Baruch Arensburg (; born 1934), professor of

Anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

Tel-Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

(emeritus), is a

physical anthropologist Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a natural science discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from ...

whose main field of study has been prehistoric and historic populations of the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

. He studied at the

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Physical Anthropology Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a natural science discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from ...

and

Comparative Anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...

. At the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

he gained his degrees in the fields of Geography and Archaeology (BA) Geography and Zoology (MA). He was the first to study the demographic sequence of populations in the Land of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, starting with the

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

through the

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

, Classical,

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

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 The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are Nomadic pastoralism, pastorally nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Be ...

populations. He has participated in many archaeological excavations and co-directed (with

Ofer Bar-Yosef Ofer Bar-Yosef (; 29 August 1937 – 14 March 2020) was an Israeli archaeologist and anthropologist whose main field of study was the Palaeolithic period. Archaeology and academic career From 1967 Bar-Yosef was Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology ...

and Eitan Tchernov), the excavations at Hayonim Cave, mostly studying the

Natufian The Natufian culture ( ) is an archaeological culture of the late Epipalaeolithic Near East in West Asia from 15–11,500 Before Present. The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentism, sedentary or semi-sedentary population even befor ...

(c. 13,000 calBC) skeletal remains discovered therein. He also was a team member of the

Kebara Cave Kebara Cave (, ) is a limestone cave locality in Wadi Kebara, situated at above sea level on the western escarpment of the Carmel Range, in the Ramat HaNadiv preserve of Zichron Yaakov. History The cave was inhabited between 60,000 and 48,0 ...

Middle Palaeolithic project and was among those who studied and published the

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an Industry (archaeology), archaeological industry of Lithic technology, stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and with the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and We ...

(c. 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.

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 Seismic or vibrational communication is a process of conveying information through mechanical (seismology, seismic) vibrations of the substrate. The substrate may be the earth, a plant stem or leaf, the surface of a body of water, a spider's web, ...

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. Journal 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 Journal 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'Académie des Sciences, Paris, Série 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. Paléorient 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 Journal 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arensburg, Baruch 1934 births Living people 20th-century anthropologists 21st-century anthropologists Israeli archaeologists Israeli anthropologists Chilean archaeologists Chilean anthropologists Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni University of Paris alumni Israeli Jews Chilean Jews Chilean emigrants to Israel Scientists from Santiago, Chile Chilean expatriates in France Jewish anthropologists Natufian culture