Dr Dennis Mizzi

Dr Dennis Mizzi

Dr Dennis Mizzi

  B.A.(Hons)(Melit.),M.St.(Oxon.),D.Phil.(Oxon.)

Senior Lecturer

Department of Oriental Studies
Old Humanities Building (OH)
University of Malta
Msida
  +356 2340 2616

Associate Membership

Head of Department

Institute Co-Director

Dennis Mizzi is a senior lecturer in Hebrew and Ancient Judaism at the University of Malta. He teaches biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Judaism in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods, with a focus on both texts and archaeology. He is the assistant director of the Huqoq Excavation Project and the Einot Amitai Archaeological Project. Mizzi is also a network partner in the Leverhulme International Network Project for the Study of Dispersed Qumran Caves Artefacts and Archival Sources, and co-founder and project manager of the Tayar Foundation for Jewish Heritage in Malta. Currently, he is completing a comprehensive, multi-volume monograph on the archaeology of Qumran in which he analyses in detail all aspects of the site, including its chronology, architecture, and material assemblages (i.e., pottery, glass and chalkstone vessels, metal artefacts, small finds, coins, animal bones), the surrounding caves and adjacent cemeteries, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls as archaeological artefacts.
  • Dead Sea Scrolls
  • Archaeology of Qumran
  • Ancient Judaism
  • Biblical Studies
  • Ancient Synagogues
  • Hebrew (Biblical, DSS, Rabbinic)

MAGNESS, J., KISILEVITZ, S., GREY, M., MIZZI, D., BRITT, K. and AND BOUSTAN, R., 2019. Inside the Huqoq Synagogue. Biblical Archaeological Review, 45(3), pp. 24-38.

MAGNESS, J., KISILEVITZ, S., MIZZI, D., BURNEY, J., BRITT, K. and BOUSTAN, R., 2019. Huqoq - 2018: Preliminary Report. Excavations and Surveys in Israel, 131, pp. http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/Report_Detail_Eng.aspx?id=25653.

MIZZI, D., 2019. Were Scrolls Susceptible to Impurity? The View from Qumran, J. JOKIRANTA and M. ZAHN, eds. In: Law, Literature, and Society in Legal Texts from Qumran: Papers from the Ninth Meeting of the International Organisation for Qumran Studies, Leuven 2016 2019, Brill, pp. 27-64.

MIZZI, D. and FAGGI, A., 2019. Metal and Stone Artefacts. In: J. HUMBERT and M. FIDANZIO, eds, Khirbet Qumran and Ain Feshkha IVa: Qumran Cave 11Q: Archaeology and New Scroll Fragments. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 157-176.

MIZZI, D. and MAGNESS, J., 2019. Provenance vs. Authenticity: An Archaeological Perspective on the Post-2002 ‘Dead Sea Scrolls-Like’ Fragments. Dead Sea Discoveries, 26, pp. -169.

MAGNESS, J., KISILEVITZ, S., GREY, M., MIZZI, D. and BRITT, K., 2018. Huqoq - 2017: Preliminary Report. Excavations and Surveys in Israel, 130, pp. http://hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25060&mag_id=124.

MAGNESS, J., KISILEVITZ, S., GREY, M., MIZZI, D., BRITT, K. and BOUSTAN, R., 2018. Bible Stories in the Huqoq Synagogue Mosaic Floor: Interim Report on the 2011-2017 Seasons (Hebrew). Qadmoniot, 156, pp. 66-83.

MAGNESS, J., KISILEVITZ, S., GREY, M., MIZZI, D., SCHINDLER, D., WELLS, M., BRITT, K., BOUSTAN, R., O'CONNELL, S., HUBBARD, E., GEORGE, J., RAMSAY, J., BOARETTA, E. and CHAZAN, M., 2018. The Huqoq Excavation Project: 2014–2017 Interim Report. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 380, pp. 61-131.

MIZZI, D., 2018. Archaeology of Qumran. In: C. HEMPEL and G. BROOKE, eds, The T&T Companion to the Dead Sea Scrolls. London: T & T Clark, pp. 15-36.

MIZZI, D., 2018. 'Rome' at Qumran - What If?: Some Remarks on the so-called ROMA Jar from Qumran Cave 7Q. In: A.J. FRENDO, N. VELLA C. and H. VELLA C. R., eds, The Lure of the Antique: Essays on Malta and Mediterranean Archaeology in Honour of Anthony Bonanno. Leuven: Peeters, pp. 357-380.

MAGNESS, J., KISILEVITZ, S., GREY, M., MIZZI, D. and BRITT, K., 2017. Huqoq - 2016. Excavations and Surveys in Israel, 129, pp. http://hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25304&mag_id=125.

MIZZI, D., 2017. From the Judaean Desert to the Great Sea: Qumran in a Mediterranean Context. Dead Sea Discoveries, 24, pp. 378-406.

MIZZI, D., 2017. Pure Matter: On the Ritual-Purity Status of Glass at Qumran. In: D. MIZZI, N.C. VELLA and M.R. ZAMMIT, eds, “What Mean These Stones” (Joshua 4:6, 21): Essays on Texts, Philology, and Archaeology in Honour of Anthony J. Frendo. Leuven: Peeters, pp. 255-279.

MIZZI, D., 2017. Qumran aos setenta: algumas reflexões sobre os setenta anos da pesquisa acadêmica sobre a Arqueologia de Qumran e os Manuscritos do Mar Morto. In: F. MATTIOLLI VIEIRA, ed, Manuscritos do Mar Marto: 70 anos da descoberta. Sāo Paolo: Humanitas, pp. 65-110.

MIZZI, D., 2017. Qumran at Seventy: Reflections on Seventy Years of Scholarship on the Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Strata: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, 35, pp. 9-44.

MIZZI, D., VELLA, N.C. and ZAMMIT, M.R., eds, 2017. "What Mean These Stones?" (Joshua 4:6, 21): Essays on Texts, Philology, and Archaeology in Honour of Anthony J. Frendo. Leuven: Peeters.

TAYLOR, J.E., MIZZI, D. and FIDANZIO, M., 2017. Revisiting Qumran Cave 1Q and its Archaeological Assemblage. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 149, pp. 295-325.

VELLA, N.C., BONANNO, A., ANASTASI, M., BECHTOLD, B., FARRUGIA, R., FENECH, K., MIZZI, D., VERDONCK, L. and ZAMMIT, A.R., 2017. A View from the Countryside: The Nature of the Late Punic and Early Roman Activity at the Żejtun Villa Site, Malta. Rivista di Studi Fenici, 45, pp. 109-227.

MAGNESS, J., KISILEVITZ, S., GREY, M., MIZZI, D. and BRITT, K., 2016. Huqoq - 2015. Excavations and Surveys in Israel, 128, pp. http://hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25060&mag_id=124.

MIZZI, D., 2016. The Animal Bone Deposits at Qumran: An Unsolvable Riddle? Journal of Ancient Judaism, 7, pp. 51-70.

MIZZI, D., 2016. Miscellaneous Artefacts from the Qumran Caves: An Exploration of their Significance. In: M. FIDANZIO, ed, The Caves of Qumran: Proceedings of the International Conference, Lugano 2014. Leiden: Brill, pp. 137-160.

MIZZI, D., 2016. On the Meaning/s of טמאת האדם in the Damascus Document: A Textual Excavation of CD XII, 15B-17A. Revue de Qumran, 28, pp. 15-44.

MIZZI, D. and MAGNESS, J., 2016. Was Qumran Abandoned at the End of the First Century BCE? Journal of Biblical Literature, 135, pp. 301-320.

FRENDO, A.J. and MIZZI, D., 2015. The Punic Inscriptions. In: A. BONANNO and N. VELLA C., eds, Tas-Silg, Marsaxlokk (Malta) II: Archaeological Excavations conducted by the University of Malta, 1996-2005. Leuven: Peeters, pp. 515-650.

MIZZI, D., 2015. "Qumran Period I Reconsidered: An Evaluation of Several Competing Theories". Dead Sea Discoveries, 22, pp. 42pp.

MIZZI, D., 2011. "60 Years of Qumran Archaeology". Strata: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, 29, pp. 31-50.

MIZZI, D., 2010. "The Glass from Khirbet Qumran: what does it tell us about the Qumran Community?". In: C. HEMPEL, ed, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Text and Context. Leiden: Brill, pp. 99-198.

  • ARC2018 - Research Methods for Undergraduate Dissertations
  • ARC5013 - Artefact Analysis
  • HBW1006 - Judaism: Past and Present
  • HBW1007 - Basic Notions of Hebrew
  • HBW2005 - Directed Study-Unit in Ancient Judaism
  • HBW3020 - Archaeology of the Sacred: Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques in Late Antique Palestine
  • ORS1102 - Methods of Research
Projects/Fieldwork:

- Huqoq Excavation Project, Israel (senior staff)
http://huqoq.web.unc.edu/

- 'Einot Amitai Archaeological Project, Israel (assistant director)
http://archaeology.afau.org/excavations-and-surveys/einot-amitai/

- Zejtun Roman Villa Project, Malta (staff)
https://www.um.edu.mt/arts/classics-archaeo/projects/zejtunvilla

- Leverhulme International Network for the Study of Dispersed Qumran Caves Artefacts and Archival Sources
https://dqcaas.com/

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