Scienceברוך ארנסבורג

Baruch Arensburg

Baruch Arensburg is an Israeli physical anthropologist and professor emeritus of anatomy at Tel Aviv University, known for studying the ancient and recent populations of the Levant.

born 1934Demographic history of the Land of IsraelThe Kebara Cave Neanderthal hyoid boneHayonim Cave excavationsForensic medicine in Israel

Occupation: anthropologist, archaeologist
Education: University of Paris, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Baruch Arensburg was born in 1934 in Santiago

Baruch Arensburg was born in 1934 in Santiago, Chile. He moved to Israel in 1959.

He studied physical anthropology and comparative anatomy at the Sorbonne in Paris. At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem he studied geography, archaeology and zoology. He completed a PhD in anatomy and anthropology at Tel Aviv University in 1974.

His doctoral work was the first study of the demographic sequence of the populations of the Land of Israel, from the Palaeolithic to the present. He also researched historic and recent Bedouin populations. He taught anatomy at the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.

With Ofer Bar-Yosef and Eitan Tchernov he co-directed excavations at Hayonim Cave, where he studied Natufian skeletal remains. As a member of the Kebara Cave team, he studied a Neanderthal skeleton about 60,000 years old. Its hyoid bone matched that of modern humans, which suggested a capacity for speech.

He also helped lay the groundwork for forensic medicine in Israel. He trained teams in the IDF and at the Institute of Forensic Medicine.