Director

Dr David Ellis directs the forum.

He read Zoology with Biochemistry at New College, Oxford, where his tutor was Prof. Richard Dawkins; he went on to do a Ph.D. in evolutionary genetics at University College London, where his supervisor was Prof. Steve Jones, with whom he worked for a number of years.

He trained in archaeological excavation at Ramat Raḥel, Israel, under Tel Aviv & Heidelberg Universities; and in museum studies in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge curating objects from Kathleen Kenyon's digs at Jericho. His film sequences & photographs have been used in documentaries & encyclopaedias.

His current research interests include reconstructing the biological & archaeological past using genetics; and survey & excavation work north of the Damascus Gate, Jerusalem. He also has a concern for the accurate representation of science & archaeology within the public domain, to which end he has given several hundred demonstration lectures.

Support

The Forum is supported by a group of local scientists & archaeologists, in various capacities; interns, and also workers & scholars from further afield.