Dimitri Constantine Baramki, often styled D. C. Baramki (1909,

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Sanjak of Jerusalem The Sanjak of Jerusalem was an Ottoman administrative district, part of the Damascus Eyalet for much of its existence.Abu-Manneh (1999), pp3637. It was created in the 16th century after the 1516 Turkish conquest of Palestine,Beshara (2012), pp2 ...

– 1984,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, U.S.), was a Palestinian archaeologist who served as chief archaeologist at the Department of Antiquities of the Government of Mandatory Palestine from 1938 to 1948. From 1952 until his retirement, he was the curator of the Archaeological Museum at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

, Lebanon, where he served as a professor of archaeology.

Biography

Dimitri Baramki was born in Jerusalem, then in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem ( ota, مُتَصَرِّف قدسی مُتَصَرِّفلغ, ; ar, متصرفية القدس الشريف, ), also known as the Sanjak of Jerusalem, was an Ottoman district with special administrative status e ...

, to a

Palestinian Christian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

family. He studied at St. George's School, Jerusalem. He was appointed Student Inspector, Special Grade, in the Department of Antiquities of the British Mandate government from September 1927. At the beginning of 1929 he was promoted to Inspector. In 1934, he completed his academic studies at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. From 1938 to 1948 he served as chief antiquities inspector in place of Robert Hamilton, who was appointed director of the department. In 1945 he was appointed Senior Archaeological officer. During his years in Palestine, Baramki published many articles, mainly in the ''Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine'' (QDAP) journal, on various sites - from the Bronze Age tombs to Byzantine churches. In 1937, Baramki was the first person to identify the

in situ ''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...

text in the village

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

Farkha Farkha ( ar, فرخة) is a Palestinian village located in the Salfit Governorate in the northern West Bank, 30 kilometers south of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 1,336 in 200 ...

, dating to 606/1210.Sharon, 2005, pp
127–140
From 1934 to 1948 he conducted excavations and investigations at

Hisham's Palace Hisham's Palace ( ar, قصر هشام '), also known as Khirbat al-Mafjar ( ar, خربة المفجر), is an important early Islamic archaeological site in the Palestinian city of Jericho, in the West Bank. Built by the Umayyad dynasty in the f ...

in Jericho. Baramki found the graffiti that mentions

Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ( ar, هشام بن عبد الملك, Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik; 691 – 6 February 743) was the tenth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 724 until his death in 743. Early life Hisham was born in Damascus, the administra ...

and accordingly dated the construction of the palace (a statement that was later rejected) to the years of his rule (724-743), contemporary to Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi in Syria. Baramki's doctoral thesis, submitted in 1953 to the University of London, dealt with Umayyad architecture and relied on the findings of his excavations at Hisham's Palace. As part of his work in the Jericho area, Baramki discovered the

Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue The Jericho synagogue dates to the late 6th or early 7th century CE and was discovered in Jericho in 1936. All that remains from the ancient prayer house is its mosaic floor, which contains an Aramaic inscription presenting thanks to the synagog ...

in 1936. At the end of the British Mandate in May 1948, Dimitri Baramki led Jerusalem's

Rockefeller Museum The Rockefeller Archeological Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum ("PAM"; 1938–1967), and which before then housed The Imperial Museum of Antiquities (''Müze-i Hümayun''; 1901–1917), is an archaeology museum A museum ...

for a short time. Spoke about his appointment as head of the Department of Antiquities of the West Bank on behalf of the Jordanian government, but he found his place at the American School of Oriental Studies in Jerusalem as a consultant and librarian. In 1950 and 1951 he continued his excavations in the Jericho area on the mission of the American James Leon Kelso. In 1952, Baramki was invited to serve as curator of the Archaeological Museum at the

, Lebanon, where he taught until his retirement in 1975.

Works

* ''The Road to Petra : A Short Guide to East Jordan'' (Amman, 1947)Helga Seeden, 2009, pages 274-275 * "Arab culture and architecture of the Umayyad Period : a comparative study with special reference to the results of the excavations of Hisham's palace" (PhD dissertation, 1953. unpublished)Arab culture and architecture of the Umayyad Period
/ref> * ''Phoenicia and the Phoenicians'' (Beirut, 1961) * ''The Archaeological Museum of the American University of Beirut'' (Beirut, 1967)AUB catalogueArchive
/ref> * ''The Coins Exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of the American University of Beirut'' (Beirut, 1968) * ''The Art and Architecture of Ancient Palestine: A Survey of the Archaeology of Palestine from the Earliest Times to the Ottoman Conquest (Beirut, PLO Research Center, 1969) * ''The Coin Collection of the American University of Beirut Museum'' (Beirut, 1974)

Articles

* * * * * * *

References

Bibliography

* Helga Seeden, "Baramki, Dimitri Constantine". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, Vol. 1, 2009 * Dimitri C. Baramki 1909-1984
This Week In Palestine 178
, February 2013 * * * Donald Whitcomb,
Dimitri Baramki: Discovering Qasr Hisham
, Jerusalem Quarterly, Institute for Palestine Studies, 2014, p. 78-82 * Donald Whitcomb and Hamdan Taha
Khirbat al-Mafjar and Its Place in the Archaeological Heritage of Palestine
Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2013), pp. 54–65; also a
academia.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baramki, Dimitri Palestinian Christians 1909 births 1984 deaths American University of Beirut faculty Palestinian archaeologists People from Jerusalem 20th-century archaeologists Palestinian emigrants to the United States