Today we step out of the politics and anxious debates of this difficult time and go back 5,500 years to the Chalcolithic, the so-called Copper Age. Our guide is Prof. Tom Levy, eminent archaeologist and emeritus Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands at the University of California, San Diego.

Tom's new graphic-novel memoir, The Boomer Archaeologist, tells the story of his journey into the deep past of the land of Israel, and offers an opportunity for us to talk to him about his groundbreaking work on the origins of inequality, on the vast copper industry of the ancient Biblical kingdom of Edom - a kingdom whose very existence archaeologists long doubted - and even, along the way, some thoughts on the roots of religion and technological innovation.

Tom has published 12 books and several hundred scholarly articles. The Boomer Archaeologist is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Boomer-Archaeologist-Graphic-Memoir-Identity/dp/B0F2LP47JK/ref=sr_1_1

This episode is sponsored by Renee Schweber and Matthew Schweber in memory of their late husband and father Jack Schweber, who passed away on April 30, 2020. Jack's story, retold in the podcast, is an extraordinary snapshot of the American Jewish experience writ large.

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Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.