Yohanan Aharoni (

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 ...

:יוחנן אהרוני)(7 June 1919 – 9 February 1976) was an Israeli

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

and

historical geographer Historical geography is the branch of geography that studies the ways in which geographic phenomena have changed over time. It is a synthesizing discipline which shares both topical and methodological similarities with history, anthropology, eco ...

, chairman of the Department of Near East Studies and chairman of the Institute of Archaeology at

Tel-Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Loc ...

Life

Born to the Aronheim family, in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

on 7 June 1919, Aharoni immigrated to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

in 1933. He studied at the Hebrew Reali School 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 ...

, and later at the

Mikve Yisrael Mikveh Israel ( he, מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל, 'Hope of Israel') is a youth village and boarding school in the Tel Aviv District of central Israel, established in 1870. It was the first Jewish agricultural school in what is now Isr ...

agricultural school. He married

Miriam Gross Miriam Gross, Lady Owen is a literary editor and writer. She was the deputy literary editor of ''The Observer'' from 1969-81, the women's editor of ''The Observer'' from 1981-84, the arts editor of ''The Daily Telegraph'' from 1986-91, and the ...

and became a member of kibbutz Alonim.

Career

Aharoni studied archaeology at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

and began to teach there in 1954. By 1966, he became a professor at the university. However, in 1968, he moved to Tel-Aviv University and became chairman of the Department of Near East Studies and chairman of the Institute of Archaeology. Aharoni participated in many excavations, including Ramat Rachel, Tel Arad, Tel Be'er Sheva,

Tel Hazor Tel Hazor ( he, תל חצור), also Chatsôr ( he, חָצוֹר), translated in LXX as Hasōr ( grc, Άσώρ), identified at Tell Waqqas / Tell Qedah el-Gul ( ar, تل القدح, Tell el-Qedah), is an archaeological tell at the site of anci ...

and Lachish. He also studied ancient roadways in the

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its sout ...

, and participated in the discovery of the Bar Kokhba caves while surveying and excavating the Dead Sea region in 1953.

Publications

In addition to numerous articles published in archaeological journals, Aharoni wrote six books: * ''The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography'' (1967); original Hebrew edition: 'Land of Israel in Biblical Times - Historical Geography', Bialik Institute (1962) * ''Beer-Sheba I: Excavations at Tel Beer-Sheba , 1969-1971'' (1973) * ''Investigations at Lachish: The sanctuary and the residency'' (1975) * ''The Arad Inscriptions'' with

Joseph Naveh Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

(1981) - English version * '' Macmillan Bible Atlas'' with Michael Avi-Yonah (1993) * ''Carta Bible Atlas'' (2002)

References

External links

* Rainey, Anson F. "In Memoriam: Yohanan Aharoni" ''The Biblical Archaeologist'', Vol. 39, No. 2 (May, 1976), pp. 53–5
JSTOR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aharoni, Yohanan 1919 births 1976 deaths People from Frankfurt (Oder) People from the Province of Brandenburg Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine Israeli archaeologists Tel Aviv University faculty Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni 20th-century archaeologists