Neil Asher Silberman (born June 19, 1950 in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

) is an American

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

and historian with a special interest in biblical archaeology. He is the author of several books, including ''The Hidden Scrolls'', '' The Message and the Kingdom: How Jesus and Paul Ignited a Revolution and Transformed the Ancient World'' (with Richard Horsley), '' The Bible Unearthed : Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts'' (with

Israel Finkelstein Israel Finkelstein ( he, ישראל פינקלשטיין, born March 29, 1949) is an Israeli archaeologist, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University and the head of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa. Fin ...

), and ''Digging for God and Country''. A graduate of

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

, he studied Near Eastern archaeology at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

. Awarded a 1991

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

, he is a contributing editor to ''

Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...

'' and a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Cultural Property. He served as the president of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Interpretation and Presentation (ICIP) and was a member of the ICOMOS International Advisory Committee and Scientific Council from 2005-2015. In 2015 he was named a Fellow of US/ICOMOS. With

, Silberman wrote '' The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts'' (2001) and ''David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition'' (2006). His other books on the themes of history, heritage, and contemporary society include ''Archaeology and Society in the 21st Century'' (2001); ''Heavenly Powers'' (1998); ''The Message and the Kingdom'' (1997); ''The Archaeology of Israel'' (1995); ''Invisible America'' (1995); ''The Hidden Scrolls'' (1994); ''A Prophet from Amongst You: The Life of Yigael Yadin'' (1993); ''Between Past and Present'' (1989); and ''Digging for God and Country'' (1982). Since 1998 Silberman has been involved in the field of public heritage interpretation and presentation, working on various projects in Europe and the Middle East. From 2004 to 2007 he served as director of the Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. In 2008 he was appointed to the faculty of the Department of Anthropology of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and became one of the founders of its Center for Heritage and Society. In 2012 he became a managing partner of Coherit Associates, an international heritage consultancy specializing in heritage policy and in public engagement programs.

References

1950 births Living people Wesleyan University alumni 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American archaeologists American male non-fiction writers {{US-archaeologist-stub