Pro­fes­sor Mag­ness explains clear­ly and acces­si­bly how Judeans lived from the mid­dle of the first cen­tu­ry BCE, the begin­ning of the reign of Herod the Great, until the destruc­tion of the Tem­ple (70 CE). (Why this is called Pales­tine is per­plex­ing, since that was what Romans named the area lat­er, after the Jew­ish Revolts.) An archae­ol­o­gist as well as a pro­fes­sor, Mag­ness brings to life many inter­est­ing aspects of dai­ly social and house­hold activ­i­ties dur­ing a peri­od for­ma­tive for Jew­ish groups that would become Chris­tian­i­ty and rab­binic Judaism. She is keen to under­stand the arche­o­log­i­cal record for quo­tid­i­an activ­i­ties, such as what was eat­en and how it was served as well as how human waste was dis­posed of, how com­merce was con­duct­ed, and what was worn, in addi­tion to the con­cerns of Sab­bath and purifi­ca­tion and bur­ial cus­toms, and how they reflect, or do not reflect, the lit­er­ary pre­scrip­tions and descrip­tions in bib­li­cal and rab­binic lit­er­a­ture. Dif­fer­ent inter­pre­ta­tions for how to apply ​“God’s Instruc­tions” led to the devel­op­ment of sev­er­al major sects known to us, and oth­ers that remain unknown. These groups include the Phar­isees, Sad­ducees, Essenes, and Jesus move­ment. In addi­tion to sur­vey­ing their var­i­ous views of mat­ters of holi­ness and puri­ty, Mag­ness eval­u­ates socio-eco­nom­ic and loca­tive (such as rur­al ver­sus urban) aspects of dai­ly life for each of them. Chap­ters include Puri­fy­ing the Body and Hands; Creep­ing and Swarm­ing Crea­tures; House­hold Ves­sels; Din­ing Cus­toms and Com­mu­nal Meals; Sab­bath Obser­vance and Fast­ing; Coins; Cloth­ing and Tzitz­it; Oil and Spit; Toi­lets and Toi­let Habits; Tombs and Bur­ial Cus­toms; and Epi­logue dis­cussing the after­math of the Destruc­tion of 70 CE. Bib­li­og­ra­phy, indexes.