Image Details

Yohanan Aharoni analyzes pottery on site at Arad. Aharoni directed excavation of the Arad fortress from 1962 to 1967—and published the Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Arabic inscriptions found there—before his death in 1976.

The very first excavation season at Arad, spring 1962, quickly yielded 30 ostraca. Aharoni decided to pay special attention to sherd treatment: he added a dunk in a pail of water for each sherd before routine scrubbing was done, so that any writing would become visible.