Ithaca College

Tuesday February 2 at 7:30 pm, the monthly meeting of the Finger Lakes Chapter of the New York State Archaeological Association.

Re-examining Tell en-Nasbeh: Ancient capital of Judah

Tell en-Nasbeh, ancient biblical Mizpah of Benjamin, was excavated in the 1920s-1930s by William F. Bade of Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.
The authors of the original excavation publication seriously misunderstood the site's remains and also under reported them, making it impossible for others to re-evaluate them. In the 1990s Dr. Zorn undertook a complete reexamination of the site's architectural features and some of its other material cultural remains. These studies demonstrated that Tell en-Nasbeh contained material remains directly associated with Mizpah's role as the capital of Judah after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. shedding the first real light on the otherwise obscure period of the Babylonian Exile in Judah.

CV
Jeffrey R. Zorn received his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in 1993.
Currently he is Adjunct Associate Professor of Biblical Archaeology at Cornell University. He has excavated for many years in Israel, primarily at the site of Tel Dor, on the coast north of Caesarea. Excavations supervised by Dr. Zorn there are contributing greatly to understanding the role of the Canaanites, Phoenicians and Israelites in that region. His work on Tell en-Nasbeh has provided fundamental new insights into the 6th century B.C. in ancient Judah. He is the author of over 50 publications and reviews on various aspects of the culture of ancient Israel.