Benjamin Mazar

Benjamin Mazar (June 28, 1906 - September 9, 1995) was a pioneering Israeli archaeologist who shared the national passion for the archaeology of Israel that also attracts considerable international interest due to the region's Biblical links.

Background

Born Binyamen Maisler in Ciechanowiec, Poland, he was educated at Berlin and Giessen universities in Germany. At age 23 he emigrated to Palestine (then under the British Mandate) and in 1943 joined the faculty of Hebrew University in Jerusalem whose original campus at Mount Scopus became isolated in the Jordanian sector of Jerusalem following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Originally he also served as secretary of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, later renamed Israel Exploration Society. See Archaeology of Israel.

Between 1951 and 1977 Benjamim Mazar served as Professor of Biblical History and Archaeology of Palestine at the new campus of Hebrew University in West Jerusalem. In 1952 he became Rector of the University in 1952 and its president for eight years commencing in 1953. Between 1968 and 1978 Professor Mazar directed extensive excavations in the Ophel and the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount. The site had been inaccessible to Israeli archaeologists until it was captured in 1967 during the Six Day War.

Mazar family

Benjamin Mazar, his son Ory and his granddaughter Eilat Mazar and nephew Amihai Mazar all shared the same interests in Israeli archaeology. Eilat Mazar has been a frequent spokesperson for concerns regarding the archaeology of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

ee also

* Archaeology of Israel "This entry discusses the archaeology of Israel as an academic and scientific discipline, an important aspect of the country's cultural life and national identity."
* Biblical archaeology