Archaeological Sites in Israel and Palestine

From Roger Grace, a research proposal to gather information about human and neanderthal behavior by way of use wear on stone tools; studies at Amud Cave on Mount Carmel.

These pages are developed to give you some insight into the controversies facing archaeologists today.

\From David Schloen at Harvard, and ABZU and the Oriental Institute, discussion of the recent discoveries at this Canaanite, Philistine, and Phoenician occupation.

Underwater archaeology of a pre-pottery neolithic occupation site; description of the ongoing research on the Israeli Antiquities Authority Website.

Be'er Sheva is a modern town in the Negev Desert of Israel, and also the name of a Chalcolithic settlement dated to the 4th millennium BC.

The site of Beth Alpha in Israel is believed to be a Jewish synagogue dated to the Byzantine period.

Ongoing excavations at a city built by Herod the Great between 22 and 10 B.C. to honor the emperor Caesar Augustus; from Cornell University

The town of Capernaum is mentioned several times in the New Testament of the Judeo-Christian bible, as the home of several apostles.

A discussion of the history of excavations at this biblical site, from the Studium Biblicum Fransciscanum.

Underwater archaeology off the coast of Israel includes investigation of a 17th Century Ottoman ship wrecksite, a joint project by the Nautical Archaeological Society, Dor Maritime Archaeological Project, and the Center for Maritime Studies.

From the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a brief introduction and bibliography of this important Middle Pleistocene (Acheulean) site, recently damaged during dam construction. English and Hebrew.

The archaeological site of Gesher Benot Yaaqov is located in the northern Jordan Valley on the shore of an ancient lake. Paleomagnetic dating of this site makes it a Lower Paleolithic site, dated to approximmately .8 million years ago.

The site of Hagoshrim is located in the Hula Valley of northern Israel. Occupied at least six times between 6500 and 7560 years ago.

Investigations into rock art in the central Negev desert near "the mountain of saffron"; from Emmanuel Anati.

Hayonim Cave is the name of a cave located on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, in a limestone bluff about 250 meters above modern sea level.

Ongoing investigations at this tell on the Sea of Galilee are being conducted by the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa. Sussita, or as it was known by its Greek name, Antiochia-Hippos, was founded after 200 BC, when the Seleucids seized the Land of Israel from the Ptolemies.

Jericho (also called Tell es-Sultan) is the name of a tell situated on an ancient lake bed plain in what is known as the West Bank, Palestine.

Archaeological and historical evidence of Jerusalem, the ancient city of David, reflects its ancient past.

Located on the western escarpment of Mount Carmel, Kebara Cave has two important components, Middle Paleolithic Aurignacian and Mousterian, and Epi-Paleolithic Natufian.

The archaeological site of Lachish (also called Tel el-Duweir) is located approximately 40 kilometers south of Jerusalem.

The famous Roman fortress in Israel, site of a legendary mass suicide by Jewish rebels during the Jewish Revolt of 70 AD. Website from Israel Mosaic.

From the Jewish Virtual Library, more information on the famous fortress.

The archaeological site of Masada is among the most politically-charged archaeological ruins in the world, and that's saying a lot.

The archaeological site of Megiddo, known as Tell el-Mutesellim, has at least thirty urban settlements within its layers, the earliest about 3500 BC.

The city of Armaggedon in the bible, a site first occupied ca. 7000 BC, where Tel Aviv University and Earthwatch has conducted several years of excavations.

The Mount Carmel region near the modern town of Haifa, Israel contains several of the most famous Neanderthal sites in the middle east

Na'aran was a Byzantine settlement and synagogue during the 5th and 6th century AD, located about four kilometers from Jericho.

From the University of California at Davis, research on the protodynastic Egyptian presence in Canaan.

The oldest ever (19,000 bp) brush hut plant remains, from the Jordan Valley; detailed description of the site and excavations from the University of Haifa.

Qesem Cave is a karst cave located in Israel near Tel Aviv, some 12 km from the Mediterranean Sea. Its deposits include artifacts and hominid teeth dated to the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex.

The Red Tower, also known as al-Burj al Ahmar, is a small castle built during the crusades in the central Sharon Plain of Palestine.

The archaeological site of Rujm el HIri, Israel is a curious Chalcolithic or Early Bronze age structure which researchers believe is an astronomical observatory.

Zippori, or Sepphoris in Greek, was a Galileean capital city located in the Lower Galilee midway between the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee. This website has evolved into a clearinghouse of information about the varied excavations.

The site of Sepphoris (known as Zippori in Hebrew) was the capital of the Galilee region at the time of the Roman occupation.

Neolithic (ca. 8000-7500 years ago) village with clay and pebble figurines and incised pebbles, making it the largest prehistoric art center in Israel. Excavations by the Hebrew University.

A history of investigations into the potter's village of Shikhin, and its possible association with the Tell el-Badawiye from James Strange.

An article in the Jewish Magazine by Jacqueline Schaajje describes Be'er Sheva, a Chalcolithic settlement in the Negev Desert.

Tel Miqne is identified with biblical Ekron, one of the capital cities of the Philistine Pentapolis; excavations by a joint international project led by Trude Dothan and Seymour Gitin. Website includes a downloadable version of the site report.

A joint project of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and others, excavations at one of the Philistine Pentapolis, during Iron Age I and II periods.

Tel Rehov in the Beth-Shean valley is dated to the Bronze and Iron ages.

Information on sevveral seasons of fieldwork by the Beth-Shean Valley Archaeological Project.

A field school run by Rutgers University on this site, occupied during the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine and Crusader eras. On the Bible and Interpretation website.

The archaeological site of Tel Tsaf is a Middle Chalcolithic site located near Beth-Shean in the Jordan Valley of Israel.

A fortified city known as Zer in the Hebrew Bible; this website description and history is from Bible Places.

From Jeffrey Zorn at Cornell, excavations at a site occupied beginning in the Late Chalcolithic, and with substantial occupations in Iron Age and Babylonian/Persian periods.

From Bar Ilan University, excavations at the historic site of Gath, with archaeological evidence dated to the 9th century BC site

The Lahav Research Project, a joint project of the University of Nebraska-Omaha and the Cobb Institute at Missisippi State, occupied from Chalcolithic times through the Israelite period. This page on the project is by Paul F. Jacobs in Ariadne.

From the Hebrew University, ongoing excavations at an ancient Canaanite and Israelite City located in the north of modern day Israel.

Clearinghouse for information on the search for the first and second synagogues on Temple Mount.

Three sites: El-Ahwat, Tel Assawir and Site 146, all Iron Age occupations on the Mediterranean coast Excavationns by the University of Haifa are on the archaeology and the history of the 'Northern (non-Philistine) Sea Peoples' Shardana and Sikulu.

Ubeidiya is an early paleolithic archaeological site located on a low rise in the Jordan Valley of Israel--and at 1.4-1.6 million years in age, it is one of the oldest hominid sites outside of Africa.

A 12th century AD crusader castle built by the Knights Templar and destroyed by Muslim forces in 1179 AD; from Vadum Iacob Research Project, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

An early Bronze Age village, occupied continuously for nearly 1,000 years, excavated by the Oriental Institute.

A fortress dating from the time of Joshua; it was among the towns captured by Tiglath Pileser III in 732 BCE. Report from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.