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W. Harold Mare, director of excavations at Abila, Jordan, was killed in a car accident near the site on June 21, 2004, one month before his 86th birthday.
Mare was born in Portland, Oregon. His experiences growing up on a farm prepared him well for the rigors of excavations in later life. He received a B.A. in 1941 and an M.A. in 1946, both from Wheaton College, in Illinois. After graduating from Faith Theological Seminary in 1945, he served as a pastor for ten years in Colorado and North Carolina. On his return to academia, he received a Ph.D. in classical archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961, and then became a founding member and professor of New Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis.
Mare’s colleagues praised both the man and the archaeologist. They recalled his amazing energy, his even temper, his cheerful outlook and his habit of prayer. One colleague wrote, “His passion for his work and his humility were obvious to both Arab and American workers.”
Mare dug at sites such as Tekoa, Heshbon and Khirbet Radanna before he began his own excavation at Abila of the Decapolis in 1980. He gave annual reports to the Archaeological Institute of America, the American Schools of Oriental Research and the Near East Archaeological Society; published reports in journals such as Aram and the Bulletin of the Near East Archaeological Society; and wrote entries on Abila in various reference works. He served as president of the Near East Archaeological Society (1971–1992) and of the St. Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (1978–1979). In addition to his archaeological work, he helped translate the New Testament portion of the New International Version, contributed to the commentary on 1 Corinthians in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary and wrote a textbook on New Testament Greek. His festschrift, Beyond the Jordan, is awaiting publication.
W. Harold Mare, director of excavations at Abila, Jordan, was killed in a car accident near the site on June 21, 2004, one month before his 86th birthday.