The Naked Archaeologist

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The Naked Archaeologist

Format	Adventure History
Starring	Simcha Jacobovici
Country of origin	Canada
No. of episodes	32
Production
Running time	30 or 60 minutes (with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	VisionTV
Original run	2005 – Present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Naked Archaeologist is a television show originally produced for VisionTV in Canada that is hosted by the Emmy Award-winning, controversial journalist Simcha Jacobovici. The show explores Biblical events through archaeology and interviews with scholars. Subsequent to its original run, it has been carried in the U.S. on The History Channel and its sister network, History International.

1 Episodes
- 1.1 Season 1 (2005)
- 1.2 Season 2 (2008)
2 Controversy
- 2.1 Season 1, Episode 2: Who Invented the Alphabet?
3 See also
4 References
5 External Links

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Season 1 (2005)

Delilah's People (5 September 2005)
Who Invented the Alphabet? (12 September 2005)
Jerusalem & The Black Prince (19 September 2005)
What Killed Herod? (26 September 2005)
Real or Fake? (3 October 2005)
Fame & Forgery? (10 October 2005)
Accidental Archaeology (17 October 2005)
Biblical Food (24 October 2005)
Jesus: The Early Years (31 October 2005)
John the Baptist (7 November 2005)
True Blue (14 November 2005)
Return of the Hilazon (21 November 2005)
Last Man Standing (28 November 2005)
Crucifixion (5 December 2005)
King David (12 December 2005)
Jezebel: Bible Bad Girl (19 December 2005)
The Oldest Leper (26 December 2005)
Joshua (2 January 2006)
Masada (9 January 2006)
Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? (16 January 2006)
Holy Hot Spot (23 January 2006)
Biblical Epicentre (30 January 2006)
The Mother of Archaeology (6 February 2006)
Who Wrote the Bible? (13 February 2006)
Where is Mount Sinai? (20 February 2006)
The Real Mount Sinai (27 February 2006)

[edit] Season 2 (2008)

The Would-be Messiah (16 May 2008)
The Search for St. Peter (23 May 2008)
A Nabatean By Any Other Name (30 May 2008)
Chasing the Temple Booty – Part One (5 May 2008)
Chasing the Temple Booty – Part Two (5 May 2008)
The Legacy of King Solomon – Part One (21 May 2008 - History Channel International)
Decoding Ezekiel's Vision (11 June 2008 - History Channel International)
Jewish Rome (18 June 2008 - History Channel International)
The Giants of Genesis (20 June 2008)

Note: Episodes 5 and 6 were originally intended to be aired on June 6 and June 13, respectively, but were aired early, on May 5, in honor of Israel's 60th anniversary.^[1]

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Season 1, Episode 2: Who Invented the Alphabet?

Jacobovici sometimes makes claims that are not endorsed by most scholars. For instance, in this episode he argues that Hebrew slaves probably invented the Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol scripts, the first known abjads. He assumes a connection between a possible reference to El at Wadi el-Hol and the God worshiped by the ancient Israelites. Yet El is a god also worshipped by other Semitic peoples and a Proto-Semitic root that can simply mean "a god" as opposed to any specific deity.

He also makes the entirely unsupported claim that the script found at Serabit el-Khadim reflects a Hebrew slave praying to his God. Yet the script remains largely undeciphered, while a portion likely reads "to Baalat." This is possibly a reference to the Egyptian goddess Hathor or a Semitic goddess and does not appear to refer to YHWH, El or Elohim.