Ofer Bar-Yosef
Biographical Information
Ofer Bar-Yosef is MacCurdy Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and Curator of Paleolithic
Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University,
Cambridge, USA. Ofer Bar-Yosef is one of the world’s most renowned experts in
paleolithic (Stone Age) archaeology. From the generation of native Palestinians whose
own great-grand parents had emigrated from different parts of the world, his interest in
human prehistory was kindled in his most formative years, as were his love of literature
and archaeology. He began to formally study archaeology and geography at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, obtaining his PhD in 1970 and later becoming Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology there.
His major works include the excavations at ‘Ubeidiya, an Old
Stone Age site in the Jordan Valley tentatively dated to 1.5-1.4 million years that marks
one of the oldest “out of Africa”. He later initiated the redating of the Qafzeh hominids
to 80,000-100,000 years old, twice the age that had been previously attributed to this
archaic Modern Human population. A wealth of evidence now supports his hypothesis
that humankind is not directly descended from the Neanderthals and that technological
revolution on a massive scale accompanied their supplanting by our modern ancestors.
He was among the first archeologists to make use of thermoluminesence and electron spin
resonance techniques developed by scientists from France and Canada that allow the dating
of fossils of such early origin that they are not amenable to radiocarbon dating. Professor
Bar-Yosef has also made major contributions to the development of systematic methods
for understanding the origins of farming communities, the archaeological markers of
warfare and the emergence of marked territoriality. His theories and deductive analyses
of mankind’s prehistorical cultural record are based on every imaginable type and combination
of evidence that he can acquire. They include climatic clues from sediment layers,
studies of densities of regurgitated micromammal remains and stone artefacts as measures
of the degree of intensity of human occupations of caves. In 1988 Professor Bar-Yosef was
appointed to his current position as MacCurdy Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at
Harvard University and head of the Peabody Museum’s Stone Age laboratory. His work
and vocation for teaching have inspired a new generation of researchers who continue to
revolutionize the field of archaeology. His own broad experience has made him a strong
advocate of sharing the lessons that geologists, bioanthropologists, palaeontologists and
archaeologists can glean from the same field experience. |
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