Avraham Biran

Avraham Biran (Hebrew: אברהם בירן‎, born 23 October 1909 – 16 September 2008) was an Israeli archaeologist, best known for heading excavations at Tel Dan in northern Israel. He headed the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem for many years.

Avraham Bergman (later Biran) was born in 1909 in Petah Tikva, then part of the Ottoman Empire. He liked to refer to himself as a Mayflower Israeli, since his ancestors were among the founders of the settlement of Rosh Pina. During his youth his family moved to Egypt, where his father managed a farm in a small village. His Romanian-born great-grandfather came to Palestine decades before Theodor Herzl launched political Zionism in 1897.[2] After his father’s death the family returned to Palestine and he grew up in his grandparents house until the age of 13. He studied at the Hebrew Reali School of Haifa which he says left a lifelong impression on him. He said:[3]

My initial interest in archaeology began when I was a student at the Reali school in Haifa, under the influence of the principal Dr. Arthur Biram, who taught us Bible combined with ancient history. During those days we went on many hikes, and we loved to hike with the Bible in hand. Among other places, we visited ancient Samaria and the archaeological digs of the American expedition; we visited Jerusalem, the Western Wall, Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs. I think that these were the seeds that later sprouted when Professor Albright, one of the great archaeologists, invited me to come study with him.

Afterwards, he continued his studies in the David Yellin Teachers College in Jerusalem. From 1928–1930 he taught in the Reali school in Haifa. In 1930 he began his studies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and in 1931 he enrolled as a student in the department of Near Eastern Studies under Prof. William F. Albright at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He received his M.A. in 1934 and his PhD in 1935.

He died in 2008, a month before his 99th birthday, in Jerusalem. Biran was married to Ruth née Frankel. The couple had 3 children.