the tomb of Herod. One place I didn't get but which I heard is spectacular is Tel Dan, way up by the Lebanese border. It has been excavated in recent years by David Ilan, and he has found a temple built at around the same time as the first temple in Jerusalem.

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Arlington, Va.: David—is there any contemporaneous evidence of the existence of any of the Biblical characters? Thanks.

David Plotz: There's essentially no evidence for anyone before King David, which is not that surprising, because not much written evidence of any sort survives from the pre-Davidic period. There are a few mentions of David himself, but they all date a century after he lived, nothing contemporaneous. And, if I am remembering correctly, there was a reference to Goliath found. By the time of David's grandson Rehoboam, there starts to be contemporaneous evidence, and many of the people in the book of Kings and afterward show up in writings and documents of the time. Unfortunately, this means that leaves most of the fun part of the Bible still in the realm of myth.

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Jerusalem: Mr. Plotz, in your article on Herodion you said that in Israel the Bible is used as a tool for nationalism. I would like to respond to this and to ask a question. The Bible is the history of the Jewish people. This is why some secular people here in Israel also love the Bible. This is simple, but maybe strange for many people in the world to understand—they look at the Book only as religious people.

When we Israelis open the Bible to show our past we are not being religious. The Romans threw us out and we have come back to our country. Wouldn't you agree it is too simple saying the Bible is a tool for nationalism, as if we are using the Bible to make something new? The nation of Israel is an ancient people, not a new nation. Thank you.

washingtonpost.com: Inside the Desert Fortress (Slate, Jan. 15)

David Plotz: The Bible is a history of the Jewish people, not the history. Most of the history of the Jewish people is not in the Bible. I think the uses of the Bible are manifold, in Israel and elsewhere. Some Israelis draw on it for religious reasons, others for historical reasons, others for political reasons, others for aesthetic reasons. And it's certainly true that in modern Israel, ancient stories (like Masada, which is not biblical, or the conquest of Canaan, which is) have been repurposed for explicitly political purposes.

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