Aren Maeir studied archaeology and Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and completed his PhD in archaeology (1997; summa cum laude). From 1991 he has taught archaeology at Bar-Ilan University (in Ramat-Gan, Israel), at the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology. He serves as the Head of the Institute of Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, directs the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project, co-directs the Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times, directs the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies (Bar-Ilan University), co-edits the Israel Exploration Journal, and is a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute.
His primary research and central field work is the archaeological project at Tell es-Safi/Gath, the study of a major site in Israel (ongoing for the last 27 years), is one of the largest and well-known excavations of Bronze and Iron Age cultures conducted in recent decades in Israel. Utilizing broad and groundbreaking multidisciplinary research and collaborations with scholars from Israel and abroad, he trail-blazed transformative research on many topics. His research serves as a model for collaborative, interdisciplinary studies, enabling new insights and paradigm changing results. In particular, changes in the interpretative narrative on the Philistines and their culture, stand out.
His research touches upon broad issues, bridging between disciplines and topics, cultures and periods. He has published some 20 volumes and over 320 papers, and has received more than $8M in research funding from Israeli and foreign competitive granting agencies.
As one of the leading archaeologists working on the archaeology of the Bronze and Iron Age Southern Levant, he has forged a new model for study of the relevant periods and cultures. Extensively utilizing and exploring the connections and insights between textual sources (biblical and other) and the archaeological finds, this is done carefully and critically, using cutting-edge, interdisciplinary methods, combining archaeology, texts, social theory, and a close interface with insights from the experimental and exact sciences. He is a leader in the application of the exact and natural sciences in the study of the past, which have provided completely groundbreaking insights in the cultures and peoples of the ancient Levantine past.
Among his recent publications: Maeir, A. M., and Uziel, J., eds. 2020. Tell es-Safi/Gath II: Excavations and Studies. Ägypten und Altes Testament 105. Münster: Zaphon; Maeir, A. M., and Pierce, G. A., eds. 2021. To Explore the Land of Canaan: Studies in Biblical Archaeology in Honor of Jeffrey R. Chadwick. Archaeology of the Biblical Worlds 4. Berlin: de Gruyter; Berlejung, A., Maeir, A. M., and Oshima, T. M., eds. 2022. Writing and Re-Writing History by Destruction: Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times, Leipzig, May 14th–17th, 2018. Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times 3. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
He is involved in numerous public activities as well, including serving as a member of the “Israel Archaeological Council,” serving on the board of the “Israel Nature and Parks Authority,” a board member of the “World Conference on Jewish Studies,” as well as on the advisory board of various publications.
His talents in teaching and lecturing, experienced face-to-face by hundreds of students, has included over 20 students who have completed PhDs under his supervision (some with academic and research positions in Israel and abroad), and is well demonstrated by his online course on “Biblical Archaeology” (on the edx.org platform) with over 10,000 participants world over.