Frederick J. Bliss

Frederick Jones Bliss (22 January 1859-–3 June 1937) was an American archaeologist.

His father, Daniel Bliss, was first a Congregational missionary and later president of the Syrian Protestant College, the future American University of Beirut.

After training under Flinders Petrie in Egypt, Bliss became involved with the Palestine Exploration Fund working in the field of Biblical archaeology at the site of Tell el-Hesi between 1894 and 1897, while concurrently leading an expedition that dug in Jerusalem, where he collaborated with A. C. Dickie.

His excavation reports appeared frequently in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and included the first jar handle stamped by one of the Hebron LMLK seals (in 1899, this was also the first one with a 4-winged icon) as well as the first complete MMST inscription (in 1900).

He was dismissed as the head of the Fund in 1900 due to a disagreement with his peers over the handling of artefacts retrieved from archaeological digs and their transferal to Istanbul at the behest of the Ottoman authority.