Wikipedia's first sentence called it “archaeologist and historian”. Today it says “american archaeologist and historian of the near east”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
Alexander H. Joffe (born 1959) Alex Joffe is an archaeologist and historian of the Near East .1Joffe graduated from Cornell University in 1981 with a B.A in History and received a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona in 1991. From 1980 to 2003 he participated in and directed archaeological research in Israel , Jordan , Greece and the United States . He participated in fieldwork at Tel Miqne , Tel Dor , Tel Yaqush , Tel el-Hammeh , Beersheva , Tel Rekhesh , Megiddo , Ain Ghazal , and elsewhere. He has written extensively on Near Eastern archaeology . He has been an associate at the Harvard Semitic Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem , as well as the Department of Archaeology at Boston University . Joffe has taught at Pennsylvania State University and SUNY Purchase . From 2012 to 2022 Joffe was the editor of The Ancient Near East Today , the weekly web magazine of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR). Hallote, the daughter of writer Cynthia Ozick , in 1992. With Hallote and JP Dessel he hosts the podcast This Week in the Ancient Near East .2 "James ossuary opens a Pandora's box of suspected fakes; Objects, authentication are called into question". The New York Times . American Schools of Oriental Research .3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1142264072.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Joffe (born 1959) is an archaeologist and historian .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 292814849.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Joffe (born 1959) Alex Joffe is an archaeologist and historian of the Near East.Joffe grew up in Newton, Massachusetts , graduated from Cornell University in 1981 with a B.A in History and received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona in 1991.From 1980 to 2003 he participated in and directed archaeological research in Israel , Jordan , Greece and the United States .He participated in fieldwork at Tel Miqne , Tel Dor , Tel Yaqush , Tel el-Hammeh , Beersheva , Tel Rekhesh , Megiddo , Ain Ghazal , and elsewhere.He has written extensively on Near Eastern archaeology .He has been an associate at the Harvard Semitic Museum in Cambridge, Mass., and the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem , as well as the Department of Archaeology at Boston University .Joffe has taught at Pennsylvania State University and SUNY Purchase .Hallote, the daughter of writer Cynthia Ozick , in 1992."James ossuary opens a Pandora's box of suspected fakes; Objects, authentication are called into question".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667314558.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Joffe (born 1959) Alex Joffe is an archaeologist and historian of the Near East. Joffe grew up in Newton, Massachusetts , graduated from Cornell University in 1981 with a B.A in History and received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona in 1991. From 1980 to 2003 he participated in and directed archaeological research in Israel , Jordan , Greece and the United States . He participated in fieldwork at Tel Miqne , Tel Dor , Tel Yaqush , Tel el-Hammeh , Beersheva , Tel Rekhesh , Megiddo , Ain Ghazal , and elsewhere. He has written extensively on Near Eastern archaeology . He has been an associate at the Harvard Semitic Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem , as well as the Department of Archaeology at Boston University . Joffe has taught at Pennsylvania State University and SUNY Purchase . Joffee is the editor of ANEToday, the monthly newsletter of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR). Hallote, the daughter of writer Cynthia Ozick , in 1992. "James ossuary opens a Pandora's box of suspected fakes; Objects, authentication are called into question". The New York Times .American Schools of Oriental Research .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 904542667.
The opening as it stood in 2025 11 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
American archaeologist and historian (born 1959) Alexander H. Joffe (born 1959) is an American archaeologist and historian of the Near East . "James ossuary opens a Pandora's box of suspected fakes; Objects, authentication are called into question".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1292887153. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “archaeologist and historian”. Today it says “american archaeologist and historian of the near east”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
archaeologist and historian
Now
american archaeologist and historian of the near east
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
