Welcome to the program today.

Mono Gonzalez here in studio and I have the privilege of talking to the red-haired archaeologist.

Welcome.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

So your official name is Amanda.

Yes, my god given, or my parent given name.

Absolutely. So you have written a book and I, this book came across my desk and I thought, oh, I love all things archaeology. So what an opportunity for us to chat and so reached out and now here we are talking. And so this is kind of fun because introduce yourself to our audience a couple ways. Number one, just how you got to know into archaeology and where people can find out about you on social media and other ways and even your educational background. Kind of give us the synopsis.

Okay, sure. Well, I grew up in Tennessee just right outside of Nashville and I grew up in a Christian home in a pretty conservative form of Christianity. And I sort of felt a call to the ministry,

really, when I was in high school. And it was something I didn't know what to do with because I came

from a tradition where women just didn't do that. And so I ended up going to college. I went to a place

called Rhodes College, which is Presbyterian. It's in Memphis. And I went there

planning to be a lawyer. I was going to get into international law, what's the plan? And when you go

to Rhodes, you're required to take a certain number of religion classes, which I was happy to do.

And I took one course in biblical archaeology, and I was hooked. I was really good at it. I had a very encouraging professor. And I was a course in biblical archaeology and I was hooked.

I was really good at it.

I had a very encouraging professor.

And right out of the gate, she got me a full scholarship to go dig.

And she pushed me and some of my other professors pushed me to pursue it, to pursue a master's.

And they were Harvard graduates.

And so they recommended me and I ended up

going to Harvard and studying under Lawrence Stager, who he's really, he's, he was, he died just a

couple of years ago. He was my advisor and he was sort of one of the big names of the later

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