Israel Finkelstein Public Lecture to Examine Jerusalem in Biblical Times

Israel Finkelstein, Jacob M. Alkow Professor of the Archaeology of Israel in the Bronze and Iron Ages at Tel Aviv University, will give the public lecture “Jerusalem in Biblical Times: Comments on the Archaeology and History ca. 1350–100 B.C.E.” on Friday, November 9 at 5:30 p.m. at the Institute for Advanced Study’s Wolfensohn Hall.

Professor Finkelstein will present an up-to-date account of the archaeology of Jerusalem from the Late Bronze Age under Egyptian domination, through the days of the Kingdom of Judah, to the Babylonian destruction and near-abandonment in the Persian period and recovery in late Hellenistic times. Special emphasis will be given to the dramatic oscillations in the territorial extent, population, and material culture of this celebrated place, and reference to the sometimes-uneasy relationship between the archaeological and textual records.

Finkelstein is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and a foreign member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres of the Institut de France. He was a laureate of the Dan David Prize in Archaeology in 2005. In 2009, he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and in 2010 received a doctorat honoris causa from the Université de Lausanne. Finkelstein is the winner of the 2014 Prix Delalande Guérineau, awarded by the aforementioned Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

Finkelstein is author and coauthor of several books, including The Forgotten Kingdom: The Archaeology and History of Northern Israel (2013), Le Royaume biblique oublié (2013), The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel (2007), The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts (2001), and Living on the Fringe: The Archaeology and History of the Negev, Sinai and Neighbouring Regions in the Bronze and Iron Ages (1995).

Finkelstein is the Director of the Megiddo Expedition. In 2009–2014 he was Principal Investigator of the European Research Council-funded project “Reconstructing Ancient (Biblical) Israel: The Exact and Life Sciences Perspective.”

The Finkelstein lecture is co-hosted by Princeton University/Program in Archaeology.

Admission is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register for this event, visit www.ias.edu/events/publiclecture-finkelstein. For press interested in covering the event, please contact Lee Sandberg at lsandberg@ias.edu. For more information on public lectures and events at the Institute, visit www.ias.edu/events.