Funeral services were held yesterday for Yohanan Aharoni, the founder and head of the institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and one of the world’s leading authorities on the archaeology of the land of Israel. He died Tuesday of cancer at the age of 56.
Prof. Aharoni, who was said to have considered it his personal mission to increase the knowledge of Israelis about their land, had recently, despite his illness, completed an extensive new work on Israeli archaeology and had revised his classic work. “The Land of Israel in Biblical Times.”
Born in Frankfurt, he came to Palestine in 1933 and later was among the founders of Kibbutz Alonim. He received his Ph. D. from Hebrew University in 1955 where he was also a professor of archaeology from 1959-68; going to Tel Aviv University the following year.
Prof. Aharoni’s excavations included the exploration of the Judaean caves, the first Massada expedition and excavations at Hador, Ramat Rachel and Tel Arad. He is the author of numerous books, including “In the Steps of Kings and Rebels” and “The Land of the Bible, Historical Geography.”
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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.
