An Irish archaeologist. He won his reputation through his excavations at Gezer (1902-1909) – the first large-scale excavation carried out in Israel - funded by the British Palestine Exploration Fund. Between 1923 and 1925 Macalister excavated the Ophel together with Duncan. His relative chronology of the city walls, although challenged by Kathleen Kenyon, was confirmed by the subsequent excavations of Yigal Shiloh.