  The 1 - 5 micron diffuse sky emission from which local foreground emission
from the solar system and the Galaxy have been subtracted exceeds the
brightness that can be attributed to normal star forming galaxies. The nature
of this excess near-infrared background light (NIRBL) is still controversial.
On one hand, it has been interpreted as a distinct spectral feature created by
the redshifted emission from primordial (Population III) stars that have formed
at redshifts > 8. On the other hand, the NIRBL spectrum is almost identical to
that of the zodiacal cloud, raising the possibility that it is of local origin.
Blazars can, in principle, offer a simple test for the nature and origin of the
NIRBL. Very high energy gamma-ray photons emitted by these objects are
attenuated on route to earth by photon-photon interactions with the
extragalactic background light (EBL). This paper examines whether the
extragalactic nature of the NIRBL can be determined from the analysis of the
TeV spectra of blazars. (Abridged)
