Archaeology is science and adventure rolled into one. The Boomer Archaeologist: A Graphic Memoir of Tribes, Identity and the Holy Land traces the 20th century evolution of a field, known to the public mostly through Indiana Jones, into a 21st century state-of-the-art transdisciplinary research endeavor with global implications. A coming-of-age story beginning in the wild 1960s, the graphic memoir embodies the ‘American Dream’ where citizens can rise to the pinnacle of their chosen professions. The Boomer Archaeologist reflects on a career dedicated to understanding the evolution of social inequality and the importance of cultural identity both in the past and present. Boomer highlights how risk taking and ‘pushing the envelope’ can promote new directions in academic work, even in the context of changing and disappointing values in elite US research universities over the past 30 years.

Thomas E. Levy

Thomas E. Levy is Distinguished Professor of the Graduate Division, Co-Director of the Center for Cyber-Archaeology and Sustainability at the Qualcomm Institute and inaugural holder of the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands at the University of California, San Diego. With over thirty years of archaeological field experience in Israel and Jordan, Levy’s current research focuses on the Iron Age historical archaeology of Edom in southern Jordan. He is Associate Director of the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3) at UCSD’s California Insitute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). Levy is editor of Archaeology, Anthropology and Cult: The Sanctuary at Gilat, Israel (Equinox Publishing, 2006) and co-editor, with Thomas Higham, of The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating: Archaeology, Text and Science (Equinox Publishing, 2005). His most recent book, with his wife Alina and the Sthapathy brothers of Swamimalai is Masters of Fire: Hereditary Bronze Casters of South India (German Mining Museum, 2008). Levy is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.