Archaeology of the Holy Land

Archaeological Chronology

For the proto-historical and historical rulers, see a sketch of events.

Web sites of interest for the course:

The national governments have web pages for archaeology:

The Israeli government has a page for Archaeology that includes lists of sites, current excavations, and reports on important tels.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority web page has several types of information about archaeology, archaeological sites, and a virtual archaeology feature.
See Jordan's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities for images; the Department of Antiquities of Jordan has an impressive database of sites
The Palestinian National Authority has archaeological sites under its Ministry of Tourism and Archaeology

For specific archaeological sites:

For examples of a web page for an archaeological site, see Megiddo, Nahal Tillah, Tel es-Safi, Karnak, and Tel Zeitah
For an example of popular American presentations, see National Geographic on Ancient Ashkelon
The famous sites of the Middle East have loads of information, for instance see the resources for Petra and Çatal Hüyük.

For general information on the archaeology of the Middle East:

About.com guide has another listing for Israel's archaeological sites as well as excavation projects.
The University of Chicago has extensive information on the Ancient Near East at its ABZU web page.
There are plenty of web sites for Egypt. To start see Eternal Egypt, the Theban Mapping Project, and the Giza Project. A recent issue of National Geographic has a story on Akhenaton with some interesting links, see Pharaohs of the Sun
For Mesopotamia, start with the Treasures from Ur, The British Museum has an impressive Mesopotamia web, and Providence College's WestCiv page has many links for Ancient Mesopotamia.
The Bible and Interpretation is "dedicated to delivering the latest news, features, editorials, commentary, archaeological interpretation and excavations relevant to the study of the Bible for the public and biblical scholars." National Geographic has a story on Abraham as the father of three faiths.

The internet has several types of multimedia presentations on the archaeology of the Middle East:

Ancient Jerusalem is recreated at The Jerusalem Archaeological Park, the City of David, and UCLA's http://www.ust.ucla.edu/ustweb/Projects/israel.htm.
Over the semester, several archaeologists will be introduced. For another view on some archaeologist of Ancient Israel see Professor Thomas Levy's interviews on UCSD-TV "Dig This" http://www.ucsd.tv/series/index.asp?show=show&number=23.
Warfare is a continual concern for the region. For an intriguing view of the history of conflicts from Ancient Egypt to the present, see http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/EMPIRE17.swf
For great photographs of artifacts, see Digmaster for collections of Persian period figures from Tel Halif, Eric Cline's presentation of imports from the Late Bronze Age, and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology's exhibit on Canaan and Ancient Israel

If the course encourages you to pursue archaeology:

For this summer's excavations, see the Biblical Archaeology Society's listing.
North American archaeologists working and studying in the Middle East, rely on ASOR, the American Schools of Oriental Research, for information, funding opportunities, and publications. There are three American Schools in the Middle East: The W.F. Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, The American Center of Oriental Research in Amman, and The Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute in Nicosia.
The American Institute of Archaeology publishes Archaeology magazine, which usually has articles on the Middle East.
Ancient Near East.net has a wealth of information on sites, exhibits, and news.

Of course, you can stay in Florida and "visit" the ancient Middle East:

Part of the Mediterranean past is supported by a program in Sarasota. See OTFS of Malta.
A representation of ancient Israel is found in Orlando - the Holy Land Experience raises interesting questions about the intersection of archaeology, faith, and popular representations.