Marcella Barbosa Rigsby is a Ph.D. candidate in the doctoral program for Archaeology in the Ancient Near East at Lipscomb University. Her research focuses on the Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age in the Shephelah of Israel and is part of the staff for the Tel Gezer Excavation and Publication Project. She is also a senior staff member on the Tel Burna Excavation Project and the Tel Ashdod Excavation Project. She has also worked on projects in Cyprus, Egypt, and Menorca. Currently, she works as the full-time curator and educational coordinator for the Lanier Center for Archaeology at Lipscomb University.

Gabbi Graber is a PhD student in Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology at Lipscomb University’s Lanier Center for Archaeology. She has a B.S. in Sign Language Interpreting from Troy University and an M.A. in Biblical History and Geography from Jerusalem University College. Her research interests include Iron Age archaeology of the southern Levant, with a focus on the historical geography and political organization of the region of Benjamin. She has participated in archaeological excavation at Tel Burna and is part of the staff at the Tel Ashdod Excavation Project. 

Dr. Mark Janzen is Associate Professor of Archaeology and Ancient History and Chair of the Department of Archaeology at Lipscomb University. He received his PhD from the University of Memphis (ancient history). His primary research interests are Egyptian epigraphy and archaeology, New Kingdom military history, and the Israelite exodus. He is the editor of Five Views on the Exodus: Historicity, Chronology, and Theological Implications and has written articles and essays on a wide range of topics relating to the intersection of ancient history, archaeology, and biblical studies. Dr. Janzen has been working in Egypt for over 15 years. In addition to his teaching duties, he is the deputy director of the Karnak Great Hypostyle Hall project, an epigraphic mission at Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt and a co-host for a podcast entitled OnScript - The Biblical World. Mark enjoys various sports, especially football, hiking with his family of 5, and reading.

Christopher Jones is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Union University, where he teaches ancient history. A scholar of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, he completed his dissertation at Columbia University and was previously a postdoc at the Center of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires (ANEE) at the University of Helsinki. He is currently working on a book titled The Structure of the Late Assyrian State, 722-612 BC which is under contract with SBL Press. He lives in Jackson with his wife Monica and their two children.

Dr. Chris McKinny (Bar Ilan University) is the Associate Professor of Archaeology at Lipscomb University. He is a host on the popular Biblical World podcast. Before joining the Lanier Center of Archaeology, Chris served as Director of Research at Gesher Media, where he developed “Legends of the Lost Ark” — an adventure documentary about the Ark of the Covenant (2026). Chris has served as a senior staff member at the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project and the Tel Burna Archaeological Project. He is also Associate Director of the el-Araj Archaeological Project (Bethsaida-Julias). 

Passionate about the archaeology, history, and geography of the Biblical world, Chris has written extensively on these subjects in both academic and popular publications. He is the author of My People as Your People: A Textual and Archaeological Analysis of the Reign of Jehoshaphat (Peter Lang, 2016), and has co-edited several volumes, including The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Ages of Southern Canaan (De Gruyter, 2018), Tell it in Gath: Studies in the History and Archaeology of Israel: Essays in Honor of Aren M. Maeir (Zaphon, 2018), and New Studies in the Historical Geography of the Ancient Near East (De Gruyter, 2025).

Terrence J. Nichols is a Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) at Lipscomb University’s Lanier Center for Archaeology, where he also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of History, Politics, & Philosophy. Additionally, he teaches Humanities at Redeemer Classical Academy in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Terry holds two master’s degrees from Liberty University and brings over a decade of field experience to his work, having served on major archaeological projects across Israel and Egypt. He is senior staff with both the Karnak Great Hypostyle Hall Project in Luxor and the Tel Burna Excavation Project, and staff with the Tel Gezer Excavation Project. His research includes the intersection of digital humanities and archaeology, with recent publications on photogrammetric analysis of Pharaoh Merneptah's inscriptions at Karnak. Outside of academia, Terry is a devoted "girl-dad" to his active toddler. 

Dr. Steven Ortiz is the Director of the Lanier Center for Archaeology at Lipscomb University, where he is also a professor of archaeology and biblical studies. He is the principal investigator and co-director, along with Sam Wolff, of the Tel Gezer Excavation Project and is the co-director at Tel Burna (Biblical Libnah) as well as for the new Tel Ashdod Excavation Project. He has over 30 years of archaeological experience in Israel, as he has been a senior staff member at a variety of major sites. Ortiz’s research and publications focus on the archaeology of David and Solomon, Iron Age I and II transition, and the border relations between Judah and Philistia. He has served or currently holds leadership positions in several scholarly and academic associations. 

Evie Robinson née Wilson is a Ph.D. student of Archaeology of the Ancient Near East at the Lanier Center for Archaeology at Lipscomb University. She has recently completed her research seminars and is just starting here dissertation research. Evie received her B.A. in History from the College of the Ozarks and her M.A. in Archaeology and Biblical Studies from Lipscomb University. She excavated at Tel Gezer and served as staff at the Tel Burna Excavation Project. She also plans to join the Tel Ashdod Excavation Project next summer. Her research interests include the Late Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the transition between the two, port cities, and the Coastal Plain of Israel. Evie currently works in Admissions at Lipscomb University. 

Professor Itzhaq Shai an archaeologist and the director of the Tel Burna Archaeological Project, as well as of the Tel Ashdod Excavation Project. His research focuses on the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Southern Levant. He completed his PhD at Bar Ilan University and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Semitic Museum of Harvard University. Prof. Shai was a research fellow in the School of Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University and taught at Bar-Ilan University and Yellin Education College. He joined Ariel University in 2012 as a senior lecturer and in 2015 established the newest institute of archaeology in Israel. From 2018-2020, Prof. Shai was the Vice Dean of R&D at Ariel University and as the Vice President and Dean for R&D at Ariel University from 2020-2026. He is the editor of two books and has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals. 

Dr. Wilson holds a PhD in Archaeology of the Ancient Near East from Lipscomb University. She has an extensive background in Hebrew Bible and textual criticism, Biblical Hebrew and Greek, and narrative historical studies. She is participating in ongoing research with the Lanier Center for Archaeology and the Tel Gezer Publishing Project. She completed her research fellowship with Lipscomb University in Jerusalem, working at the Tel Gezer archaeological lab and has been involved for several years in excavations in Israel at Tel Gezer, Tel Burna, and Tel Ashdod. Her doctoral research focused on Iron Age II household analysis at Tel Gezer and developed a preliminary ceramic typology for its late 10th century BCE stratum. Her current research work situates household archaeology within broader discussions of regional interaction, political transformation, and the development of early state systems in the Levant during the Iron Age.