About Andrew Vaughn

Andrew Vaughn

Andrew G. (Andy) Vaughn became ASOR’s Interim Executive Director on January 1, 2007, and he was appointed Executive Director on July 1, 2007. Prior to this appointment, Vaughn taught at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. There, from 1997–2007, he was Assistant Professor and later Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible. He also served as Chair of Department of Religion. His teaching and research interests include cultural heritage, history, archaeology, Semitic languages, and Israelite religion. He is a past recipient of the Mitchell Dahood Prize for Biblical Scholarship, and he was a Fulbright Fellow at Tel Aviv University from 1993–94.

Prior to taking up his position as Executive Director of ASOR, Vaughn served on ASOR’s Publications Committee from 2001–2006, and he was elected as Chair of the Publications Committee in 2005. As Chair, he served on the ASOR Board and Executive Committee from 2005–2006, and he was on the ASOR Management Committee from 2006–2007. He was editor of the joint ASOR/SBL Archaeology and Biblical Studies Book Series from 2001–2007. He has also served as Vice President of the Upper Midwest Region of the Society of Biblical Literature (2006-2007) and on the SBL Development Committee (2004–2007).


Presenter at

Bible & Archaeology Fest XXIV, October 16 – 17, 2021 Panelist


ASOR/BAS Seminar on Biblical Archaeology, January 11 – 13, 2013
A New Look at the Success of Hezekiah Against Sennacherib


ASOR/BAS Seminar on Biblical Archaeology, January 13 – 15, 2012
Jerusalem as David and Solomon Knew It

The Bible describes David and Solomon as ruling over a powerful kingdom, known historically as the United Monarchy. Most historians have assumed that if the kingdom of Israel was strong and expansive, then the capital city (Jerusalem) also would have been a major, expansive city. However, in the past 15 years, several prominent scholars—especially David Ussishkin and Israel Finkelstein—have posited that David and Solomon’s Jerusalem was not a major capital, because it was limited in size to the mound of the City of David. These scholars further argue that David and Solomon were not major kings, but rather were leaders of chiefdoms.

In this seminar, Vaughn presents another interpretation of the extant archaeological data and shows that the biblical account of Jerusalem is accurate. The Bible describes the city of Jerusalem during the United Monarchy as a neutral capital of Judah and Israel. Vaughn explains it is not surprising that the archaeological remains from the 10th century BCE are limited to the geographic area of the City of David, because this is precisely what one would expect from a neutral location. He thus demonstrates that the “Jerusalem minimalists” have forced modern concepts of what a capital city should be onto the world of the Bible. David and Solomon ruled over an expansive kingdom, and their capital city (Jerusalem) was a neutral administrative headquarter whose archaeological remains are consistent with the biblical record.