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The remains of a >50-years-old male, thus far representing the only complete skeleton dated to the Early Chalcolithic (Wadi Rabah) period in Israel, were recovered in a cave in the Judaean desert (Nahal Mishmar, F1-003). The old male suffered abscesses in the maxilla following tooth caries, and a well-healed trauma in the left tibial midshaft. Skull and mandibular morphology were described using plain measurements, indices and angles, and compared with similarly taken Chalcolithic data. In addition, mandibular morphology was captured using a landmark-based geometric morphometrics method and compared to Natufian hunter-gatherers, Pre-Pottery Neolithic early farmers, and Late Chalcolithic populations. The results, although cautionary, reveal similarity to the succeeding Ghassulian Chalcolithic period populations and suggest population continuity from the Early to the Late (Ghassulian) Chalcolithic period. Future ancient DNA study may clarify this hypothesis and further reveal population affinity in this period in Israel.

Vast burial fields, some with hundreds of burials, categorize the southern Levant’s 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. 10,500–10,300 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).

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.

From 1985–2014, the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon excavated a trench on the north side of Ashkelon’s central mound (Grid 38) exposing a Bronze and Iron Age sequence over an area of some 450 m2. ...

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 recoveredin situpigeon 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.

Tel Hazor is one of only a few sites in Israel where remains of the Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA) in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC were found on top of Early Bronze III (EB III) city remains. A probe excavation was held at Hazor in 2017 to explore the chronological relation between the EB III and the IBA occupation. The radiocarbon (14C) absolute dates generated from this probe excavation show that following the EB III city demise, the site was abandoned for up to a few hundred years before it was resettled in the IBA. 14C dates obtained from the last level of the EB III city are well before 2500 BCE, fully aligned with the recent “High Chronology” for the EBA in the southern Levant. The excavation also produced dates associated with IBA “Black Wheel-Made Ware” vessels, which were found in large numbers at Hazor.

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 city’s 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.

Black Wheel Made Ware (BWMW) is a distinguished pottery-type of the Intermediate Bronze Age (EB IV) in the Levant, a period dated to the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE. Considerable research...

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.

The volcanic eruption of Santorini in the Bronze Age left detectable debris across the Mediterranean, serving as an anchor in time for the region, synchronizing chronologies of different sites. However, dating the eruption has been elusive for decades, as radiocarbon indicates a date about a century earlier than archaeological chronologies. The identification of annual rings by CT in a charred olive branch, buried alive beneath the tephra on Santorini, was key in radiocarbon dating the eruption. Here, we detect a verified annual growth in a modern olive branch for the first time, using stable isotope analysis and high-resolution radiocarbon dating, identifying down to the growing season in some years. The verified growth is largely visible by CT, both in the branch’s fresh and charred forms. Although these results support the validity of the Santorini branch date, we observed some chronological anomalies in modern olive and simulated possible date range scenarios of the volcanic eruption of Santorini, given these observed phenomena. The results offer a way to reconcile this long-standing debate towards a mid-sixteenth century BCE date.

Recent radiocarbon (14C) research demonstrates that the urban culture of Early-Bronze III in the southern Levant ends around 2500 BC, and not around 2300 BC as was widely assumed. This should extend the Intermediate Bronze Age by 200 years. Charred olive pits from Intermediate Bronze Age contexts in the site of Khirbat el-‘Alya Northeast in the Judean Shephelah region (Israel) were 14C dated, resulting in calibrated dates around 2500 BC. The date range of Khirbat el-‘Alya Northeast samples is an indication that in the Mediterranean parts of the southern Levant, the Intermediate Bronze Age material culture appeared around the time of the decline of the preceding culture of Early-Bronze III—around 2500 BC or somewhat earlier. Possible Intermediate Bronze settlement pattern and the site’s relation to the nearby Early-Bronze city of Tel Yarmuth are discussed based on previous Intermediate Bronze and Early-Bronze related research in the surrounding area.

An iron and bronze workshop in the lower city of Tell es-Safi/Gath, dated to the mid-late Iron IIA, contributes new data on the chronology, organization, and practice of metal production in the urb...

Marine Isotopic Stage 5 is associated with wetter climatic conditions in the Saharo-Arabian deserts. This stage also corresponds to the establishment of Middle Paleolithic hominins and their associated material culture in two geographical provinces in southwest Asia—the Eastern Mediterranean woodland and the Arabian Peninsula desert. The lithic industry of the Eastern Mediterranean is characterized by the centripetal Levallois method, whereas the Nubian Levallois method characterizes the populations of the Arabian desert. The Negev Desert, situated between these regions is a key area to comprehend population movement in correlation to climatic zones. This investigation addresses the nature of the Middle Paleolithic settlement in the Negev Desert during MIS 5 by studying the site of Nahal Aqev. High resolution chronological results based on luminescence dating and cryptotephra show the site was occupied from MIS 5e to MIS 5d. The lithic industries at Nahal Aqev are dominated by centripetal Levallois core method. These data demonstrate that Nahal Aqev is much closer in its cultural attributes to the Eastern Mediterranean Middle Paleolithic than to the Arabian Desert entity. We conclude that Nahal Aqev represents an expansion of Middle Paleolithic groups from the Mediterranean woodland into the desert, triggered by better climatic conditions. These groups possibly interacted with hominin groups bearing the Nubian core tradition from the vast region of Arabia.

Charred micro-remains in archaeological sediments vary from large destruction layers, to localized lenses, and they are invaluable stratigraphic anchors when found in situ. Visual observations of black sediments are a good marker for primary depositions of burning events, however, an independent criteria is necessary to verify these sediments were not mixed with other contexts. In this study, a microarchaeological approach was used to quantify charred micro components in sediments from a pyrotechnological pit at Qubur el-Walaydah, allowing the assessment of their diffusion between sediments. Organic micro-particles were purified from black lenses in situ and their surrounding sediments, based on their density, showing the organic fraction is composed of particles that are lighter than a density of 1.7 g/mL and smaller than 1 mm3. Thermal and structural characterizations show that the micro-particles from black lenses are charred between 30 and 40%, compared with 5% in the surrounding sediments. A new method to quantify the charred micro-particles was developed based on microscopy, showing black lenses and hearths have between 40,000–110,000 charred micro-particles per gram of sediments, while their surrounding archaeological sediments have less than 20,000. These results show micro-particles could be purified and characterized, providing a quantifiable approach for assessing mixing between sediments based on particles concentrations. One application is micro-stratigraphic interpretations of primary depositions, allowing portable microscopes on-site to assess the mixing between sediments. Another application is to include the charred micro-particles in the radiocarbon dating assemblage as evidence for in situ burning. Dating charred micro-remains should be used only to solve chronological questions that do not require high resolution accuracy, when cultural material and macro-charred remains are not found.

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 little 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, Pesturina and Hadži 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.

A jewelry hoard was recently uncovered in Megiddo in destruction debris securely dated to the Early Iron Age I. The hoard was found only about 30 m from the Canaanite palace of the city of Stratum ...

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 (14)C 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.

International audience; 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 (6000-5800 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 (1900-1500 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.

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 env...

We present here the earliest evidence for large-scale table olive production from the mid-7th 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 site’s 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.

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 ...

Tree-ring chronologies are an excellent climate archive for their spatial and temporal resolution. While networks of chronologies have been built outside the tropics helping to understand past regional climate trends, tropical regions still lag behind in terms of spatial coverage. Dendrochronological studies, however, may succeed in seasonally dry tropical forests where the growing season is well defined. Amburana cearensis, found in both dry and wet forests in South America, is poorly explored for dendrochronological purposes, with no previous study in Brazil. Therefore, we sampled trees growing in a seasonally dry forest in a karstic area in Central-Eastern Brazil, under the South American Monsoon domain, in order to explore this species potential for dendroclimatological studies in the region. We build a tree-ring width chronology using 26 trees. We found a strong common growth signal among trees, with an r-bar of 0.51 and an average mean sensitivity of 0.50. The standard tree-ring width chronology showed a significant negative correlation with Vapor-Pressure Deficit during the entire wet season (0.54), negative correlation with temperature at the end of the wet season (0.45), and a positive correlation with the sum of precipitation during the wet season (0.46). Further stable isotopic analysis will provide additional records of climate variability in the region. Since Amburana cearensis occurs across most of the seasonally dry forests and savannas from South America, it has a great potential to be used to develop climate reconstructions and verify the effects of climate change currently affecting the region.

International audience; Teeth are usually targeted for dating archaeological sites because they are less prone to dissolution, in comparison with bones. However, despite this apparent resistance, teeth do undergo diagenesis, which needs to be accounted for in order to obtain accurate ages. In particular, the uptake of trace elements such as uranium in dental 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 provide important information related to their state of preservation, especially in the case of teeth whose U content can significantly affect the dose rate. In this study, we dated five teeth of small-sized bovids using combined ESR/U-series dating. They were collected at the Middle Stone Age site of Lovedale, located in the central interior of South Africa. Micromorphology provided sedimentary context to the samples, which were recovered from a layer of gravel rich in faunal remains. Using cathodoluminescence, laser-induced fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman micro-spectroscopy we assessed the degree of preservation of the enamel. Results reveal that carbonate hydroxyapatite underwent post-depositional alteration, based on its molecular structure and elemental composition. 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 from 1.7 to 29.6 ppm. These values are correlated with equivalent doses (De) from 228 to 923 Gy and are consistent with variations in crystallinity determined with vibrational spectroscopy. We also investigated the possible saturation 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 same range, from 63 ± 8 ka to 68 ± 15 ka and may only represent a minimum estimate.

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.