The Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) is the oldest exploration society of the Levant which is active today. Since its founding meeting in 1865 in Westminster Abbey of London, the PEF scholars have conducted systematic exploration of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Prominent archaeologists such as C.W. Wilson, C. Warren, C. Schick, C. Conder, W.M.F Petrie, H. Kitchener, and R.A.S Macalister, were sent to dig the Holy Land on behalf of the PEF. A remarkable enterprise carried out by the PEF, in cooperation with the Royal Engineers, was the first precise scientific survey of the region - The Survey of the Western Palestine - which yielded the pioneering high-quality detailed maps of the Holy Land. Marking the 150 years since the PEF emerged, the studies collected in this volume provide a retrospective on the endeavours in the light of the findings of the contemporary archaeological research.

David Gurevich is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was appointed as a Fulbright Scholar in the Harvard University in 2014-5. His academic interests include the Archaeology of Jerusalem, Second Temple Judaism, Israel Studies, and the history of the archaeological research. Anat Kidron is the academic director of The Gottlieb Schumacher Institute for Research of the Christian Presence in Palestine in the Modern Era, under the auspices of the University of Haifa. Her research focuses on the British Mandatory Palestine and the first years of the state of Israel.

David Gurevich

Anat Kidron