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Benjamin Mazar

In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “pioneering israeli archaeologist who shared the national passion for the archaeology of israel that also attrac”. Today it says “pioneering israeli historian”.
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 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “pioneering israeli archaeologist who shared the national passion for the archaeology of israel that also attrac”. Today it says “pioneering israeli historian”.
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The opening as it read in 2015

Benjamin Mazar in 1936, at Bet Shearim Benjamin Mazar ( ; born Binyamin Zeev Maisler, June 28, 1906 – September 9, 1995) was a pioneering Israeli historian, recognized as the "dean" of biblical archaeologists .1 He shared the national passion for the archaeology of Israel that also attracts considerable international interest due to the region's biblical links. He is known for his excavations at the most significant biblical site in Israel: south and south west of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In 1932 he conducted the first archaeological excavation under Jewish auspices in Israel at Beit She'arim (the largest catacombs ever found in Israel) and in 1948 was the first archaeologist to receive a permit granted by the new State of Israel ( Tell Qasile , 1948). Mazar was trained as an Assyriologist and was an expert on biblical history, authoring more than 100 publications on the subject. He developed the field of historical geography of Israel. Between 1951 and 1977, Mazar served as Professor of Biblical History and Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem . In 1952 he became Rector of the University and later its president for eight years commencing in 1953. He founded the Hebrew University's new campus at Givat Ram and Hadasah Medical School and Hospital at Ein Karem and led the academic development of the university into one of the leading Universities of the World (see Academic Ranking of World Universities ). He was regarded by his students as an inspiring teacher and academic leader and many of these students are now considered leading historians and archaeologists in Israel today.

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 664920838.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “pioneering israeli archaeologist who shared the national passion for the archaeology of israel that also attrac”. Today it says “pioneering israeli historian”. Read the current article and compare.
2005201020152020Oct '232025
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What Wikipedia says this is

Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2025.

Then

pioneering israeli archaeologist who shared the national passion for the archaeology of israel that also attrac

Now

pioneering israeli historian

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.

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