James D. Tabor

James D. Tabor co-directs the Mt. Zion excavations, a project; his first archaeological field work began in the 1980s. He surveyed Wadi el-Yabis (Wadi Cherith) in Jordan in 1992 and 1996; he conducted field research at Masada in 1994; he participated in the Sepphoris dig in 1996, 1999 and 2000; and he explored the Ein Kerem area in 2000 and 2001.

Dr. Tabor is Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he has taught since 1989. He is also Chief Editor of the Original Bible Project. His books include Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America (University of California Press, 1995) and, most recently, The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity (Simon & Schuster, 2006).