David Ussishkin

David Ussishkin (; born 1935, aged ) is an Israeli archaeologist and professor emeritus of archaeology.

Biography David Ussishkin was born in Jerusalem. Ussishkin is the son of the lawyer Samuel Ussishkin and the grandson of the Zionist leader Menachem Ussishkin. He studied at Gymnasia Rehavia, in Rehavia and served in the Israel Defense Forces from 1953 till 1955 in the Giv'ati Brigade. He studied archaeology and Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem between 1955 and 1966. He received his B.A. in 1958, Master of Arts degree in Archaeology and Jewish History in 1962 (with distinction) and Ph. D. in 1966. His Doctoral Thesis on "The Neo-Hittite Monuments, their Dating and Style" was written under the guidance of professor Yigael Yadin. Beginning in 1966 and until his retirement in 2004 he taught archaeology of Israel and Hittite art at the University of Tel Aviv, receiving full professorship in 1985.

Academic and archaeology career From 1966 to 2004, he taught archaeology at Tel Aviv University. Ussishkin is an expert on the Iron Age of the Land of Israel. He has directed and co-directed important excavations at Lachish, Jezreel and Megiddo.

In the years 1964 and 1965 he was field supervisor in the excavations of Masada, under Yigael Yadin. In 2004 Ussishkin published a full report of the excavation project, in 5 volumes. It is located in southeastern Jerusalem. This site had already been known for a while. Remains of the siege works done by the Romans when they were besieging this stronghold, in 135 CE, had been discovered in its vicinity: the Roman military camps, their siege walls. Ussishkin found that in that period Beitar had been a small settlement, selected by Bar Kokhba to be his headquarters for several reasons: its proximity to ancient Jerusalem and to the road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza and the fact that it had a spring and was situated on an easily defensible hilltop. The excavations revealed the wall hastily erected by Bar Kokhba's men just before the siege had begun, and they have also discovered remains of the ammunition used by the fort's defenders: arrowheads and sling stones.

Tel Megiddo Tel Megiddo has been systematically excavated, by an expedition of the University of Tel Aviv, since 1992. This expedition has been headed by Ussishkin and Israel Finkelstein. Megiddo is a key site for the archaeological research of Israel. Large scale excavations had been conducted in Tel Megiddo previously but they left many archaeological and historical issues unresolved. In the renewed excavations researchers are focusing on layers from the Israelite Period, when this city had been one of the major cities in the Kingdom of Israel.

Positions held 1978–1979 – Visiting curator, The Royal Ontario Museum and visiting professor, The University of Toronto, Canada 1982 – visiting professor, The University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa 1990 – Visiting professor, The University of Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S. 1967–1993 – Member, Editorial Board of Qadmoniot, Journal for the Antiquities of Israel and the Bible Lands 1985–1995 – Member, board of directors of Yad Itzaq Ben-Zvi 1980–2010 – Member, the Israel Archaeological Council 1990–2010 – Member, Excavations Permit Committee, Israel Archaeological Council Since 1976 – Member, board of directors of the Israel Exploration Society Since 1985 – Member of the Archaeological Council for Judea and Samaria Studies In The Iron Age Pottery Of Israel: Typological, Archaeological And Chronological Aspects, with Orna Zimhoni, O. Zimhoni, and Lily Singer-Avitz, 1997 Megiddo Iii, Set: The 1992–1996 Season (Monograph Series of Sonia & Marco Nadler, Institute of Archaeology) with Israel Finkelstein and Baruch Halpern, 2000 The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish (1973–1994), Volumes I–V, 2005