Yosef Garfinkel is a professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and of Archaeology of the Biblical Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...

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Biography

Yosef (Yossi) Garfinkel was born in 1956 in Haifa, Israel. He is a curator of the museum of Yarmukian Culture at Kibbutz Sha'ar HaGolan. Garfinkel specializes in the Protohistoric era of the Near East, the period of time when the world’s earliest village communities were established and the beginning of agriculture took place. He has excavated numerous Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 and Chalcolithic sites, including Gesher

Gesher archaeological site

Gesher is an archaeological site located on the southern bank of Nahal Tavor, near kibbutz Gesher in the central Jordan Valley of Israel. It bears signs of occupation from two periods, the very early Neolithic and the Middle Bronze Age...

, Yiftahel

Yiftahel

Yiftahel is an archaeological site located in the Lower Galilee in northern Israel. Various salvage excavations took place here between 1992 and 2008. The best known periods of occupation are the Early Bronze Age I and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B....

, Neolithic Ashkelon, Sha'ar HaGolan, Tel ‘Ali

Tel ‘Ali

Tel Ali is an archaeological site located one mile south of the Sea of Galilee, in the central Jordan Valley, Israel. It has been excavated twice. First, during the years 1955–1959, Moshe Prausnitz conducted salvage excavations on behalf of the Israel Department of Antiquities. He published only...

 and Tel Tsaf

Tel Tsaf

Tel Tsaf is an archaeological site located in the central Jordan Valley, south-east of Beit She'an. It was first tested in 1978–1980 by Ram Gophna of Tel Aviv University. In 2004–2007 a large excavation project was conducted at the site by Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Tel...

. Garfinkel is the author of 12 books and over 100 articles on ancient architecture, farming, water sources, pottery, art, religion and dance.

Since 2007 he has been conducting excavations at the fortified city of Khirbet Qeiyafa

Khirbet Qeiyafa

Khirbet Qeiyafa is the site of an ancient city overlooking the Elah Valley. The ruins of the fortress were uncovered in 2007, near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, 20 miles from Jerusalem. It covers nearly six acres and is encircled by a 700-meter long city wall constructed of stones weighing...

. This biblical site is dated to the early 10th century BC, the period of King David. An outstanding discovery made in the 2008 season is an inscription written in ink on a pottery shard in the proto-Canaanite script. This might be the earliest Hebrew inscription ever found, although the actual language of the inscription is still under debate.

Excavations

• Khirbet Qeiyafa
  Khirbet Qeiyafa
  Khirbet Qeiyafa is the site of an ancient city overlooking the Elah Valley. The ruins of the fortress were uncovered in 2007, near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, 20 miles from Jerusalem. It covers nearly six acres and is encircled by a 700-meter long city wall constructed of stones weighing...
  
  
• Tel Tsaf
  Tel Tsaf
  Tel Tsaf is an archaeological site located in the central Jordan Valley, south-east of Beit She'an. It was first tested in 1978–1980 by Ram Gophna of Tel Aviv University. In 2004–2007 a large excavation project was conducted at the site by Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Tel...
  
  : 2004 (preliminary survey), 2006 (first season)
• Sha'ar HaGolan
• Yiftahel
  Yiftahel
  Yiftahel is an archaeological site located in the Lower Galilee in northern Israel. Various salvage excavations took place here between 1992 and 2008. The best known periods of occupation are the Early Bronze Age I and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B....
  
  
• Neolithic Ashkelon
• Gesher
  Gesher archaeological site
  Gesher is an archaeological site located on the southern bank of Nahal Tavor, near kibbutz Gesher in the central Jordan Valley of Israel. It bears signs of occupation from two periods, the very early Neolithic and the Middle Bronze Age...
  
  

Published work

• Y. Garfinkel. 1992. The Pottery Assemblages of Sha'ar HaGolan and Rabah Stages from Munhata (Israel). Paris: Association Paléorient.
• Y. Garfinkel. 1995. Human and Animal Figurines of Munhata, Israel. Paris: Association Paléorient.
• Y. Garfinkel. 1999. Neolithic and Chalcolithic Pottery of the Southern Levant. (Qedem 39). Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University.
• Y. Garfinkel, and M. Miller. 2002. Sha'ar HaGolan Vol 1. Neolithic Art in Context. Oxford: Oxbow.
• Y. Garfinkel. 2003. Dance at the Dawn of Agriculture. Austin: Texas University Press.
• Y. Garfinkel. 2004. The Goddess of Sha'ar HaGolan. Excavations at a Neolithic Site in Israel. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.
• Y. Garfinkel and D. Dag. 2006. Gesher: A Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Site in the Central Jordan Valley, Israel. A Final Report. Berlin: Ex Oriente.
• Y. Garfinkel and S. Cohen. 2007. The Early Middle Bronze Cemetery of Gesher. Final Excavation Report. AASOR 62. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research.
• Y. Garfinkel and D. Dag. 2008 Neolithic Ashkelon. (Qedem 47). Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University.
• O. Bar-Yosef and Y. Garfinkel. 2008. The Prehistory of Israel. Human Cultures before Writing. Jerusalem: Ariel (Hebrew).

External links

• Prof. Yosef Garfinkel Homepage
• Prize Find: Oldest Hebrew Inscription Biblical Archaeology Review