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The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservation, and promotes research. The Director-General is Mr. Eli Escusido, and its offices are housed in the
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 located in East ...
. The Israel Antiquities Authority plans to move into a new building for the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, next to the
Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...
.


History

The Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums (IDAM) of the
Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
was founded on July 26, 1948, after the establishment of the State of Israel. It took over the functions of the Department of Antiquities of the British Mandate in Israel and Palestine. Originally, its activities were based on the British Mandate Department of Antiquities ordinances. IDAM was the
statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being empowered or delegated to set rules (for example re ...
responsible for Israel's antiquities and for the administration of small museums. Its functions include curation of the state collection of antiquities, storing of the state collection, maintaining a list of registered antiquities sites, inspecting antiquities sites and registering newly discovered sites, conducting salvage and rescue operations of endangered antiquities sites, maintaining an archaeological library (the state library), maintaining an archive. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) was created from the IDAM by the
Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (wit ...
(Israeli parliament) in a 1990
statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...
. Amir Drori became its first director. The IAA fulfilled the statutory obligations of the IDAM and in its early days was greatly expanded from the core number of workers in IDAM to a much larger complement, and to include the functions of the . The period of expansion lasted for a number of years, but was followed by a period in which diminished fiscal resources and a reduction in funding led to large cutbacks in the size of its work force and its activities.


Publications

It published the results of excavations in three journals: *Booklet of the Department of Antiquities (
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
), now defunct *''IAA Reports'' monograph series, started in the late 1990s (English) *''Atiqot'' (Hebrew and English), still published *''Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel'' (HA-ESI; Hebrew and English), still published, online. *''Qadmoniot: A Journal for the Antiquities of Eretz-Israel and Bible'' (Hebrew), published by Israel Exploration Society together with the IAA. * Archaeological Survey of Israel. A GIS database of tiled maps covering of the State of Israel. Descriptive texts and media of surveyed sites. A continuous project, published online only (previously in print).


The National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel

The Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel is the future building of the IAA, aiming to concentrate all centralized administrative offices into one structure. The campus is planned on 20,000 square meters between the
Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...
and the Bible Lands Museum in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
by
Architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Moshe Safdie.


Organizational structure

The IAA's organization consists of: *Management *Deputy Director for Archaeology *IAA Regional Offices (Northern Region, Central Region, Jerusalem Region, Southern Region and
maritime archaeology Maritime archaeology (also known as marine archaeology) is a discipline within archaeology as a whole that specifically studies human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers through the study of associated physical remains, be they vessels, s ...
Unit) *Excavations and Surveys Department *Artifacts Treatment Department *Conservation Department *National Treasures Department *Information Technology Department *Publications Department *Antiquities Robbery Prevention Unit *Archives Department *library *IAA Internet Sites Unit *Finance Administration *Planning, Coordination and Control Administration *Administrative and Security Services Branch *Staff Officer for Archaeology – Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria


Directors

* Shmuel Yeivin, 1948–1961 * Avraham Biran, 1961–1974 *Avraham Eitan, 1974–1988 * Amir Drori, 1988–2000 * Yehoshua (Shuka) Dorfman, 2000–July 31, 2014 *
Yisrael Hasson Yisrael Hasson ( he, ישראל חסון, born 27 April 1955) is an Israeli politician and former Deputy Director of Shin Bet. He served as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu and Kadima between 2006 and 2014, before becoming Chairman of ...
, 2014–2020 * Eli Escusido he 2021-


Other staff

* Levi Rahmani, archeologist and Chief Curator during the 1980s


Restoration work

The IAA's six-member restoration team restores potsherds, textiles, metal objects and other objects related to the material culture of the country discovered in archaeological excavations. Unlike their peers around the world, the team in Israel is barred by Israeli law from working with human remains.


See also

* Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel, preserves sites from 1700 onwards not covered by the Antiquities Law


References


External links

*
Eisenbrauns
- Official distributor for IAA publications in North America
The Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel
on the Israel Antiquities Authority website. {{Authority control National archaeological organizations Archaeology of Israel Antiquities Authority Organizations based in Jerusalem Government agencies established in 1948 1948 establishments in Israel