Archaeological Survey of Israel

Executing the survey was entrusted to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), as they map, measure, photograph the sites while collecting important information about them.

[1] Since the Middle Ages, travelers visiting the Land of Israel, wrote and published their impressions about it, but they were not of a scientific or systematic nature.

Among those researchers we can name Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, Henry Baker Tristram, Victor Gruen, William Francis Lynch, Edward Robinson and others.

The Director of Surveys in the Department of Antiquities was Philip Langstaff Ord Guy, he held this position until 1927.

He was then appointed Director of the British School of Archaeology, and in this position conducted a survey of Israeli coastal plain and the Negev.

With the establishment of the State of Israel, Guy was joined the IAA and served as Director of Excavations and Survey until his death in 1952.

[3] After the establishment of Israel, Shemuel Yeivin, the first director of the antiquities department, suggested to David Ben-Gurion "to conduct an archaeological survey in the area of the State of Israel, so that future generations in the country will know about the history hidden in the land of the new state".

Rothenberg began in 1959 the Southern Arabah survey which concentrated on the study of the copper industry which led to the development of archaeometallurgy.

Shemuel Yeivin ordered Emmanuel Anati, who was at the beginning of his career as an archaeologist, to go down to the Negev.

During this period, 4 expeditions surveyed the caves of the Judean desert and ancient buildings, in 1953, 1955, 1956 and 1960 in the area between Ein Gedi and Masada.

The goal was to establish an orderly body that would specialize in archaeological surveys and work alongside the "Antiquities Division".

[citation needed] In 1964, the "Association for the Archaeological Survey of Israel" was established by various archaeologists and its first director was Dr. Ze'ev Yevin.

[citation needed] Establishing the association led to many organized survey teams that would work systematically according to 1:20,000 maps.

[citation needed] Part of the association's activity was the survey abandoned Arab villages after the War of Independence to locate and document buildings with archaeological-historical value.

In June 1967, following the Six Day War, an extensive survey began in the West Bank with the aim of creating an updated archaeological site map of the area.

The sectors heads of the West Bank survey were: Yehuda region – Moshe Kochavi[citation needed] The Judean Desert and the Jordan Valley – Pessah Bar-Adon[citation needed] Land of Benjamin and Mount Ephraim – Zecharia Kallai[8] The land of Ephraim and the Manasseh Hills – Ram Gophna and Yosef Porat.

[citation needed] The Golan Heights – Claire Epstein and Shmarya Guttman[citation needed] The survey results were published in 1972 in the book Judea Samaria and the Golan – the archaeological survey of 1968"[9] which was the association's first publication.

[citation needed] The peace agreement between Israel and Egypt that was signed in 1979 led to the evacuation of Sinai in 1982.

The survey revealed a large concentration of sites on the eastern side of the valley, exactly where the base was intended to be built.

[citation needed] The Authority's establishment, ended the Association for Archaeological Survey activity.

In the following years 1995–2002, as Dr. Mordechai Hayman managed the survey field, 10 more maps were published and the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was introduced.

Over time this method became the main source of funding for archaeological surveys in the Antiquities Authority.

[14] Around 2006 the Israel Antiquities Authority decided to stop printing survey books and to start uploading all the information to its website, so it will be available for the public.

It includes the name of the site in Hebrew, additional names, field number, coordinates on the New Israel Network and the international network, the historical periods found on site according to the findings in the field, as well as a description of the findings and remains.

A bibliographic list referring specifically to the site, photos and maps if any, as well as a small find drawing.

On the right top corner of the site there is a link to a list of all surveyed maps in alphabetic order.