Born 1953, BA and MA (Hunter College-CUNY. 1975, 1980), M. Phil. and PhD (CUNY-Grad Center, 1980, 1985). Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Co-Director of the Near Eastern and Biblical Archaeology Lab, and Coordinator of the Judaic Studies Program at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. He is an anthropological archaeologist with a specialty in zooarchaeology. His research focuses on the evolution of early agricultural and early complex societies in the Old World (Europe, Africa, and Asia) from the Neolithic period to the Iron Age. Geographically, his research covers a large swath of the Old World from Europe through the Near East and into Africa. He conducted research in the Balkans from 1977 until 1995 at numerous sites and in the Near East (1999-present), and he has directed excavations in South Africa (1995-1999) at Iron Age Ndondondwane. He recently co-directed the excavations of the Early Bronze Age city at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel (with Prof. Aren Maeir, Bar-Ilan University, Israel). He is currently analysing the fauna from Tel al-Hammam, Tel Beth Shemesh, Tel Shiloh, and Tel Jericho and conducting isotopic analysis on animal remains to reconstruct provisioning systems and mobility during the Bronze Age of the southern Levant.