David Ussishkin

David Ussishkin (Hebrew: דוד אוסישקין; born 1935, aged 89–90) is an Israeli archaeologist and professor emeritus of archaeology.

His Doctoral Thesis on "The Neo-Hittite Monuments, their Dating and Style" was written under the guidance of professor Yigael Yadin.

[2][3] 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.

[2][3] 1996–2006: Incumbent, Austria Chair in Archaeology of the Land of Israel in the Biblical Period, Tel Aviv University.

[2] This was a unique temple: no contemporary settlements have been found in its vicinity, and it appears that it was used by nomads who lived in the area during the Late Chalcolithic period.

He conjectured that they had been brought to that cave and hidden there by the temple's priests as part of their preparations for abandoning the site, hoping, later, to return to it.

In the era of the First Jerusalem Temple, about 50 rock-cut tombs of rich and powerful people from the Kingdom of Judah were carved into the mountainside in this area (known as the Silwan necropolis/Siloam).

Simultaneously, members of the expedition began preserving and reconstructing the city gates from the Israelite period.

The data found in these excavations, together with historical data and with the description of the conquest, as portrayed in the large Lachish reliefs made by Sennacherib that were discovered in Nineveh, made it possible to reconstruct the history of the conquest and destruction of Lachish during Sennacherib's campaign against Judah, in 701 BCE (these wall-reliefs are currently part of the collection of the British Museum).

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.

The excavation was started because walls from the Israelite period were discovered during development works conducted on the site.

Jezreel was an important centre, probably of a military nature, of the Kingdom of Israel, at the era of the Omride dynasty—specifically, during the reigns of Omri and Ahab, his son.

Large scale excavations had been conducted in Tel Megiddo previously but they left many archaeological and historical issues unresolved.