Tag Archives: Berkeley

Studying Ancient Judeans by San Francisco Bay

By Tero Alstola

What connects ancient Judean exiles with the San Francisco Bay Area? The answer is the University of California Berkeley and Dr Laurie E. Pearce, one of the leading scholars in the study of the Babylonian exile of Judeans. In her recent book (Documents of Judean Exiles and West Semites in Babylonia in the Collection of David Sofer, Bethesda: CDL, 2014) co-authored with Cornelia Wunsch, Pearce published hundred documents from mid-first millennium BCE Babylonia pertaining to Judean exiles. These clay tablets are economic documents such as contracts and promissory notes that provide us with information on the everyday lives of the Judean community living in Al-Yahudu, “Town of Judah”, and its surroundings.  Continue reading Studying Ancient Judeans by San Francisco Bay