Avraham Biran: 1909-2008

Sad news from the BAR:

AVRAHAM BIRAN, 1909-2008
The End of an Era

One of Israel's--and the world's--most prolific archaeologists, has passed away. Avraham Biran, who headed the excavations at Tel Dan for more than 30 years, passed away in Jerusalem just a month shy of his 99th birthday. Biran received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, studying under the dean of Near Eastern scholarship, William F. Albright. In addition to leading the Tel Dan excavation, Biran dug at numerous sites in Israel, British Mandate-era Palestine and in Iraq, and he headed the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem for many years. As a tribute to this major figure in the field, we present an extensive interview with Biran conducted by BAR editor Hershel Shanks on the occasion of Biran's 90th birthday and an article by Web editor Steven Feldman describing a memorable visit he made with Biran to one of Biran's excavation sites.

Read about Avraham Biran's extraordinary career