David Ussishkin

David Ussishkin was born in 1935 in Jerusalem

David Ussishkin was born in Jerusalem in 1935. He is the son of the lawyer Samuel Ussishkin and the grandson of the Zionist leader Menachem Ussishkin. He grew up in Rehavia and studied at Gymnasia Rehavia.

He served in the Givati Brigade from 1953 to 1955. He then studied archaeology and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned his PhD in 1966 with a thesis on Neo-Hittite monuments, supervised by Yigael Yadin.

As a student he joined many digs, and in 1960 to 1961 he was Yadin's chief assistant at the Cave of Letters. He supervised the dig of the Chalcolithic temple at Ein Gedi and was a field supervisor at Masada in 1964 and 1965. From 1968 to 1971 he led a survey of the First Temple period tombs in Silwan.

He taught archaeology of Israel and Hittite art at Tel Aviv University from 1966 until he retired in 2004, and became a full professor in 1985. He headed the university's Institute of Archaeology from 1980 to 1984 and edited its journal Tel Aviv. He directed the Lachish excavations from 1973 to 1994.