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The Late Bronze Age to Iron Age transition in the Levant includes the appearance of new material culture that is similar in styles to the Aegean world. In the southern Levant, the distribution of early styles of Aegean-like pottery, locally produced, is limited to the coastal areas of Canaan, making synchronization with the rest of the region difficult. Radiocarbon (14C) dating provides a high-resolution absolute chronological framework for synchronizing ceramic phases. Here, absolute 14C chronologies of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition in the sites Tel Beth Shean, Tel Rehov, Tel Lachish, and Tel Miqne-Ekron are determined. Results show that the ranges of transitions vary in an absolute time frame by 50–100 years between different sites and that the range of the Late Bronze Age to Iron Age transition in Canaan spans the 13th–11th centuries BC plateau. These chronologies, based on a site-by-site approach for dating, show that the change between early types of Aegean-like pottery (Monochrome) to developed types (Bichrome), occurred over 100 years in Canaan and that the transition occurred in southern sites prior to sites in the north. These ranges show that not only is the Late Bronze to Iron Age not contemporaneous, but also synchronization between sites based on their ceramic assemblages is problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question under discussion is whether the dates of the Late Bronze (LBIIB)-LBIII (Iron IA) transitions in three sites in the southern Levant, namely Megiddo, Tell es-Safi/Gath and Qubur el-Walaydah occur at the same time, as has been proposed by Israel Finkelstein in his article in 2016 in Egypt and Levant. Here we respond to Finkelstein's comments. We add some new data, clarify the issues that were raised, and conclude that the Late Bronze (LBIIB)-LBIII (Iron IA) transitions occurred at different times in northern and southern Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY) and the Mousterian site of Nahal Mahanayeem Outlet (NMO) are open-air sites situated on the bank of the Upper Jordan River at its southern estuary in the Hula Valley, Israel. Both sites were deposited on the shore of a paleo-Lake Hula, a shallow body of water that persisted throughout a considerable part of the Pleistocene as a fresh-water lake. Most of the amphibian and squamate taxa recovered are aquatic species related to the natural biota of the Hula Valley, alongside some terrestrial species. Twelve amphibian and squamate taxa were recovered at each site. Most of the species recovered from the archaeological contexts do not differ from extant Hula Valley amphibians and squamates, with the exception of a varanid (Varanus sp.) recovered at GBY and the possible presence of the eastern fourlined ratsnake (cf. Elaphe sauromates). The snake's presence could indicate slightly cooler conditions during human occupation at NMO. A noteworthy continuity in species presence is observed throughout the many archaeological horizons as well as in comparison to the current Hula basin fauna. This suggests a surprising similarity in environmental conditions over a significant portion of the Quaternary in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egyptian vats and bread molds from the Early Bronze IB2 period are found in abundance on numerous sites in Southern Levant. During that time many groups of Egyptians settled across Canaanean towns and villages, which the archaeological material proves. The presence of kitchenware proves that they preserved their culinary traditions and still used this characteristic type of vessel. The latest excavations at Tel Erani (2013- 2018) resulted in finds of significant amounts of kitchenware concentrated around one building, as well as some hearths and flint tools, which relates well with this theory and suggests that a group of Egyptians indeed lived there among the local population during the end of the Early Bronze I period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric resistivity tomography (ERT) prospection conducted at the Pre‐Pottery Neolithic site at Kharaysin, Jordan, building on previous surface prospection and excavation, found a number of new sub‐surface anomalies. Subsequent excavations determined that the anomalies corresponded with the stone walls of habitation structures and possibly terrace walls. These features covered large areas of the site slope, inclusive of clustered settlement structures and frequent building superpositions indicative of multi‐phase occupation. Despite the generally arid conditions, the moist soil matrix allowed for the effective use of ERT. This article presents the integrated data of the archaeological excavation and the geophysical survey. As a test case it proves the utility of ERT in the identification of Pre‐Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and Pre‐Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) sub‐surface anthropogenic features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) geographic headings for the Southern Levant mirror the political investment of Congress and the American public in Middle East politics over the last thirty years. These LCSH headings contrast markedly with those established in other national libraries and independent value vocabularies, and global opinion regarding the legal status of the occupied territories. The author offers ways that libraries can "decolonize" their metadata in service of Sanford Berman's "access and equity." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal weapons found during the two historic excavations of Tell el-Hesi and Gezer carried out by W.M.F. Petrie, J.F. Bliss, R.A.S. Macalister, and Alan Rowe, on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund are here re-evaluated and compared in the light of recent discoveries. An in-depth study allowed some considerations about the connection existing between Southern Levantine ‘urbanisation’ and metal weapons, remarking the relation between such a kind of specimens and hoards, depots and funerary sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lake Kinneret, also known as the Sea of Galilee and Lake Tiberias, is located in the northeast of Israel. At a lake level of 211 m b.s.l. (below mean sea level), the central basin is 43 m deep. The maximum length of the lake is 21 km (N-S) and its maximum width is 12 km (W-E). Lake Kinneret’s surface area is 166 km2. A new 17.8 m long sedimentary core was drilled in 2010. Here, we present the entire palynological record from it, which covers the last ~ 9,000 years. Special emphasis is given to the natural and human-influenced vegetation history of Galilee in comparison to that of the more southerly Dead Sea region. Significant signs of human impact are the first Olea (olive) increase during the beginning of the Chalcolithic period between 7,000 and 6,500 years ago, as well as the prominent Olea phase during the Hellenistic/Roman/Byzantine period between 2,300 and 1,500 years ago. Mediterranean macchia and bathas scrub vegetation, as known in the area today, has developed in the southern Levant under human impact since the last ca. 1,500 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization occurred in the southern Levant at the end of the fourth millennium BCE in a process of settlement coalescence achieved under conditions of territorial stress and insecurity. The constituent households were woven into the urban fabric thanks to large-scale cooperative labor. The construction of monumental fortifications materialized the new aggregated community and thereby created a city. Although the mode of social organization was corporate in most settlements, it was exclusionary in some major cities as indicated by the appearance of palaces, which imply the existence of a king alongside "elders". The variety of local situations resulted in a wide diversity of settlement forms. The common denominator of these settlements was not urbanism sensu stricto but the existence of an autonomous political and territorial organization, i.e. a city-state. This observation applies as well to a large number of "urban" settlements of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean, which differ sharply from those of the Syro-Mesopotamian sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable work has gone into developing high-precision radiocarbon (14C) chronologies for the southern Levant region during the Late Bronze to Iron Age/early Biblical periods (∼1200–600 BC), but there has been little consideration whether the current standard Northern Hemisphere 14C calibration curve (IntCal13) is appropriate for this region. We measured 14C ages of calendar-dated tree rings from AD 1610 to 1940 from southern Jordan to investigate contemporary 14C levels and to compare these with IntCal13. Our data reveal an average offset of ∼19 14C years, but, more interestingly, this offset seems to vary in importance through time. While relatively small, such an offset has substantial relevance to high-resolution 14C chronologies for the southern Levant, both archaeological and paleoenvironmental. For example, reconsidering two published studies, we find differences, on average, of 60% between the 95.4% probability ranges determined from IntCal13 versus those approximately allowing for the observed offset pattern. Such differences affect, and even potentially undermine, several current archaeological and historical positions and controversies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a newly discovered figurine of chalky limestone found at a cave close to Tel Halif in the northern Negev during salvage excavations conducted after the cave was partially looted. The figurine is compared with the corpus of figurines with similar iconographic characteristics. Two exemplars found years earlier at Tel Halif itself are reexamined. In light of new data, it is suggested that these figurines should be dated to the Chalcolithic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hunting of Gazella subgutturosa was a dominant practice for Epipalaeolithic and early Neolithic hunter-gatherers in the east Jordan steppe. The seasonal mobility of this taxon in the Levant is poorly understood, especially for early prehistory when herd movements would have influenced hunter-gatherer use of the steppes. This paper proposes four patterns of seasonal herd mobility for G. subgutturosa centred on Jordan’s Azraq Basin. The four patterns are modelled using oxygen, carbon and strontium stable isotopes. Seasonal environmental signatures of each are understood through carbon and strontium isotopic variation in sixty modern plant specimens collected from twelve selected locations in north Jordan, published data on oxygen isotopes in local precipitation, and the adaptive behaviour of G. subgutturosa. The integrated isotopic datasets provide clear discriminatory markers for each proposed mobility pattern. Results will be applied in future to isotopic data from archaeological gazelle teeth from the Azraq Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely believed that Byzantine agriculture in the Negev Desert (fourth to seventh century Common Era; CE), with widespread construction of terraces and dams, altered local landscapes. However, no direct evidence in archaeological sites yet exists to test this assumption. We uncovered large amounts of small mammalian remains (rodents and insectivores) within agricultural installations built near fields, providing a new line of evidence for reconstructing anthropogenic impact on local habitats. Abandonment layers furnished high abundances of remains, whereas much smaller numbers were retrieved from the period of human use of the structures. Digestion marks are present in low frequencies (20% of long bones and teeth), with a light degree of impact, which indicate the role of owls (e.g. Tyto alba) as the principal means of accumulation. The most common taxa—gerbils (Gerbillus spp.) and jirds (Meriones spp.)—occur in nearly equal frequencies, which do not correspond with any modern Negev communities, where gerbils predominate in sandy low-precipitation environments and jirds in loessial, higher-precipitation ones. Although low-level climate change cannot be ruled out, the results suggest that Byzantine agriculture allowed jirds to colonize sandy anthropogenic habitats with other gerbilids and commensal mice and rats.

This is a report of results from a cursory survey of several Middle Paleolithic find spots from the Arava, Israel, conducted as part of a broader collaboration between the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center and the Israel Antiquities Authority. A series of find spots were recorded on the eastern flanks of the Zehiha hills and on the northern terraces of Wadi Paran. These finds consist of mostly Middle Paleolithic artifacts including Levallois centripetal, bidirectional and Nubian cores. The presence of Nubian cores within this technological constellation is of interest in light of recent discussions regarding archaeological markers of modern human dispersals out of Africa and feasible routes into Eurasia and Arabia. The Nubian core technology, a specific variant of the Levallois technology is found within a defined and continuous geographic region and is perceived as penecontemporaneous. Sites with a similar technological package are found to the east at Al-Jawf, within the Arabian Peninsula, as well as to the North-West, within the central Negev highlands, at the localities of Har Oded and H2. The distinctive technological characteristics, geographical extent and chronology advocate its use as a possible marker for human dispersals and interactions between Eastern Africa, the Nile Valley, the southern Levant and Arabia.

The collection of 5th Millennium BCE frescoes from the Chalcolithic (4700−3700 BC) township of Teleilat Ghassul, Jordan, are vital signposts for our understanding of early visual communication systems and the role of art in preliterate societies. The collection of polychrome wall murals includes intricate geometric designs, scenes illustrative of a stratified and complex society, and possibly early examples of landscape vistas. These artworks were produced by specialists using the buon fresco technique, and provide a visual archive documenting a fascinating, and largely unknown culture. This paper will consider the place these pictorial artefacts hold in the prehistory of art.

This paper provides an in-depth review of evidence for the presence of twelve waterbodies spanning the Late Pliocene through Late Pleistocene in southern Israel and southern Jordan. A comprehensive description of these waterbodies is presented, combined with new field, paleontological and numerical age data, along with a discussion of their implications for paleohydrology and paleoclimate. The region is currently hyper-arid and there are no permanent rivers, wetlands or lakes in the area. Nevertheless, during the time-frame examined, continuous layers of limestones and mudstones were deposited in wetlands and shallow lakes. According to their location, the waterbodies were classified into either resulting from local tectonic depressions or in wide natural depressions at base levels. Following the types of sediments and fauna associated with these waterbodies, it is suggested that four wetter periods occurred: Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene, Middle Pleistocene, Middle Late Pleistocene and terminal Late Pleistocene. This resulted in the deposition of limestone, chalk, travertine, calcrete, mudstone, marl, clay, silt and sandstone. For several waterbodies, vertical and lateral transitions between white limestone and fine clastic sediments rich in carbonate, indicate changes in depositional conditions from a shallow lake to a wetland, both associated with wetter hydrological settings compared to current climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a late 19th to early 18th cent. BCE, MBIIA settlement in the immediate vicinity of Tel Nami on the Carmel Coast of Israel. Site 104–106 has been all but destroyed by modern agricultural activity as well as quarrying, but a large number of ceramics and small finds were salvaged during a 1985–6 survey of Tel Nami 's hinterland as well as subsequent geoarchaeological research of the area. Little of the site remains, and the current study functionally amounts to a salvage project for an MBIIA coastal site, which was mentioned in an earlier survey. Geomorphology reveals how the sandstone kurkar ridges in this area of the coast governed the dynamic relationship between Tel Nami and its hinterland. Comparable ceramic chronology for Site 104–106 presented derives from Aphek-Antipatris, Megiddo, Kabri, Tel Ifshar, Tel Nami itself, and other MBIIA coastal sites of the Southern Levant. The ceramics include well-produced local wares as well as imports from coastal Lebanon, Syria, and Cyprus confirmed by petrographic analyses. Finds suggest a small agro-industrial site in the immediate periphery of the coastal Tel Nami. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human settlement activities are connected with the accumulation of nutrients in archaeological soils. We address the question of whether the large-scale mapping of the elemental composition of the topsoil in contemporary rangeland can be used for the detection of ancient settlement activities. Using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), we mapped the elemental composition of contemporary soils over an area of 67 ha in and around the Bronze and Iron Age settlement of Tel Burna (identified as probably corresponding with biblical Libnah). Ancient settlement activities substantially increased concentrations of nutrients (P, K, S, Zn and Cu) in the contemporary topsoil owing to the deposition of biomass ashes and organic wastes. Increased concentrations of elements were detected 2500 years after the site was abandoned and we can therefore suppose that changes in the elemental composition of the soil caused by ancient settlement activities are irreversible on a timescale in which human societies operate. Ancient settlement activities increased concentrations of nutrients in contemporary soil to the same level as recent intensive fertiliser application on an adjacent arable field used for vegetable production. Concentrations of nutrients higher than those on the tell summit were recorded only in recent cattle resting areas with intensive deposition of cattle faeces. Changes in the elemental composition of the soil caused by ancient settlement activities consequently result in differential nutrient availability for contemporary vegetation, affecting ecosystem functions for thousands of years. Using pXRF, large-scale mapping of the elemental composition of the topsoil layer at archaeological sites can help to identify the extent and provide basic information on the character of past human activities in the affected landscape units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Playas, or ephemeral lakes, are one of the most common depositional environments in arid and semiarid lands worldwide. Playa deposits, however, have mostly been avoided as paleoclimatic archives because they typically contain exceptionally low concentrations of organic material, making 14C dating difficult. Here, we describe a technique for concentrating organic matter in sediments for radiocarbon dating and apply it to playa sediments recovered from a 2.35m sediment core from a small playa in southern Jordan. Based on 14C ages of the organic concentrate fraction, the playa was active from ~29 to 21 ka, coincident with the last major high stand of Paleolake Lisan and wet conditions recorded by other paleoclimatic proxies in the southernmost Levant during the last full glacial period (35-20 ka). The timing and spatial pattern of these records suggests that the increased moisture was likely derived from more frequent and deeper eastern Mediterranean (EM) cyclones associated with the intensification of the westerlies. The presence of full glacial pluvial deposits in southern Jordan (29°N), and the lack of similarly aged deposits in the northern Arabian Peninsula to the south, suggests that the southerly limit of the incursion of EM cyclones during last full glacial period was ~28°N. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bedrock features such as hewn mortars and cup-marks are known around the world. In the Levant they first appear in Natufian sites in large numbers, a variety of types and contexts, including habitation sites and burial caves. The Natufian–Pre-Pottery Neolithic A transition witnessed notable changes in these features, including a reduction in their morphometric variation, reflecting a selection of a single type, the cup-mark, which correlates with one of the smallest types of the Natufian bedrock feature repertoire. Moreover, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period we see a duel system in which large bedrock assemblages are found near or at the sites, accompanied by a new trend, the appearance of indoor pounding facilities: slabs, boulder and various grinding tools bearing one or more cup-marks. In this paper we discuss these important changes that characterize the Natufian to Pre-Pottery Neolithic A transition in the southern Levant, and suggest that they reflect the changes in food processing noted during this time span, as well as changes in the context where specific substances were processed. The overall morphometric reduction is thus used here as a proxy for discussing differences between the Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A organization of domestic food production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bedrock features such as mortars and cupmarks were first documented in the southern Levant from the late 1920's. They first appear in Natufian sites (15,500–11,500 Cal BP), found in all ecological settings and in some cases encompassing tens and even more than 100 specimens per site. Recent advances in photogrammetry and 3D modeling technology provide new avenues for high-resolution documentation, characterization and analysis of these stone hewn features. Here, we extend our previous analyses and use our characterization method to analyze and compare a variety of mortars and cupmarks from two Natufian sites in distinct ecological settings: Raqefet Cave (Mt. Carmel) and Rosh Zin (Negev desert). We document the richest clusters of bedrock features at each site and quantitatively analyze their geometric form. Detailed analysis is provided for 13 specimens from both sites. We then perform an intra- and inter-site analysis of the mortars morphology and spatial characteristics, e.g. , density and volume related. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sennacherib’s campaign to the southern Levant in 701 BC is an extensively studied episode in the Neo-Assyrian period. Nevertheless, despite the abundance of sources, the existing scholarship has left several questions unanswered. Furthermore, although economic growth is suggested to have been a motor behind Neo-Assyrian expansion, current interpretations of the campaign do not consider this to have been its main goal. This article will present an analysis focussing particularly on this economic motive, an analysis that requires an alternative interpretation of the Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions. The outcome sheds a new light not only on Assyrian confrontations with Egypt in the late 8th-century BC southern Levant but also on Judah’s and Gaza’s roles in the events, revealing altogether a world of long-distance trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]