Hamdan Taha () is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. He taught at

Birzeit University Birzeit University () is a public university in the West Bank, Palestine, registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs as a charitable organization. It is accredited by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Mini ...

before becoming the director general of the Palestinian Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage. Taha later worked for the

Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities () is the Egyptian government organization which serves to protect and preserve the heritage and ancient history of Egypt. In December 2019 it was merged into the Ministry of Tourism with Khaled al-Anani ...

until he retired in 2014. He has led archaeological fieldwork at sites including

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

, Hisham's Palace, and Khirbet Belameh.

Early life and education

Taha was raised in

al-Shuyukh Ash-Shuyukh or al-Shuyukh () is a Palestinian town in the Hebron Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 6 km northeast of the city of Hebron. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Ash-Shuyukh had a population of 1 ...

, a town in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. He studied archaeology at the universities of

Birzeit Birzeit (), also Bir Zeit, is a Palestinian Christian town north of Ramallah, in the West Bank. Its population in the 2017 census was 5,878. Birzeit is home to Birzeit University and to the Birzeit Brewery. Location Bir Zeit is located north ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, and the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

where he respectively completed a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

, a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

, and a

doctorate of philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Career

In 1990 Taha joined Birzeit University's Palestinian Institute of Archaeology – which had been created three years earlier – as a professor of archaeology. He worked there for two years. Taha was involved in the establishment of the Palestinian Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage in 1994, and from 1995 to 2004 was its director general. From 1995, the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

was responsible for archaeology in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

and Areas A and B of the West Bank, and some parts of

Area C Area C (; ) is the fully Israeli-controlled territory in the West Bank, defined as the whole area outside the Palestinian enclaves (Areas A and B). Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the West Bank territory, containing most Israeli settle ...

. In this capacity, Taha was involved in a number of archaeological projects. He led rescue excavations at

in 1997 with

Nicolò Marchetti Nicolò () is an Italian male given name. Another variation is Niccolò, most common in Tuscany. It may refer to: * Nicolò Albertini, statesman * Nicolò Amati, luthier * Nicolò Barella, Italian footballer * Nicolò Barattieri, Italian engineer ...

, Khirbet Belameh in 1997–98, and at the site of Bir el-Hammam monastery on

Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim ( ; ; ; , or ) is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the State of Palestine, Palestinian city of Nablus and the biblical city of Shechem. It forms the southern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated, the nor ...

in 2001. Along with

Moain Sadeq Moain Sadeq () is a Palestinian-Canadian archaeologist specialising in the archaeology of Gaza. He teaches at Qatar University and has worked at colleges in Canada. After completing a doctorate at the Free University of Berlin, Sadeq co-founded ...

, the director of the Department of Antiquities in Gaza, Taha was involved with negotiations with Israel about the return of artefacts excavated in Palestine during the Israeli occupation. Hisham Palace in Jericho2

In 2002, the Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage merged with the Department of Cultural Heritage and was part of the

. From 2004, Taha worked as Assistant Undersecretary for the Antiquities and Cultural Heritage Sector until 2012, and then as an undersecretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities until 2014. Taha advocated for Palestine joining

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, and was subsequently the coordinator for World Heritage initiatives in Palestine. During this time he remained involved with fieldwork projects and led research excavations with Donald Whitcomb at Hisham's Palace, an early Islamic archaeological site in the West Bank, from 2006 until 2014 when Taha retired. Taha has used his position to insist that international projects at archaeological sites in Palestine involve collaboration with Palestinian archaeologists. Taha characterises Palestinian-led archaeology as aiming to "write an inclusive narrative of alestinianhistory, drawing on primary sources that incorporate the voices of all peoples, groups, cultures and religions that have lived on the land of Palestine". He has also criticised the Israeli government's approach to heritage in the region. When the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

held an exhibition on

King Herod Herod may refer to: Members of the Herodian dynasty Members of the Herodian dynasty, named after Herod the Great, in chronological order: * Herod the Great (born c. 74 BC, ruled 37–4 BC or 1 BC), client king of Judea who expanded the Second Tem ...

in 2013, Taha criticised the display of artefacts excavated in the West Bank which were removed without consultation with Palestinian authorities.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taha, Hamden Birzeit University alumni University of Jordan alumni Free University of Berlin alumni Living people Academic staff of Birzeit University Palestinian archaeologists 20th-century archaeologists 21st-century archaeologists People from Hebron Governorate