Mordechai Kislev

In 1974 he founded the archaeobotanical lab in Bar-Ilan. The lab is now run by his former students: Prof. Ehud Weiss, Dr. Yoel Melamed and Dr. Anat Schenkman-Hartmann. In 1979 he was promoted to a senior lecturer in the Life Science department and in the department of Eretz Israel Studies. Kislev became an associate professor in 1991 and a full professor in 1998, teaching and researching in both departments. Kislev was also a member of the appointments and discipline committees in the University. He was also a teacher in the Michlalah Jerusalem College for 20 years. In 2006 he retired as an emeritus professor, and continued working there for another 12 years. On 13 June 2008 an article was published in Science magazine about germination of about 1900 years old date seed, which was excavated at Masada.

Archaeobotany: using Archaeological findings such as seeds and fruits, Kislev’s lab reconstructed ancient environments, climate changes, foods and commerce. Kislev has prepared together with his students computerized plant keys for classifying and identifying ancient seeds and fruits from the Middle East. Some of his prominent works include dating the beginning of agriculture using findings such as wheat, barley, olive and fig. In 1979 Kislev discovered a new, extinct wheat species, Triticum parvicoccum, found only in archaeological excavations. In 1985, Kislev found charred seeds of horse bean, dating back to the 7th millennium B.C. thus pushing back the known use of this vetch by about 2000 years. In 2006, Kislev’s team discovered an early domesticated fig in the Jordan Valley, dating back to about 11,400 to 11,200 years ago.

Kislev was a postdoctoral researcher in archaeobotany during the years 1971-1973 at the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Institut, Groningen, Netherland and at the Institute of Archaeology, London, UK. He then joined Bar-Ilan University’s department of Life Sciences as an instructor, and a year later as a Lecturer.

Mordechai Kislev was born in Haifa. He studied at Kiryat Tiv'on high school, and when he was 17, enrolled in the Hebrew University and studied agriculture for a year. In 1955 he enlisted in the Nahal, and was one of the founders of Kibbutz Ein Gedi. Kislev continued to M.Sc. in botany (with minors: zoology and chemistry). He also studied in the Hebrew language department and for one year at the Talmud department in the Hebrew University, and his Ph.D was received from the Hebrew University in botany in 1972. Kislev authored the thesis: Pollination ecology of desert plants under the supervision of Prof. M. Zohary and Prof. J. Galil.

Mordechai E. Kislev (Hebrew: מרדכי אפרים כסלו; born: 8 May 1937) is an Israeli emeritus professor in the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University, specializing in archaeological botany. Some of his prominent research focuses on prehistoric early agriculture and archaeological entomology. Other works explore the ancient landscape of the Land of Israel, as well as Torah and Science issues.