Nachman Avigad; Excavated Masada, Old City

Nachman Avigad, 86, an Israeli archeologist who helped excavate Masada and the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. Avigad was a professor of archeology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He retired in 1973. He was on the team that worked at Masada, the site overlooking the Dead Sea that was the last settlement to hold out against the Romans during the Jewish revolt. After a three-year siege, the defenders in AD 73 killed themselves rather than be taken prisoner. Avigad also led the first Israeli team to conduct extensive excavations in the Jewish quarter after it was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast War. His books included “Ancient Monuments in the Kidron Valley” and “The Upper City of Jerusalem.” In Jerusalem on Tuesday.