Inside BAR

Persistence pays. And pays, and pays. Just ask Avraham Biran, who has excavated at Tel Dan in northern Galilee for 27 years, making it the longest ongoing dig in Israel. His relentless quest at Dan has produced a steady stream of important discoveries, including an inscription identifying the site, a triple-arched gateway from the time of the Canaanites and an Israelite sacred area with a high place and priestly artifacts. The discoveries have yet to cease, however. Recent work uncovered five standing stones, an outer outer gate and—the crowning achievement—a fragment of a stela bearing the only extra-Biblical ancient inscription with King David’s name, as we describe in the article based on material supplied by Professor Biran, “‘David’ Found at Dan.”

Biran directs the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in Israel, and chairs the Israel Exploration Society. From 1961 to 1974, he directed the Israel Department of Antiquities (now the Israel Antiquities Authority). Besides Tel Dan, he has dug in Transjordan; in Iraq; and at Tel Aroer, in Israel’s Negev desert. An avid photographer, Biran acts as his own official photographer for the Tel Dan dig.