I have been studying the ancient world since I was a
child fascinated by the archaeology and mythology of Egypt, the Aztecs, and
countless other cultures of antiquity. As an undergraduate at the
University of Toronto after a brief diversion in physical chemistry I
found myself enrolled in double majors studying anthropology and the
archaeology of the ancient Near East. Thanks to the encouragement of my
mentors there I decided after completing my Honours BA in 1989, to continue
my studies and earned an AM (1993) and a PhD (1999) in Hebrew Bible and
archaeology from Harvard University. While working on my various degrees I
excavated and surveyed in southern Ontario working with both prehistoric
Native Canadian sites and historic Euro-Canadian sites, and at Ashkelon, Israel. My
dissertation, Can
These Bones Live Again? An Analysis of the Persian Period Non-Candid
Mammalian Faunal Remains from Tel Ashkelon,
examined a poorly understood time period at this important site and
introduced me to the subfield of zooarchaeology (my current specialty) the
study of animal remains in archaeology. Since then I have continued to work
on or with excavations in Ontario, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey (where I am
currently the Staff Zooarchaeologist at the
University of Toronto s excavations at Tell Tayinat).
I have been giving public lectures since the 1990s
and have done so in three different countries and three different
languages. I am an award-winning educator who has taught everything from
kindergarten to graduate school. I continue to be an active researcher in
archaeology and am currently a Research Affiliate at the University of
Toronto s Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations and an
instructor in the Departments of Archaeology & Heritage Studies, and History
at Wilfrid Laurier University.
If you would like to ask me a question about the ancient
world, please feel free to do so by submitting a question at Quora.com and
asking me to answer it (If my name does not show up in the list of
suggested "experts,"then I can be found
if you search on "David Lipovitch")
