eras which the layers and their contents represent. There are fifteen major finds of artifacts, which correspond to fifteen eras, and to the fifteen chapters of narratives which make up the book.
Serving as parentheses to these narratives are two chapters on the mound itself, called the Tell. Also, throughout the book, the historical narrative is broken up, unfortunately, by interchanges---from political to romantic---among the archaeologists.
The scope of this study prevents an in-depth look at all of the eras covered in the book. The author's detailed portrayals of the lives and characters of fictionalized people in each era precludes such in-depth analysis. What this study will attempt to do is present the framework of Michener's book and his methodology, and focus in greatest depth on the overriding themes which Michener presents with respect to the nature and evolution of the Jewish people and culture through history.
Each of the fifteen narratives of the fifteen periods begins with examination of the artifact from that period which is discovered at the dig. Thus the study of the era of 9831 B.C.E. begins with reference to a rather primitive grain sickle from that period. Immediately Michener places us in that era with the fictional characters he has imagined to help him portray and personalize the circumstances of that distant time. At times the author's attempts to tie ancient man of the region with subsequent generations of Jews seem preposterous: "For the past seventy thousand years the cave had been continuously occupied by Ur's ancestors, one generation after the other, leaving behind them brief mementos of their short and ugly lives" (87).
However, such imaginative flights always serve the purpose of advancing the book's major theme: the Jewish people have lived in a continuum of tragedies, have stuck together, have sur
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