Public lifeדן בהט

Dan Bahat

Dan Bahat is an Israeli archaeologist and historian known for his excavations in Jerusalem, especially at the Western Wall tunnels.

born 1938Western Wall tunnels excavationsPublishing the Western Stone findingAtlases of Jerusalem

Occupation: pedagogue, archaeologist, historian, university teacher
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Dan Bahat was born in 1938 in Poland

Dan Bahat was born in Poland in 1938 to Yitzhak and Rachel Bahat. The family moved to Tel Aviv in 1939. He grew up there and attended the Carmel school and the Tichon Hadash high school.

He served in the IDF from 1956 to 1958. He earned a bachelor's degree in archaeology and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1964. In 1990 he completed a PhD there on Crusader Jerusalem, supervised by Joshua Prawer.

From 1963 to 1990 he worked for the government Department of Antiquities, including as District Archaeologist of Jerusalem. In 1963 he led a team at Masada that found an ancient fragment of the Book of Leviticus. He also carried out rescue digs and surveys across Israel, including in the Beit She'an valley.

He headed archaeological research at the Western Wall tunnels from 1986 to 2007. In 1992 he published the finding of the Western Stone there. He taught at Bar-Ilan University until 2004 and later at the University of Toronto, and wrote several atlases of Jerusalem.

Dan Bahat's life in 8 milestones

1938
Born in Poland.
1963
Led a dig team at Masada that found a fragment of Leviticus.
1964
Earned a bachelor's degree at the Hebrew University.
1986
Began heading research at the Western Wall tunnels.
1989
Received the Jerusalem Prize for Archaeology.
1990
Completed his PhD at the Hebrew University.
1992
Published the finding of the Western Stone.
2004
Retired from Bar-Ilan University and was made a knight by the President of Italy.