Reli Avisar (Fragments of Luxury: The Jerusalem Ivories) is a doctoral student in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near East Cultures at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Danielle Candelora (Hands Off! The Severed Hands of the Hyksos Capital) is Assistant Professor of Ancient Mediterranean History at the State University of New York at Cortland.

Erin Darby (Book Review: An Anatomy of God) is Associate Professor of Early Judaism at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is an expert in the archaeology of Israelite religion.

Yuval Gadot (Lifestyles of Jerusalem’s Rich and Famous) is Professor of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University in Israel. He co-directs the Givati Parking Lot excavation.

Sabine Kleiman (House of the Rising Sun: Azekah’s Canaanite Temple) is a research fellow at Tel Aviv University in Israel. She is a senior member of the Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition.

Elizabeth Knott (Arch-Tech: Digitizing Ancient Seals) is a visiting fellow at Yale University. She is working to create a website that explores strategies for cylinder seal documentation.

Oded Lipschits (House of the Rising Sun: Azekah’s Canaanite Temple) is Professor of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. He co-directs the Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition.

Manfred Oeming (House of the Rising Sun: Azekah’s Canaanite Temple) is Professor of Old Testament Theology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He co-directs the Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition.

Hannah M. Ripps (House of the Rising Sun: Azekah’s Canaanite Temple) is a master’s student at Tel Aviv University in Israel. She specializes in archaeology and Jewish art and visual culture.

Yiftah Shalev (Lifestyles of Jerusalem’s Rich and Famous) is an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority. He is a co-director of the Givati Parking Lot excavation.

Philip D. Stern (Solomon’s Egyptian Bride: Artful Alliance or Biblical Boast?) is the author of The Biblical Herem: A Window on Israel’s Religious Experience (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1991).

Joan E. Taylor (The Cave of Salome—Tomb of Jesus’s Disciple?) is Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King’s College London. Her research focuses on early Judaism and Christianity.

Mark Wilson (“Under the Lee” with Paul) is the director of the Asia Minor Research Center in Antalya, Turkey, and Professor Extraordinary of New Testament at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Boaz Zissu (The Cave of Salome—Tomb of Jesus’s Disciple?) is Professor of Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He has conducted archaeological excavations at Horvat Qasra.

Ra‘anan Boustan (Warrior Women: Deborah and Yael Found at Huqoq) is a research scholar in Judaic Studies at Princeton University and the site historian at the Huqoq Excavation Project.

Karen Britt (Warrior Women: Deborah and Yael Found at Huqoq) is Assistant Professor of Art History at Northwest Missouri State University and serves as the mosaic specialist at the Huqoq Excavation Project.

Lacy K. Crocker Papadakis (Understanding the Woman in the Window) is an Affiliate Clinical Professor at Baylor University and a lecturer at the University of Miami. Her research focuses on the relationship between ancient Near Eastern literature and archaeology.

Christopher A. Frilingos (Book Review: The Magi in History and Tradition) is Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. He writes and teaches about biblical literature and early Christianity.

Igor Kreimerman (Milestones: Amnon Ben-Tor) is Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Director of the Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations in Memory of Yigael Yadin.

Marta Luciani (Archaeology in the Land of Midian: Excavating the Qurayyah Oasis) is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Cultural History at the University of Vienna, Austria. She directs the archaeological project at Qurayyah in Saudi Arabia.

R. Steven Notley (The House of Peter: Capernaum or Bethsaida?) is a scholar of New Testament and Christian Origins. He serves as the Academic Director of the El-Araj Excavation Project.

Jonathan Robie (Artificial Intelligence and Bible Translation) is Senior Research and Development Fellow at Biblica, Inc. He works at the intersection of computer science, biblical studies, and Bible translation.

Katharina Schmidt (Hard Power: The Stone Statues of Ammon) is Professor at the University of Münster and Scientific Consultant at the German Archaeological Institute. Her research focuses on the Bronze and Iron Ages in the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia.

Jennifer Tobin (Classical Corner: The Seven World Wonders) is Associate Professor Emerita of Classics at the University of Illinois Chicago. She specializes in Roman art and archaeology and ancient Anatolia.

Andrew Tobolowsky (Were There 12 Tribes of Israel?) is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the College of William & Mary. His research focuses on the Hebrew Bible and the history of ancient Israel.

2023 WINNERS BAS Publication Awards
These prestigious awards have been made possible by a grant from:
The Rohr Family in memory of Sami Rohr

BEST BOOK ON THE HEBREW BIBLE

Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible

Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible

From Embodied Experience to Moral Metaphor
Yitzhaq Feder
(Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2021)

Where did the Hebrew Bible’s concepts of purity and pollution originate, and how did ancient Israel think about these ideas? In this insightful book, anthropologist and biblical scholar Yitzhaq Feder builds upon previous scholarship and offers a nuanced way forward by synthesizing what are typically opposing views on purity and pollution. His explanations of the linguistic and historical issues involved are clear and accessible, and his engagement with both biblical and extrabiblical sources is thorough and careful. All the while, Feder never loses sight of the significance his research holds for better understanding the Hebrew Bible.

— JUDGES —
ELIZABETH BACKFISH – William Jessup University
STEED DAVIDSON – Society of Biblical Literature
AMY-JILL LEVINE – Hartford International University for Religion and Peace

BEST BOOK ON THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Pharisees

The Pharisees

Edited by Joseph Sievers and Amy-Jill Levine
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2021)

The Pharisees is a landmark volume that tackles a longstanding problem in the field of New Testament studies by bringing together a broad variety of scholars with a stunningly wide breadth of expertise—including literary and archaeological perspectives, Jewish and Christian contexts, and ancient and modern purviews. The negative portrayal of Pharisees in the New Testament and its effects on the history of anti-Semitism have been long noted, including in relation to a difficult legacy of anti-Judaism that has been shaped by the academic study of the New Testament. This volume addresses the problem head-on, updating our historical understanding of this group in the light of new data and approaches.

— JUDGES —
ANNETTE YOSHIKO REED – Harvard Divinity School
JORDAN RYAN – Wheaton College
ROBYN FAITH WALSH – University of Miami

BEST BOOK ON ARCHAEOLOGY (TIE)

Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent

Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent

A History of Local Archaeological Knowledge and Labor
Allison Mickel
(Louisville: University Press of Colorado, 2021)

Allison Mickel’s book sheds light on an aspect of archaeology that rarely receives attention: the role of the local community in the research process. By combining ethnographic research with a study of the practice of fieldwork, Mickel draws attention to the unique knowledge that local laborers possess and allows their voices to be heard.

Age of Empires

Age of Empires

The History and Administration of Judah in the 8th–2nd Centuries BCE
Oded Lipschits
(University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns, 2021)

Age of Empires covers the phenomenon of stamped storage jar handles in the Kingdom of Judah and its role in the administration of the kingdom for 600 years. It examines the archaeological remains and explores the function of these jars in the political and economic life of Judah.

HERSHEL SHANKS AWARD FOR BEST DIG REPORT (TIE)

Tel Reḥov

Tel Reḥov

A Bronze and Iron Age City in the Beth-Shean Valley, Vols. 1–5
Amihai Mazar and Nava Panitz-Cohen
(Jerusalem: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2020)

Megiddo VI

Megiddo VI

The 2010–2014 Seasons
Edited by Israel Finkelstein and Mario A.S. Martin
(University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns, 2022)

The five-volume Tel Reḥov report, covering all 11 seasons of the project (1997– 2012), and the three-volume Megiddo VI report, covering the seasons from 2010–2014, are extremely comprehensive. Each includes chapters on stratigraphy, architecture, pottery, other artifacts, and scientific analyses. The new information, analyses, and interpretations expand our understanding not only of the sites themselves but the very fabric of the ebb and flow of history in this region, especially during the Bronze and Iron Ages.

— JUDGES OF THE ARCHAEOLOGY BOOKS —
ODED BOROWSKI – Emory University
ERIC H. CLINE – George Washington University
DEBRA FORAN – Wilfrid Laurier University

Rodney Caruthers II (Inspiration in Biblical Times) is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He studies ancient Jewish texts written in Greek.

Sidnie White Crawford (Milestone: Weston Fields (1948–2023)) is Professor Emerita at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Visiting Scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Aaron Demsky (Daedalus in Jerusalem) is Professor Emeritus of Jewish History in Antiquity at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

Chris McKinny (The Millo: Jerusalem’s Lost Monument) is a research fellow at Gesher Media, a faculty member at Jerusalem University College, and a senior staff member at the Tel Burna Archaeological Project.

Dennis Mizzi (Were Temple Offerings Buried at Qumran?) is a senior lecturer in Hebrew and ancient Judaism at the University of Malta. He specializes in Qumran studies, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and early Judaism.

Gary A. Rendsburg (Moses as Pharaoh’s Equal—Horns and All) is the Blanche and Irving Laurie Chair in Jewish History at Rutgers University. He has published on the Hebrew language, biblical literature, and the relationship between ancient Israel and Egypt.

Michael J. Stahl (Yahweh or Baal—Who Was the God of Northern Israel?) is Assistant Teaching Professor of Hebrew Bible in the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Pennsylvania State University. He researches the origins of Yahweh and biblical monotheism.

James R. Strange (Milestone: Dennis E. Groh (1939–2023)) is the Charles Jackson Granade and Elizabeth Donald Granade Professor in New Testament at Samford University and Director of the Shikhin Excavation Project.

Nahshon Szanton (The Millo: Jerusalem’s Lost Monument) is a Ph.D. student at Tel Aviv University and was also a senior archaeologist with the Jerusalem district of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Aharon Tavger (The Millo: Jerusalem’s Lost Monument) is a post-doctoral fellow at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a senior staff member at the Tel Burna Archaeological Project.

Hanna Tervanotko (Biblical Profile: Miriam Through the Ages) is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at McMasters University. She studies women in antiquity, Qumran, and Jewish interpretation of scripture.

Joe Uziel (The Millo: Jerusalem’s Lost Monument) is the head of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Dead Sea Scrolls Unit. He also served as a senior archaeologist for the IAA’s Jerusalem district.

T.J. Wray (Book Review: What New Testament Women Were Really Like) is Professor of Religious and Theological Studies at Salve Regina University. She focuses on biblical women, grief experience, and Bible education.

Sarah K. Yeomans (Constantinople: Christianity’s First Capital), Ph.D., the University of Southern California, was a Fulbright Fellow in Turkey in 2021–2022 and is a current fellow at the American Research Institute in Turkey.

Jeffrey R. Zorn (Who Did It? and Milestone: Ilan Sharon (1953–2023)) is Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University. He has worked extensively at Tel Dor.

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Shlomit Bechar (“Who Lived at Hazor?”) is a research fellow at the Haifa Center for Mediterranean History at the University of Haifa and Director of the Hazor Lower City excavations. She specializes in the transition from the Middle to Late Bronze Ages in northern Israel.

Andrew Burlingame, (“Set in Stone? Another Look at the Mesha Stele”) a specialist in Northwest Semitic languages, is Assistant Professor of Hebrew at Wheaton College, Illinois.

Douglas Clark (“Milestone: Burton MacDonald (1939–2022)”) is Director of the Center for Near Eastern Archaeology at La Sierra University. He co-directs the Madaba Regional Archaeological Museum Project.

Larry Geraty (“Milestone: Burton MacDonald (1939–2022)”) is President Emeritus of La Sierra University and Associate Director of the Center for Near Eastern Archaeology. He co-directed excavations at Tall al-Umayri.

Jean-Georges Heintz (“Covenants in Context”) is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at the Faculty of Protestant Theology, University of Strasbourg, and of Semitic Epigraphy at École du Louvre, Paris.

Larry Herr (“Milestone: Burton MacDonald (1939–2022)”) is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Burman University in Alberta, Canada. He co-directed excavations at Tall al-Umayri.

James K. Hoffmeier (“Jeremiah’s Journey to Egypt”) is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern History and Archaeology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He uses history and archaeology to understand ancient Israel’s connection to the land of Egypt.

Lee M. Jefferson (“The Horns of Moses”) is the Nelson D. and Mary McDowell Rodes Associate Professor of Religion at Centre College. His area of interest is the development of the Christian tradition and art and imagery of Late Antiquity.

Laura B. Mazow (“Why All Tubs Are Not Bathtubs”) is Associate Professor in anthropology at East Carolina University. Her research focuses on ancient technologies, particularly textile production.

Dennis Mizzi (“Book Review: For the Freedom of Zion”) is a senior lecturer in Hebrew and ancient Judaism at the University of Malta. He specializes in Qumran studies, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and early Judaism.

Robert A. Mullins (“Milestone: Father Bill Broughton (1929–2022)”) is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Archaeology at Azusa Pacific University. He co-directs excavations at Tel Abel Beth Maacah.

Matthieu Richelle (“Set in Stone? Another Look at the Mesha Stele”) is Professor of Old Testament at the Université Catholique de Louvain, in Belgium. He has authored several books, including Temples of the Bible (2022) and The Bible and Archaeology (2018).

Jordan J. Ryan (“Jesus in the Synagogue”) is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, Illinois. He digs at Magdala and Tel Shimron, and he has written The Role of the Synagogue in the Aims of Jesus (2017) and From the Passion to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (2021).

Barbette Stanley Spaeth (“Classical Corner: Paul, Prostitutes, and the Cult of Aphrodite in Corinth”) is Professor of Classical Studies at the College of William & Mary and co-founder of the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions. Her research focuses on Roman religion.