Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Adam Zertal 1936-2015

SAD NEWS: Adam Zertal, Professor of Archaeology at Haifa University, passed away this weekend at the age of 79. He was best known for his not uncontroversial discovery of the Iron Age "altar" at Mount Ebal. Eve Harow has published a personal memorial at the Times of Israel Blog: Adam Zertal: A Shmendrik on Crutches No More. Excerpt:
It’s not hard to explain why I was so taken with Adam (what he like to be called; my first name just helped the connection). His personal story was steeped in bravery. So severely injured in Sinai during the ’73 War that he walked with crutches for the rest of his life, he nonetheless continued with archaeology studies and hence stepped into a world of science and research that in the Middle East is often about neither.
I met him once about thirty years ago, when he gave a seminar at Harvard on the Mount Ebal structure. He was not on crutches then, as far as I can remember, but he did tell us to call him "Adam."

May his memory be for a blessing.