Dr. Jodi Magness

UNC Asheville’s Center for Jewish Studies will host a talk on “The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls,” by Jewish scholar Jodi Magness at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, in UNC Asheville’s Reuter Center. The lecture based on Magness’ award winning book will be accompanied by slide illustrations. The event is free and open to the public.

Magness will provide an overview and an interpretation of the archaeology of Qumran. Using information from the Dead Sea Scrolls, she examines the lifestyle and beliefs of the Jewish sect that lived at the site and deposited the scrolls in the nearby caves. She won the 2003 Biblical Archaeology Society’s Award for Best Popular Book in Archaeology and her book was selected as an “Outstanding Academic Book for 2003” by Choice Magazine.

Magness, the Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism at UNC Chapel Hill, has participated on 20 excavations in Israel and Greece. She co-directed excavations in the Roman siege works at Masada and excavations at Khirbet Yattir in Israel.  Currently, she is co-directing excavations in the late Roman fort at Yotvata, Israel. Magness is the Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem and a member of the Managing Committee of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

For more information, call UNC Asheville’s Center for Jewish Studies at 828/251-6576.