Noted UCSD prof to talk ancient metal working in archaeology lecture

On Wednesday, Feb. 14, noted archaeologist and author Thomas Levy, a distinguished professor at the University of California, San Diego’s Center for Hellenic Studies will discuss this topic for the third annual Winter Archaeology Lecture at La Sierra University. The talk will be held at 7 p.m. in the Zapara School of Business, Room 244. It is presented by the Center for Near Eastern Archaeology (CNEA). Admission is free.

Levy’s presentation titled “A Desert Chiefdom & the Metal Revolution (4500 to 3600 BCE): New Insights from the Negev Desert” will shed light on the first metal-producing societies of the southern Levant around 4500 to 3600 BCE and how their use of such resources led to the abandonment of successful hunting and gathering lifestyles. He will draw upon research from his excavations and contained in his new book.

Levy, elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is a Levantine field archaeologist with interests in the role of technology, especially early mining and metallurgy, among other areas. He is the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands in UCSD’s anthropology department. He is founder and co-director of the Center for Cyber-archaeology and Sustainability at the Qualcomm Institute, California Center of Telecommunications and Information Technology and has been the principal investigator of many interdisciplinary archaeological field projects in Israel, Jordan and Greece. These have been funded by the National Geographic Society, the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation, and other organizations. Levy also conducts ethnoarchaeological research in India. 

Levy will present the third Winter Archaeology Lecture in the series organized by CNEA. Prior lectures in 2022 and 2023 have been given respectively by Ziad Al-Saad, Fulbright Fellow and former Director General of Antiquities in Jordan, and by Robert Mullins, chair of the Department of Biblical and Religious Studies at Azusa Pacific University.

Refreshments will follow the Feb. 14 Winter Archaeology Lecture. The presentation will also be available via Zoom and Livestream. Visit https://lasierra.edu/cnea/winter-lecture/ for links. For information, contact archaeology@lasierra.edu or call 951-785-2632.