Dan Bahat
Dan Bahat (Hebrew: דן בהט, born 1938) is an Israeli archaeologist especially known for his excavations in Jerusalem , particularly at the western wall tunnels.
Bahat was born in Poland to parents who were citizens of Mandatory Palestine.[1] The family moved to Tel Aviv in 1939 and became Israeli citizens in 1948.[1] He served in the IDF from 1956 to 1958.[1] In 1964 he gained a Bachelor's degree in archaeology and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He finished his master's degree in 1978. In 1990 he obtained the PhD degree from the Hebrew University on the topic "Topography and Toponymy of Crusader Jerusalem" under the supervision of Joshua Prawer.[1]
In January 1992, Dan Bahat published the IAA’s archaeological findings of what became known as the largest ashlar stone found to date in Israel, at ca. 10 – 12 metres above the base of the Temple Mount’s western wall enclosure. The stone measured 13.6 metres (45 ft) in length, 4.6 metres (15 ft) in depth, 3.5 metres (11 ft) in height, and is estimated at weighing ca. 517 tonnes (570 short tons), the world’s third largest block of stone used in building.[2]
Books
- Dan Bahat (1976). Twenty Centuries of Jewish Life in the Holy Land: The Forgotten Generations. The Israel Economist.
- Dan Bahat (1990). The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0134516424.
- Dan Bahat. The Western Wall Tunnels: Touching The Stones of Our Heritage. Israel MOD/The Western Wall Heritage Foundation. ISBN 978-9650512071.
- Dan Bahat (2004). The Atlas of Biblical Jerusalem. Carta. ISBN 978-0134516424.
- Dan Bahat and Chaim T. Rubinstein (2011). The Carta Jerusalem Atlas (formerly: Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem). Carta, the Israel Map & Pub Co Ltd. ISBN 978-9652208071.
- Dan Bahat (2013). The Jerusalem western wall tunnel. Israel Exploration Society. ISBN 978-965-221-091-3.