Baruch Arensburg

‎Baruch Arensburg (born 1934 in Santiago, Chile), professor of Anatomy, ‎Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University (emeritus), is a physical ‎anthropologist whose main field of study has been prehistoric and historic ‎populations of the Levant.‎

He studied at the Sorbonne University, Paris, Physical Anthropology and ‎Comparative Anatomy. At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem he gained ‎his degrees in the fields of Geography and Archaeology (B.A.) Geography ‎and Zoology (M.A.). He was the first to study the demographic sequence of ‎populations in the Land of Israel, starting with the Palaeolithic through the ‎Biblical, Classical, Roman, Byzantine periods to the present (PhD topic, ‎Anatomy and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University, 1974). Concurrently he ‎has been conducting on-going research of historic and recent Beduin ‎populations. ‎

He has participated in many archaeological excavations and co-directed ‎‎ (with Ofer Bar-Yosef and Eitan Tchernov), the excavations at Hayonim ‎Cave, mostly studying the Natufian (ca. 13,000 calBC) skeletal remains ‎discovered therein. He also was a team member of the Kebara Cave Middle ‎Palaeolithic project and was among those who studied and published the ‎Mousterian (ca. 60,000 years old) skeleton recovered on site– his own ‎research concentrating on the speech abilities of that individual, proving ‎that his hyoid bone is identical to that of modern humans.‎At the same time he has studied many samples of human remains dating to ‎the times of the Second Temple and is considered as the leading authority on the ‎Jewish population of ancient Israel. ‎

Selected bibliography

* Arensburg B., M. S. Goldstein, H. Nathan, Y. Rak, 1980 Skeletal remains of ‎Jews from Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods in Israel, I: Metric ‎

* Analysis. Bull. et Mem. de la Soc. D'Anthropologie de Paris 7 (13) : 175-186. ‎‎ ‎
* M.S. Goldstein, B. Arensburg, H. Nathan, 1980 Skeletal remains of Jews ‎from the Hellenistic and Roman periods in Israel, II: Non-metric ‎morphological observations. Bull. et Mem. de la Soc. D'Anthrop. de Paris 7 ‎‎(13) : 279-295. ‎

* Arensburg B., A.M. Tillier, 1983 A new Mousterian child from Qafzeh ‎‎(Israel): Qafzeh 4a. Bull. et Mem. de la Soc. D'Anthrop. de Paris 10 (13) : 61-‎‎69. ‎‎ ‎
* Arensburg B., P. Smith, 1983 The Jewish population of Jericho 100 B.C. - ‎‎70 C.E. Palestine Exploration Quarterly:133-139.‎

* Arensburg B., A.M. Tillier, B. Vandermeersch, H. Duday, L.A. Scheparts ‎and Y. Rak, 1989 A Middle Palaeolithic Human Hyoid Bone. Nature 338 : ‎‎758-760.‎

* Rado, R., Himelfarb, M., Arensburg, B., Terkel, J. and Wollberg, Z. 1989 ‎Are seismic communication signals transmitted by bone conduction in the ‎blind mole rat? Hearing Research 41 : 23 - 30.‎

* Arensburg, B., Schepartz, L.A., Tillier, A.M., Vandermeersch, B. and Rak, ‎Y., 1990 A Reappraisal of the Anatomical Basis for Speech in Middle ‎Palaeolithic Hominids. Am. J. Physical Anthropology 83 : 137-146.‎

* Shatz A. Hiss J. and Arensburg B. 1991 Basement membrane thickening of ‎the vocal cords in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Laryngoscope 101 : 484 - ‎‎486.‎

* Belfer-Cohen, A., L. Schepartz, and B. Arensburg. 1991. New Biological Data ‎for the Natufian Populations in Israel, in The Natufian Culture in the ‎Levant. Edited by O. Bar-Yosef and F. R. Valla, pp. 411-424. Ann Arbor: ‎International Monographs in Prehistory.‎

* Wish-Baratz S., Arensburg B. and Alter Z. 1992 Anatomical Relationships ‎and Superior Reinforcement of the TMJ Mandibular Fossa. J. of ‎Craniomandibular Disorders, Facial and Oral Pain 6 (3) : 171 - 176.‎‎ ‎
* Hershkovitz I., Edelson G., Spiers M., Arensburg B., Nadel D. and Levi B. ‎‎1993 Ohalo II man - Unusual findings in the anterior rib cage and shoulder ‎girdle of a 19.000 years old specimen. International J. of Osteoarchaeology ‎‎3:177 - 188.‎

* Vandermeersch B., Arensburg B., Tillier A-M., Rak Y., Weiner S., Spiers ‎M. and Aspillaga E. 1994 Middle Palaeolithic Dental Bacteria from Kebara ‎Israel. Compte Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris, serie II, 319 : 727 - ‎‎731. ‎

* Hershkovitz I., Bar-Yosef O. and Arensburg B. 1994 The pre-pottery ‎Neolithic populations of South Sinai and their relation to other circum-‎Mediterranean groups: An anthropological study. Paleorient 20 (2): 59 - 84. ‎

* Pap I., Tillier AM., Arensburg B., Weiner S. and Chech M. 1995 First ‎scanning electron microscope analysis of dental calculus from European ‎Neanderthals: Subalyuk, (Middle Paleolithic, Hungary). Bull. et Mem. ‎Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris 7:69-72. ‎

* Arensburg B. 1996 Ancient dental calculus and diet. Human Evolution ‎‎11(2) : 139 – 145.‎

* Arensburg B., Pap I., Tillier AM and Chech M. 1996 The Subalyuk 2 middle ‎ear stapes. International J. of Osteoarchaeology 6 : 185 - 188.‎

* Arensburg B. and Goldstein SM. 1996 A Review of Paleopathology in the ‎Middle East, in Health and disease in the Holy Land. Edited by Waserman ‎M. and Kottek SS., pp. 19 – 36. The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston.‎

* Tillier AM., Kaffe I., Arensburg B. and Chech M. 1998 Hypodontia of ‎permanent teeth among Middle Palaeolithic Hominids: An early case dated ‎to ca. 92.000 +/- 5.000 years BP at Qafzeh Site. International Journal of ‎Osteoarchaeology 8 : 1-6. ‎‎ ‎
* Yahel J. and Arensburg B. 1998 The topographic relationships of the ‎unpaired visceral branches of the aorta. Clinical Anatomy 11 : 304 – 309. ‎

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