Lawrence "Larry" Stager, Dorot Professor of the Archaeology of Israel and head of the Harvard Semitic Museum in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University has overseen excavations under the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon, the great Philistine port city, since 1985. Professor Stager teaches courses in Syro-Palestinian archaeology and Hebrew Bible at Harvard University and is an active professional member of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR).

Prior to teaching at Harvard, he was professor of Syro-Palestinian archaeology at the Oriental Institute and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. Stager has written several articles: one accessible piece for laymen being "The Fury of Babylon: Ashkelon and the Archaeology of Destruction," in the Biblical Archaeology Review for January/February 1996.

In the debate on dating the "United Monarchy" of David and Solomon, where the question is whether David consolidated the nation established by Saul, Solomon built the great temple in Jerusalem, and the wealth of this powerful kingdom dominated the economy of the Levant in the 10th century BCE? Or was it instead a period of emerging statehood with the glorious years still to come-- not under David and Solomon-- but under Omri and Ahab instead? Dr Stager is on the side of the traditional dating in this issue.

Dr Stager is the author, with Philip King, of Life in Biblical Israel.

External link

• Harvard University Department Page: Lawrence Stager (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/%7Enelc/faculty_files/stager.html)