Amihai Mazar

Amihai "Ami" Mazar (עמיחי מזר; born November 19, 1942) is an Israeli archaeologist.

Born in Haifa, Israel (then the British Mandate of Palestine), he has been since 1994 a professor at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, holding the Eleazer Sukenik Chair in the Archaeology of Israel.

His Archaeology of the Land of the Bible is a widely used textbook for Israelite archaeology in universities.

Mazar's work has resulted in the Modified Conventional Chronology being the most widely accepted framework for the Israelite chronology during the Iron Age period.

Mazar is married with three children and resides in Jerusalem.

He is the nephew of Benjamin Mazar, one of the first generation of pioneering Israeli archaeologists after Independence, and cousin to the late archaeologist Eilat Mazar.

Amihai Mazar has directed archaeological excavations at a number of sites in Israel and the Palestinian territories that include:

Amihai Mazar was one of the first archaeologists to normalize the use of radiocarbon dating in Levantine and Mediterranean sites more broadly, starting with his work at Tel Rehov.

While excavating the ancient city of Rehov Mazar discovered 30 intact hives, dating from c. 900 BCE, a time when the city had about 2,000 residents.

The beehives, made of straw and unbaked clay, were found in orderly rows and may be the oldest complete beehives ever discovered.

In 2009, Prof. Mazar was awarded the Israel Prize in archaeology.