Why are religious texts used by archaeologists as primary sources?

Answer 1

A:At first, religious texts were used by archaeologists as primary sources because the archaeologists assumed The Bible to be literally true. When they made a discovery that appeared to confirm the biblical account, archaeologists assumed a biblical date for that discovery. When they made a discovery that appeared to create doubt about the biblical account, archaeologists assumed that their own analysis was flawed and so looked for explanations.

As the number of archaeological finds that contradicted the Bible continued to mount, archaeologists began to realise that the Bible was not necessarily a reliable historical document and began to rely on it as a secondary source, in other words one that could usefully confirm information from other sources but which could not be relied on in the absence of other sources. Some archaeologists now believe that even as a secondary source, the Bible is not very useful in respect to history.