KEMPINSKY, AHARON

KEMPINSKY, AHARON (1939–1994), Israeli archaeologist. Brought up in Nahariyyah, Kempinsky participated as a teenager in 1952–53 in P. Delougaz 's excavations at Bet Yeraḥ. His academic studies were undertaken at the Hebrew University and it was there that he acquired his M.A. and eventually his Ph.D. In time he became a professor of archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, and taught at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba as well. As a student at the Hebrew University, Kempinsky worked as Professor nahman avigad 's assistant at Makhmish. Many archaeological excavations followed, some of which he directed, at Palmaḥ im (1961), Hazor (1965–66), Megiddo (1965), and Bet ha-Emek (1973). In 1972–75, and again in 1979, Kempinsky (with V. Fritz) uncovered an important early Iron Age village at Tel Masos, not far from Beersheba. In 1975 Kempinsky made a short excavation at Tel Kabri, which was followed by an intensive project there (conducted together with W.D. Niemeyer) from 1986 to 1993. At Kabri a Middle Bronze Age building (perhaps a palace) was exposed, with wall and floor paintings resembling those from Thera (Santorini). Kempinsky was an insatiable reader with an encyclopedic mind; he also traveled all over the world and was a visiting scholar at various universities and colleges, notably at Tuebingen University in 1975. Kempinsky was a prolific writer and wrote many research papers on a diverse number of subjects. Important publications include The Architecture of Ancient Israel from the Prehistoric to the Persian Periods, which he co-edited with Ronny Reich, and the final reports on the Tel Masos and Kabri excavations. Kempinsky was a mentor for many of the younger generation of archaeologists in Israel. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Dauphin, "Aharon Kempinsky (1939–1994), Friend and Colleague: An Evocation," in: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, 13 (1993–94), 63–66. (Shimon Gibson (2nd ed.)