This translation of the first volume of Dr. Keil's Biblical Archaeology has been made from what is a new and improved edition of the original, the learned author having furnished the publishers with alterations and additions, bringing the volume up to the present state of knowledge in that department. These alterations and additions have been incorporated in their proper places in the translation. The amount of information which the work contains is immense, and it must long remain the standard treatise in a scientific form on Biblical Archaeology, irrespective altogether of Dr. Keil's views on the dates and origin of the books of the Bible. In no other work, with which I am acquainted, are to be found the same full and instructive criticisms on the opinions of Kurtz, Delitzsch, Hengstenberg, Riehm, and others who have written on Old Testament subjects relating to Archaeology. The present volume has been translated in great part by the Rev. Peter Christie, but the whole manuscript has been carefully revised, and the volume carried through the press, by myself. Great care has been taken to secure typographical accuracy, and it is hoped that very few errors of the press will be found. The translation of the second volume, which will deal with the more popular parts of Biblical Archaeology, and will also contain alterations and additions by the author, is in progress.