Approved by the Council of the Israel Academy on June 16, 2014

Edited by Yoram Tsafrir and Itzhaq Shai

Published May 2015

The Report on the State of Archaeology in Israel, published in May 2015, summarizes the work of the Committee to Assess the State of Archaeology in Israel established by the Council of the Israel Academy, which commenced its work in 2010.

 

The committee, chaired by the late Prof. Yoram Tsafrir, comprised senior university faculty and Israel Antiquities Authority personnel: Dr. Gideon Avni, Prof. David Adan-Bayewitz, the late Prof. Shmuel Eisenstadt, Prof. Michal Artzy, Prof. Anna Belfer-Cohen, Prof. Seymour (Sy) Gitin, Dr. Uzi Dahari, Prof. Ze’ev Weiss, Prof. Steve Weiner, Prof. Amihai Mazar, Prof. Margalit Finkelberg, Prof. Israel Finkelstein, Prof. Benjamin Z. Kedar, Prof. Steven Rosen and Prof. Yoel Rak.

 

The report summarizes the state of affairs in the following areas relating to archaeology in Israel: the state of archaeological research, academic matters relating to the higher education system and R&D authorities, the quality of archaeological excavations and publications, the preservation of archaeological sites and the problem of antiquities theft. The report also considers how to bring archaeology closer to the public and the place of archaeology in the Israel’s political-ideological discourse.

 

The Report’s key points, as summarized in its Conclusions and Recommendations, are as follows:

1. Israel’s excellent levels of academic instruction, research and publications in archaeology place it on a high international level from this perspective. There is significant and impressively advanced collaboration between archaeology, a humanities discipline, and the natural sciences, with growing use of innovative “remote sensing” technologies – physical tools that make it possible to locate internal spaces or walls without excavating. Israel is among the world’s leaders in these areas (Conclusions and Recommendations, §§ A1, B1).
2. The ban on excavating graves (of Jews and “possible” Jews, which means almost all of the graves found in excavations) and examining human remains poses a very serious problem. Consequently, Israel lags far behind in the field of physical anthropology (the investigation of human features – height and weight, life span, diseases, child mortality, etc.), compared to other countries (§§ B4, C7).
3. Another serious problem is the slow pace of publishing excavations. Small excavations are published in journals or via electronic media. The difficulty pertains to large-scale excavations conducted by academic institutions (sometimes at the commission of government entitles, for employment or development purposes). Processing and publishing their results demands a research staff, laboratory tests, the composition of lengthy scientific reports and their publication in books (or more often a series of books), and they often turn out to require much larger budgets than originally estimated. Researchers fund the research and publish the collected materials with grants from competitive foundations, public institutions and donors. However, these funds are generally insufficient and not guaranteed from the outset. As a result, supremely important material could go to waste, and the scientific loss would be enormous. This problem should be addressed by earmarking specific funds for publication (§§ A2, B3, 12).
4. The Israel Antiquities Authority has invested great and laudable efforts in guarding antiquities and preventing their theft. Nevertheless, the theft of artefacts (especially from tombs) continues, facilitated by a black market and a sophisticated smuggling system that severely harm research. The courts do not treat this phenomenon with sufficient gravity, though it involves objects of enormous national and economic value (§§ C1–4).
5. Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel and during its early years, archaeologists in Palestine/Israel emphasized archaeology’s contribution to discovering the Jewish people’s “roots” in its land. Over the years, a central place has also been accorded to non-Jewish periods and sites, and to the various cultures that represent the country’s general history and culture. Without detracting from the value of findings related to Jewish culture, many archaeologists have devoted efforts to investigating non-Jewish settlements and cultures, out of a sense of responsibility and duty to expose and study the land’s many aspects, including its Greco-Roman, Christian and Islamic heritages, which joined in creating its cultural past. Recently, there has been a push to emphasize the Jewish heritage over other cultures. The “Heritage Sites” project of the Prime Minister’s Office devotes great resources exclusively to studying and fostering the Jewish heritage. Moreover, efforts to mobilize archaeology for non-scientific uses and purposes are increasing. The committee calls for the protection and care of all archaeological sites and remains and for recognition of their value as national sites and world cultural assets, now and for future generations (§§ C11–15).

Link to the full report (in Hebrew): Report on the State of Archeology in Israel.