Moshe (Max) W. Prausnitz (

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 ...

: משה פראוסניץ; December 22, 1922 – July 1, 1998) was an Israeli archaeologist who specialized in the

prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

field.

Biography

Prausnitz was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Germany in 1922. He moved to Mandatory Palestine with his family in 1937 at the age of 15, and lived on Mount Carmel in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

ended he studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. In 1953 he went to study in England under V. Gordon Childe, an Australian archaeologist and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

who specialized in the study of European prehistory. He did his doctoral studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His seminar dealt with

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

flint and was published as a book called "From Hunter to Farmer and Trader". Prausnitz worked at the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...

. His first work was in excavations in Caesarea Maritima as a helper to Prof.

Shmuel Yeivin Shemuel Yeivin (Hebrew: שמואל ייבין; September 2, 1896 – February 28, 1982), also spelled Shmuel, was an Israeli archaeologist and the first director of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Early life and education Shemuel Yeivin was bo ...

who was head of the Israel Antiquities Authority at the time. The first excavation he was in charge of took place in Rosh HaNikra. Cover scan of the P

Among his excavations: the cemetery of

Tell Abu Hawam Tell Abu Hawam is the site of a small city established in the Late Bronze Age (14th century BCE) in the area of modern-day Haifa, Israel. The sixth century BCE geographer Scylax described the city as being located "between the bay and the promon ...

(1952); Remnants of a church and a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

settlement in

Shavei Tzion Shavei Tzion ( he, שָׁבֵי צִיּוֹן, ''lit.'' Returnees to Zion) is a moshav shitufi in northern Israel. Located between Acre and Nahariya and covering 2,000 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council. In ...

(1955); Cemeteries at Tel

Achziv Achziv ( he, אַכְזִיב} ''ʾAḵzīḇ''; ar, الزيب, ''Az-Zīb'') is an ancient site on the Mediterranean coast of northern Israel, between the border with Lebanon and the city of Acre. It is located north of Acre on the coast ...

(1958–1998) with the Istituto di Vicine Oriente in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, an excavation which

Eilat Mazar Eilat Mazar ( he, אילת מזר; 10 September 195625 May 2021) was an Israeli archaeologist. She specialized in Jerusalem and Phoenician archaeology. She was also a key person in Biblical archaeology noted for her discovery of the Large Ston ...

continues to carry out. Tel Eli, a prehistoric site at the south end of the Sea of Galilee;

Tel Kabri Tel Kabri ( he, תֵל כַבְרִי), or Tell al-Qahweh ( ar, تَلْ ألْقَهوَة, , mound of coffee), is an archaeological tell (mound created by accumulation of remains) containing one of the largest Middle Bronze Age (2,100–1,5 ...

; A prehistoric site in Herzlia; A prehistoric site in Neve Yam with his colleague and friend Eliezer Wreschner; Evron quarry near Naharia, a site from the Early Paleolithic period with Prof. Avraham Ronen; Rosh Maya near Haifa and more. Prausnitz worked as the editor of "Mitkufat ha-Even", scientific journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society. He died in the summer of 1998 at the age of 75, and was buried in Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem. He left a wife and three children. His

bequest A bequest is property given by will. Historically, the term ''bequest'' was used for personal property given by will and ''deviser'' for real property. Today, the two words are used interchangeably. The word ''bequeath'' is a verb form for the act ...

was transferred to the Antiquities Authority which promised to publish the hitherto inedited report on the Achziv excavations.

Biography

Further reading