From 1968 to 1970, he was the director of admissions at his alma mater HUC-JIR, during which time he entered the doctoral program in archaeology under the supervision of Nelson Glueck.
[citation needed] In 1980, Gitin completed his doctoral dissertation, A Ceramic Typology of the Late Iron II, Persian, and Hellenistic Periods at Tell Gezer, and was awarded a PhD in Syro-Palestinian archaeology by HUC-JIR.
[citation needed] While at AIAR, Gitin and Trude Dothan directed excavations at the Philistine city of Tel Miqne-Ekron, conducting 14 seasons between 1981 and 1996.
[6] Gitin's research at Ekron demonstrated that, contrary to the previous scholarly consensus, the Philistines flourished in the Eastern Mediterranean littoral until the late 7th century BCE, extending their documented history by 400 years.
This makes the inscription one of the primary documents for establishing the chronology of events relating to the end of the late biblical period, especially the history of the Philistines.