Yosef Garfinkel

Yosef Garfinkel (Hebrew: יוסף גרפינקל; born 1956) is an Israeli archaeologist and academic. He is a professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and of Archaeology of the Biblical Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Biography
Yosef (Yossi) Garfinkel was born in 1956 in Haifa, Israel. He served in the Israel Defense Forces between 1975 and 1978. He studied at Hebrew University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in geography and archaeology in 1981, a Master of Arts (MA) degree in prehistory and Biblical archaeology in 1987, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1991.

He is a curator of the museum of Yarmukian Culture at Kibbutz Sha'ar HaGolan. Garfinkel specializes in the Protohistoric era of the Near East, the period of time when the world’s earliest village communities were established and the beginning of agriculture took place. He has excavated numerous Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites, including Gesher, Yiftahel, the Neolithic settlement of Tel Ashkelon, Sha'ar HaGolan, Tel ‘Ali and Tel Tsaf. Garfinkel is the author of 12 books and over 100 articles on ancient architecture, farming, water sources, pottery, art, religion and dance.

In 2007, he began conducting excavations at the fortified city of Khirbet Qeiyafa. This site is dated to the early 10th century BC, the period of the biblical King David. In the 2008 season an inscription was discovered written in ink on a pottery shard in a script which is probably Early Alphabetic/Proto Phoenician. This might be the earliest Hebrew inscription ever found, although the actual language of the inscription is still under debate.

He is currently digging at Tel Lachish in search of Iron Age fortifications.

Excavations

 * Tel Lachish
 * Khirbet Qeiyafa
 * Tel Tsaf: 2004 (preliminary survey), 2006 (first season)
 * Sha'ar HaGolan
 * Yiftahel
 * Neolithic Ashkelon
 * Gesher