Tel Tsaf, Israel

The archaeological site of Tel Tsaf is a Middle Chalcolithic site located near Beth-Shean in the Jordan Valley of Israel, occupied between the Late Neolithic to the Ghassulian-Beer Sheva Chalcolithic period. Discovered in the late 1950s, Tel Tsaf was first investigated in the 1970s by Ram Gophna of Tel Aviv University.

The two meters of cultural deposit at Tel Tsaf are primarily assigned to the Middle Chalcolithic period, and are located within a 20 hectare area. Mud brick houses, a well, and a pavement are all identified at Tel Tsaf, with excellent faunal and floral preservation. Dug during the 5th millennium BC, the well represents one of the oldest known wells in the world.

Tel Tsaf is currently the focus of a multi-year project by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, led by Yosef Garfinkel at Hebrew and Yorke M. Rowan from the University of Notre Dame. For more information, see the Tel Tsaf website.

• Tel Tsaf home page, Hebrew University
• Archaeology of Israel
• Chalcolithic
• Neolithic Period
• More Photos of the Well are available at the Tel Tsaf website

The top photograph is an overview of the site of Tel Tsaf at the end of the 2005 excavation season; the lower photograph is a profile of the 7,000 year old well. These photos are from the Tel Tsaf Project, courtesy of Orian Sandstein.