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Yigal Shiloh 1937–1987
On Saturday, November 14, 1987, Yigal Shiloh died of cancer at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where, two years earlier, he had undergone surgery that removed more than half of his stomach. Saturday, November 14, 1987, brought an abrupt end to a long, stubborn struggle by a courageous man against a merciless illness.
He was only 50 years old when he died.
Shiloh began his archaeological studies relatively late, at an age when many of his contemporaries were completing theirs. He had already finished his military service (where he served in a paratroop unit) and had had a non-academic career.
Nevertheless, he immediately joined the major expeditions of the late 50s—the Judean Desert Survey and Yigael Yadin’s excavation of Masada. He distinguished himself from the start.
If memory serves me, he began as a lowly assistant in Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology. By 1983 he had risen to Head of the Institute.
During the 60s, he participated in every important dig of the Institute. Special mention should be made of the last season at Hazor (1968) where, again under Yadin’s direction, Shiloh supervised the excavation of the most complicated area on the mound, around the entrance to the water system.
Later, he joined Yadin at Megiddo. After Yadin’s death in 1984, Shiloh was asked to undertake the final publication of the Megiddo excavation results—his part in Yadin’s inheritance.
After receiving both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees summa cum laude, he completed his-doctoral studies in the 1970s. In 1975, he was awarded his Ph.D. by Hebrew University. His dissertation, The Proto-Aeolic Capital and Israelite Ashlar Masonry, was published as Volume 11 in the Institute’s Qedem series.
This was soon followed by the publication of a number of important articles on such subjects as the Israelite four-room-house and Israelite city planning.
In 1978, the Institute of Archaeology and the Israel Exploration Society asked Shiloh to direct what was to be his life’s major project: the excavation of the oldest inhabited part of Jerusalem, the City of David. He accepted the challenge enthusiastically, although he knew full well the peculiar and formidable problems of digging in Jerusalem.
Shiloh organized the dig impeccably. It was an extremely complicated project and required nerves of iron. But it all paid off in the remarkable discoveries he uncovered.
In addition to archaeological difficulties, he also became involved, against his will, in a bitter clash with ultra-orthodox extremists who tried to stop his Jerusalem dig. Both he and his family withstood these attacks with great courage.
At his death, the excavation reports on his Jerusalem dig had only begun to come out. But they brought him fame and honor. Just a week before his death, he was awarded the prestigious Jerusalem Prize in Archaeology. The award was made at his bedside by Jerusalem’s Mayor Teddy Kollek.
In 1985, Yigal began to feel pain in his stomach. Not until January 1986 was he operated on. This operation revealed the nature of his illness. He recovered from the operation amazingly fast and he was soon back at work at the Institute. He surprised us, however, when he decided to take a sabbatical at Duke University; only a few years earlier, he had taken a sabbatical at Harvard, and it seemed quite soon to take another sabbatical. Later we learned that the Duke University hospital specialized in the treatment of his kind of cancer.
At Duke, he taught a full year while undergoing painful chemotherapy. He even toured the country on the lecture circuit. The last time I saw him was in the hospital at Duke; even then, he refused to give up. Almost until the very end, he hoped for a miracle. Finally, he grew tired and decided to return to Jerusalem. Three weeks later, he died.
Yigal Shiloh was an exceptionally strong man with an unusual lust for life. He died in the prime of life. He was a man of many rare qualities, but I shall remember him first and foremost as a man of courage.
Ephraim Stern
Institute of Archaeology
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Shortly before his death, Yigal Shiloh was interviewed by BAR editor Hershel Shanks. This interview will be published in two parts in forthcoming issues of BAR—our tribute to a great archaeologist and a strong, courageous human being. It is with great regret and sadness that we must publish this intensely revealing interview posthumously. We extend our deepest sympathy to Yigal’s wife Tami, to his son Dror and to his daughter Ayelet. May his memory be a blessing.
Fellner Award
Ussishkin’s “Lachish” Chosen as Best BAR Article
David Ussishkin’s “Lachish—Key to the Israelite Conquest of Canaan?” BAR 13:01, has received the second annual Fellner Award for the best article to appear in BAR in 1987. The award carries a prize of $500.
Published in the January/February issue, Ussishkin’s article describes his excavations of Late Bronze Age Lachish, the city of Joshua’s time and earlier. Digging deeper than ever before, he discovered an earlier Canaanite city on the site and new evidence bearing on the fiery destruction of Canaanite Lachish.
Ussishkin, professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, has directed the Lachish excavations since 1973. He also edits Tel Aviv, the journal of Tel Aviv University’s Institute of Archaeology, and serves on BAR’s editorial advisory board. His previous articles in BAR were “Answers at Lachish,” BAR 00805:06, and “Defensive Judean Counter-Ramp Found at Lachish,” BAR 10:02.
The judges for this year’s award were Lawrence E. Stager, Dorot professor of the archaeology of Israel, in Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and director of Harvard’s Semitic Museum, and Oded Borowski, associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The judges commented that the Ussishkin article presented “new and important information concerning the relationship between the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Palestine.” They added that “Ussishkin breaks new ground by demonstrating the existence of a strong Egyptian settlement in Lachish prior to the end of the Late Bronze and well into the 12th century B.C. during the Ramesides, and thus contributes crucial data that helps in dating the Israelite settlement at the 12th century. This is especially significant in light of the present argument about this matter in the pages of BAR.”
Funds for the award were donated by the Leopold and Clara M. Fellner Charitable Foundation. A corresponding award for the best article in our sister publication, Bible Review, will be announced in the February Bible Review.
Bridging Cultures
Poland Hosts Successful Colloquium on Dead Sea Scrolls
The First International Colloquium on the Dead Sea Scrolls, held in Mogilany, near Cracow, Poland, May 31–June 2, 1987, brought together some 40 scholars from such countries as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, France, and the United States. Sponsored by the Oriental Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the meeting greatly facilitated communication between university scholars and church scholars and between the scholarly communities of eastern Europe and the West. Twelve papers were delivered on the conference theme, “The Origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Early History of the Community.”
Encouraged by the success of this event, the Oriental Committee has scheduled another colloquium for the end of September, 1989. For its theme, the next colloquium will focus on “The Teacher of Righteousness and His Role According to the Qumran Texts.”
The 25th volume of Folia Orientalia, the mimeographed annual published by the Oriental Committee, will contain all the papers delivered at the first colloquium, as well as abstracts of the undelivered papers. It will be available by exchange in August 1988, but spring is the deadline for orders. Orders for Folia Orientalia and inquiries about the next colloquium should be sent to: Dr. Z. J. Kapera, Komisja Orient., PAN, ul. Slawkowska 17, 31–016 Krakow, Poland.
Corrections
The drawing that the author provided to us to illustrate the impression of the Hanan seal ring, published in the September/October BAR (“Jeremiah’s Scribe and Confidant Speaks from a Hoard of Clay Bullae,” BAR 13:05), contains a drawing error. The second letter from the right on the second line should have been rendered as the paleo-Hebrew character for “
Contrary to our statement in
Yigal Shiloh 1937–1987
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