Sukenik, and later his illustrious son Yigael Yadin, were instrumental in establishing a characteristic Israeli emphasis for the archaeology of the Second Temple period.

The development of a more self-conscious “national school” (although recognized as such only later) was owing largely to Yigael Yadin, who joined the faculty of the Hebrew University in 1954 after a term as chief of staff of the Israeli Defence Forces. He promptly launched large-scale and well-funded excavations by the Rothschild Foundation at the great site of Hazor in northern Israel (1955–1958 and 1968). There, alongside pioneers like Amiran and more recent archaeologists like Trude and Moshe Dothan, Claire Epstein, and Yohanan Aharoni, the first generation of native-born Israeli archaeologists was trained. These Hazor staff members, inspired by Yadin’s charismatic personality, international standing, and sometimes mesmerizing vision, would become the architects of “the Israeli school” in the 1960s to the 1980s. Second only to Yadin’s influence was that of the engineer and architect Immanuel (“Munya”) Dunayevsky, whose primarily architectural approach remained a prominent feature of Israeli archaeology for a generation.

Other earlier Israeli fieldwork was prompted by the Dead Sea Scrolls research. The continued looting of caves, together with more systematic excavations of Qumran and the vicinity by foreign archaeologists working across the border in Jordan, necessitated a response by Israeli archaeologists. Pioneering expeditions were carried out in the Judean desert by Aharoni, followed by further survey and excavations led by Aharoni, P. Bar-Adon, and Yadin in 1961–1962. Spectacular finds were made from the Chalcolithic period (fourth millennium b.c.), and there were significant discoveries of manuscripts and other artifacts from the second Jewish revolt (under Bar-Kochba in a.d. 132–135). This work was followed immediately by Yadin’s epochal project at Massada (1963–1964), which drew volunteers from all over the world, galvanized Israeli and Jewish interest in archaeology, and launched Yadin as an international celebrity. For many Israelis, Massada, the desert cliff-top fortress where Jewish insurgents made a last stand against the Roman legions, became a symbol of the identity of past and present in the restored state of Israel. Thereafter, archaeology would become a popular pastime, almost a secular religion for many Israelis, and a way of putting down roots in the Holy Land.

Other less spectacular excavations were carried out in the late 1950s and 1960s. Prehistoric caves in the Nahal Oren near the Carmel Ridge were excavated, sites of the Chalcolithic period in the Judean desert and the Beersheba basin were extensively investigated, and large Bronze- and Iron-Age mounds became the focus of long-running expeditions, such as those led by Aharoni and Amiran at Arad (1962–1984), Dothan at Tel Mor and Ashdod (1962–1972), and Biran at Tel Dan (1967). Nabatean-Byzantine sites in the Negev desert, such as Avdat and Mamshit/ Kurnub, were excavated by A. Negev from 1959 to 1972, and the Roman port of Caesarea was explored by Negev and Avi-Yonah from 1956 to 1964. Synagogues and Jewish burials were also cleared at several locations.

During this period, the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, led principally by Mazar and Yadin, was the driving force behind Israeli archaeology. In 1962, however, a second Department of Archaeology was founded (now the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology) at the newly opened Tel Aviv University. Largely as a result of Aharoni’s initiative, this department’s program was characterized specifically by his emphasis on regional archaeology, especially in the Negev desert. The institute’s quarterly, Tel Aviv, began publication in 1974. Later, institutes of archaeology were established at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev and Haifa University. In 1965, the Israel Museum opened, and it included offices for the Department of Antiquities and a large wing for archaeological exhibits, collections, and work areas. This museum, in effect, finally replaced the old national center in the Rockefeller Museum in the Old City. By the 1980s, there were dozens of regional museums, including the large Museum Haaretz in Tel Aviv. Finally, the Hebrew University’s new campus near the Israel Museum and the Knesset, replacing the one lost on Mt. Scopus in 1948, included facilities for the