Publications

The earliest appearance of permanent architecture in the Levant coincided with intensified diets, starting at ca. 15,000 years ago, with the Natufian Culture. High-resolution studies of intra-Natufian change are needed for testing the intertwined effects of the novel built environment, subsistence patterns, and population dynamics. The deep Early Natufian sequence of el-Wad Terrace (Mount Carmel, Israel), provides a high-resolution record (ca. 14.813.1 ka) that includes an initial phase with little architecture, followed by the intensive architectural phase with ten stratified building levels, in turn capped by more ephemeral habitation levels. Using the rich zooarchaeological samples from each stage, as well as the Late Natufian layer, we test how hunting patterns and bone depositional histories changed with the mode of habitation. All of the 20 stratified samples we studied likely attest to domestic activities, differing in scale but not in type. The initial habitation at the pre-architectural stage appears as very diversified, but with weaker evidence for resource depletion. The subsequent architectural stage presents the most intensive butchery patterns and sediment build-up, together with some shifts in hunting patterns, and large gazelle body-size that may signal some overhunting. The post-architectural stage displays more specialized or seasonal hunting patterns, alongside taphonomic evidence of more frequent abandonments. We suggest that these developments correspond to at least one full demographic cycle, whereby population growth had been mediated for several generations by flexible subsistence strategies, but eventually led to a Malthusian phase and settlement reorganization. Natufian hamlets were dynamic, at times not incorporating permanent architecture. The built spacesand the habitation dynamics they reflectare more clearly understood when compared with the non-architectural phases.

The Levantine Epipaleolithic period witnessed remarkable cultural processes, culminating with the rise of sedentary hamlets in the Early Natufian. The role of terminal Pleistocene climate changes as a catalyst for these societal shifts has been debated, suffering from a lack of well-dated and localized proxies associated with the human landscape. The charcoal assemblage from the Epipalaeolithic sequence (Kebaran, Geometric Kebaran and Natufian; ca. 25,00012,700 cal. BP) at Ein Qashish South (EQS, Israel) indicates an Eastern Mediterranean vegetation and the common use of oak (both evergreen and deciduous/semi-deciduous) and almond throughout the sequence. A precipitation curve is presented for the region under study based on stable carbon isotope (δ¹³C) measurements of identified and dated charcoals from the EQS sequence and from the Natufian el-Wad Terrace (EWT), Mount Carmel, and interpreted in relation to precipitation, the primary environmental factor influencing plant δ¹³C absorption in the region under study. The resulting proxy covers a period spanning the Last Glacial Maximum and the end of the Pleistocene in the southern Levant. This is the first time a charcoal-based sequence from a high-resolution archaeological record encompasses the precipitation patterns of the entire Epipalaeolithic sequence in the southern Levant. To assess the viability of δ¹³C analysis of southern Levantine oak (Tabor oak, Quercus ithaburensis, and evergreen oak, Quercus calliprinos) for palaeoclimate reconstruction, isotope measurements were performed on three current oak tree growth rings sampled from a sequence characterised by documented varying annual precipitation. Our experimental results suggest that almond is more susceptible to climate change and, therefore, more suitable as a palaeoclimatic proxy. Δ¹³C records from almond and oak suggest a more humid climate than today throughout the Epipalaeolithic sequence, with the most humid peak in the Early Natufian. The overall productive environments, particularly in the time when sedentarisation is most apparent, may have contributed to the observed cultural shifts.

This paper presents, for the first time, an analysis of the early Iron Age IIA occupation at En Ḥaẓeva. A series of radiocarbon measurements from short-lived samples obtained from the sites earlier occupation levels (Strata VIIIVII) were all dated to the 10th century BCE. It is noteworthy, that Stratum VII occupies the second half of the 10th century BCE exclusively, with its final phase around 900 BCE. Fixing the sites absolute chronology has far-reaching implications, enabling the placement of the early Iron Age IIA settlement within the broader historical context. Situated c. 20 kilometres from the most significant copper industry centre in the Levant Khirbet en-Nahas, En Ḥaẓeva enjoyed a strategic location in the transport network of copper through the Negev Highlands and the Beer-Sheba Valley to the Mediterranean seaports. It is claimed that the economic prosperity related to copper production at Khirbet en-Nahas during the early Iron Age IIA was En Ḥaẓevas raison dêtre.

With a rich, well-dated Early Upper Palaeolithic layer, the Mughr el-Hamamah cave site is key for understanding the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the Levant. The archaeological deposit consists of two units. Layer A resulted from pastoral activities during the 20th century and Layer B dated between 44.5 and 40.0 ky BP. During Layer A's formation, shepherds disturbed Layer B, redepositing Early Upper Palaeolithic sediments and lithic artefacts in Layer A matrix. Activity from Layer A's formation also resulted in spatially patchy percolation and bioturbation, leaving microarchaeological traces such as dung spherulites in some areas in Layer B. In contrast, contemporaneous chemical diagenetic processes from Layer B's primary formation caused spatially uneven post-depositional dissolution of animal bone. In this article we present a multi-proxy microarchaeological approach to investigate the post-depositional processes in Layer B, focussing on possible impacts on the plant archaeological record. The identification of intrusive spherulites from shepherds activities define the limits of disturbance in Layer B. Micromorphological analyses have identified four intact micro-facies in Layer B, representing an interplay of natural and anthropogenic factors. Micromorphological details in bedded combustion features favour the interpretation that associated phytoliths represent fuel traces. Dicot fruit phytoliths occur in the western area of the cave, where well-preserved charred wood and seeds were also found. Grass-diagnostic phytoliths correspond to C₃ and C₄ taxa, indicating an overall humid environment with dry spells. Microarchaeological analysis identifies traces of both bedded and dispersed hearth materials, mixed with variable plant resources for food, fuel, and possibly other uses. This strengthens the interpretation of Mughr el-Hamamah Layer B as a dense, complicated palimpsest of recurring activities, formed over many millennia.

The site of Manot Cave in western Galilee, Israel, has been a focus of research on the Levantine Upper Paleolithic since its discovery in 2008. Thick archaeological accumulations and good preservation of organic remains, including charcoal fragments, provided a stable base for the study of the Upper Paleolithic chrono-cultural sequence, alongside the paleoenvironmental conditions at the time of human occupations. Past research indicated the presence of at least three cultural entities in the cave: Early Ahmarian, Levantine Aurignacian, and a younger entity temporarily referred to as post-Levantine Aurignacian, while radiocarbon and isotope dating provided a preliminary chronological frame ca. 4634 ky calBP. This paper presents a comprehensive study of the unpublished, in-situ occupation layers identified near the entrance to the cave (Area E). This study, encompassing stratigraphic reconstruction and lithic analysis of eight distinct occupation layers, presents a refined chronological frame and revised cultural affiliations. It suggests a division of the sequence from Area E into three main occupation phases: Phase 3, containing a combination of technological and typological attributes comparable to both the Early Ahmarian and Levantine Aurignacian, to which a secure cultural affiliation is pending further research; Phase 2, containing classic Levantine Aurignacian industries, dated ca. 37.536.0 ky calBP; and Phase 1, contains industries with increasing microlithic dominance, and the prominent presence of truncation burins and items with lateral carination, affiliated here with the Atlitian of the Levantine Mediterranean region. Radiocarbon chronology indicates a maximum age of ca. 34.533.1 ky calBP for this occupation phase. This study establishes Manot Cave as a key site for the study of Levantine Upper Paleolithic cultural dynamics, providing a unique, well-dated sequence and comparable techno-typological data of the flint industries.

Spatial and temporal variations in the atmospheric bomb radiocarbon make it a very useful tracer and a dating tool. With the introduction of more atmospheric bomb radiocarbon records, the spatial and temporal changes in bomb radiocarbon are becoming clearer. Bomb radiocarbon record from a pine tree in the northern Israel region shows that the Δ¹⁴C level in the region is closer to the northern hemisphere zone (NH) 1 as compared to the northern hemisphere zone (NH) 2. A comparison of this pine's Δ¹⁴C record with a nearby olive tree's Δ¹⁴C values also highlights changes in the growing season of the olive wood from one year to the other. The observation suggests that olive wood ¹⁴C ages can show offset compared to the IntCal curve, and thus they should be interpreted cautiously.

The Epipalaeolithic Natufian Culture (latest Pleistocene Levant, ca. 15,00011,500 cal bp) represents relatively sedentary and complex foraging societies, but the plant communities near their most intensively occupied hamlets (in the Mediterranean region of the southern Levant) are not well known. Here we present the charcoal and seed assemblages, and direct radiocarbon dating of select specimens, from el-Wad Terrace, Mount Carmel, Israel, a thick and multi-layered Early to Late Natufian sequence. Wood remains indicate an East Mediterranean oak forest/maquis, with varying ratios of evergreen and deciduous oak types as primary components of the local environment, as well as almond and buckthorn. The highest density of remains is in the architectural phase of the Early Natufian, when the site was very intensively inhabited (15,00013,800 cal bp). In this phase, wood and seed remains are distributed all over the residential area, conforming to patterns of other finds that show primary discard and no rigid partitioning of space. Comparison of the seed assemblages to Kebara Cave, a Middle Palaeolithic site in the same geographic setting, points to an elevated use of cereals in the Natufian. Our data provide insights into several chronological, spatial and behavioural patterns, which emerge along the Natufian sequence at the site.

Evidence of fire is one of the most important features for identifying and characterizing destruction events. Analysis of microscopic remains of fire has developed exceedingly in recent years, enabling archaeologists to examine new questions relating to the intensity of destruction events and to the circumstances of the creation of destruction layers. One of the most crucial events in the history of the Southern Levant is the Babylonian destruction of Judah and its capital Jerusalem in 586 BCE, which shaped the biblical narrative and theology for generations to come. Building 100 was an extraordinarily large and rich elite building, thoroughly destroyed during the Babylonian campaign. This paper presents a study of the destruction layer excavated within the rooms of the building. FTIR spectrometry and archaeomagnetic analysis were combined in the micro-archaeological study of the remains in order to create a detailed reconstruction of the destruction event. This reconstruction sheds new light on how the Babylonian destruction was manifested in reality in the elite buildings of Jerusalem.

The north-western Negev is an under-researched ecotonal region. We excavated two late Middle Palaeolithic open-air sites and recovered rich lithic industries that could be refitted, as well as remains of fauna, and charcoal. Palaeoenvironmental information and dates indicate interesting inter-site differences.

The Kos Plateau Tuff (KPT), was an enormous caldera forming eruption originating from a vent within the Kos/Nisyros/Yali volcanic complex, occurring at 161 ka. It is the largest recognised Late Quaternary eruption in the Eastern Mediterranean. With its distinctive, highly silicic chemical composition, the resulting ash deposits have been used both as a synchronous marker for palaeoenvironmental records in the region, and to provide information on eruption processes and magnitude. Here, we describe ash layers detected at multiple sites (deep-sea sequences and a terrestrial archaeological site) with ages generated by radiometric dating and sapropel correlation, to demonstrate the existence of a later, but geochemically similar eruption from the Kos volcano which has not previously been identified in proximal volcanic units. This eruption is dated to MIS 5e (-124-129 ka), i.e. -40 kyr younger than the KPT. This tephra marks the start of MIS5e, and presents a rare opportunity to independently and precisely align paleoenvironmental records and archaeological sites during a time of rapid warming and sea level rise analogous to the present day. The presence of multiple tephras also implies the possibility of multiple eruptions during this period. This adds to our knowledge of the active and hazardous nature of Kos/Nisyros/Yali volcanic complex. (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Recent excavations of Late Antiquity settlements in the Negev Highlands of southern Israel uncovered a society that established commercial -scale viticulture in an arid environment [D. Fuks et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 19780-19791 (2020)]. We applied target-enriched genome- wide sequencing and radiocarbon dating to examine grapevine pips that were excavated at three of these sites. Our analyses revealed centuries long and continuous grape cultivation in the Southern Levant. The genetically diverse pips also provided clues to ancient cultivation strategies aimed at improving agricultural productivity and ensuring food security. Applying genomic prediction analysis, a pip dated to the eighth century CE was determined to likely be from a white grape, to date the oldest to be identified. In a kinship analysis, another pip was found to be descendant from a modern Greek cultivar and was thus linked with several popular historic wines that were once traded across the Byzantine Empire. These findings shed light on historical Byzantine trading networks and on the genetic contribution of Levantine varieties to the classic Aegean landscape.

The excavation of Har Harif 45, a campsite radiometrically dated to the 6th5th millennia BCE, in the Negev highlands (Israel) uncovered many charcoals determined as Phoenician juniper (Juniperus phoenicea). Today, Phoenician juniper is absent from the Negev desert and can only be found on the ridges of northern Sinai (Egypt) and Jordan. Based on the relative abundance of polished stone axes and adzes found in Har Harif 45 in comparison to other contemporaneous sites, we suggest that the extinction of juniper trees from the Negev highlands was caused mainly by intensive and selective cutting of this highly beneficial woody species. On a wider view, the disappearance of Juniperus phoenicea from the Negev Desert provides a good example of human impact on the natural environment during the transition from hunter-gather societies to late Pottery Neolithic (and later periods of the 6th5th millennia BC) pastoralist societies, where a greater population density increased the demand for natural resources such as juniper wood. We show that the archaeological evidence from Har Harif 45 combined with the archaeobotanical data sheds new light on the human influence on the Negev highland environment during the late 6th and 5th millennia BC.

Charred olive pits are frequently preserved in archaeological sites in Israel, from ca. 5000 BCE. As olive fruits grow during one season, the carbon comprising their pits reflects their year of growth, making charred olive pits found in situ ideal for radiocarbon dating of archaeological contexts. An additional aspect, up until now not explored, is utilizing the ratio between the stable carbon isotopes (delta 13C) in these charred olive pits as a proxy for climate. Olive pits provide multiple advantages as a proxy, allowing for higher resolution of climate reconstruction, both spatially and temporally, reflecting the environment in which the olive trees were growing, and humans were living. Here we show firstly, an analysis of modern olive pits and assess the connection between pit cellulose delta 13C and aridity index. Specifically, we identify the threshold Delta 13C for olive trees under severe drought stress as below 15.5 +/- 0.5 parts per thousand. Next, as olive pits are usually found charred in archaeological contexts, we evaluated the effect of charring on the delta 13C signal of the modern olive pits. Finally, we present Delta 13C values of more than 500 charred olive pits from 51 archaeological sites in Israel, spanning similar to 6000 years. Based on these values we have identified periods of arid conditions and wet conditions in the past.

Vast burial fields, some with hundreds of burials, categorize the southern Levants Intermediate Bronze Age period (IBA). This phenomenon contrasts with a limited number of burials found from the preceding Early Bronze III period. This paper presents the first radiocarbon dating research of sampled bones from shaft tombs from five IBA burial sites across Israel: Yehud, Jebel Qaaqir, Sheikh-Danon, Hazorea, and Kefar-Veradim. Prescreening methods, including Fourier transform infrared analysis, were applied to identify best-preserved collagen in archaeological bones for radiocarbon dating. Overall, the measured date ranges cover the IBA timeline, supporting the observation that the IBA signature shaft tombs are a fundamental tradition of the IBA culture, at least in Israel. A single IBA shaft tomb at Jebel Qaaqir which contained remains of multiple humans, supplied different dates for various people, spanning over a few hundred years. These results suggest a tribal or family-oriented IBA community with a long-lasting tradition reflected in centuries of collective burial practices.

Routine quarrying activity at the Nesher-Ramla Quarry, in the Judean Lowlands, Israel, has recently exposed a new Early Holocene archaeological site located in a small natural sinkhole, one of many dolines scattered in the area, dated to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (EPPNB). It is the first site of this period to be uncovered in the narrow strip of land between the Judean Mts. and the coastal plain. This site, dubbed NRQN, contains lithic artifacts, groundstone tools, shells and beads as well as botanical and faunal remains. Here we combine data from a series of studies on the site's stratigraphy and radiometric dating, paleoenvironment, sediments and material culture, with the aim of understanding the role of the site in the EPPNB sphere. Various human activities took place in or immediately adjacent to the sinkhole, predominantly domestic in nature, including stone-tool making and food consumption. However, some of the sediments deep within the sinkhole underwent intense in situ combustion, possibly associated with episodes of lime-plaster production. The filling of the sinkhole appears to have occurred rapidly, not exceeding a few hundred years (ca. 10,50010,300 cal. BP) and was driven by both geogenic and anthropogenic sedimentation processes. Good preservation of microvertebrate, macrovertebrae, short-lived plants and wood remains at the site, provides a unique opportunity to study the environmental characteristics of this geographical area during the Early Holocene, which appears to have been of an open grassy landscape with patchy Mediterranean forest, resembling the current environmental conditions. Studying the characteristics of Early Holocene human activity at the site, its paleoenvironment, and the site formation mechanisms, also provides useful comparisons with the nearby NRQ Middle Paleolithic site (this issue).

Teeth are usually targeted for dating archaeological sites because they are less prone to dissolution, in com-parison with bones. However, despite this apparent resistance, teeth do undergo diagenesis, which needs to beaccounted for in order to obtain accurate ages. In particular, the uptake of trace elements such as uranium indental tissues needs to be considered for dose rate determination when dated using electron spin resonance(ESR). Characterising the mineralogy and structural integrity of samples prior to dating may thus provideimportant information related to their state of preservation, especially in the case of teeth whose U content cansignificantly affect the dose rate.In this study, we dated five teeth of small-sized bovids using combined ESR/U-series dating. They werecollected at the Middle Stone Age site of Lovedale, located in the central interior of South Africa. Micromor-phology provided sedimentary context to the samples, which were recovered from a layer of gravel rich in faunalremains. Using cathodoluminescence, laser-induced fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy andRaman micro-spectroscopy we assessed the degree of preservation of the enamel. Results reveal that carbonatehydroxyapatite underwent post-depositional alteration, based on its molecular structure and elemental compo-sition. Although the teeth all originate from the same layer and were sampled in the same 1-m square and at asimilar elevation, U-content in the enamel differs highly from one tooth to the other, with values ranging from1.7 to 29.6 ppm. These values are correlated with equivalent doses (De) from 228 to 923 Gy and are consistentwith variations in crystallinity determined with vibrational spectroscopy. We also investigated the possiblesaturation of the ESR signal, by repeating measurements with microwave power values from 1 to 20 mW.Despite such diversity in U-content, the ages calculated assuming an early uptake of U all fall within the samerange, from 63 ± 8 ka to 68 ± 15 ka and may only represent a minimum estimate.

Olive (Olea europaea) trees in the arid Negev Desert of southern Israel are important relicts on the ancient agricultural landscape. Among them are a cluster of several trees located in Wadi Zetan, at the heart of the Shivta horticulture terroir, with its abundant agricultural runoff remains. Two isolated olive bearing trees stand in a sheltered beneath cliff in the upper part of the wadi. Radiocarbon dating of an internal part of the trunk of one of these living trees estimates its minimum age as the mid-16th early 17th century CE (∼500 years old). Archaeological excavations conducted beneath the trees and the adjacent dam revealed OSL samples of loess accumulation dated to the Early Islamic period (8th-9th centuries CE). The stratigraphy and chronology of this sediment deposition indicate its rapid and short accumulation. Palynological analysis of the same OSL dated samples indicates that grapevines and olive trees were cultivated in the immediate vicinity of the site during the Early Islamic period. The lack of pollen of cultivated taxa from the latter part of the sequence points to cessation of the agricultural activity, probably a few hundred years later. Leaf samples for DNA profiling of the trees in comparison to other local old olive trees around the country, indicate that the trees in Wadi Zetan are genetically close to a known cultivar common among ancient olive trees. The trees have survived for at least a few hundred years, in an arid area, due to the local conditions and enhanced drainage from the man-made upper runoff system. These old olive trees bear a powerful and symbolic significance, indicating the endurance and sustainability of ancient desert runoff agriculture. Moreover, the survival of their relicts in Wadi Zetan suggests their potential as cultivars greater resilience to the harsh growing conditions of arid environments.

Various archaeological and historical evidence shows that the marginal area of the Negev desert of southern Israel enjoyed great agricultural prosperity in the Byzantine period (4th-7th centuries CE). Among the different types of agricultural installations are pigeon towers, which were built near the fields to produce fertilizer to enrich the nutrient-poor desert soils. Such extensive specialized agriculture practice was much less applied in the Negev in the successive Early Islamic period in the mid-7th century. Here we recovered in situ pigeon bones from five pigeon towers in the Negev, applied multiple characterization methods (FTIR, grinding curve, and C/N ratio) to estimate the preservation of bones, and achieved absolute dating for the abandonment of the towers. The obtained dates indicate rapid decline of agricultural activities in the second half of the 6th century CE and beginning of the 7th century. These findings, together with other evidence for Byzantine decline of agricultural hinterland and urban dysfunction of the settlements, suggest that the farming activities in the Negev declined in the Late Byzantine period (550-640 CE) and support the hypothesis that climatic-driven causes were the main trigger for the eventual cultural-societal decline of the Negev region.

From 1985-2014, the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon excavated a trench on the north side of Ashkelons central mound (Grid 38) exposing a Bronze and Iron Age sequence over an area of some 450 m2. By combining different radiocarbon sampling strategies used over the years of excavation, an absolute chrono-cultural scheme is constructed for the latter half of the 2nd millennium B.C.E. with a focus on the transition to the Iron Age. This chronology is then synchronized with several nearby sites.

The Byzantine funerary chapel decorated with the \u201cBirds Mosaic\u201d was discovered in 1894, during construction activities north of the city walls in Jerusalem, in the Musrara neighbourhood (Anon. 1894; Schick and Bliss 1894; Séjourné 1894; Murray 1895; Owsepian 1895; Guthe 1895; Bliss and Dickie 1898:253259). Its mosaic floor (Fig. 1), one of the best exemplars of Byzantine craftsmanship, decorated with a vine scroll springing from an amphora and populated with various birds, was accompanied by a memorial Armenian inscription (Stone 2002; CIIP I/2: No. 812).¹ A private house was built upon the findspot, as planned, and the ground-floor containing

The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) is a crucial lithic assemblage type in the archaeology of southwest Asia because it marks a dramatic shift in hominin populations accompanied by technological changes in material culture. This phase is conventionally divided into two chronocultural phases based on the Boker Tachtit site, central Negev, Israel. While lithic technologies at Boker Tachtit are well defined, showing continuity from one phase to another, the absolute chronology is poorly resolved because the radiocarbon method used had a large uncertainty. Nevertheless, Boker Tachtit is considered to be the origin of the succeeding Early Upper Paleolithic Ahmarian tradition that dates in the Negev to ∼42,000 y ago (42 ka). Here, we provide 14C and optically stimulated luminescence dates obtained from a recent excavation of Boker Tachtit. The new dates show that the early phase at Boker Tachtit, the Emirian, dates to 50 through 49 ka, while the late phase dates to 47.3 ka and ends by 44.3 ka. These results show that the IUP started in the Levant during the final stages of the Late Middle Paleolithic some 50,000 y ago. The later IUP phase in the Negev chronologically overlaps with the Early Upper Paleolithic Ahmarian of the Mediterranean woodland region between 47 and 44 ka. We conclude that Boker Tachtit is the earliest manifestation of the IUP in Eurasia. The study shows that distinguishing the chronology of the IUP from the Late Middle Paleolithic, as well as from the Early Upper Paleolithic, is much more complex than previously thought.

The following paper presents the results of radiocarbon (14C) dating of Middle Bronze Age (MB) contexts in Jerusalem. The dates, sampled with microarchaeology methods from three different locations along the eastern slopes of the citys ancient core, reveal that Jerusalem was initially settled in the early phases of the period, with public architecture first appearing in the beginning of the 19th century BC and continued to develop until the 17th century BC. At that time, a curious gap in settlement is noted until the 16th century BC, when the site is resettled. The construction of this phase continued into the early 15th century BC. The dates presented are discussed in both the site-level, as well as their far-reaching implications regarding MB regional chronology. It is suggested here that the high chronology, dating the Middle Bronze Age between 2000 and 1600 BC is difficult to reconcile with dates from many sites. In contrast, a more localized chronology should be adopted, with the Middle Bronze Age continuing into the early 15th century BC in certain parts of the southern Levant, such as the region of Jerusalem.

Abandonment sequences at Middle Bronze Age Erimi have been examined using integrated stratigraphic analysis and high-resolution microarchaeological techniques, with the aim of investigating the environmental processes and socio-cultural practices that impacted on the abandonment of buildings and settlement areas. The data revealed the occurrence of two distinct processes: gradual structural degradation and rapid destruction by a fire event. Destruction sequences within burnt buildings were examined to identify the temperatures to which sediments had been exposed and to reconstruct the conflagration event. Resulting data are discussed in the context of Middle Bronze Age Cyprus, in a preliminary consideration of the ideological implications of the identified abandonment practices.

We present here the earliest evidence for large-scale table olive production from the mid-7^th millennium BP inundated site of Hishuley Carmel on the northern Mediterranean coast of Israel. Olive pit size and fragmentation patterns, pollen as well as the architecture of installations associated with pits from this site, were compared to finds from the nearby and slightly earlier submerged Kfar Samir site. Results indicate that at Kfar Samir olive oil was extracted, while at Hishuley Carmel the data showed that large quantities of table olives, the oldest reported to date, were prepared. This process was most probably facilitated by the sites proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, which served as a source of both sea water and salt required for debittering/pickling/salting the fruit, as experimentally demonstrated in this study. Comparison of pit morphometry from modern cultivars, wild-growing trees and the archaeological sites, intimates that in pit morphology the ancient pits resemble wild olives, but we cannot totally exclude the possibility that they derive from early cultivated trees. Our findings demonstrate that in this region, olive oil production may have predated table olive preparation, with each development serving as a milestone in the early exploitation of the olive.

The Near East and the Caucasus are commonly regarded as the original domestication centres of Vitis vinifera (grapevine), and the region continues to be home to a high diversity of wild and cultivated grapevines, particularly within Georgia. The earliest chemical evidence for wine making was recorded in Georgian Neolithic sites (60005800 bc ) and grape pips, possibly of the domesticated morphotype, have been reported from several sites of about the same period. We performed geometric morphometric and palaeogenomic investigations of grape pip samples in order to identify the appearance of domesticated grapevine and explore the changes in cultivated diversity in relation to modern varieties. We systematically investigated charred and uncharred grape pip samples from Georgian archaeological sites. Their chronology was thoroughly assessed by direct radiocarbon dating. More than 500 grape pips from 14 sites from the Middle Bronze Age to modern times were selected for geometric morphometric studies. The shapes of the ancient pips were compared to hundreds of modern wild individuals and cultivated varieties. Degraded DNA was isolated from three pips from two sites, converted to Illumina libraries, sequenced at approximately 10,000 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites, and compared to a large public database of grapevine diversity. The most ancient pip dates from the Middle Bronze Age (19001500 cal bc ) and the domesticated morphotype is identified from ca. 1000 bc onwards. A great diversity of domesticated shapes was regularly seen in the samples. Most are close to modern cultivars from the Caucasian, southwest Asian and Balkan areas, which suggests that the modern local vine diversity is deeply rooted in early viticulture. DNA was successfully recovered from historic pips and genome-wide analyses found close parental relationships to modern Georgian cultivars.

The discovery of an Early Upper Palaeolithic rockshelter, Nahal Rahaf 2, in the southern Judean Desert revives the debate about whether the Levantine Aurignacian extended into the arid regions of the Southern Levant.

The Tel Yarmuth acropolis Sounding 2 was excavated during six seasons, exposing a series of levels and contexts from which material was recovered for radiocarbon dating.A total of ten samples were selected for final radiocarbon dating using either the decay counting method or the accelerator mass spectrometry method. Under the supervision of Dr Israel Carmi four samples were measured by decay counting (RT labelled samples in Tables 23.123.2) in 1998 and six were measured by Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) with the D-REAMS accelerator (RTD labelled samples in Tables 23.1 and 23.3) in 2013.

The most recent workshop on mortar dating (25-27 Oct. 2018, Bordeaux, Montaigne University, France), which closely followed the publication of an extensive round robin-exercise involving several laboratories, was an opportunity to review the history and challenges of mortar dating methods and procedures currently in use. This review stems from the keynote lectures presented at the meeting, and wishes to summarize recent results, present trends, and future challenges. Three major areas are brought into focus (1) radiocarbon (C-14) dating of complex mortars: can we assess the chances of successful dating?, (2) C-14 dating of archaeological carbonate materials: difficulties, new directions and applications, and (3) single grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of mortars in architectural archaeology: the current state of the art. This paper reflects the material presented by the authors and discussed at the workshop.

Far'ah II is an open-air site in the north western Negev desert (Israel). Previous excavations in the 1970's revealed a rich, in situ Middle Paleolithic (MP) assemblage composed of flint and limestone artifacts, animal bones and charcoal. Renewed excavation at the site were undertaken in 2017, to re-date it and provide a more accurate constrain to the sites' age, as well as collect samples for paleoclimatic proxies. Our new Optically Stimulated Luminescence and C-14 ages together with the stable oxygen isotope signature of the loess sediments, constrain the age of the upper archaeological horizon to

Pottery kilns are usually recognizable in the archaeological record based on their prominent and characteristic architectural features, evidence of exposure to high temperatures and associated waste products. Here we describe how we identified a kiln that has no readily recognizable architectural features, but does have an upper chamber full of broken pottery, and a lower chamber full of ash. The typology of the pottery in the upper chamber and radiocarbon dating show that the kiln was constructed after around 600 CE and was used until the early 7th century. The confining structures around these two chambers are sediments, some of which were deliberately brought to the site. A detailed study of the section through the kiln using on-site and off-site microarchaeological techniques revealed much about the firing conditions. The ash is composed almost entirely of phytoliths with a small amount of calcite. Surprisingly the diversity of phytolith morphotypes identified was low, and many of the phytoliths are unusually large multicells. The phytolith analysis shows that the fuel was mainly the stalks/chaff of domesticated grasses, most probably wheat, and probably not animal dung. Many of the phytolith morphologies are distorted and charred due to exposure to high temperatures, and show birefringence. Infrared spectra show that the phytoliths have partially recrystallized into the high temperature silicate mineral cristobalite. Slags formed close to the inner surfaces of the confining sediments presumably from melted phytoliths, and some of the clay-rich sediment close to these surfaces is clearly heat altered. These observations show that the temperatures in the firing chamber ranged from around 700 to 900 °C. The calcite in this ash is extremely disordered at the atomic level, based on the grinding curve analysis. A partial reconstruction of the kiln structure shows that the pottery chamber is above the firing chamber, and there is no constructed partition that separates the two chambers. The identification and characterization of this unusual kiln depended significantly on the use of the microarchaeological approach.

A closely controlled radiocarbon sequence for the EB I-III, compiled over six seasons of excavations at Tel Bet Yerah, Israel, provides new information on the EB I-II and II-III transitions. These dates support the possibility of a decades-long overlap between some late EB I and early EB II sites and indicate a mid- to late 29th-century cal BC date for the introduction of Khirbet Kerak Ware in the southern Levant. South Levantine EB II is shown to co-extend neatly with the First Dynasty of Egypt.

The Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Site at Nesher-Ramla Quarry (NRQN), Israel. Scientific editor: Reuven Yeshurun. Haifa: The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, 2020

Early Ahmarian, Levantine Aurignacian and Post-Levantine Aurignacian archeological assemblages show that the karstic Manot Cave, located 5 km east of the Mediterranean coast in the Western Galilee region of Israel, was intensively occupied during the Early Upper Paleolithic. The coexistence of these rich archaeological layers with speleothems in Manot Cave provides a window of opportunity for determining the relationships between climatic conditions and the nature of human activity and mobility patterns in the Western Galilee region during the Early Upper Paleolithic period. This study, based on four stalagmites that grew almost continuously from ∼75 to 26.5 ka, covers most of the last glacial, and overlaps with the human occupation of the cave. The speleothems oxygen (δ¹⁸O) and carbon (δ¹³C) isotopic records indicate that climate and environmental conditions fluctuated during the last glacial, some of which correspond with DansgaardOeschger (D-O) cycles 12, 10, 7 and Heinrich (H) events VI and V. Consistent with independent evidence from botanic and faunal remains, these climatic shifts brought about significant environmental changes in the region, ranging from dominant thick Mediterranean forest to more open landscape. A good correlation with less negative δ¹³C values is most pronounced during the Early Ahmarian time period, but there was also a change to less negative δ¹³C values during the Levantine Aurignacian and Post-Levantine Aurignacian industries in the Levant. These positive δ¹³C shifts suggest that environmental transformation towards a more open grassy landscape dominated by C4 vegetation might have played an important role in the development of these cultural entities (mainly the Early Ahmarian) in Manot Cave region.

The Central Balkans, in present-day Serbia, was a potentially dynamic zone during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic (MP-UP), as it is situated between hypothesized dispersal routes of modern humans and refuges of late Neanderthals. However, the population history of the region remains poorly understood because there are lithe chronometric data from Late Pleistocene sites in Serbia. Here, we review the existing paleoanthropological record for the MP-UP in the Central Balkans and surrounding areas. Then, we add to it by reporting radiocarbon dates from two Serbian cave sites, Pegturina and Hadzi Prodanova, which contain Middle Paleolithic and Gravettian assemblages. The results provide reliable human occurrence-dates older than 39 ka calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal BP) and between 34 and 28 ka cal BP. As shallow palimpsest deposits with low artifact yields, the sites are not ideal contexts for establishing chrono-cultural stratigraphy. However, it is proposed that the occupants before 39 ka cal BP were Neanderthals producing MP artifacts, while those after 34 ka cal BP were modern humans with Gravettian traditions.

The historic event of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) was recently identified in dozens of natural and geological climate proxies of the northern hemisphere. Although this climatic downturn was proposed as a major cause for pandemic and extensive societal upheavals in the sixth-seventh centuries CE, archaeological evidence for the magnitude of societal response to this event is sparse. This study uses ancient trash mounds as a type of proxy for identifying societal crisis in the urban domain, and employs multidisciplinary investigations to establish the terminal date of organized trash collection and high-level municipal functioning on a city-wide scale. Survey, excavation, sediment analysis, and geographic information system assessment of mound volume were conducted on a series of mounds surrounding the Byzantine urban settlement of Elusa in the Negev Desert. These reveal the massive collection and dumping of domestic and construction waste over time on the city edges. Carbon dating of charred seeds and charcoal fragments combined with ceramic analysis establish the end date of orchestrated trash removal near the mid-sixth century, coinciding closely with the beginning of the LALIA event and outbreak of the Justinian Plague in the year 541. This evidence for societal decline during the sixth century ties with other arguments for urban dysfunction across the Byzantine Levant at this time. We demonstrate the utility of trash mounds as sensitive proxies of social response and unravel the time-space dynamics of urban collapse, suggesting diminished resilience to rapid climate change in the frontier Negev region of the empire.

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.

The site of el-Wad Cave, and especially the adjacent terrace, is one of the deepest and most complex Natufian sites in the Mediterranean Levant. The northeast terrace of el-Wad has been excavated by us since 1994, revealing a rich Late Natufian layer and thick, multi-phased Early Natufian deposits. Here we focus on the 20072012 excavation seasons at el-Wad Terrace (EWT) and provide a detailed, updated account of the stratigraphy, sedimentology and dating of the site, the abundant Early Natufian architectural features and lithics, the ground stone tools assemblage and a primary burial of an adult woman. The Late Natufian appears as a relatively thin layer devoid of architectural features but containing a concentration of graves. Below it are thick Early Natufian sediments. Their upper part displays a few stone features. Their lower attained part represents the main \u201carchitectural stage\u201d of the site. Architectural remains consist of a terrace wall and smaller walls, as well as stony floors, some of which abut the walls and likely constitute structure remains. Other features include large heaps of stones, lithics and bones, smaller stone installations (typically circles or pits), and distinct concentrations of finds or sediment patches.The sediments ofEWT are the result of complex depositional and post depositional processes. Various geoarchaeological data, including magnetic susceptibility and micromorphological analyses of the sediments indicate intensive in-situ anthropogenic activity such as fire use and/or trampling, especially in the architectural stage.A large Early Natufian lithic sample from the two phases of the main architectural stage is described here in relation to its architectural context and through time. The ratios of tools, the distribution of the main tool categories, the dominance of lunates and Helwan retouch amongst the microliths, and the wealth of burins of various types resemble those of other Early Natufian assemblages. No temporal trends are apparent but a peak in flint densities was identified, coinciding with the transition between the two architectural phases. Additionally, the excavation has yielded one of the largest Natufian ground stone tool assemblages, encompassing nearly a thousand ground stone tools and tool fragments. The assemblage shows no noticeable differences between the Early and Late Natufian. These assemblages highlight the dominance of pestles and the related preference for compact basalt used to produce these items. Pestle discard patterns reflect the clear removal of the pestle active ends from the site in both periods.Our excavation results bring to light the existence of a massive and repeatedly (perhaps continuously) occupied living compound at the site during the Early Natufian. The good preservation of numerous architectural levels enabled us to study the artifactual assemblages in great detail, both temporally and spatially. Studies of different materials all show that items that went out of use were discarded within the Natufian living compound and underwent complex taphonomic processes by human action (primarily fire use and trampling) and geogenic processes. While changes in site use (especially building activities vs. interments) are apparent throughout the sequence, changes in material culture are less obvious. Overall, the deep Natufian sequence presented here, with the repeated structure construction, numerous features, huge densities of finds and ample indications for intensive, recurring habitations mark EWT as a significant Natufian hamlet, one of the few major hamlets in the Mediterranean zone during the Early Natufian.

Pits and silos are storage features that often occur at prehistoric archaeological sites. Their shape, size and content may show a large degree of variability, and their function may be related to a number of behaviors that can provide valuable insight into the occupational history of a site. Such structures are usually investigated through the study of their macroscopic content, which may include stone, ceramic and metal artifacts, charred remains, and plant material in the case of good preservation conditions. However, pits and silos are generally characterized by complex life cycles that encompass also the partial or total removal of fill deposits, and the reuse of earlier structures, which hinder a proper interpretation of their function. This requires the application of a microarchaeological approach to the study of the sedimentary matrix of fill deposits, especially when macroscopic remains are absent or not uniquely related to a specific human activity. Here we present the study of a series of pits from the Late Bronze Age levels at Ashkelon, Israel, which were characterized by multiple fills layers. Using a combination of infrared spectrometry, phytolith analysis, and micromorphology of sediments, we show that one of the pits was used as grain silo and maintained through time. Radiocarbon dating of charred wheat seeds recovered from the primary depositional context thus identified caused a fundamental re-evaluation of the stratigraphy of the excavation area and a better understanding of its chronology.

Flint is one of the most common rock types used for producing stone tools. During flint knapping huge amounts of microscopic sized flint particles are produced. Thus the presence of high concentrations of microflint in a sedimentary layer, could be a good indication that flint was knapped at that location. We have developed and tested a method for quantification of microflint concentrations in sediments. The method involves concentrating the microflints in specific density fractions, and then counting a representative proportion of the flint fragments using a polarized light microscope. We show that the method successfully identifies a knapping layer in an Initial Upper Palaeolithic level at the site of Boker Tachtit, Israel. This level also contains macroscopic flint debitage, including refitted artifacts. Microflint quantification can aid in identifying knapping areas and be useful for better understanding site formation processes. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This study proposes a re-definition of the absolute chronology for the 4th and 3rd millennium in the Southern Caucasus, with particular regard to the Kura-Araxes culture. An overview of the history of research demonstrates how the fragmentation of archaeological practice has long challenged the completion of a comprehensive chronological study based on both absolute and relative archaeological data. In this work, the two datasets were combined following the principles of Bayesian modelling. Firstly, existing radiocarbon dates were collected and characterised in relation to chrono-cultural phases and associated material assemblages. Secondly, all dates were scrutinised based on archaeological and analytical reliability criteria. Thirdly, the remaining dates were compiled within Bayesian models representative of the chrono-cultural scenario. Results of the modelling process led to the distinction of differing chronological trends within geographically distinct sub-regions of the Southern-Caucasus, as represented by the Kura (North) and Araxes (South) river valleys, which are naturally demarcated by the Lesser Caucasus Range.

Absolute dating of mortars is crucial when trying to pin down construction phases of archaeological sites and historic stone buildings to a certain point in time or to confirm, but possibly also challenge, existing chronologies. To evaluate various sample preparation methods for radiocarbon (C-14) dating of mortars as well as to compare different dating methods, i.e. C-14 and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), a mortar dating intercomparison study (MODIS) was set up, exploring existing limits and needs for further research. Four mortar samples were selected and distributed among the participating laboratories: one of which was expected not to present any problem related to the sample preparation methodologies for anthropogenic lime extraction, whereas all others addressed specific known sample preparation issues. Data obtained from the various mortar dating approaches are evaluated relative to the historical framework of the mortar samples and any deviation observed is contextualized to the composition and specific mineralogy of the sampled material.

The timing of archeological industries in the Levant is central for understanding the spread of modern humans with Upper Paleolithic traditions. We report a high-resolution radiocarbon chronology for Early Upper Paleolithic industries (Early Ahmarian and Levantine Aurignacian) from the newly excavated site of Manot Cave, Israel. The dates confirm that the Early Ahmarian industry was present by 46,000 calibrated years before the present (cal BP), and the Levantine Aurignacian occurred at least between 38,000 and 34,000 cal BP. This timing is consistent with proposed migrations or technological diffusions between the Near East and Europe. Specifically, the Ahmarian could have led to the development of the Protoaurignacian in Europe, and the Aurignacian in Europe could have spread back to the Near East as the Levantine Aurignacian.

Insoluble bone collagen is one of the most common materials used for high-resolution radiocarbon (14C) dating. Unfortunately, in some bones, poor preservation of the insoluble collagen excludes the possibility of dating. During the burial of the bone the collagen sometimes degrades into peptides. These peptides are soluble in the acid used to dissolve the bone mineral. It is known that under appropriate conditions, collagen has the ability to self-assemble. Here we exploit this capability and present a method for reassembling the soluble collagen peptides in archaeological bones and dating them. We treated the acid fraction generated during the demineralization of the bone by desalting and neutralizing the solution by dialysis. During the dialysis, the soluble collagen peptides reassemble and precipitate in the dialysis bag. We used FTIR spectroscopy to determine that the precipitated material is indeed collagen. The 14C dates obtained from the reassembled collagen were compared to the dates of "standard" insoluble collagen, extracted in parallel from the same bone. Although there are some divergences of the dates, 3 out of 10 samples could have been dated only by the reassembled collagen. This shows that collagen peptides reassembly can be a valuable tool for dating bones with little or no insoluble collagen.

Archaeological surveys of the Negev Highlands show that the settlement history of this arid environment oscillated widely over time. This observation is almost entirely based on scant sherd assemblages from surveys, with only a few chronometric ages from one or two archaeological features at a given site. The reasons for the scarcity of chronometric ages include insufficient attention to radiocarbon dating in past research, low amounts of datable organic material for radiocarbon dating and issues related to low rate of site accumulation, and incomplete preservation of activity remains. In order to overcome these problems, we present here the results of a detailed chronometric radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating study exploring the development of Negev archaeological sites in the third millennium BCE. The study included micromorphological analyses to aid identification of sedimentological and post-depositional processes at the studied sites. At Nahal Boqer 66, one of many small Negev third millennium BCE sites, seven radiocarbon ages were determined from archaeological contexts that suggest repeated discontinuous activity throughout the Early Bronze (EB) and early part of the Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA) (c. 33002350 BCE). At Ein Ziq one of a few large sites in the region seven samples were dated; they show a very short period of activity in the beginning of the IBA (c. 24502200 BCE). OSL age determinations at this site provided evidence for the rapidity of site burial by sediment accumulation. Also, OSL ages from secure depositional contexts verified via micromorphology are in agreement with those obtained by radiocarbon dating. Taken together, the results provide new systematic evidence for the timing of EBIBA activity in the arid Negev Highlands.

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) is the first period in human cultural evolution that is characterized by the extensive production of lime plaster for architectural, decorative and ritual purposes. The production of large quantities of lime plaster requires the operation of a lime kiln, a structure where limestone cobbles are heated to high temperatures (> 600 degrees C) to obtain quicklime, which is then mixed with water to form a moldable lime putty. However, little is known about lime kilns and plaster production processes during the PPNB. This may be because the technology used at that time was simple and left few traces that are unique to lime plaster production. These include combustion features rich in lime plaster and heat-altered sediments, which are difficult to identify through only a visual inspection of the archaeological context. Here we report the study of a small sinkhole at the Nesher-Ramla quarry in Israel, which yielded Early PPNB artifacts. Using infrared spectrometry and micromorphology of sediments, we identified in-situ deposits of heat-altered sediments rich in fragments of burnt limestone, lime plaster, and wood ash in the form of charcoal, phytoliths and siliceous aggregates, which are features consistent with the operation of a lime kiln. Charred botanical remains were characterized and used for radiocarbon dating, which determined the age of the site at 10,400 cal BP. We therefore conclude, based on the examination of the microscopic archaeological record, that this sinkhole was used as a lime kiln during the Early PPNB.

The rich remains from the Early Bronze II at Tel Arad have been interpreted as representing several centuries of activity. According to conventional wisdom, after the destruction of Stratum III by fire, Stratum II endured for about 150 years. However, high precision dates obtained for Stratum II as well as a subsequent destruction event suggest that rapid reconstruction took place in the span of one or two decades. The results point to a short duration of the EB II occupation in Arad and these are in agreement with the south Levantine radiocarbon chronology for the Early Bronze Age. They suggest that the end of the EB II occupation was synchronous with the 1st Egyptian Dynasty ruler Qaʿa.

New discoveries of legumes in the lower Galilee at the prehistoric site of Ahihud in Israel shed light on early farming systems in the southern Levant. Radiocarbon dating of twelve legumes from pits and floors indicate that the farming of legumes was practiced in southern Levant as early as 10.240-10.200 (1 sigma) ago. The legumes were collected from pits and other domestic contexts dated to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. The legumes identified include Vicia faba L. (faba bean), V. ervilia (bitter vetch), V. narbonensis (narbon vetch), Lens sp. (lentil), Pisum sp. (pea), Lathyrus inconspicuus (inconspicuous pea) and L. hirosolymitanus (jerusalem vetchling). Comparison with coeval sites in the region show how the presence of peas, narbon vetches, inconspicuous peas, jerusalem vetchlings and bitter vetches together with faba bean and lentils is unique to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, and might indicate specific patterns in farming or storing at the onset of agriculture.

In contrast to the abundant fossil record of arctic ground squirrels, Urocitellus parryii, from eastern Beringia, only a limited number of fossils is known from its western part. In 1946, unnamed GULAG prisoners discovered a nest with three mummified carcasses of arctic ground squirrels in the permafrost sediments of the El'ga river, Yakutia, Russia, that were later attributed to a new species, Citellus (Urocitellus) glacialis Vinogr. To verify this assignment and to explore phylogenetic relationships between ancient and present-day arctic ground squirrels, we performed 14 C dating and ancient DNA analyses of one of the El'ga mummies and four contemporaneous fossils from Duvanny Yar, northeastern Yakutia. Phylogenetic reconstructions, based on complete cytochrome b gene sequences of five Late Pleistocene arctic ground squirrels and those of modern U. parryii from 21 locations across western Beringia, provided no support for earlier proposals that ancient arctic ground squirrels from Siberia constitute a distinct species. In fact, we observed genetic continuity of the glacialis mitochondrial DNA lineage in modern U. parryii of the Kamchatka peninsula. When viewed in a broader geographic perspective, our findings provide new insights into the genetic history of U. parryii in Late Pleistocene Beringia.

Recently excavated Ein Qashish South (EQS), a 23000 years old large Early Epipaleolithic base camp in the Jezreel Valley, Israel yielded three engraved limestone palettes. Two of these are engraved on both sides and bear red stains. The engraved motifs include ladders, cross-hatching, chevrons as well as the image of a bird - the first figurative representation found so far in context of Early Epipaleolithic in the Southern Levant. Microscopic analysis indicate that one of the motifs, namely "the ladder" is accumulative in nature and can be interpreted as a notation system, similarly to previously described patterns of the same type found in contexts of Upper Paleolithic in Western Europe as well as in Late Epipaleolithic Natufian - culture associated with transition to agriculture in the Levant.

New radiocarbon dates are reported for Late Middle Paleolithic (MP) layers of Ciemna and Oblazowa Caves in Southern Poland. The sites present methodological challenges for radiocarbon dating related to post-depositional mixing, materials preservation, and radiocarbon measurements near the detection limit. We describe strategies to address these issues, which allowed for estimation of the timing of lithostratigraphic layers. At Ciemna, bones associated with LateMP artifacts are older than 50 ka. At Oblazowa, bones associated with LateMP artifacts produced dates 50-45 ka cal BP and a possible Szeletian phase occurred sometime 45-39 ka cal BP. These new dates add to the regional chronology and strengthen the case that a number of distinct archaeological industries appeared in Southern Poland and Moravia during Marine Isotope Stage 3. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The understanding of crop domestication is dependent on tracking the original geographical distribution of wild relatives. The faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is economically important in many countries around the world; nevertheless, its origin has been debated because its ancestor could not be securely identified. Recent investigations in the site of el-Wad (Mount Carmel, Israel), provide the first and, so far, only remains of the lost ancestor of faba bean. X-ray CT scan analysis of the faba beans provides the first set of measurements of the biometry of this species before its domestication. The presence of wild specimens in Mount Carmel, 14,000 years ago, supports that the wild variety grew nearby in the Lower Galilee where the first domestication was documented for Neolithic farmers 10,200 years ago.

For aggregate-free, calcite-containing lime binders, we correlate long-range crystallinity parameters from X-ray diffraction measurements (lattice constants, crystalline domain sizes, and microstrain fluctuation values) with short-range structural parameters from extended X-ray absorption fine structure data (coordination environments, attenuation factors, and fit stabilities). In doing so, we reveal a correlation between unit cell contraction and a more ideal local calcite structure. Using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy, we rule out the possibility of contributions from amorphous calcium carbonate and show that the structural disorder is likely related to localized regions of incomplete carbonation. Thus, by using data from this judicious combination of structural characterization tools, we demonstrate that short-range structural distortions occur in calcitic lime binders and that these distortions can be detected even in multiphase mixtures.

The Holocene sequence of the Kebara wetlands, a groundwater-surface water interaction zone ecosystem, was studied in a borehole (Core A), retrieved from the eastern trough of the Carmel coast of Israel. A multi-proxy approach was used for environmental reconstruction, and new ages were added for reassessment of the chronology. The fauna (mainly ostracods), flora, and palaeo-salinity estimates indicate marginal wetland that experienced shrinkage and enlargement, reflecting changing hydrological and climatic conditions. New luminescence ages of sediments and radiocarbon dating of terrestrial seeds in the upper part of the sequence provide a more reliable and accurate chronology. The lower part of the core, between about 14,000 and about 7000 BP, indicates mainly wetter conditions, while the upper part, dated to the last 7000 BP, suggests drier conditions in general, with a few wetter episodes. The almost total disappearance of the fauna in the core after about 6000 BP is in agreement with regional climate records that document increasing aridity in the Levant. A comparison of modern δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C (water and ostracod) values from the Timsah ponds, the present remnants of the wetland, with the values derived from ostracods in the drilling indicates that, like today, the past wetlands were fed mainly by the karstic carbonate-rich Yarkon-Taninnim mountain aquifer. This paper emphasizes the importance of understanding the sources of the water feeding the wetlands for the re-assessment of previous chronology that was based on total organic carbon (TOC) ¹⁴C dating.

The Natufian culture is of great importance as a starting point to investigate the dynamics of the transition to agriculture. Given its chronological position at the threshold of the Neolithic (ca. 12,000 years ago) and its geographic setting in the productive Jordan Valley, the site of Nahal Ein Gev II (NEG II) reveals aspects of the Late Natufian adaptations and its implications for the transition to agriculture. The size of the site, the thick archaeological deposits, invested architecture and multiple occupation sub-phases reveal a large, sedentary community at least on par with Early Natufian camps in the Mediterranean zone. Although the NEG II lithic tool kit completely lacks attributes typical of succeeding Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) assemblages, the artistic style is more closely related to the early PPNA world, despite clear roots in Early Natufian tradition. The site does not conform to current perceptions of the Late Natufians as a largely mobile population coping with reduced resource productivity caused by the Younger Dryas. Instead, the faunal and architectural data suggest that the sedentary populations of the Early Natufian did not revert back to a nomadic way of life in the Late Natufian in the Jordan Valley. NEG II encapsulates cultural characteristics typical of both Natufian and PPNA traditions and thus bridges the crossroads between Late Paleolithic foragers and Neolithic farmers.

Even though the faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is among the most ubiquitously cultivated crops, very little is known about its origins. Here, we report discoveries of charred faba beans from three adjacent Neolithic sites in the lower Galilee region, in the southern Levant, that offer new insights into the early history of this species. Biometric measurements, radiocarbon dating and stable carbon isotope analyses of the archaeological remains, supported by experiments on modern material, date the earliest farming of this crop to ∼10,200 cal BP. The large quantity of faba beans found in these adjacent sites indicates intensive production of faba beans in the region that can only have been achieved by planting non-dormant seeds. Selection of mutant-non-dormant stock suggests that the domestication of the crop occurred as early as the 11 th millennium cal BP. Plant domestication| Vicia faba L.| Pre-Pottery Neolithic B| radiocarbon dating| Δ13 C analysis.

Feasting events may serve a diverse set of social, political and/or economic functions. Acknowledgement of the important role they played in past societies is reflected in the plethora of publications reporting occurrences of feasting in the Levantine archaeological record. These range in time from the Epi-Paleolithic through the Iron Age and have been reported primarily from ritual contexts (e.g., Goring-Morris and Horwitz 2007; Lev-Tov and McGeough 2007; Zuckerman 2007; Twiss 2008; Ben-Shlomo et al. 2009; Munro and Grosman 2010; London 2011).

Nahal Sekher VI is a Natufian campsite located within the eastern edge of the northwestern Negev desert dunefield. The site was test excavated in the 1980s and entirely re-excavated in 2009. The new excavation area (165 m²) consisted of a distinct Natufian horizon. The paper presents the new excavation and discusses its results in respect to paleoenvironments, site formation processes, site function and chronology. Geoarchaeological analyses of depositional and post depositional processes and artifact characteristics, together with OSL ages and radiocarbon dates, suggests that the site was exposed for substantial time, and subjected to several deflation and sand accumulation events. In addition, sediments corresponding to short-lived standing-water bodies were identified near the site. Though organic remains were not preserved, hunting and related activities as well as plant processing took place at and around the site as suggested by the composition of the flint and stone tool assemblages. The mutual presence of Helwan lunates and backed lunates in the lithic assemblage is bewildering. It is uncertain if this represents repetitive visits to the site by Early and Late Natufians or a single Natufian occupation during which these two lunate types coexisted. The Natufian Site of Nahal Sekher VI: The 2009 Excavation Season. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286880158_The_Natufian_Site_of_....

The establishment of an absolute chronology for the Late Bronze and Iron Ages in the southern Levant would make it possible to use changes in material culture in order to study the impact of trade, dissemination of knowledge, and the impact of climate on historical processes. To achieve this, a detailed absolute chronology is needed for individual sites and on a regional scale with a resolution that can differentiate events within a century. To realize this challenging goal, only samples from well-established primary contexts ought to be studied. Such primary contexts (with \u201cdating assemblages\u201d) can be identified by combining macroscopic with microscopic observations. Chronological studies at the sites of Qubur el-Walaydah, Tel es-Safi, and in particular, Megiddo, demonstrate that high-resolution dating can be achieved, with very few outliers in the data sets. The major limitation on applying this approach is the fact that we are currently constrained to dating short-lived samples (charred seeds and olive pits) and collagen from bones. Thus, an immediate goal of radiocarbon research is to develop the ability to date other short-lived materials, such as organic material occluded in siliceous plant phytoliths, wood ash, and possibly organic residues preserved in pottery vessels.

The history of lake-level changes at the Dead Sea during the Holocene was determined mainly by radiocarbon dating of terrestrial organic debris. This article reviews the various studies that have been devoted over the past 2 decades to defining the Dead Sea levels during the Bronze and Iron Ages (~5.5 to 2.5 ka cal BP) and adds new data and interpretation. In particular, we focus on research efforts devoted to refining the chronology of the sedimentary sequence in the Zeelim Gully, a key site of paleoclimate investigation in the European Research Council project titled Reconstructing Ancient Israel. The Bronze and Iron Ages are characterized by significant changes in human culture, reflected in archaeological records in which sharp settlement oscillations over relatively short periods of time are evident. During the Early Bronze, Intermediate Bronze, Middle Bronze, and Late Bronze Ages, the Dead Sea saw significant level fluctuations, reaching in the Middle Bronze an elevation of ~370 m below mean sea level (bmsl), and declining in the Late Bronze to below 414 m bmsl. At the end of the Late Bronze Age and upon the transition to the Iron Age, the lake recovered slightly and rose to ~408 m bmsl. This recovery reflected the resumption of freshwater activity in the Judean Hills, which was likely accompanied by more favorable hydrological-environmental conditions that seem to have facilitated the wave of Iron Age settlement in the region.

Mediterranean landscapes have been characterized by the ongoing interaction between natural processes and anthropogenic activities over several thousands of years. However, separating the relative contributions of these two factors in shaping the landscape has proved to be difficult. With reference to three excavated probes located in the environs of the archaeological site of Tell es-Safi/Gath (central Israel), we outline a methodological approach that may aid in distinguishing between the impact of natural and anthropogenic agencies on the accumulation of sediment fills. We conclude that at Tell es-Safi/Gath, natural geomorphic processes were the major factors that shaped the landscape, but anthropogenic activity is expressed in a brief period of time as evidenced by a high sedimentation rate, combined with high δ13C values, a relatively high quantity of phytoliths, and a high concentration of charred particles. This anthropogenic signature is interpreted as resulting from the destruction of the site by Hazael, King of Aram Damascus (ca. late 9th century BCE). This research demonstrates how high-resolution multi-disciplinary sampling of probes for dating, C isotopic composition, phytolith characterization, pollen analysis and assessment of sedimentation rates, in combination with the study of human cultural history at an archaeological site, may facilitate the distinction between natural and anthropogenic causes of sedimentation.

Wood ash found at archaeological sites is the most direct evidence of the presence of combustion features. The preservation of wood ash within archaeological deposits is often poor due to diagenetic processes and therefore its identification requires the use of spectroscopic methods. FTIR spectrometry is able to detect the main calcite component of wood ash, unless this is mixed with other calcitic phases of geologic origin. Using FTIR spectrometry we identified non-biogenic aragonite in archaeological heat-altered sediments and lime plasters. The presence of aragonite in such conditions is unusual, as it is unlikely to crystallize at ambient temperatures and pressures or in absence of Mg. The experimental conditions which favor the nucleation of this aragonite phase were investigated with FTIR spectrometry, XRPD and SEM imaging of modern lime plaster and quicklime samples prepared in the laboratory using different calcium carbonate starting materials. We show that aragonite forms at ambient temperatures and pressures upon carbonation of calcium oxide and calcium hydroxide together with calcite and its nucleation and growth are influenced by environmental parameters, such as carbon dioxide partial pressure, relative humidity and temperature. This pyrogenic aragonite is a reliable indicator for calcareous materials exposed to temperatures above 600°C, and therefore it can be used to determine the presence of heat-altered sediments and ash in the absence of structured combustion features. This mineral phase could have applications in radiocarbon dating as well.

Several Early Bronze Age levels have been exposed at Tell e fi/Gath since 2004. This report describes the results of the excavation of the EB III domestic neighbourhood on the eastern part of the site, in Area E. Its layout was common to other Early Bronze urban centres, including small, multiroom houses with a courtyard, and in a few cases also a small storage room. Occupants had access to local and long distance trade and exotic goods, used various administrative recording methods, and sacrificed valuable animals. These results are discussed in conjunction with other Early Bronze finds from the site, both from the surface survey and from excavations in other areas. Based on these data, we discuss the role of Early Bronze Age Tell es-Sāfi/Gath from a regional perspective. The results of the excavation suggest that the site was an important EB III political and economic centre in the district.

The close association of metal ingots to the smelting operation and hence to the ore deposit makes them good candidates for provenance studies which in turn can be used for reconstructing paths of metal trade. A unique group of ingots from Hazor, Israel and two ingot groups retrieved during underwater explorations off the Carmel coast (Israel) were subjected to microstructure, chemical and lead isotope analysis. Ingots from Timna, Bir Nasib and Deir Alla, previously studied, were also subjected to bulk chemical and lead isotope analysis (LIA). The results enabled us to follow changes in the supply of copper to sites of this part of the Levant between two main copper producers: Cyprus and the Arabah (Timna and Faynan). The analyses showed that two of the ingot assemblages correspond to two different phases of Cypriot copper exportation in the second millennium BCE. The earlier phase, identified here for the first time, dated to the Middle Bronze Age II - Late Bronze Age I, consisted of trade in black copper in the form of relatively small plano-convex ingots, as suggested by the evidence from Hazor. The later phase, dated to the Late Bronze Age II, during which Cypriot copper was traded in the form of large oxhide-shaped ingots, is well-known and is evidenced by oxhide ingots recovered off the Carmel coast. A third assemblage from Neve Yam, off the same coast, consisting of 54 ingots of similar shape and composition, is identified here as the hitherto unknown product of the large-scale operations at Faynan in the Iron Age.

Megiddo (Israel) is a key site for the study of the stratigraphy, chronology, and history of the Bronze and Iron ages in the Levant. The article presents a Bayesian chronological model for seven ceramic typology phases and 10 stratigraphic horizons at this site, covering the Late Bronze and much of the Iron Age. The model is based on 78 samples, which provided 190 determinations- the most thorough set of radiocarbon determinations known so far in a single site in the Levant. This set of data provides a reliable skeleton for the discussion of cultural processes and historical events in the region and beyond, including the periods of the Egyptian Empire in Canaan and the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

The relative chronology of the Aegean Iron Age is robust. It is based on minute stylistic changes in the Submycenaean, Protogeometric and Geometric styles and their sub-phases. Yet, the absolute chronology of the time-span between the final stages of Late Helladic IIIC in the late second millennium BCE and the archaic colonization of Italy and Sicily toward the end of the 8th century BCE lacks archaeological contexts that can be directly related to events carrying absolute dates mentioned in Egyptian/Near Eastern historical sources, or to well-dated Egyptian/Near Eastern rulers. The small number of radiocarbon dates available for this time span is not sufficient to establish an absolute chronological sequence. Here we present a new set of short-lived radiocarbon dates from the sites of Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth in Greece. We focus on the crucial transition from the Submycenaean to the Protogeometric periods. This transition is placed in the late 11th century BCE according to the Conventional Aegean Chronology and in the late 12th century BCE according to the High Aegean Chronology. Our results place it in the second half of the 11th century BCE. Copyright:

The microstructure and chemical composition of eight faience beads from an early Iron Age (12th century BCE) assemblage found in the ancient city port of Ashkelon (Israel) are determined by means of FTIR spectrometry, pXRF, microRaman and SEM-EDS analysis. The results are compared with published data of Egyptian and Near Eastern artifacts. Each sample exhibits a hue which is obtained by adding a specific colorant to the glazing mixture. A new gray chalcopyrite-manganese-based colorant was identified. Cementation glazing was most likely used in the manufacturing process of the specimens analyzed, except for the blue bead, which is an Egyptian blue frit. The results suggest that these objects represent a unique assemblage, quite different from contemporary Egyptian and Near Eastern materials, and provide new information regarding the Iron Age faience evidence in the southern Levant.

Remarkably, the largest archaeological game traps ever recorded in the Near East are found in arid landscapes, both on plains and in hilly terrains. This paper describes the construction methods used on steep slopes in the Negev Highland. Apparently, in some cases a massive rampart (rather than a free-standing wall) was built around the trap's head. The details reflect careful planning and heavy-duty work, including leveling and then using more than 100 t of stone for the rampart construction. New C-14 data date the Sayarim site to the Early Bronze Age (minimum age), and the Pitam site to pre-Late Bronze Age. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Excavations at Fazael 2 provide important insights into our understanding of the latest phases of the Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant. Radiometric determinations suggest that Stratum 2 at the site was occupied about 4000-3900 Cal BC, thus being among the latest Chalcolithic settlements in the Jordan Valley. This article describes the first two seasons of excavation and presents the architecture and stratigraphy accompanied by a description of the various assemblages found at the site. These assemblages are typically Chalcolithic in almost every aspect, but the flint artifacts attest to the beginning of the use of Canaanean blades at the end of the Chalcolithic period. This is contrary to the accepted opinion that ascribes their appearance to the beginning of the succeeding period (Early Bronze Age I). Thus the possibility of a very late, possibly even post-Ghassulian Chalcolithic, entity may not be ruled out.

Ancient cooking installations yield important evidence for cooking technology and human diet. A cooking installation termed the Philistine pebble hearth is associated with the arrival of the Philistines at the beginning of the Iron Age in the southern Levant (ca. early/mid-12th century B.C.). These installations have been studied using traditional methods, focusing on a description of form and style in relation to the pottery of the period. Here we present a study using an experimental approach. We prepared three sets of experimental pebble hearths to study the pebbles' thermal behavior in relation to their volume. The comparison of these results with observations of Iron Age I archaeological hearths reveals different patterns in pebble shattering and soot patterns, indicating that the archaeological hearths were used in a different manner than the experimental ones. The experiments highlight the utility of shattered pebbles as an indicator of the use of fire directly on Philistine hearths, even in the absence of ash and/or charcoal. They also demonstrate that these installations may have been used with open fire or live embers. The results are applicable to the study of hearths worldwide, with implications for appropriate excavation methods and basic identification of ancient pyrotechnologies.

A metallurgically-oriented excavation in Area A at Tell es-Safi/Gath yielded evidence for iron and bronze production dating to the early Iron Age IIA. Two pit-like features, which differed considerably from one another in colour, texture and content, were excavated. Evidence shows that each feature represents a different in situ activity related to iron production, inferred by the presence of hammerscales, slag prills and slag. An upturned crucible was found on top of one of the features. Analysis of the crucible slag showed that it was used for bronze metallurgy. Tuyères, both round and square in cross-section, were found in and around the two features. The presence of the two industries together presents a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between copper and iron working. This is especially important against the background of the scarcity of evidence for iron production in the Levant during the early phases of the Iron Age.

The Natufian (15-11.5 kyr BP) sites in the southern Levant are characterized by a lack of macrobotanical remains, including charcoal, and poor preservation of bone collagen. As a result, only about 30 reliable radiocarbon dates are available for building a chronology of the Natufian period. Here, we present new ¹⁴C data from the Natufian site of el-Wad terrace that fall in the range of the Early Natufian period. Using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, we investigated the environmental factors that influenced the preservation of material for ¹⁴C dating of the site, and we tested a modified pretreatment method for poorly preserved charcoal samples. The normal pretreatment protocol for ¹⁴C samples (W-ABA) removed more charcoal material than the modified method, which omits the first acid treatment (W-BA). This first acid step seems to enhance the extraction of humic substances during the subsequent base step. We found that the poor preservation of charcoal could be attributed to the presence of calcite, and therefore an alkaline pH of sediments. The most important factor determining bone collagen preservation may have been the hydrological setting, i.e. fluctuating water levels due to oversaturation of the dense sediments after rainfall.

The Natufian culture of the southern Levant played an integral role in the transition from simple hunter gatherers to food-producing societies of the Neolithic, but the major Natufian hamlets are currently poorly dated. Moreover, none of these complex, continuously occupied base camps have delivered an adequate number of dates to enable an in-depth delineation of intra-Natufian developments. This paper presents the first results of our dating program at el-Wad terrace, Mount Carmel (Israel), one of the major Natufian hamlets of the "core area" of this culture. Thirteen accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon age determinations were obtained from 46 bone (both ungulate and human) and charcoal samples, originating in Early Natufian living surfaces, dwellings, and burials. The obtained dates are largely in agreement with the cultural affiliation of the samples (13-15 kyr cal BP). Two series of dates from different locations show good agreement with the stratigraphy. The ages of the burials clearly point to their being younger than the living surfaces seemingly associated with them. Presently, no burials may be linked with the major architectural phase of Early Natufian el-Wad. Our ongoing dating program and the processing of additional samples from refined contexts will help shed important light on the initial phases of the Natufian culture, habitation duration, intensity, and continuity, as well as the relationships between site features and stratigraphy.

Over the years, 40 radiocarbon samples (charcoal and seeds) have been measured from the site of Tel Yarmuth. These samples originate from 3 major archaeological periods: Final Early Bronze Age (henceforth EB) I, EB II, and EB IIIB-C. The samples are further on divided into 8 separate archaeological phases. Bayesian modeling analyses were performed on the data. Separate models were run with seeds and charcoals to detect a possible old-wood effect. Outliers were detected, and finally models with gaps were run to account for the lack of samples from 2 archaeological layers. The results suggest that at Tel Yarmuth the end of the EB II occurred ~2950-2880 BC, and that the EB III ended at the latest ~2450 BC, perhaps before 2500 BC. Although these dates are somewhat earlier than traditionally assumed, they are in close accordance with the new analysis of other ¹⁴C dates for the Early Bronze Age in the southern Levant (Regev et al., these proceedings).

The Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition (MP-UP transition) is considered a major technological and cultural threshold, at the time when modern humans spread " out of Africa" , expanded from the Levant into Europe and possibly into central and northern Asia. The dating of this techno-cultural transition has proved to be extremely difficult because it occurred sometime before 40,000 radiocarbon years before present (¹⁴C years BP), which is close to the end of the effective dating range of radiocarbon. Other dating methods such as Thermoluminescence (TL) or Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) are not sufficiently precise to date the recorded archaeological MP-UP transition in the Levant. Here we report a consistent set of stratified radiocarbon ages on freshly excavated charcoal from Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel (Israel), that span the late Middle Paleolithic (MP) and Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) This study applied novel strategies to improve sample preparation techniques and data analysis to obtain high-resolution radiocarbon models. From this study it is proposed that the MP-UP transition for this site can be placed immediately after 45,200 ± 700 ¹⁴C years BP and before 43,600 ± 600 ¹⁴C years BP or from 49/48 to 47/46 radiocarbon calibrated years before present (years Cal BP).

The report announces the important radiocarbon-dated sequence recently obtained at Dzudzuana Cave in the southern Caucasus foothills. The first occupants here were modern humans, in c. 34.5-32.2 ka cal BP, and comparison with dated sequences on the northern slope of the Caucasus suggests that their arrival was rapid and widespread. The rich, well-dated assemblages of lithics, bone tools and a few art objects, coloured fibres, pollen and animal remains deposited at Dzudzuana through 20 millennia provide an invaluable point of reference for numerous other sites previously excavated in western Georgia. Detailed information has been placed in a supplementary excavation report online. The data support the significance of these excavations for a better understanding of modern human dispersals.

Ash is formed when plant calcium oxalate crystals (CaC₂O₄) decompose to form calcite (CaCO₃). We found that ash does retain the original calcium oxalate radiocarbon concentration, but in addition, there is another minor ¹⁴C source. This is shown by the presence of a consistent small shift in the pMC and δ¹³C levels when comparing cellulose and ash from modern and archaeological woods. Possible mechanisms for ¹⁴C exchange during combustion or due to diagenesis are considered in order to define parameters for identifying better-preserved wood ash samples.

Infrared spectrometry is a well-established method for the identification of minerals. Due to its simplicity and the short time required to obtain a result, it can be practiced on-site during excavation using portable infrared spectrometers. However, the identification of a mineral may not be sufficient. For example, a lime plaster floor and a crushed chalk surface have a similar appearance and are composed of the same mineral - calcite. Here we exploit differences in the infrared spectra of geogenic, biogenic and pyrogenic calcites for the identification of each calcite type. The infrared calcite spectrum has three characteristic peaks in the region of 400-4000 cm^-1, designated ν₂, ν₃, and ν₄. When a calcite sample is ground, as part of the measurement preparation procedure, some grinding dependent changes will be revealed in the infrared spectrum. With additional grinding, the ν₃ peak narrows and the heights of the ν₂ and ν₄ peaks decrease, when both are normalized to the ν₃ height. By plotting the normalized heights of the ν₂ versus the ν₄ of several grindings of the same sample, a characteristic trend line is formed for each calcite type. The trend lines of geogenic calcites have the shallowest slopes and highest ν₄ values when compared to pyrogenic calcites, which can be further divided to ash and plaster/mortar samples. This method can assist in distinguishing between the various calcites, and provide insights into homogeneity and preservation state of the calcitic materials in question.

This work presents an attempt to date brines and determine flow rates of hypersaline groundwater in the extremely dynamic system of the Dead Sea (DS), whose level has dropped in the last 30 yr by ~20 m. The processes that affect the carbon species and isotopes of the groundwater in the DS area were quantified in order to estimate their flow rate based on radiocarbon and tritium methods. In contrast to the conservative behavior of most ions in the groundwater, the carbon system parameters indicate additional processes. The dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) content of most saline groundwater is close to that of the DS, but its stable isotopic composition (δ¹³C_DIC) is much lower. The chemical composition and carbon isotope mass balance suggest that the low δ¹³C_DIC of the saline groundwater is a result of anaerobic organic matter oxidation by bacterial sulfate reduction (BSR) and methane oxidation. The radiocarbon content (¹⁴C_DIC) of the saline groundwater ranged from 86 pMC (greater than the ~82 pMC value of the DS in the 2000s) to as low as 14 pMC. The similarity between the ¹⁴C_DIC value and Na/Cl ratio of the groundwater at the DS shore and that of the 1980s DS brine indicates that the DS penetrated to the aquifer at that time. The low ¹⁴C_DIC values in some of the saline groundwater suggest the existence of ancient brine in the subaquifer.

A rapid phytolith extraction procedure is described, that allows phytolith concentrations and morphotype assemblages to be analyzed within hours. This procedure enables the results of these analyses to be used during an archaeological excavation, in order to better understand how plants were used. The new procedure was tested using a standard phytolith extract and two experimental phytolith-sediment blends and found to be both accurate and precise. The reliability of partial slide counting was evaluated and found to be as accurate and precise as existing phytolith quantification methods. The new extraction and counting procedures were applied to an archaeological site, Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel. The results demonstrate how information on phytolith concentrations in sediments that are available from one day to the next, can be used during an excavation to more effectively document the local features of interest and obtain better information.

Local sea level curves are obtained by using various methods, from land as well as from sea records and are based on different indicators. The most updated Holocene sea level curve for the coast of Israel, Eastern Mediterranean, from about 9500 cal years ago up to about 700 hundred years ago (the end of the Crusaders period) is based mainly on coastal archaeological remains. For the last Millennia an attempt was made to use bio-constructions along the present-day abrasion platforms as a tool for reconstructing past sea levels. Here we present radiocarbon dating of pre-bomb mollusks from the intertidal zone in order to determine the reservoir age of the bio-construction.

Yuchanyan Cave in Daoxian County, Hunan Province (People's Republic of China), yielded fragmentary remains of 2 or more ceramic vessels, in addition to large amounts of ash, a rich animal bone assemblage, cobble and flake artifacts, bone tools, and shell tools. The artifacts indicate that the cave was a Late Paleolithic foragers' camp. Here we report on the radiocarbon ages of the sediments based on analyses of charcoal and bone collagen. The best-preserved charcoal and bone samples were identified by prescreening in the field and laboratory. The dates range from around 21,000 to 13,800 cal BP. We show that the age of the ancient pottery ranges between 18,300 and 15,430 cal BP. Charcoal and bone collagen samples located above and below one of the fragments produced dates of around 18,000. These ceramic potsherds therefore provide some of the earliest evidence for pottery making in China.

Infrared spectroscopy provides information not only on the type of calcium carbonate polymorph, but also on the extent of atomic order. In calcite, three major infrared absorption peaks are identified: ν₃, ν₂, and ν₄. It was shown that the ratio between ν₂ and ν₄ bands reflects the order of the calcite crystal structure. In this paper we analyse this ratio in geologically formed calcites, archaeological plasters, modern plasters and experimentally prepared plasters. For the geological calcite, the values of the ν₂/ν₄ ratio are around 3, whereas for the experimentally prepared plasters, the values are around 6.5. The ν₂/ν₄ ratio for archaeological plasters varies from 3 to 6. This shows that a high ratio is indicative of disorder in the crystal, and implies that the calcite was formed from calcium oxide at high temperatures. It also implies that this disorder can be preserved for at least 14,000 years. The ν₂/ν₄ ratio of calcite from archaeological sites can thus be used to differentiate between anthropogenic calcite, such as in plaster, mortar and wood ash, from geogenic calcite, such as in limestone. The ratio may also be used to identify plaster or ash that still retains its original crystals and therefore carbon-14 content.

Chemical and structural similarities between poorly preserved charcoal and its contaminants, as well as low radiocarbon concentrations in old samples, complicate ¹⁴C age determinations. Here, we characterize 4 fossil charcoal samples from the late Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic strata of Kebara Cave, Israel, with respect to the structural and chemical changes that occur when they are subjected to the acid-base-acid (ABA) treatment. Differential thermal analysis and TEM show that acid treatment disrupts the structure, whereas alkali treatment results in the reformation of molecular aggregates. The major changes are ascribed to the formation of salt bridges at high pH and the disruption of the graphite-like crystallites at low pH. Weight losses during the treatments are consistently greater for older samples, implying that they are less well preserved. Based on the changes observed in vitro due to pH fluctuations, various methods for removing contamination, as well as a mechanism for preferential preservation of charcoal in nature, are proposed.

The traditional chronology of ancient Israel in the 11th-9th centuries BCE was constructed mainly by correlating archaeological phenomena with biblical narratives and with Bible-derived chronology. The chronology of Cyprus and Greece, and hence of points further west, are in turn based on that of the Levant. Thus, a newly proposed chronology, about 75-100 yr lower than the conventional one, bears crucial implications not only for biblical history and historiography but also for cultural processes around the Mediterranean. A comprehensive radiocarbon program was initiated to try and resolve this dilemma. It involves several hundreds of measurements from 21 sites in Israel. Creating the extensive databases necessary for the resolution of tight chronological problems typical of historical periods involves issues of quality control, statistical treatment, modeling, and robustness analysis. The results of the first phase of the dating program favor the new, lower chronology.

Recent excavations at Motza near Jerusalem revealed a large Neolithic site that was continuously inhabited from the Early PPNB until the Pottery Neolithic period. The well-dated Early PPNB occupation comprises various architectural remains, human burials , clay and stone figurines, and rich flint and obsidian assemblages. Layer VI is approximately 2 m thick and consists of three discrete occupational levels with distinct architectural remains. These include curvilinear and rectangular structures with lime plastered floors, courtyards, hearths, and long massive walls of up to 1 m width. This layer is dated by sixteen radiocarbon dates, all falling within the range of 8600-8200 cal. BС. The EPPNB flint assemblage at Motza demonstrates a combination of the continuation of the earlier PPN A traditions together with the introduction of new technological innovations. The formal tools are dominated by Helwan and Jericho points, with many of the former being made on bidirectional blades in the north Levantine mode. Sickle blades are also mainly fashioned on bidirectional blanks. Mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), the dominant species of the EPPNB faunal remains, indicates that hunting was still important. Gazelle bones were preferred for manufacturing bone tools, continuing PPN A Sultanian practices. Most of the human remains were primary burials, with no preference in the orientation of the bodies, although they were tightly flexed. Graves illustrate various funerary practices although primary inhumations on tightly flexed position are more common. All three primary graves of adults show evidence of later skull removal. Corpse treatment seems nonetheless quite particular at Motza as most of the graves were associated in different ways with remains of plaster, more frequently, as patches mixed in the filling of the grave. The archaeological evidence from Motza revises the hypothesis held by some that the PPNB in this region only started in the MPPNB.

The excavations at Kotias Klde, a karstic cave in the western region of the Republic of Georgia , uncovered a sequence of Neolithic layer topped by some Bronze Age remains (Al and A2), a complex Mesolithic layer (B), and the top of layer С , tentatively recognized as late Upper Palaeolithic. The preliminary report describes the contents of the Mesolithic deposit with its particular industry , characterized by triangles of various shapes and afaunal assemblage of hunted brown bear, dated to 12,400-10,380 cal. BP.

Recent excavations at Motza near Jerusalem revealed a large Neolithic site that was continuously inhabited from the Early PPNB until the Pottery Neolithic period. The well-dated Early PPNB occupation comprises various architectural remains, human burials, clay and stone fi gurines, and rich fl int and obsidian assemblages. Layer VI is approximately 2 m thick and consists of three discrete occupational levels with distinct architectural remains. These include curvilinear and rectangular structures with lime plastered fl oors, courtyards, hearths, and long massive walls of up to 1 m width. This layer is dated by sixteen radiocarbon dates, all falling within the range of 8600-8200 cal. BC. The EPPNB fl int assemblage at Motza demonstrates a combination of the continuation of the earlier PPNA traditions together with the introduction of new technological innovations. The formal tools are dominated by Helwan and Jericho points, with many of the former being made on bidirectional blades in the north Levantine mode. Sickle blades are also mainly fashioned on bidirectional blanks. Mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), the dominant species of the EPPNB faunal remains, indicates that hunting was still important. Gazelle bones were preferred for manufacturing bone tools, continuing PPNA Sultanian practices. Most of the human remains were primary burials, with no preference in the orientation of the bodies, although they were tightly fl exed. Graves illustrate various funerary practices although primary inhumations on tightly fl exed position are more common. All three primary graves of adults show evidence of later skull removal. Corpse treatment seems nonetheless quite particular at Motza as most of the graves were associated in different ways with remains of plaster, more frequently, as patches mixed in the filling of the grave. The archaeological evidence from Motza revises the hypothesis held by some that the PPNB in this region only started in the MPPNB. In addition, the advanced naviform technology and Helwan points present at Motza appear to be chronological markers of this period and together with radiocarbon dates confi rm the existence of this stage of the PPNB in the southern Levant.

The geographical evolution of Haifa Bay and Zevulun Plain, Israel, from the late Pleistocene to the Holocene, is based on detailed analysis of drilled cores. At the beginning of the Holocene the Bay area was still under terrestrial conditions. Only about 9500 to 9000 cal. yr BP, when sea level rose to about 35-30 m below present sea level (b.s.l.), did Nile-derived sand start to bypass the Carmel headland and Haifa Bay come into existence as a morphological feature. Between 8000 and 7150 cal. yr BP, when sea level was 14-10 m b.s.l., the invading sea crossed the present-day coastline. At about 6800 to 6600 cal. yr BP sea level rose to about 5 m b.s.l. and flooded the Zevulun Plain up to 2 km inland, and the River Qishon estuary up to 4 km inland. It is still unknown exactly when the sea reached its maximum penetration inland but later, about 4000 years ago, the coastline in the research area was still east of the present-day coast, up to 3 km in the Zevulun Plain and 4.8 km in the River Qishon estuary. When the coastline started to retreat westward, the reclamation was followed by intensive deposition of shallow marine sand and aeolian dunes, while to the east, different wetland conditions developed. The archaeological data indicate that during the Early Bronze Age I and Early Bronze Age II, dated to between 5600 and 4700 cal. yr BP, and even later, during the Middle Bronze Age II period, about 4600 to 3500 cal. yr BP, the coastline was still east of the present-day coast, but it never actually reached the bases of most of the tells, as has been suggested, except for Tel Akko and Tel Abu Hawam.

The structures and compositions of modern and fossil charcoal samples were compared in order to evaluate charcoal degradation processes in archaeological sites. Modern charcoal samples produced in campfires contain two major phases: graphite-like microcrystallites and a non-organized phase. These phases create a mosaic-like structure with differing relative proportions depending on the taxonomic source of the wood used. Fossil charcoal samples (Tel Dor, Israel: 3000 years BP and Kebara Cave, Israel: 40,000 years BP) also contained the graphite-like microcrystallites and the non-organized phases, but were clearly altered compared to modern charcoal. The graphite-like phase of the fossil charcoal has much higher electrical resistivity, and its ESR properties show that it has markedly altered surface electronic states. Infrared spectra show the presence of additional carboxylate groups. Oxidation has therefore altered the structure. This appears to be a "self-humification" process that affects the graphitic component, and probably the non-organized phase as well.

The in situ produced cosmogenic beryllium isotope, ¹⁰Be, in flint artifacts from different layers in prehistoric caves can provide information on flint procurement. The buildup of ¹⁰Be in a flint matrix is related to the exposure time of the flint to cosmic rays. Although this exposure history can be complex, the ¹⁰Be content of flint assemblages can show whether the raw material was obtained from shallow mining and/or surface collection as opposed to sediments two or more meters below the surface. Flint artifact assemblages from two Palaeolithic caves in Israel, Tabun and Qesem, were analyzed. In Tabun cave the flint artifacts from Lower Layer E (Acheulo-Yabrudian, around 400 000-200 000 yr) contain very small amounts of ¹⁰Be, which is consistent with flint procured from sediments two or more meters deep. Artifacts from above and below Tabun Lower Layer E show a more complex distribution, as do artifacts from all layers of Qesem cave (Acheulo-Yabrudian). This is probably due to the fact that they were surface collected and/or mined from shallow (less than 2 m) depths. We show here that artifact assemblages have different concentrations of ¹⁰Be, indicating different raw material procurement strategies.

The Iron Age Dating Project was initiated four years ago in order to suggest a radiometric way out of the apparent stalemate reached in the debate over early Iron Age chronology in Israel. It is based on the conviction that a question of such a tight resolution requires an extensive database, carefully selected from many sites and dated by different methods and different laboratories. This is the only means by which inevitable archaeological and analytical errors may be identified and eliminated. The data set, about 100 samples from 21 sites in Israel, producing more than 400 individual measurements, requires explicit and versatile methods for the statistical modeling of the dates. This paper introduces the archaeological, analytical and statistical rationale of the project, alongside partial results. In addition, we present new dates from Tel Dor, the site that produced the first radiometric sequence empirically supporting the low chronology. These new dates, measured by different laboratories, corroborate the previous conclusions regarding Tel Dor. They again support the low chronology, as do the preliminary results of the Iron Age Dating Project. In 1996, two of us (A.G. and I.S.) sent ten samples from the early Iron Age sequence at Tel Dor to be dated by the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, then headed by Israel Carmi. Shortly afterwards Israel Finkelstein's first paper advocating a 'low chronology' for the Iron Age in Israel (1996) was published.

The development of mining to acquire the best raw materials for producing stone tools represents a breakthrough in human technological and intellectual development. We present a new approach to studying the history of flint mining, using in situ-produced cosmogenic Be-10 concentrations. We show that the raw material used to manufacture flint artifacts approximate to300,000 years old from Qesem Cave (Israel) was most likely surf ace-collected or obtained from shallow quarries, whereas artifacts of the same period from Tabun Cave (Israel) were made of flint originating from layers 2 or more meters deep, possibly mined or quarried by humans.

In this study, we aim to characterize the main processes controlling ¹⁴C_DIC concentrations in porewater at the shallow shelf (water depth less than 120 m) off the Mediterranean coast of Israel. At these water depths, we expected to find evidence for seawater penetration toward the coast, since this area was flooded by seawater only some 18,000 yr ago (the end of the Last Glacial period). Measurements of the chemical composition ( ¹⁴C_DIC) and stable carbon isotopic composition (δ¹³C_DIC) were performed in several sediment cores (40-250 cm long) at water depths between 6 and 115 m. At water depths of 60 m, represented by a 2.5-m-long sediment core, the porewater ¹⁴C _DIC levels (85-87 pMC) were lower than the corresponding sediment values in each layer (92-95 pMC), mainly due to the oxidation of relatively old organic matter (about 70 pMC) with no evidence to advection. In contrast, sediment cores from water depths shallower than 50 m showed only slight anaerobic oxidation and high ¹⁴C_DIC values of approximately 100 pMC, indicating possible downward advection. These geochemical observations support the perception that the penetration of seawater into the coastal aquifer occurs at the shallow water zone (

Core profiles in the deep SE Mediterranean Sea revealed a significant ?14C excess in the total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) of porewater as compared to the ?14C of the sediments, below the bioturbation zone down to core bottom (>2 m). The main observation was that the age difference between porewater and sediments, as calculated from the excess, was not constant but rather increasing with depth. The porewater apparent age was younger by 10% than the age of the sediment at the core top and gradually became younger by about 70% at the bottom of the core. Flux calculations and mass balances of the chemical and isotopic data suggest that this 14C excess stems from a downward diffusive flux of 95 ± 15 atoms of 14CDIC m?2 s?1 from the bioturbation zone and overlying bottom water into the sediment. The 14CDIC flux is opposite in direction to the DIC flux out of the sediment. It is suggested here that the 14CDIC flux may severely interfere with age determination of small submarine ?brine lakes? formed in the deep Mediterranean. In addition, the 14C excess should show up in authigenic carbonate phases precipitating within the sediment and, hence, may serve as a tool to identify the extent and duration of authigenic carbonate precipitation.

Unusual low water levels in the Sea of Galilee (Dead Sea Fault, Israel) have caused the recent exposure of submerged Late Pleistocene prehistoric sites and lacustrine sediments along the southern shores of the lake. The Ohalo II site is a large fisher-hunter-gatherers camp with in-situ brush hut floors, hearths, and a human grave. The site is radiometrically dated by 25 charcoal dates to 19,430 BP (average, uncalibrated). The archaeological remains include quantities of excellently preserved organic remains. These would not have been preserved without a rapid rise of lake level immediately after the occupation, covering the remains with silts and sand. Recently a concentration of eight tree trunks were found about 1.5 km south of Ohalo II, of which five trunks were identified as Salix species and dated as a single accumulation at about 16,100 BP. The trunks, too, had to be submerged quickly together to ensure excellent preservation. The camp and the trunks were found at -212/-213 m, almost 4 m below modem high water levels. We suggest that the finds represent two separate episodes of deposition during low lake levels, almost 3,000 radiocarbon years apart, each followed by an abrupt water rise. It is possible that climatic changes caused the observed fluctuations, though earthquakes (blocking or lowering the Jordan outlet, for example) cannot be ruled out.

There is an important need to develop additional dating methods beyond the ¹⁴C limit and independent of thermoluminescence (TL) and electron spin resonance (ESR). We propose to apply the method of burial dating to prehistoric sites using the decay of in situ produced radioisotopes ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al. The Tabun Cave, Mt. Carmel (Israel) has a sedimentary sequence which represents the type section for about the last 800,000 years in the Levant. The sediments in the cave are mainly of aeolian origin and are rich in quartz. Flint tools are also found in the sediments. Sediment samples and flint tools were selected from the same layer. Physical and chemical procedures to extract ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al atoms from the quartz fraction of the sediments and from the flint samples were developed, while measuring the natural Al levels as a monitor of the atmospheric component of the cosmogenic nuclides. AMS measurements were performed at the 14UD Pelletron Koffler Accelerator Laboratory, Weizmann Institute, and sensitivities of the order of 1 × 10^-14, in isotopic abundances for both ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al respectively (corresponding to ∼5×10⁵ atoms) were obtained. First, measurements of a number of Tabun Cave sediment samples and flints show that ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al analyses have the potential for dating prehistoric cave sediments, provided problems relating to the presence of relatively large amounts of stable Al can be solved, as well as obtaining a better understanding of the burial history of the flints prior to being brought into the cave.

A method of study of weakly-formed negative ions by excitation in laser light and accelerator mass spectrometry is described. Measurement of the photoelectric detachment cross section of the extra electron as a function of the photon energy gives information on the electron affinity. Absolute cross sections for photodetachment of negative ions of La, Ce, Th and U have been measured at the fundamental wavelength (1064 nm) of a Nd: YAG laser. To demonstrate the feasibility of determination of the electron affinity by this method, measurements near the threshold of photodetachment in Te with known electron affinity (1.971 eV) were performed.

Eleven rainwater samples from Israel have been analyzed for their isotopic36Cl/Cl ratios and their soluble salt content. The rains display a range of36Cl/Cl ratios between1.8 × 10−15 and50 × 10−15, and chloride ion concentrations of between 0.3 and 4.2 meqCl/−l. The ratios between the concentrations of Na+, Mg2+ and Cl− in the samples demonstrate a clear marine origin for these ions in the rainwater. Although the stable35Cl isotope in rainwater is marine in origin, while the accompanying36Cl radioisotope is non-marine, both are linearly and positively correlated in chloride-rich (1meqCl/l) rains. The36ClCl seawater solute relationship may be explained as result of a mixing process between two chloride-bearing sources: (a) sea-spray laden air with a low36Cl/Cl ratio, and (b) a Cl-rich mineral dust reservoir, with a high36Cl/Cl ratio. Both are introduced and admixed into the atmosphere during storms. The possibility of a high36Cl/Cl ratio stratospheric end-member is rejected in view of the non-marine nature of the chlorine therein.

Negative ions can be neutralized by detaching their additional electron through interaction with a laser beam. By properly choosing the laser wavelength, the process is highly selective; it can in principle enhance the discrimination power of an accelerator mass spectrometry system for ions of different elements (e.g. isobaric background) by allowing their separation prior to their injection into a tandem accelerator. We demonstrate this process in the case of the ⁵⁹Ni- ⁵⁹Co pair with the AMS system based on the Rehovot 14UD Pelletron accelerator and a pulsed Nd-YAG laser at the fundamental wavelength (1064 nm). A photodetachment cross section of (0.6 ± 0.3) × 10^-17 cm² was measured for ⁵⁹Co^- and a suppression factor of 125 for the ⁵⁹Co isobaric background was achieved in a ⁵⁹Ni AMS measurement. The duty factor due to the pulsed laser was about ^10-4. The laser-AMS system was also applied to the study of rare negative ions in the actinide region. Preliminary results on the laser interaction with uranium negative ions are reported.

A method is described whereby the chloride concentration and the ratio of 36Cl to total chloride of a given water body are compared with those of precipitation to determine the fraction of the original precipitation which was lost by evapotranspiration before it reached that water body. This method was applied to 11 water sources in the upper Jordan River basin, and the evapotranspirative loss was generally found to be in the range 4090%. This method, which is much simpler than the other methods for determining regional evapotranspiration, will enable us to monitor the changes in the hydrological cycle which are expected to result from the greenhouse effect.