Thread by @DrStevenCollins

Since this is my first time on Twitter, I didn't know how to create a thread. I think I know now. So, here goes

Boslough: I looked at [Collins'] website and the address he gives is 5600 Eubank NE. I drive past it every day but have never noticed anything but strip malls and office rentals in that area… I'm having nothing to do with this..”

TSU sold its property (on Constitution) in 2007 on the recommendation of several business leaders in ABQ. They said, for our program (a lot of distance ed), it made no sense to mow lawns! We sold, and moved into leased facilities.

TSU was on Eubank for 5 years, then moved to facilities (several spaces) around the Journal Center area. This keeps us streamlined, and our tuition very low. We lease facilities according to our needs. We have all the space we need presently...

This includes classroom/broadcast space, admin offices (cubicles!), an excellent research library, a terrific museum, and the Archaeological Research Center. Yet, Boslough criticizes this! TSU has served students worldwide for over 30 years. All grad/doc students. No undergrads.

Later Boslough says: "I would be very interested in learning more about the evidence for an airburst in Jordon. Do you have any peer-reviewed publications by Dr. Collins that describes this research...?" Nonsense.

I offered Boslough the opp to lead the research on our site, and he turned it down (see my prev comments). Why would I have any such peer-reviewed papers on 'our' airburst? It isn't my field! I'm an archaeologist. As I should have, I give that avenue of inquiry to experts.

I did detailed analysis of the MB2 destruction matrix, locus by locus, with all the requisite field paperwork, drawings, photos, etc., standard in good archaeological fieldwork. Both lower and upper city locations are analyzed. The experts took their own samples and controls.

We have 22 strata from Pottery Neolithic to Early Roman. The MB2 is Stratum XII (three architectural sub-phases). There's a hiatus from c. 1700 BCE down to c. 1050 BCE. All this is published in official reports with the Jordan Department of Antiquities...

I and senior staff have published articles in peer-reviewed books and journals. Right now, most of these have to do with the EBA and IBA. Much more to come. But analysis is tedious. We've also presented at ASOR dozens of times. This year, too.

I and my staff publish on the archaeology. We are well-quoted in the work of other archaeologists. We will have a multi-volume final report coming out after the final scheduled season in 2025 or 2026. But the destruction matrix analysis is now published in the peer-reviewed NSR.

Interesting that Boslough would criticize me for not publishing the 'airburst' material! Ridiculous, actually. He had the opportunity to be 'the guy'. Now 'the other guys' have published what is one of the most read papers in the history of SR!

Boslough: “This entire field of Biblical archeology is fraught with problems." OK, that's an attack. Maybe a little passive-aggressive, but he said it to 'discredit' the discipline. I've defined all this earlier. But he knows nothing about the subject.

Is there pseudo-archaeology going on out there in the name of the Bible? Sure. R Wyatt was in this vein. B. Cornuke, too. There are others. I'll join with Boslough and the legit archaeological community in condemning such pseudo-science. But...

there is legitimate, scientific biblical archaeology, and I've already explained this in previous tweets (sorry that I didn't get them into a thread!). Biblical archaeology is simply the sub-set of ANE archaeology that intersects with biblical history, narratives, and geography.

Boslough: “..It is worth noting that pottery shards from Sodom and Gomorrah would have a much greater market value than shards from some random unidentified site. The History Channel needs to know what it's getting itself into." Poppycock!

Here's another passive-aggressive attack on me. Boslough is accusing me of labeling TeH as Sodom because we...what?...have a trade in pottery sherds from the site? We excavate hundreds of thousands of sheds. We store the diagnostics in our research center. Most stays in Jordan.

We have a huge pile of cast-off sherds at the base of our site (the pottery dump). Our volunteers take some as souvenirs. Tourists take some, too. They're free and we have them by the ton. Boslough's comment is just a mean (and stupid) thing to say.

We have now done at lest 8 documentaries with the Nat Geographic, Discovery, History, and Travel channels. A few others, too. We're now getting lots of requests. None have been up to our scientific standards, but you get what you get with these production groups.

Boslough has attacked me for using the Bible in archaeology. For me, that's water off a duck's back. I've been dealing with that kind of idiocy for more than three decades. Any ancient text, including the Bible, can be of significant help in the archaeological process.

Boslough even criticized Scientific Reports (in the Nature stable) for delving into biblical archaeology with the Hammam/airburst article. There are only a few lines in this very long paper suggesting that this event could be behind the "sky fire" of Gen 19:24-25...

It's a completely legitimate scientific hypothesis! The authors would have been remiss if they hadn't floated the idea. Boslough's anti-Bible mindset simply can't allow these multiple lines of evidence to converge. That might mean there's at least some historical reality to it.

Lot's of archaeological evidence supports the reality of the kingdoms of David and Solomon. Likewise a myriad of other biblical characters and stories. Minimally, some real history is found in the Bible. You don't have to buy the theology to appreciate that.

I happen to be an archaeologist who uses the Bible when appropriate. There are very few archaeologists, even those of no particular faith or even atheists, who don't. Bill Dever is an atheist. I just had him here in ABQ lecturing on the Solomon's Kingdom.

Vis-a-vis archaeology and the Bible, Boslough has no clue what he's talking about. It's just hot air with no reality behind it. I have challenged Boslough to a live debate, in front of a large audience, here in ABQ. Twitter is no place for it.