Our international team includes senior scholars, PhD candidates, MA and BA students. We all share our passion to archaeology and history of the land.
Yuval Amir
Area Supervisor
Yuval Amir is an M.A. student at the Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures in Tel Aviv University. In his thesis he focuses on zoomorphic libation vessels found in south-Levantine contexts of the Iron Age II period, under the supervision of Dr. Ido Koch. Born in Jerusalem, but currently living in Tel Aviv, Yuval has been a member of the Tel Hadid expedition since 2019.
Stav Bartel
Assistant Spatial Archaeology Analyst
A local Tel Avivian, Stav Bartel is a dual-disciplinary B.A. student at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near East Cultures and the Department of Geography and the Human Environment at Tel Aviv University. He has previously excavated at Tel Azekah, Jaffa and Beth Shemesh and works with the Hadid Expedition on projects related to spatial analysis.
Dennis Cole
Administration
Dennis Cole is a Professor of Old Testament and Archaeology occupying the Mcfarland Chair of Archaeology, Chairman of the Division of Biblical Studies, Co-Director of the Michael and Sara Moskau Institute of Archaeology, NOBTS, and Co-Director of Tel Hadid Expedition. Upon the completion of a commentary on Numbers (The Evangelical Exegetical Commentary for Logos), Dennis plans to initiate a new project, The Vineyard and the Cultus: A Study in the Socio-Cultic Implications of Bronze and Iron Age Viticulture and Vinification
Ammit Etya
Area Supervisor
Ammit Etya is an M.A. student at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University. His M.A. thesis is about the Hasmonean and Early Roman Periods at Tel Hadid and The Lydda valley under the supervision of Dr. Ido Koch . Currently living in Rishon LeZion, Ammit took part in the Tel Azekah Expedition and the Beit Shemesh salvage excavation.
Renate Fahrni
Assistant Area Supervisor
Renate Fahrni is an M.A. student of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. Her research focuses on Egyptian stamp-seals from the late Iron Age in Judah and Philistia under the supervision of Dr. Deborah Sweeney and Dr. Ido Koch. Renate has participated in the expeditions to Tel Hadid and Tel Azekah. Being a Swiss based in Israel, she enjoys being part of an interdisciplinary project between the Universities of Tel Aviv, Zurich and Bern about ancient glyptics in the southern Levant.
Sagi Freiman
Assistant Spatial Archaeology Analyst
Sagi Freiman is a B.A. student at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University. Currently living in Tel Aviv, Sagi decided to study Archaeology because of his passion for the past and to try and understand how ancient cultures and finds influenced things we do in this modern era. Sagi took part in the Tel Azekah Expedition and the Yavne East salvage excavation. Sagi is also a member of the Digital Media team of the Institute of Archeology at TAU.
Elana Gerber
Assistant Area Supervisor
Elana Gerber is currently a B.A. student at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. Her passion for archaeology was discovered while excavating a number of sites in the hills surrounding Beit Shemesh, including Tel Beit Shemesh, Beit Nattif, and the Church of the Glorious Martyr. This season at Tel Hadid Elana is working as an assistant area supervisor as well as the administrator for our volunteers interested in joining the expedition.
Ido Koch
Co-Director
Ido Koch is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, and co-director of the Tel Hadid Expedition. He studies the archaeology of Bronze and Iron Ages Southern Levant. Co-PI of the Swiss National Fund project Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant, and co-PI of the White-Levy funded project Final Publication of Aharoni’s Excavations at Tel Arad. He participated as an area supervisor at Ramat Rahel (2007–2010) and Tel Azekah (2012–2016).
Ruthy Lewis
Glass Specialist
Originally from San Diego, California, Ruthy’s approved M.A. from Tel Aviv University was on Roman and Byzantine period glass from Tel Hadid, retrieved from the salvage excavations in the 1990s. She has participated in a variety of excavations in israel, including most recently as a staff member at the salvage excavations at Beit Shemesh.
Gary D. Myers
Area Supervisor
Gary earned his M.A. in Biblical Archaeology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 2018. His master’s thesis, “At the Threshold of the City: The Excavation and Interpretation of the Middle Bronze Age Gate at Tel Gezer,” was developed during Gary’s work as area supervisor with Tel Gezer Water System Expedition (2016–2017). After seven seasons of excavation at Tel Gezer, Gary joined the Tel Hadid Expedition as an area supervisor in 2018. His areas of interest in archaeology and anthropology include: city gates/boundaries, funerary/burial customs, Middle Bronze Age culture, Iron Age culture, the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and liminal space.
James Parker
Co-Director
James Parker is a Professor of Biblical Interpretation and Archaeology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He serves as Co-Director of Tel Hadid Expedition, the Executive Director of the Michael and Sara Moskau Institute of Archaeology and Associate Vice President of Facilities, NOTBS. Specialized in Hebrew and Old Testament Studies, Greek and New Testament Studies, and Church History, James authored The War Scroll: Genre & Origin (Borderstone Press, 2012), which investigates the various literary forms that are contained within the War Scroll, 1QM.
Noa Ranzer
Area Supervisor
Noa Ranzer is a PhD student in Tel Aviv University and the University of Zurich. She wrote her M.A. thesis on the production and function of Middle and Late Bronze Age scarabs, and currently writing on “The Functions of Stamp-Seals in the Southern Levant: A Systematic Examination of the Objects and their Archaeological Contexts in the Iron Age”. Her advisers are Dr. Ido Koch and prof. Yuval Gadot from Tel Aviv University, and prof. Christoph Uehlinger from the University of Zurich. An area supervisor at Tel Hadid, Noa has participated at the expeditions of Tel Azekah, Tel Shimron, Beth-Shemesh and at ‘En Esur.
Netanel Rinon
Assistant Area Supervisor
Also known as Nate, he is a B.A. student at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. Nate’s dream since he can remember was to become an archaeologist and to study ancient cultures. He has participated in the Tel Azekah expedition.
Rotem Tzadok
Assistant Area Supervisor
Rotem Tzadok is a B.A. student at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. Currently living in Hod Hasharon, Rotem took part in the Tel Azekah Expedition. Rotem is also a member the Digital Media team of the Institute of Archaeology at TAU.
Amy Williams
Assistant Area Supervisor
Amy Williams is a M.A. student in Bibilcal Archaeology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. She is also the Director of the Museum of the Bible and Archaeology in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her enthusiasm for archaeology began while excavating at Tel Gezer. Amy will return to the Tel Hadid Expedition this season as an assistant area supervisor.
Alexandra Wrathall
Ceramics Specialist
A Ph.D. candidate at Tel Aviv University, Alex is a field archaeologist and Iron Age II ceramic specialist. Originally from Australia, she has a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Research (specializing in Ancient Near Eastern narrative and narratology) from Macquarie University, Sydney, and M.A. in archaeology from Tel Aviv University. An area supervisor at Tel Hadid, Alex has enjoyed working at a number of sites across the Southern Levant, including Tel Azekah, Masada, Tel Aphek, City of David/Silwan, and Naḥal Nitsana.
Eli Yannai
Eli Yannai is the scientific advisor of the Tel Hadid Expedition. As a former IAA senior archaeologist, Eli excavated hundreds of sites across Israel and published numerous excavation reports and articles dealing with the archaeology of country.
Omer Ze’evi-Berger
Supervisor of Spatial Archaeology Analysis
Currently residing in Tel Aviv, Omer Ze’evi is a field archaeologist. His PhD focuses on rural landscape interactions around Jerusalem and the Shephelah during the middle and late Islamic periods. Further to this, Omer specializes in digital and landscape archaeology. Beginning in 2012, Omer has had the pleasure of being part of archaeological expeditions to Tel Beth Shemesh, Kiryath Jearim and Masada.
Sharon Zuhovitzky
Administration
Sharon Zuhovitzky is an M.A. student at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University. Sharon is working in the petrography lab and focusing her M.A. research on Chalcolithic period’s ceramics from the Dead Sea Valley. She has previously excavated at Tel Azekah. This year she will join the team as the office manager.
Tel Hadid Expedition 