Hanan Eshel was an Israeli archaeologist and historian, well known in the field of Dead Sea Scrolls studies, although he did research in the Hasmoneanand Bar Kokhba periods as well. With Magen Broshi he discovered a number of residential caves in the near vicinity of Qumran and co-published a number of historically significant documents from Qumran.
Academic progress
Eshel received his academic training at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, completing his B.A. at the Institute of Archaeology in 1984, his M.A. 1985–1988 and his Ph.D. in 1993, both in the Jewish History Department. His PhD was on the origins of Samaritanism. While working on his PhD he started teaching in the department of Land of Israel Studies and Archeology at Bar-Ilan University. That was in 1990. He would remain at Bar-Ilan for the next twenty years, receiving an appointment as an associate professorin 1999 and serving as head of the department between 2002 and 2004.
The archaeologist
As an archaeologist Eshel worked in 1986 and 1993 at a number of caves in the Judaean Desert where refugees hid from the Romans during the Bar Kokhba revolt. In one cave near Jericho he found 19 business documents in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. From 1995 to 1999 he co-directed five seasons at Tel Yatir near Arad. Eshel carried out three seasons at Qumran with Magen Broshi in 1996, 2001 and 2002, discovering amongst other things the remains of a series of caves inhabited at the time of use of the Qumran settlement. In 2004 Eshel was shown fragments of ancient Hebrew texts reportedly being offered on the black market. This was apparently an attempt by the holder to estimate the worth of his find. The following year Eshel found that the text had not been sold and so with money from Bar-Ilan University he purchased the material and turned it over to the Israel Antiquities Authority. He believed the fragments, from the book of Leviticus, originated in one of the caves in Nahal Arugot used as refuges from the Romans in the second century.
Publications
Eshel edited numerous books and published over 200 articles. His articles include:
"A Qumran Composition Containing Part of Ps. 154 and a Prayer for the Welfare of King Jonathan and his Kingdom", with Ada Yardeni and Esther Eshel, in Israel Exploration Journal, 42.3/4, pp. 199–229.
"Residential Caves at Qumran", with Magen Broshi, in Dead Sea Discoveries, 6, pp. 266–273.
"Aqueducts in the Copper Scroll", in Copper Scroll Studies, ed. George J. Brooke and Philip R. Davies,, pp. 92–107.
'A Document from "Year 4 of the Destruction of the House of Israel"', with Ada Yardeni and Esther Eshel, in Dead Sea Discoveries, 18, pp. 1–28.
During his military service, Hanan Eshel met and married his wife, Esther Eshel, an epigraphist, with whom he wrote a number of academic articles. Eshel is survived by his wife, a son, Avshalom, a daughter, Michal, and three grandchildren.
