Pioneer Scholars

Women who hold a place of honor in Israeli archaeology include Ruth Amiran, Claire Epstein, Miriam Tadmor and Ruth Hestrin. Amiran excavated at Arad and is a specialist in the Early Bronze period, while Epstein dug primarily at Chalcolithic sites in the Golan Heights. Tadmor and Hestrin, while not field archaeologists, studied archaeological materials. Tadmor was a specialist in the Canaanite period until her retirement from the Israel Museum; the recently deceased Hestrin (see obituary, BARlines) was curator of the Israelite and Persian periods at the Israel Museum and specialized in the inscriptions and cult objects of the Iron Age.