Israel Exploration Society

The Israel Exploration Society links archaeological scholarship, excavation projects, publishing, and public engagement with the history and antiquities of the Land of Israel.[1] Its programs have included excavation sponsorship, scholarly publishing, annual conferences for archaeologists and the interested public, and field trips to sites across Israel and neighboring countries.[1] The Library of Congress records the society as publisher of Yigael Yadin's three-volume edition of The Temple Scroll, issued in Jerusalem from 1977 to 1983.[5]

The society's role has shifted over time. In its early decades it served as the only Jewish institution engaged in archaeological, geographical, and Land of Israel studies.[3] By the early twenty-first century, as university archaeological institutes took on new fieldwork, its principal responsibilities included publishing excavation reports and archaeological books, providing administrative support to Israeli and foreign teams, and organizing conferences and public events.[6]

The society's dedicated encyclopedia dates its founding in Jerusalem to 1914, under the name Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, on the initiative of Izhak Ben-Zvi, Y. Press, David Yellin, A.M. Luncz, Abraham Jacob Brawer, and others.[1] Its founders sought a local scientific counterpart to the foreign societies already exploring the Holy Land and its antiquities, including the British-based Palestine Exploration Fund, established in 1865.[7][6] Because none of the founders was a trained archaeologist, the society initially confined its work to history and geography.[6]

Yellin, a scholar and teacher who had founded the Hebrew Teachers' Seminary in Jerusalem, served as the society's first president, and Brawer as secretary.[8] The society's activities were interrupted when World War I broke out in August 1914; members of the Jerusalem Jewish elite, including Yellin and his family, were deported by the Ottoman regime.[8]

Work resumed in 1920 under British Mandatory administration, with assistance from A. Masie and Nahum Slouschz.[1] Yellin revived the society under the Hebrew name "The Hebrew Society for the Exploration of Eretz Israel and its Antiquities," with Eliezer Ben-Yehuda serving as vice-president.[8] Accounts differ slightly on the date of its first excavation at Hammath Tiberias: a centennial account dates Slouschz's work there to 1921–22, while a Ynet account describes a 1920 excavation as the first conducted by the Jewish community in the Land of Israel.[8][9] A related account says Mandatory authorities granted a permit after antiquities were exposed during road construction south of Lake Kinneret; the excavation uncovered a stone candelabra.[6]

Slouschz also excavated Absalom's Tomb in Jerusalem in 1924.[8][1] Between 1925 and 1927, E.L. Sukenik and L.A. Mayer partly cleared Jerusalem's Third Wall.[1] The society sent Eleazar Sukenik to study archaeology at the University of Berlin in 1922, making him the first member of the Jewish community in Palestine to receive academic training in the field.[6]

During the Mandate period the society sponsored much of the Jewish archaeological work in the country, including work on Jerusalem's Third Wall, Jewish tombs around Jerusalem and at Beth Shearim, and synagogue remains at Beth Alpha and Hammath Gader.[10] The society initiated annual conventions in 1943, and its first full congress was organized during Succot in 1944, with lectures open to the public.[1][6] A week-long congress was held in Tiberias in 1947 and continued despite heightened Arab-Jewish tensions.[6]

The Hebrew-language journal Yediot began publication in 1933, edited by Benjamin Mazar and Samuel Yeivin.[3] Early issues ranged widely, covering excavation reports, geography, climate, vegetation, historical geography, biblical-site identification, archaeology lectures, and reports on excavations conducted by foreign societies active in the country.[3] Its title was later shortened, and from 1962 it appeared as Yediot be-heker Eretz Israel ve-atikoteha.[3] The National Library catalog says it was replaced by Qadmoniot in 1967, while the society's dedicated encyclopedia dates Qadmoniot's publication run from 1968.[3][1]

After the establishment of the State of Israel, the society adopted its current name and its activities expanded alongside rapidly growing public and scholarly interest in archaeology.[1] Sources differ on whether the name change occurred in 1948 or 1950, as discussed below.

From the 1950s the society undertook joint excavation projects, primarily with the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology.[8] Its excavation program came to encompass Beth She'arim, Tell Qasile, Hazor, Masada, the Judean Desert caves, En Gedi, Arad, the Temple Mount, the Jewish Quarter and City of David in Jerusalem, Herodion, Aphek, Lachish, Dor, and Sepphoris, among other sites.[1] The 1955 Hazor expedition, led by Yigael Yadin, was a milestone: the government supplied 250 laborers, the Rothschild family in London provided financial backing, and young archaeologists and students joined the staff.[6] Joseph Aviram later called Hazor "a university for a generation of archeologists."[6]

Aviram became the society's honorary secretary in 1940, later served on its executive board, and became its director in 1983.[4] Major projects sponsored during his years with the society included Beth Shearim, Hazor, Masada, the Judean Desert cave surveys of 1960–61, and work at Jerusalem's Temple Mount, Jewish Quarter, and City of David.[4] The society and Aviram jointly received the Israel Prize in 1989.[4] The 25th volume of the Eretz-Israel scholarly series was dedicated to him as a Festschrift in 1996, recognizing his services to archaeology in Israel.[4]

The society's publishing program is among its most enduring contributions to the field. The English-language Israel Exploration Journal has appeared since 1951. The dedicated encyclopedia describes it as a quarterly, while a 2013 account says it was then published twice a year and had reached its 63rd volume.[1][8] Its pages have hosted significant scholarly debates; one example is Shmuel Ahituv's 2012 peer-reviewed rejoinder challenging Nadav Na'aman's dating of the Ketef Hinnom silver amulets to the Restoration Period and arguing that the amulets should instead be understood as personal documents of humble character.[11] A 2026 issue carried a study of previously unpublished Arabic inscriptions from Nessana in southern Israel, found during three separate expeditions and most likely dating to the eighth century CE, examined in the context of the late Umayyad and early Abbasid periods.[12]

The Hebrew-language journal Qadmoniot — A Journal for the Antiquities of Eretz Yisrael and Bible Lands has appeared since 1968; by 2013 it had reached its 46th volume and was published twice a year. It has been produced in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority since 1995.[1][8] The Hebrew-English series Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies began in 1951.[1] Additional publications include Studies in the Geography of Israel from 1960, a quarterly bulletin published from 1933 to 1966 under the names BJPES and then BIES, and a 17-volume Library of Palestinology.[1]

Among major reference works, the society co-published a four-volume illustrated New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land with Carta in 1993. A centennial account says it was first issued in Hebrew in 1992, appeared in English in 1993, and received a supplement in 2008.[1][8] Large-scale excavation-report series include the eight-volume Masada: The Yigael Yadin Excavations 1963–1965, published from 1989 to 2007 and covering subjects ranging from Aramaic and Hebrew ostraca to military equipment and ritual baths.[13] The Jewish Quarter Excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem, conducted by Nahman Avigad from 1969 to 1982, was published from 2000 onward jointly with the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology, with final reports for volumes 1–7 and 9 covering architecture, stratigraphy, the Burnt House, the Cardo, and other topics.[14] The three-volume edition of The Temple Scroll, edited by Yigael Yadin, was published between 1977 and 1983.[5]

Annual congresses became a signature activity of the society, drawing thousands of participants at their height.[7] Described as major events for archaeologists and interested members of the public alike, they featured lectures, symposia, and presentations of newly uncovered finds.[1] Recent congresses have been organized jointly with the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Israeli Archaeological Association. The 48th congress presented research on a copper fishing hook found in a 2018 Ashkelon excavation and dated to approximately 6,000 years ago, described as among the oldest known metal fishing hooks.[15] It also presented newly researched gold jewelry from a lead coffin found on Mount Scopus in 1971; the finds had not previously been published.[16]

The society also organized and co-sponsored international congresses on biblical archaeology in 1984 and 1990, whose proceedings appeared in two volumes titled Biblical Archaeology Today.[1] Annual archaeological field trips took members to sites throughout Israel and neighboring countries.[1]

The society helped institutionalize Jewish archaeological research in the Land of Israel, first as the only Jewish institution active across archaeology, geography, and knowledge of the country, and later as a sponsor of much of the Mandate-era work on Jewish sites.[3][10] Its excavation projects, journals, final reports, congresses, and public field trips connected professional research with a broad interested public.[1] Its institutional standing was marked by the Israel Prize awarded jointly to the society and Joseph Aviram in 1989.[4]

The society's founding year is reported differently across sources. Its dedicated encyclopedia and the Jewish Virtual Library give 1914.[1][10] The Association for Israel Studies review and an encyclopedia entry on learned societies give 1913.[17][2] A 2013 centennial account likewise dates its establishment to spring 1913.[8] The original name also varies: the dedicated entry gives Jewish Palestine Exploration Society,[1] while Jerusalem Post accounts use Palestine Exploration Society and Jewish Palestine Exploration Fund.[8][6]

Sources similarly differ on adoption of the current name. The dedicated encyclopedia says the name changed in 1948 after the establishment of the state.[1] The 2013 centennial account instead says that chairman Benjamin Mazar changed it in 1950 on the advice of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who believed archaeological research "restores our past and binds it with our future."[8]

In 2025, the society's 49th Annual Archaeological Congress became the center of a public dispute. The conference had been planned for the Israel Antiquities Authority headquarters in Jerusalem, with archaeologists from major Israeli universities and research centers scheduled to speak.[18] Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu objected to the participation of Tel Aviv University archaeologist Raphael Greenberg, who was due to speak in a session on archaeology and politics.[18] The society, backed by the wider archaeological community, ultimately held the congress at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem rather than exclude Greenberg.[19] A Jerusalem Post opinion writer characterized the episode as political interference in archaeological practice.[19]

Broader historiographical questions about Israeli archaeology's relationship with Zionist nationalism, and the perspectives of groups on the margins of Israeli society — including religious Zionists, Haredim, Arabs, and women — have been discussed in academic literature. These debates concern the discipline as a whole rather than the society's institutional conduct specifically.[17]