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Naama Goren-Inbar

Naama Goren-Inbar is an Israeli archaeologist and prehistorian who excavated the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov and is professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

born 1948Excavating Gesher Benot Ya'aqovThe Berekhat Ram figurineEarly evidence of controlled fire

Born: 20 July 1948, Jerusalem
Occupation: archaeologist, prehistorian
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Naama Goren-Inbar was born in 1948 in Jerusalem

Naama Goren-Inbar was born in Jerusalem in 1948. Her parents were Rachel Goren and the author Yaakov Goren.

After her military service she studied archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, earning all three degrees there. Her 1981 PhD, supervised by Ofer Bar-Yosef, studied stone tools from the site of Ubeidiya in the Jordan Valley. She did postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley, under Glynn Isaac.

She began teaching at the Hebrew University in 1984, became associate professor in 1992 and full professor in 1997. From 2002 to 2005 she headed its Institute of Archaeology.

She excavated HaLashon near Kfar Menahem, Berekhat Ram in the Golan Heights, where a stone figurine of a woman was found, and Quneitra. From 1989 to 1997 she led 7 seasons at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, where finds included a butchered elephant, evidence of controlled fire use outside Africa, and nut cracking stones.

She received the EMET Prize in 2014 and was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences in 2016.