Amnon Ben-Tor

Amnon Ben-Tor (Hebrew: אמנון בן תור;1935 – August 22, 2023) was an Israeli archaeologist, Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was the recipient of the 2019 Israel Prize in archaeology. His main field of expertise was the archaeology of the ancient Near East and biblical archaeology. He specialized in the art of Bronze Age carving, relationships between ancient cultures (ancient Egypt and Canaan), and since 1990 focused on researching Tel Hazor as a key to solving many mysteries in the field. He was Yigal Yadin's partner in the excavations at Tel Hazor and also excavated with him at Masada, writing a book on the subject. Ben-Tor held the view that the united monarchy of Israel did indeed exist in reality as a kingdom that ruled over significant parts of the Land of Israel, contrary to the opinion of "minimalist" professors like Israel Finkelstein, Nadav Na'aman and Ze'ev Herzog, and this was based on an archaeological interpretation of findings in the field, not religious faith or ideology, as he defined it.

Biography and scientific career

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.

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), the University of Maryland (1980), Yale University (1985-1986), Columbia University (1991-1992) and the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (1997-1998).

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 passed away on August 22, 2023.

His view on the historicity of the Bible

Background

On 29 October 1999, an extensive cover story appeared in the Haaretz weekend supplement titled "The Bible - No Evidence on the Ground" by archaeologist Ze'ev Herzog. The article brought to the general public's attention the view of senior archaeologists like Israel Finkelstein and Nadav Na'aman that (more precisely than implied by the polemical headline) no united kingdom under the House of David existed in the Land of Israel that ruled over both Judah and Samaria/Galilee (the future Kingdom of Israel), let alone an imperial kingdom as described in the Books of Samuel and Kings. Moreover, if there was a kingdom in Judah, it was a small city-state in Jerusalem. More on this was extensively published in 2003 in Finkelstein's book "The Rise of Ancient Israel". In response to the publication of this article and the public debate it sparked, the Dinur Center of the Hebrew University and the Ben Zvi Institute organized a conference titled "The Controversy over the Historical Truth in the Bible". The lectures from the conference were collected in a book by that name published by Ben Zvi in 2001. Amnon Ben-Tor was among the speakers at the conference who defended the position that the scientific archaeological interpretation of the findings actually points to the existence of a united monarchy in Israel and Judah. Additionally, he found the story of the conquest and settlement of the tribes of Israel in Canaan (the rapid conquest supported by Yigael Yadin and William F. Albright) to be archaeologically reasonable and supported by evidence, although of course the biblical narrative should not be taken literally since it incorporates theological perspectives, but one should focus on finding the historical kernels incorporated in the stories under discussion, of which there are quite a few.

Personal life

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.