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In Memoriam

Ofer Bar-Yosef (1937-2020)

Bernard Vandermeersch, Liliane Meignen, Anne-Marie Tillier et François Valla
p. 13-18
Cet article est une traduction de :
Ofer Bar-Yosef (1937-2020) [fr]

Texte intégral

Ofer Bar-Yosef (photo President and members of Harvard College).

Ofer Bar-Yosef (photo President and members of Harvard College).

1Ofer Bar-Yosef, Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, passed away on March 14 of this year. His passing marks the disappearance of one of the great prehistorians of his generation.

2Ofer was born on August 20, 1937 in Jerusalem, where he attended high school and the university. After his military service, he earned a B.A. in Archeology and Geography in 1963, and an M.A. two years later. He defended his doctoral thesis in 1970, which was supervised by Moshe Stekelis, the founder of Israeli prehistory. Until this day, it remains a brilliant synthesis, which organized for the first time the Epipaleolithic of Palestine.

3In the course of his studies, Ofer obtained a scholarship to spend six months at the University of Bordeaux Quaternary Institute, then headed by François Bordes. Under the latter’s direction, he learned about the typology and technology of Paleolithic industries. He took part in site excavations and visited the main sites of southwestern France. During this stay, he established strong ties of research and created friendships with the researchers of the laboratory (Henri Laville, Jean-Philippe Rigaud, Françoise Delpech, etc.), links which were subsequently extended to other French researchers with whom Ofer organized very key research programs.

4The sudden loss of Prof. Stekelis put Ofer in the foreground and, although he had not yet completed his thesis, he was called upon to take charge of the Laboratory of Prehistoric Archeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a post that he held for 18 years. As a teacher, he formed a generation of internationally renowned researchers and teachers who raised Israeli prehistory to the highest level.1 In 1988, he was appointed MacCurdy Professor at Harvard University, a post he held until his retirement. There too, he trained many American researchers, but also Chinese, Japanese, French, Australian, and others who were attracted by his fame and his stature.

5But Ofer was, above all, a man of the field, interested in major themes: the Neolithic “revolution” and the beginnings of sedentarization, the origin of Upper Paleolithic cultures and the relations between Neanderthals and Modern humans, to name a few. He organized or actively participated in many projects, not only in Israel but also in Turkey, the Czech Republic, Georgia, and China. All those who have had the chance to work with him in the field have been able to appreciate his profound sense of stratigraphy and his ability to synthesize the data as it became available during the course of the excavation.

6Ofer’s links with French research were strengthened over the years. Between 1968 and 1980, Gilles Martin accompanied Ofer in almost all his field operations, from the Galilee (Hayonim) to the Sinai. From 1975, Gilles undertook, with the support of Ofer, the excavation of the Epipaleolithic site of Ein Gev III. As early as 1972, Ofer supported the research of one of us (FV) on the Natufian, at Mallaha, El Wad, and Hayonim Terrace, work carried out in the context of the Permanent French Mission in Israel (later to become the French Research Center of Jerusalem, Ministry for Foreign Affairs/CNRS). Together, they organized two major symposia that summarized data over this period, one in Valbonne in 1989, the other in Paris in 2009, both published at the University of Michigan.

7One of us (B.V.) resumed the study of Qafzeh in 1965, a site famous for its numerous Paleolithic human remains, already excavated in 1933/1935 by Moshe Stekelis and René Neuville, but never published. The meeting with Ofer in October 1964 is at the origin of a collaboration and a friendship that have never been belied. In the early years, Ofer, caught up in his own excavations at ‘Ubeidiya (in the Jordan Valley), was unable to participate in the fieldwork at Qafzeh, but as soon as he was in the position to accept co-management, he gave a new impetus and a wider openness to research there. This close collaboration made it possible to draw attention to the antiquity of the Mousterian levels and therefore to that of the first modern humans in the Near East.2 This innovative interpretation, upsetting the classic scheme of recent human evolution then accepted within the scientific community, would be later confirmed by radiometric dating.

8After the Qafzeh excavation, which focused on the study of the Mousterian, Ofer proposed to continue this collaboration and expand it as part of a long-term, international interdisciplinary research program. This vast project (1982-2000) on the “Evolution of industries and human types in the Levant from the end of the Lower Paleolithic to the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic” was based on the excavation of Kebara and Hayonim caves. Four volumes have already been published, one by the CNRS Éditions, and three by the Peabody Museum Press at Harvard University; others are in preparation.

9This project, in which three of us (LM, AMT, BV) collaborated, involved numerous institutions: Israeli (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Universities, Weizmann Institute of Science), North American (Harvard University, Boston University, University of Arizona, University of Michigan), and French (CNRS, University of Bordeaux, CEA). The basic principle—which was a novel idea in the early 1980s—was that any researcher involved in the program had to make long stays in the field during the excavations.

10Always provocative, Ofer liked to question results in a way that sparked arguments and facilitated discussion. His charisma and enthusiasm made him an exceptional site manager and an extraordinarily stimulating colleague. Widely open to new methodologies, in particular in terms of dating, he thus transformed the sites of Kebara and Hayonim into veritable test laboratories. The excavation periods were exceptional moments of discussion and questioning of interpretations, which benefited both the specialists involved in the program and the numerous students from different countries (many have since become professionals in their own countries). Ofer’s enthusiasm, broad-mindedness, his taste for discussion, and his inexhaustible energy made this project an unparalleled center of training.

11Ofer was a great, fascinating, and passionate teacher. He was also a great researcher, author of more than 400 publications, and editor or co-editor of 22 books, many of which will remain reference publications.

12As French researchers, we owe a lot to Ofer. His breadth of vision has allowed multiple collaborations, some of which are still ongoing. Through his work, his humanism and his friendship, he remains an example for us. We miss his forever warm-hearted presence.

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Bibliographie

Akazawa T., Aoki K. et Bar-Yosef O. (éd.) 1998 – Neandertals and Modern Humans in Western Asia, Acts of the Tokyo University Museum Symposium, Nov. 1995. New York: Plenum Press.

Arensburg B. et Bar-Yosef O. (éd.) 1977 – Moshe Stekelis Memorial Volume. Eretz-Israel 13. Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society.

Bar-Yosef O. 1970 – The Epi-paleolithic Cultures of Palestine. Thèse de doctorat, Jérusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Bar-Yosef O. et Alon D. (éd.) 1988 – Nahal Hemar Cave. ‘Atiqot. English Series 18.

Bar-Yosef O. et Gopher A. (éd.) 1997 – An Early Neolithic Village in the Jordan Valley. Part 1: The Archaeology of Netiv Hagdud. Cambridge: Peabody Museum, Harvard University (American School of Prehistoric Research Bulletin).

Bar-Yosef O. et Goren-Inbar N. 1993 – The Lithic Assemblages of the Site of ‘Ubeidiya, Jordan Valley. Jerusalem, “Qedem”. Jérusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Monographs of the Institute of Archeology).

Bar-Yosef O., Goring-Morris A.N. et Gopher A. (éd.) 2010 – Gilgal. Early Neolithic Occupations in the Lower Jordan Valley. The excavations of Tamar Noy. Oakville: ASPR & David Brown/Oxbow.

Bar-Yosef O. et Khazanov A. (éd.) 1992 – Pastoralism in the Levant. Madison (Wisconsin): Prehistory Press (Monographs in World Archaeology).

Bar-Yosef O. et Kra R.S. 1994 – Late Quaternary Chronology and Paleoclimates of the Eastern Mediterranean. Tucson: Radiocarbon.

Bar-Yosef O. et Meadow R.H. 1995 – The Origin of agriculture in the Near East. In: Price T.D. et Gebauer A.B. (éd.), Last Hunters, First Farmers. New Perspectives on the Prehistoric Transition to Agriculture: 39-94. Santa Fe: School of American Rearch Press.

Bar-Yosef O. et Meignen L. (éd.) 2007 – Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel. The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archaeology, Part I. Cambridge (Mass.): Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.

Bar-Yosef O. et Meignen L. (éd.) 2019 – Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel. The Middle and Upper Paleolithic Archaeology, Part II. Cambridge (Mass.): Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University

Bar-Yosef O. et Phillips J.L. (éd.) 1977 – Prehistoric Investigations in Gebel-Maghara, Northern Sinai. Jerusalem, “Qedem”. Jérusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Monographs of the Institute of Archeology).

Bar-Yosef O. et Pilbeam D. (éd.) 2000 – The Geography of Neandertals and Modern Humans in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean. Cambridge (Mass.): Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University (Peabody Museum Bulletin 8).

Bar-Yosef O. et Valla F.R. (éd.) 1991 – The Natufian Culture in the Levant. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory (Archaeological Series 1).

Bar-Yosef O. et Valla F.R. (éd.) 2013 – Natufian Foragers in the Levant. Terminal Pleistocene Social Changes in Western Asia. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory.

Bar-Yosef O. et Vandermeersch B. (éd.) 1991 – Le squelette Moustérien de Kébara 2. Paris: CNRS Éditions (Cahiers de Paléoanthropologie).

Bar-Yosef O. et Vandermeersch B. (éd.) 1989 – Investigations in South Levantine Prehistory. Oxford: BAR (International Series 497).

Dibble H. et Bar-Yosef O. (éd.) 1995 – The definition and interpretation of Levallois technology. Madison (Wisconsin): Prehistory Press (Monographs in World Archaeology).

Enzel Y. et Bar-Yosef O. (éd.) 2017 – Quaternary of the Levant. Environments, Climate Change, and Humans. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mellars P., Boyle K., Bar-Yosef O. et Stringer C. 2007 – Rethinking the human revolution. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

Stekelis M., Bar-Yosef O. et Schick T. 1969 – Archaeological Excavations at ‘Ubeidiya, 1964-1966. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

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Titre Ofer Bar-Yosef (photo President and members of Harvard College).
URL http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/docannexe/image/863/img-1.jpg
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Bernard Vandermeersch, Liliane Meignen, Anne-Marie Tillier et François Valla, « Ofer Bar-Yosef (1937-2020) »Paléorient, 47-1 | 2021, 13-18.

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Bernard Vandermeersch, Liliane Meignen, Anne-Marie Tillier et François Valla, « Ofer Bar-Yosef (1937-2020) »Paléorient [En ligne], 47-1 | 2021, mis en ligne le 01 décembre 2021, consulté le 15 juin 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/863 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/paleorient.863

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Auteurs

Bernard Vandermeersch

PACEA, UMR 5199, Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, ministère de la Culture, Pessac – France

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Liliane Meignen

CEPAM, UMR 7264, Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Nice – France

Anne-Marie Tillier

PACEA, UMR 5199, Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, ministère de la Culture, Pessac – France

Articles du même auteur

François Valla

ArScAn, UMR 7041, CNRS, Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie, Nanterre – France

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