From Vespa to Ashkelon

Lawrence Stager is the Dorot Professor of the Archaeology of Israel at Harvard University and director of its Semitic Museum. Since 1985 he has led the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon. Professor Stager sat down with BAR editor Hershel Shanks to talk about how the field has changed over the past 35 years and what the future holds for Biblical archaeology.

Hershel Shanks: You and I go back to the early 1970s, Larry. When I first met you, you were riding a motorcycle around Jerusalem.

Lawrence Stager: It was a motor scooter—a little thing called a Vespa.

When did you first come to Israel?