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Work at Megiddo in 2018 shed light on Gate 3165 of Stratum VIA (late Iron I) and the six-chambered Gate 2156 of Strata VA-IVB and IVA (late Iron IIA and early Iron IIB). The disputed question of the number of gates which post-date Gate 2156 was only briefly discussed. Continued investigation of the gates’ area in 2022 assembled information for the existence of a four-chambered Gate 500b, described by the University of Chicago excavator as a construction error, which was replaced by the two-chambered Gate 500a. The new data is presented here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2017 salvage excavation conducted at the site of Lajjun within Kibbutz Megiddo, Israel, revealed layers of refuse, primarily ceramics, constituting a household midden with finds indicating a 12th-century date and a Frankish cultural affinity. The midden can be associated with the occupation of the ancient settlement of Lajjun by Frankish settlers intermittently in the 12th and 13th centuries c.e. , representing a first archaeological window into the Frankish activity at the site and complementing the historical data on the village known from Crusader sources as Le Lyon (Lajjun). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic information systems (GIS) methods, combined with airborne remote sensing, enable collection of complex spatial datasets across broad regional areas. This article explores the use of GIS techniques for fast collection, processing and analysis of pedestrian survey data. This approach is used at Tell Abu Shusha, a multiperiod site in the Jezreel Valley of northern Israel. Surface survey of this tell and the surrounding region, conducted by the Jezreel Valley Regional Project during 2017, documented extensive visible remains of settlement features as well as the ruins of the Ottoman era village of Abu Shusha. Using this data, the potential for existing spatial analytical techniques to be modified and improved through modern processing capabilities is shown. Kolmogorov–Smirnov nonparametric tests, pure locational (k‐means) and unconstrained clustering methods were applied to the field walking survey data, showing evidence of feature clustering at multiple scales as well as environmental patterning in where features are located. Results demonstrate that these approaches increase the speed and accuracy of pedestrian survey data collection and that the modification of these analytical techniques makes them more robust than before, allowing for the identification of meaningful large‐scale spatial patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we present the paleopathological profiles of two young adult males, identified as brothers through ancient DNA analysis, who were buried together beneath the floor of an elite early Late Bronze Age I (ca. 1550–1450 BC) domestic structure at the urban center of Megiddo (modern Israel). Both individuals displayed uncommon morphological variants related to developmental conditions, and each exhibited extensive bone remodeling consistent with chronic infectious disease. Additionally, one brother had a healed fracture of the nose, as well as a large square piece of bone cut from the frontal bone (cranial trephination). We consider the potential etiologies for the appearance of the skeletal anomalies and lesions. Based on the bioarchaeological context, we propose that a shared epigenetic landscape predisposed the brothers to acquiring an infectious disease and their elite status privileged them enough to endure it. We then contextualize these potential illnesses and disorders with the trephination procedure. The infrequency of trephination in the region indicates that only selected individuals could access such a procedure, and the severity of the pathological lesions suggests the procedure was possibly intended as curative to deteriorating health. Ultimately, both brothers were buried with the same rites as others in their community, thus demonstrating their continued integration in society even after death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A complete Latin funerary inscription was found during an infrastructure development excavation near the legionary base of the Legio VI Ferrata at Legio. This funerary epitaph for a miles of the VIth Legion is the only complete inscription of its kind from Legio and, therefore, is an important contribution to the history of the legion during its tenure in Syria-Palaestina. In the epigraphic study of the inscription, a specific set of metrological characteristics were identified that have previously only been documented in formal imperial inscriptions. This raises questions about the availability of high-level lapidaries to ordinary soldiers in the context of their service. A review of the existing inscriptions attesting legionaries of Legio VI Ferrata is further provided to contextualize the epitaph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional theory described two settlement waves in the Negev Highlands in the third millennium BCE—in the EB II and the Intermediate Bronze Age— and a period with no evidence for stone architecture between them in the EB III. Arad in the Beer-sheba Valley was presented as an EB I-II site, which lay deserted in the EB III. Old and new radiocarbon dates and other lines of evidence from the copper mining districts in the Arabah, Arad and the Negev Highlands make this scenario obsolete. The new data indicate a long period of activity in the south—throughout the Early Bronze and the first half of the Intermediate Bronze Age. Certain changes in the settlement patterns took place in the transition from the EB III to the Intermediate Bronze Age— abandonment of Arad and the rise of central trading sites within the Negev Highlands. Activity in the Negev Highlands was related to the copper industry in the Arabah and transportation of copper to the north and west. Demand for copper in Egypt played an important role in the settlement history of the arid regions: the peak prosperity in the EB III and first half of the Intermediate Bronze Age corresponds to the time of the Old Kingdom in Egypt and deterioration of the Negev system tallies with the collapse of the Old Kingdom ca. 2200 BCE. The data for the third millennium BCE enables the structuring and presentation of a broader model of human activity in the Negev Highlands and neighbouring regions in the Bronze and Iron Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of digital technologies to enhance archaeological documentation has long been a priority of researchers around the world. However, progress on this front has been generally restricted to only a few categories of technology (e.g. total stations, simple databases, etc.) due to the costs involved in deploying new technology and the need for highly trained specialists to implement them. Fortunately, the last few years have seen a significant increase in the accessibility of cutting edge techniques and technology. Since its inception in 2010, the Jezreel Valley Regional Project (JVRP) has sought to develop innovative digital archaeological technologies that on one hand are cost-effective and on the other are scalable to the site-level and regional-level research the project is engaged in. In order to effectively address the JVRP's research goals, the project has developed workflows for new and existing technologies such as three-dimensional modeling, X-ray fluorescence, reflectance transformation imaging, unmanned aerial vehicles, and archaeological databases. The workflows are field-deployable and use affordable software and hardware. Considered collectively, these methodologies have allowed the JVRP to efficiently produce accurate, timely, and publishable archaeological data that is immediately accessible for collaboration by outside researchers and the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Early Bronze (EB) Ih Temple of Megiddo Level J-4, with its complex architecture, marks an important threshold in the devehpment of complex societies that characterized the Early Bronze Age of the Levant. The temple was abandoned at the end of the EB lb, leaving behind few traces of the activities performed within– the primary remains being deposits of animal-bone sacrificial waste fo und in different localities within the structure and its vicinity. Chipped stone tools and production waste were fo und together with these and other deposits nearby. Considering the paucity of other finds among the temple's assemblages, the chipped stone items constitute important evidence for activities within its vicinity, and perhaps its role in relation to the community within which it functioned. The lithic assemblage includes a wide range of tool types and waste indicating that knapping and a variety of activities occurred nearby the temple. The range of activities represented is characteristic of earlier Neolithic and Chalcolithic, as well as Bronze Age, cult buildings in the Mediterranean world. Overall, the architectural and lithic evidence demonstrates that while the Great Temple of J -4 represents major innovations in the organization of cult that will become characteristic of the Bronze Age, there were also certain profane activities associated with the temple, as in other early sacred spaces. Furthermore, this study emphasizes the potential that lithic assemblages have for contributing to the understanding of the dynamic roles of cult buildings in general from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age and how the mundane and sacred commingle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tel Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley of Israel has been the most cited type-site of the Early Bronze Age Levant since the excavations of the University of Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s. Through the efforts of the Tel Aviv University Megiddo Expedition, the stratigraphic sequence of the Early Bronze Age has been significantly refined, and a new monumental temple dating to Early Bronze Age IB (ca. 3000 B.C.E.) has been discovered. This Great Temple has proven to be the most monumental structure of the period in the Levant. This discovery provides new evidence for the rise of social and political complexity in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports about an archaeological research project in the Jezreel Valley in Israel, focusing on excavations at a Bronze Age site in Tel Megiddo as of April 2014. Topics include changes in Near Eastern societies during the Early Bronze Age, the emergence of urban communities in the Levant, and social conditions at Tel Megiddo in the late Fourth Millennium B.C. Particular attention is given to exploration of the Great Temple at Tel Megiddo and the settlement of its builders.