Yadin, Yigael (1917–1984)

Ancient floor mosaic at Masada, on the western shore of the Dead Sea in Israel. The fortified palace was built by Herod the Great in the 1st century BC. Excavation of the site was directed by Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin.

Israeli archaeologist. He directed excavations at Hazor, Megiddo, Masada, and other sites in Israel, and led the exploration of the Judaean desert caves. His work on the Dead Sea Scrolls is of particular note.

A soldier and politician, he was a guerrilla leader at the time of the British mandate in Palestine, and chief of staff with the rank of major general in the Israeli defence forces in 1949 and 1952. He published The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands (1968). In 1977 he formed a political party, the Democratic Movement for Change, which won 14 seats in the Israeli elections that year. The party favoured compromise over the occupied territories and advocated a capitalist economic policy.

From 1952 Yadin taught at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, becoming professor of archaeology in 1963 and director of its Institute of Archaeology in 1970. His archaeological works include Masada: Herod's Fortress and the Zealots' Last Stand (1965), Bar-Kokhba: the Rediscovery of the Legendary Hero of the Last Jewish Revolt against Imperial Rome (1971), and Hazor: the Rediscovery of the Great Citadel of the Bible (1975).