Funeral services were held here today for Prof. Eliezer Sukenik, leading archaeologist of Israel, who died yesterday at the age of 64. The funeral was attended by all leading figures of the Israel academic world, the Army staff as well as Cabinet members and other prominent Israeli leaders.
Noted for his many discoveries which threw new light on the history of the Jewish people in Palestine as well as on the Hebrew language and the Bible, the scholar’s most recent discovery was the identiflcation in 1948 of what is believed to be the most ancient Biblical manuscript, part of the Book of Isaiah. The manuscript was purchased a year earlier from Bedouins who claimed to have found it in a desert cave near Jericho.
A native of Bialystok, Russia, Prof. Sukenik came to Palestine in 1912 where he was graduated from the Hebrew Teachers Seminary of Jerusalem. He was one of the founders of the Historical and Ethnographical Society, a member of the Jewish Exploration Society, and a member of the Committee of the Palestine Oriental Society. In 1943 he was named to head the department of Jewish archaeology at the Hebrew University and became keeper of the Museum of Antiquities. He wrote many books and articles dealing with archaeology of Palestine, with the history of the Jews and with the history of other peoples in Palestine.
He is survived by his widow, who organized the first kindergartens in Palestine, and two sons, Yigal Yadin, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Army and also a famous archaeologist, and Michael Yadin, an actor.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
