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 and historian with a special interest in

biblical archaeology Biblical archaeology is an academic school and a subset of Biblical studies and Levantine archaeology. Biblical archaeology studies archaeological sites from the Ancient Near East and especially the Holy Land (also known as Palestine, Land o ...

. 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 Richard A. Horsley was the Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts Boston until his retirement in 2007. He described his view of the historical Jesus in these words (''Jesus'' ''and the ...

), '' The Bible Unearthed : Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts'' (with Israel Finkelstein), 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 Near Eastern archaeology is a regional branch of the wider, global discipline of archaeology. It refers generally to the excavation and study of artifacts and material culture of the Near East from antiquity to the recent past. Definition The ...

at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Awarded a 1991 Guggenheim Fellowship, 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 landsca ...

'' and a member of the editorial board of the

International Journal of Cultural Property International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. He served as the president of the

ICOMOS The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS; french: links=no, Conseil international des monuments et des sites) is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the worl ...

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 Israel Finkelstein, 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 Ename is a Belgian village in the Flemish province of East Flanders. It stands on the right side of the river Scheldt and it is part of the municipality of Oudenaarde. The territory was inhabited during Prehistoric and Roman times, and became a t ...

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 th ...

. 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