Prof. Elisha Linder, one of the founding fathers of maritime archaeology in Israel and a senior lecturer at the University of Haifa, died on June 8, a few days before his 85th birthday.
Linder was responsible for initiating the establishment of the Association for Underwater Research in Israel, as well as the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies and the department of Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa. He directed excavations at nearly all of the underwater sites in Israel—Acre, Atlit, Caesarea, Ashdod, Shavei Tzion and the Coral Reef—as well as some abroad.
One of his most important projects surfaced in 1985 20 miles south of Haifa, off the shores of Kibbutz Ma‘agan Mikhael, where he had lived since 1955. A member of the kibbutz happened upon an ancient shipwreck while diving in the shallow waters just off the coast and alerted the authorities. A team, headed by Linder, undertook the study, excavation, conservation and reconstruction of the ship—an extremely well-preserved merchantman from around 400 B.C.E—which filled an important gap in knowledge about seafaring of that time. The reconstructed hull of the ship was put on display at the Hecht Museum at the University of Haifa.