ISRAEL EXPLORATION SOCIETY

ISRAEL EXPLORATION SOCIETY (ies ; Heb. Ha-Ḥevrah le-Ḥakirat Ereẓ Israel ve-Attikoteha), society founded in Jerusalem in 1914 on the initiative of I. *Ben-Zvi, Y. *Press, D. *Yellin, A.M. *Luncz, A. *Brawer, and others, on the model of the foreign societies engaged in the exploration of the Holy Land, its history and antiquities. Its original name, the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, was changed in 1948 after the establishment of the State of Israel. The activities of the Society were interrupted by the outbreak of World War i and were resumed in 1920 with the assistance of A. Masie and N. *Slouschz, under the British Mandatory government. Its first excavations included Absalom's Tomb and a synagogue at Hammath-Tiberias, both by N. Slouschz, and in 1925–27 the Third Wall at Jerusalem was partly cleared by E.L. *Sukenik and L. *A.Mayer. In 1929 B. *Mazar (Maisler) became secretary of the Society and, under its auspices, excavated at Ramat Raḥel (1931) and began uncovering the necropolis of *Bet She'arim (1936). S. *Klein was president of the Society from 1932 until his death in 1940 when he was succeeded by L.A. Mayer (until 1959). From 1933 to 1966 the Society published a quarterly bulletin (bjpes, from 1948, bies); its other publications were a series of proceedings (Koveẓ, 4 vols.) and a library of Palestinology (17 vols.). In 1943 the Society initiated a series of annual conventions. The chairmen of the Society since 1944 have been Y. Ben-Zvi, M. Schwabe, Z. Lif, Y. Yadin, and A. Biran, chairman in 1995. From 1960 B. Mazar was president. With the establishment of the State of Israel the activities of the Society expanded enormously, parallel with the growth of interest in archaeology. It continued the excavations at Beth She'arim and conducted other ones at Tell Qasile, Hazor, *Masada, the Judean Desert caves, En Gedi, *Arad, the Temple Mount, Jewish Quarter and City of David in Jerusalem, Herodion, Aphek, Lachish, Dor, Ẓippori, and other sites. It is presently co-sponsoring the renewed excavations at Tel Hazor. Besides the excavation reports of these and other sites, the Society publishes the Hebrew-English series Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies (1951– ), the Hebrew-language journal Qadmoniot (1968– ); since 1995, in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority), the Hebrew-language Studies in the Geography of Israel (1960– ), and the English-language quarterly Israel Exploration Journal (1951– ). A major reference work jointly published by the Israel Exploration Society and Carta is the four-volume illustrated New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (1993), which has also appeared in a Hebrew version.

The Society's annual conferences are major events for Israeli archaeologists and the general public interested in the subject. During annual archaeological field trips, members of the Society have visited sites throughout Israel and many neighboring countries. In recent years it has organized and co-sponsored two international congresses devoted to biblical archaeology (1984 and 1990) proceedings of which have been published in two volumes entitled Biblical Archaeology Today. In addition to its own publications, the society co-publishes books with the Kibbutz Meuḥad, Mosad Bialik, Yad Ben-Zvi, Magnes Press, and other publishers. In 1989 the ies and its director, Joseph *Aviram, received the Israel Prize.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]

website:

www.hum.huji.ac.il/ies/.