Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini holds a BA degree in modern Middle Eastern studies and history from Tel Aviv University, an MA degree in archaeology from Tel Aviv University and a PhD in archaeology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The topic of her PhD dissertation, Nabataean Self-Organized Economy and Settlement in the Central Negev: Crisis and Renewal, was published in 2010. 

After working as a field supervisor in the Nessana Excavations (Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva), Tali joined the Israel Antiquities Authority in 1993, serving as the sub-district archaeologist of the Southern Negev region between 1995 and 2018, upon which she became a senior research expert in the IAA until March 2025. As an adjunct lecturer, she taught courses on Nabataean material culture in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 2008 and 2021. During her career in the IAA Tali excavated and surveyed numerous sites throughout southern Israel, particularly excavations in the sites of Mampsis (Mamshit), Oboda (Avdat), En Hazeva, Ashkelon, Beer Shema, Saadon, Har Eldad, Mezad Zohar, En Tamar, Yotvata, Timna, the Western Border and more. Her main focus of research is Nabataean material culture, Roman army installations and ceramic typology and she is currently publishing the excavations of the late Rudolph Cohen along the Nabataean Incense Road and the classical period remains (Hellenistic through Early Islamic) from En Hazeva. Her expertise also focuses on the material culture of southern Israel from the Early Bronze Age to the British Mandate period. Tali has collaborated with a host of research teams from Israel and abroad, particularly in identifying ceramic and other finds dating from the Early Bronze Age to the British Mandate period. The teams include those from Haifa University (Elusa, Shivta, Nessana, Orhan Mor, Mezad Neqarot, Shaar Ramon, Nahal Omer and Mizpe Shivta), Cologne University (Elusa), De Paul University (Oboda), Tel Aviv University (Yotvata), Brandeis University (Beer Shema), Brown University (BUPAP – Petra Upper Market and the Bayda regional survey), the American Center of Oriental Studies in Amman, Jordan (Temple of the Winged Lions archival project), the University of Florida in Miami (Hellenistic Petra Project and the Baja excavations), and IAA excavations in Amatzia (Karmei Katif), Rahat, Kiryat Gat (North), the Mashabei Sade (Tlalim) tombs, Early Bronze Age navigation platforms and more. She has also collaborated with Prof. Benjamin A. Saidel (Eastern Carolina University) in projects relating to the archaeology of the Intermediate Bronze Age and also the British Mandate period including surveys of the Mufti’s House in Qalunya / Motza, the Bureir survey and the excavation of an Ottoman period Bedouin encampment in Nahal Beerotayim.

 

E-mail: talixgini@gmail.com