The course introduces major schools of thought in archaeology. It starts with the crystallization of archaeology as an academic discipline and continues with traditional archeological thought. Then the new (processual) archaeology is presented and later, post-processual, or contextual archaeology. For each school of though we survey the academic background, its major principles, the way it is expressed in archeological field work, in the analysis of archaeological finds and in writing and explaining past cultures. A special part is devoted to the archaeology of Israel and its development in light of the abovementioned general dynamics.