Oded Golan

Oded Golan was born in 1951 in Tel Aviv

Oded Golan was born in 1951 in Tel Aviv. His father, Eliezer Golan, was an engineer who owned a heating company, and his mother, Rivka Barkai-Golan, was a professor of microbiology. His brother was the publisher Yaron Golan.

He took an interest in archaeology as a child. At age 10 he found an ancient dictionary at Tel Hazor, later published by Yigael Yadin, and at age 12 he joined the excavations at Masada.

He attended high school in Tel Aviv and served as an intelligence officer in the IDF. He then studied industrial and management engineering at the Technion and graduated with honors. He later worked in technology, tourism, professional services and real estate.

Over more than 50 years he gathered thousands of artifacts, mostly bought from dealers in East Jerusalem. The collection covers the culture of the Land of Israel and Transjordan from the fifth millennium BCE. Its items include the James Ossuary, bought in 1976, and the Jehoash Inscription, bought in 1999.

In 2003 the Israel Antiquities Authority accused him of forging inscriptions, and in 2004 he was indicted. Golan denied any forgery. In 2012 the Jerusalem District Court acquitted him of forgery and fraud but convicted him of illegal trading in antiquities, and in 2013 the Supreme Court ordered the items returned to him.