From jacket flap:
The art and archaeology of the Jewish people throughout the ages is here presented in one of the most beautiful art books ever published. Illuminated with 64 color plates and 150 black-and-white photos by David Harris, From The Beginning is a comprehensive record of Jewish history and tradition that concentrates on the great national collection of art in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Here are enshrined the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Biblical treasures, many of them of rare beauty and previously unpublished. Beginning with the early Stone Age and proceeding to most recent times, the extraordinary continuity of human settlement and creativity in the Holy Land is lucidly discussed. Through the development and destruction of succeeding civilizations – from the period of the kings and prophets through the later periods – the unbroken Jewish tradition in art and history is presented in ceremonial and ritual art objects, bringing to life the rich and turbulent Holy Land and its peoples as never before.