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Eleazar Sukenik

Eleazar Sukenik was an Israeli archaeologist and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known for his early work on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

1889 to 1953Early study of the Dead Sea ScrollsUncovering Jerusalem's Third WallHebrew University archaeology departmentExcavating the Beit Alpha synagogue

Born: 12 August 1889, Białystok
Died: 28 February 1953, Jerusalem
Occupation: anthropologist, art historian, archaeologist, pedagogue

Eleazar Sukenik was born in 1889 in Białystok

Sukenik was born in 1889 in Białystok, the oldest of 8 children of a worker. He studied in a heder and then for 4 years at the Slobodka yeshiva. In 1906 he joined the Poale Zion party, where he met his future wife, Hasya Feinsod.

In 1912 the couple moved to the Land of Israel. He studied at the Hebrew Teachers Seminary and taught mathematics and geography in Jerusalem. During World War I he served in the British army.

He studied archaeology at the University of Berlin and earned a doctorate from Dropsie College in Philadelphia in 1926 for work on ancient synagogues. He then became the first archaeologist employed by the Hebrew University. He excavated the Beit Alpha synagogue in 1929 and helped found the university's archaeology department.

He led the uncovering of the Third Wall of ancient Jerusalem and many ossuary tombs. In 1948 he published a paper linking the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Essenes, and he worked for the government to buy the scrolls. He died in 1953 and was buried in the Sanhedria Cemetery.