PHOTO BY GABI LARON, COURTESY IGOR KREIMERMAN
Amnon Ben-Tor, one of the giants of biblical archaeology and long-time excavator of the biblical site of Hazor in northern Israel, passed away on August 22. He was 87 years old.
Ben-Tor belonged to the first generation of Israeli archaeologists trained in the State of Israel. He began his studies in 1955 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he participated in his first study excavation at Hazor, which was then directed by the pioneering Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin.
In 1969, Ben-Tor completed his Ph.D. and became a lecturer at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology. He was named the Yigael Yadin Professor in the Archaeology of Eretz Israel in 1988, a position he held until his retirement in 2003.
Ben-Tor was among the first archaeologists in Israel to study sites in a regional context. From 1977 to 1988, he conducted the Western Jezreel Valley Regional Project, which included the excavation of not just the large mound of Yoqneam and two smaller sites but also a survey of the valley.
Of course, Ben-Tor was best known for directing the Hazor excavations, which he renewed in 1990 after inheriting the project from Yadin. His excavations were a great success, uncovering monumental Canaanite architecture from the Middle and Late Bronze Ages (second millennium BCE), as well as Iron Age fortifications, storage houses, and domestic structures that contributed significantly to our understanding of ancient Israelite society and to debates about the archaeology of David and Solomon.
Ben-Tor was a formidable archaeologist who shaped the field of biblical archaeology as we know it today. Although this wonderful, charismatic teacher is gone, his legacy lives on through his students, his publications, and the future excavations of Hazor.
Amnon Ben-Tor, one of the giants of biblical archaeology and long-time excavator of the biblical site of Hazor in northern Israel, passed away on August 22. He was 87 years old. Ben-Tor belonged to the first generation of Israeli archaeologists trained in the State of Israel. He began his studies in 1955 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he participated in his first study excavation at Hazor, which was then directed by the pioneering Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin. In 1969, Ben-Tor completed his Ph.D. and became a lecturer at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology. He was named the […]
