Amnon Ben-Tor

Amnon Ben-Tor (

Ben-Tor was born in Jerusalem. He completed his B.A. at the Hebrew University in 1958 and his M.A. in 1962. In 1966-1967 he went to do research at the University of London. In 1969 he completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Yigal Yadin on "Selected Problems in the Early Bronze Age in the Land of Israel, Stages II-III", with highest honors.^[4]

In 1969 he was appointed lecturer at the Hebrew University and from 1984 he was a full professor. In 1974 he was a research fellow at the Department of Archaeology of the Near East at Harvard University. From 1974 to 1977 he headed the Department of Archaeology at the Hebrew University and from 1992 to 1996 he headed the Institute of Archaeology there. From 1988 he held the Yigael Yadin Chair in the Archaeology of Eretz Israel. Over the years he was a visiting professor at Dropsie College in Philadelphia (1979),

In 1970 Ben-Tor excavated at Tel Yarmuth, and in 1971 excavated in the area. Together with Trude Dothan he excavated in Athienou, Cyprus in 1971–1972. In 1977-1988 he headed the excavation project at Tel Yoqneam and Tel Qiri near Kibbutz HaZore'a. In 1978-1987 he led the excavations at Tel Qashish, which he suggested identifying with "Debir" (Joshua 19:10-11). Since 1990 he headed the excavations at Tel Hazor.

In 2000 he received the "Percia Schimmel Award" from the Israel Museum for his contribution to the archaeology of Eretz Israel. In 2019 he received the Israel Prize in Geography, Archaeology and Eretz Israel Studies.

In 2022 he was diagnosed with a rare cancer called PDCN, and died on August 22, 2023.^[5]

His view on the historicity of the Bible

Background

On 29 October 1999, an extensive cover story appeared in the

His father was geologist Yaakov Ben-Tor who received the Israel Prize in 1955. His wife, Daphna Ben-Tor, was the curator of Egyptian culture at the Israel Museum.^{[citation needed]}

References