David Ussishkin

Biographic Data

ID3623742
NAMEDavid Ussishkin
GIVEN NAMESDavid
FAMILY NAMEUssishkin
SIGNATUREUSSISHKIN D
AFFILIATIONSTel Aviv University
ORCID0000-0002-8040-1992
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS72
TOTAL CITATIONS187
AUTHOR COUNT72
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1966
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2023
H-INDEX7

  • The Lion Orthostats From Hazor

    Open AccessDavid UssishkinARTICLEOxford Journal of Archaeology2023References: 5

    In a paper recently published in this journal, Shlomit Bechar (2021) analyzed the appearance and use of basalt orthostats in Canaanite and Israelite Hazor. The present paper is an addendum to Bechar's paper, elaborating the subject of the basalt lion orthostats found at Hazor. These lion orthostats formed an inseparable component of the ‘orthostats architecture’ characteristic of several monumental buildings in the Canaanite city. The paper discu…

  • Was the City-Wall of ʿAroer in the Negev of Judah Built in the Early Roman Period

    David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv2022

    Tel ʿAroer, situated in the eastern Negev, was excavated by Avraham Biran and Rudolph Cohen, and the excavation report was published by Yifat Thareani. The excavators dated the city-wall that surrounded the site to the Iron II, concluding that ʿAroer was a fortified stronghold in the border of the Judahite kingdom. A fortified tower was built there in the Early Roman period. This paper argues that the city-wall dates to the Early Roman period and…

  • The City Walls of Lachish

    David UssishkinARTICLEPalestine Exploration Quarterly2022Cited by: 4References: 1

    Between 2013–2017 Yosef Garfinkel and his colleagues conducted excavations at the northern side of Tel Lachish/Tell ed-Duweir. Their conclusions regarding the character and date of the site’s fortifications, and their conclusions regarding the date of Palace C, the last stage of the Palace–Fort, radically differ from the conclusions of the British excavations headed by James Starkey and the renewed excavations of Tel Aviv University headed by me.…

  • Was a “Gate Shrine” Built at the Level III Inner City Gate of Lachish? A Response to Ganor and Kreimerman

    David UssishkinARTICLEBulletin of the American Schools…2020

    The city gate of Level III at biblical Lachish dates to the Iron Age IIB period and was destroyed in the Assyrian conquest in 701 b.c.e. In 2015–2016, Saar Ganor and Igor Kreimerman excavated the southern wing of the inner gate. In a recent issue of this journal, Ganor and Kreimerman (2019) suggested that the innermost, southern chamber of the gatehouse was a “gate shrine,” that the “gate shrine” was desecrated during the reform of Hezekiah, that…

  • The ‘Solomonic’, Six-chambered Gate 2156 at Megiddo Once Again

    David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv2020Cited by: 2

    The stratigraphy and chronology of the Iron Age gates at Megiddo, particularly the so-called ‘Solomonic’, six-chambered Gate 2156, have been the subject of a long scholarly debate. In a recent issue of Tel Aviv, Finkelstein et al. (2019 Finkelstein, I., Adams, M.J., Hall, E. and Levy, E. 2019. The Iron Age Gates of Megiddo: New Evidence and Updated Interpretations. Tel Aviv 46: 167–191. doi: 10.1080/03344355.2019.1650492[Taylor & Francis Online] …

  • The murder of James Leslie Starkey

    David UssishkinARTICLEPalestine Exploration Quarterly2019Cited by: 1

    In 2016 Yosef Garfinkel suggested that J.L. Starkey, Director of the Lachish excavations, was murdered in 1938 by men sent by landowners of the mound due to an extended dispute between them and Starkey on payments for permission to dig on the summit of the mound. The present paper presents additional data which support the view that Starkey was murdered by bandits who came from the Hebron area

  • Was the Egyptianized Pottery Cache from Megiddo a Foundation Deposit of Megaron Temple 4040? Response to Matthew J. Adams

    David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv2018References: 2

    In a recent paper, Matthew J. Adams argued that the Egyptianized pottery cache discovered in the renewed excavations at Megiddo is a foundation deposit in Egyptian character of Megaron Temple 4040. This conclusion is partly based on his analysis of the stratigraphy of Area J (University of Chicago’s Area BB). The present response argues (1) that the stratigraphic conclusions made at the time by the excavators rather than those of Adams are correc…

  • Was Jerusalem a fortified stronghold in the Middle Bronze Age? — an alternative view

    David UssishkinARTICLELevant2016

    Segments of massive walls identified as city walls dated to the Middle Bronze II (MB II) period were uncovered on the eastern slope of the City of David by Kathleen Kenyon, and later by Yigal Shiloh. A massive fortifications complex was uncovered in the area of the Gihon Spring by Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, this too was dated to the MB II period. New analysis of the data from all three excavation projects possibly indicates that these fortifica…

  • The Sacred Area of Early Bronze Megiddo

    David UssishkinARTICLEBulletin of the American Schools…2015

    The sacred area at Tel Megiddo was first excavated by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in 1933–1938 and then by the Tel Aviv University expedition in 1992–2010. At present, readers studying the results have to find their way between four excavation reports, each of which is partial and sometimes contradicts the others, as well as in among various complementary and critical studies. The primary aim of the present study is to pre…

  • The Chalcolithic Temple in Ein Gedi

    David UssishkinARTICLENear Eastern Archaeology2014Cited by: 7References: 9

    The Chalcolithic/Ghassulian temple at Ein Gedi and the unique Chalcolithic metal hoard of Nahal Mishmar were both discovered about fifty years ago. At the time of their discovery, it was suggested that the objects of the hoard formed the cultic equipment of the temple which was taken from the temple when it was abandoned and hidden in a nearby cave. Different theories regarding the function and context of the hoard have been raised in the last fi…

  • The Great Temple of Early Bronze I Megiddo

    Matthew J Adams, Israel Finkelstein et al.ARTICLEAmerican Journal of Archaeology2014Cited by: 6References: 17

    Tel Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley of Israel has been the most cited type-site of the Early Bronze Age Levant since the excavations of the University of Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s. Through the efforts of the Tel Aviv University Megiddo Expedition, the stratigraphic sequence of the Early Bronze Age has been significantly refined, and a new monumental temple dating to Early Bronze Age IB (ca. 3000 B.C.E.) has been discovered. This Great Temple h…

  • The Dating of the lmlk Storage Jars and Its Implications

    David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv2011Cited by: 2References: 6

    in two recent issues of Tel Aviv, Oded lipschits, Omer Sergi and ido Koch (2010, 2011) suggested a new chronological scheme for the lmlk stamped storage jars in Judah. They divided these, as well as the storage jars with concentric circle incisions and rosette stamp impressions into five stages of manufacture and use, from ca. 730 BCE to 587/6 BCE. Based on this chronological scheme lipschits, Sergi and Koch presented various historical conclusio…

  • En Haseva

    David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv2010References: 1

    The paper discusses the Stratum 5 fortress at 'En Haseva, excavated by Cohen and Yisrael. It argues that the casemate wall of the fortress and its monumental gate form the substructure of the complex and not the superstructure as presented by the excavators. The floor levels extended roughly at the top of the preserved stone walls, while the superstructure, which was not preserved, was probably built of mudbrick.Keywords: 'EN HASEVAIRON AGE CITY …

  • Has King David's Palace in Jerusalem been Found?

    Israel Finkelstein, Lily Singer-Avitz et al.ARTICLETel Aviv2007

    Recent excavations at the City of David have revealed a set of massive walls constructed of large undressed stones. Excavator Eilat Mazar has presented them as the remains of a single building, which she labelled the 'Large Stone Structure'. Mazar interpreted the 'Large Stone Structure' as part of a big construction complex, which had also included the 'Stepped Stone Structure' on the slope. She dated her 'Large Stone Structure' to ca. 1000 BCE a…

  • Megiddo and Samaria

    David UssishkinARTICLEBulletin of the American Schools…2007

    Norma Franklin recently offered various suggestions regarding the stratigraphy, monumental architecture, and chronology of Megiddo and Samaria during the ninth-eighth centuries B.C.E., defining in them two chronologically and culturally correlated stages. Emphasis was put on the dating of drafted stones, masons' marks, color-painted guide lines, and the use of the cubit for measuring. Finally, Franklin identified in Samaria two rock-cut caves as …

  • Has King David's Palace in Jerusalem been Found

    Israel Finkelstein, Lily Singer-Avitz et al.ARTICLETel Aviv2007References: 2

    Recent excavations at the City of David have revealed a set of massive walls constructed of large undressed stones. Excavator Eilat Mazar has presented them as the remains of a single building, which she labelled the 'Large Stone Structure'. Mazar interpreted the 'Large Stone Structure' as part of a big construction complex, which had also included the 'Stepped Stone Structure' on the slope. She dated her 'Large Stone Structure' to ca. 1000 BCE a…

  • The Cache of Egyptianized Vessels from Megiddo

    Israel Finkelstein, David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv2003

    The article presents an updated description of the Early Bronze I finds in Area J at Megiddo, in view of the results of the 1998 and 2000 seasons. Specifically, it discusses the layout of the Level J-4 (EB IB) monumental temple, the circumstances of its abandonment and a phase of renewal of activity at the ruined temple in Level J-4a (also dating to the EB IB). The cache of Egyptianized pottery found in Area J in 1996 was dated by Finkelstein and…

  • The Cache of Egyptianized Vessels from Megiddo

    Israel Finkelstein, David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv2003

    The article presents an updated description of the Early Bronze I finds in Area J at Megiddo, in view of the results of the 1998 and 2000 seasons. Specifically, it discusses the layout of the Level J-4 (EB IB) monumental temple, the circumstances of its abandonment and a phase of renewal of activity at the ruined temple in Level J-4a (also dating to the EB IB). The cache of Egyptianized pottery found in Area J in 1996 was dated by Finkelstein and…

  • The Credibility of the Tel Jezreel Excavations

    David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv2000

  • The Credibility of the Tel Jezreel Excavations

    David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv2000Cited by: 3

  • Excavations at Tel Jezreel 1994–1996

    David Ussishkin, John WoodheadARTICLETel Aviv1997Cited by: 6References: 12

    Troisieme rapport de fouilles preliminaire concernant le site de Tel Jezreel, en Israel. Ce site fut occupe a partir de l'Âge du Bronze ancien, a l'âge du Fer, a la fin de l'occupation romaine et a l'epoque byzantine

  • Excavations at Tel Jezreel 1994–1996

    David Ussishkin, John WoodheadARTICLETel Aviv1997Cited by: 1References: 3

  • Orna Zimhoni (1951–1996)

    David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv1997Cited by: 1

  • Orna Zimhoni (1951–1996)

    David UssishkinARTICLETel Aviv1997

  • A Linear A Inscription from Tel Lachish (lach ZA 1)

    Margalit Finkelberg, Alexander Uchitel et al.ARTICLETel Aviv1996References: 4

    Publication et commentaire d'une inscription en Lineaire A, incisee sur un fragment de recipient en calcaire, probablement un grand bol ou un cratere, provenant de Tel Lakish et datee d'apres le contexte stratigraphique (Niveau VI, derniere couche de la cite cananeenne, alors dominee par les pharaons de la XXe dynastie) et archeologique, du debut du XIIe s. av. J.-C