Meet the man in charge of archaeology in Jerusalem
Yuval Baruch has headed the Jerusalem division at the Israel Antiquities Authority for over ten years.
By ROSSELLA TERCATINYuval Baruch.(photo credit: YOLI SHWARTZ AND ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY)
Described by many as the “mayor of underground Jerusalem,” Yuval Baruch has headed the Jerusalem division at the Israel Antiquities Authority for over 10 years. His tenure has witnessed many important developments in a city where, as he points out, every inch is a potential archaeological site: excavations have opened, academic partners have joined the research, new opportunities for the public to learn and enjoy the city’s past and its rich traces have been created.Sitting with The Jerusalem Post in his office on a hot summer afternoon, Baruch delved into the different aspects of his work, starting from where all began: in the field.“I joined the IAA right after I finished my BA at the beginning of the 1990s,” he explained. “Since then, I have worked in several positions and on many different sites.”Baruch was the first director of the excavation at the Davidson Center adjacent to the Western Wall, for which he also pioneered the creation of a website, one of the first of its kind.“In the last 10 years, the focus of my research has been the Temple Mount,” he said, explaining that while the complex itself cannot be excavated, a lot can be done in terms of investigating documents about it, as well as its surroundings.Baruch pointed out that there are two ways of looking at archaeology in Jerusalem. A possible approach is to consider the whole city a potential site, where remains from some point of its millennia-long history constantly emerge. A different perspective is “to study the development of the city from its first core, the City of David and the east hill, and analyze the importance of Jerusalem through history and how it has changed in different periods.”Asked about the impact of the politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on archaeology in Jerusalem, Baruch explained that the issue is present and complex. He highlighted that it would be a mistake to look at the question just in a contemporary perspective, but that the roots of the question go back to the 19th century, when scholars from Europe and America started to come to the Holy Land to unveil traces of the Bible.“Since those very moments, biblical archaeology has been the focus of archaeology in this land and Jerusalem has been at his center. Up until 1967, the interest in other periods was almost non-existent, as we can see by looking at the academic papers published until that moment,” he told the Post, referring to the year of the Six Day War, when east Jerusalem – including the Old City – and the West Bank passed from the Jordanian to Israeli control. East Jerusalem was officially placed under Israeli sovereignty a few years later, in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.“It was only after 1967 and at the initiative of Israeli archaeologists that later periods and civilizations, including the Christian and Ottoman eras, started to be investigated,” Baruch pointed out, highlighting that today more than half of the excavations and academic articles published are devoted to periods after the late antiquities, in spite of accusations that Israeli archaeology is used as a tool to strengthen the Jewish connection to the land at expenses of other peoples.“We are often confronted with these kinds of issues, but it is a lie,” he said. “However, it is important to remember that the biblical period is the reason why this region became relevant to other civilizations later on, it is true for Christianity but also for Islam: therefore, it doesn’t matter for which period, in order to do archaeology in the land of Israel, you are going to touch the biblical story.”
This is one of the reasons why Baruch said that he believes that one of his greatest achievements in his position has been establishing partnerships with prestigious academic institutions, such as the Tel Aviv University, the Weizmann Institute, but also universities from abroad, to carry on excavations in Jerusalem together with the IAA.“Slowly people have started to see that it was not just the Israeli authorities doing archaeology but important institutions and scholars. This has increased the respect,” he pointed out.As the head of the district for the IAA, the archaeologist highlighted that his job consists first of all of “managing.”“The foundation of what I do is managing the archaeological heritage of Jerusalem and its surroundings and looking at it as a resource for the city, including from an economical perspective,” he said.His vision is to transform archaeology into something that belongs to everyone and is part of the touristic, educational and cultural environment of the city.“I look at Rome as an example where the archaeological sites are part of the landscape and identity for everyone to enjoy, residents and visitors, regardless of their nationality, religion and background,” Baruch explained.While in the past local authorities considered archaeology as something intimidating and removed from everyday life, he pointed out, he has worked to change this approach and nowadays there is a growing understanding that it represents a part of the heritage that should be offered to the public.“In the new neighborhoods built in the 1970s and 1980s, like Gilo and Pisgat Ze’ev, dozens of sites were uncovered and they are there standing behind a fence. I don’t want fences. Let’s design the city so that the sites are part of the urban landscape,” he said.Indeed, in the last year several archaeological parks were made available to the public as part of the neighborhoods, like the aqueduct of Jerusalem on Hebron Street.“Archaeology is not just an academic issue, it has to be part of the society, of the heritage, of the city’s life,” he concluded. “I think the way people are looking at it is completely changing.”
