David Tarler is a Near Eastern archeologist and an attorney. From 1978 to 1990, he was a senior staff member of the City of David excavation project, in Jerusalem, Israel. After completing his legal studies, in 1993, he served as a consultant to the Archeology Program and the NAGPRA Program of the National Park Service, in Washington DC. In 2006, he became the enforcement and training coordinator for the National NAGPRA Program.

During 2001-2002, David provided assistance to staff at the United States Sentencing Commission working on sentencing guideline 2B1.5, which applies to crimes involving cultural heritage resources. He is a contributing editor for Heritage Resources Law (1999), a coeditor and contributor for Presenting Archaeology in Court (2006), and the assistant editor and editor of the "Enforcement" practice area for Cultural Property Yearbook (2006).