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The protected Tel-Dor coastal embayment in the eastern Mediterranean preserves an unusually complete stratigraphic record that reveals human–environmental interactions throughout the Holocene. Interpretation of new seismic profiles collected from shallow marine geophysical transects across the bay show five seismic units were correlated with stratigraphy and age dates obtained from coastal and shallow-marine sediment cores. This stratigraphic framework permits a detailed reconstruction of the coastal system over the last ca. 77 ka as well as an assessment of environmental factors that influenced some dimensions of past coastal societies. The base of the boreholes records lowstand aeolian deposits overlain by wetland sediments that were subsequently flooded by the mid-Holocene transgression. The earliest human settlements are submerged Pottery Neolithic (8.25–7 ka) structures and tools, found immediately above the wetland deposits landward of a submerged aeolianite ridge at the mouth of the bay. The wetland deposits and Pottery Neolithic settlement remains are buried by coastal sand that records a middle Holocene sea-level rise ca. 7.6–6.5 ka. Stratigraphic and geographic relationships suggest that these coastal communities were displaced by sea-level transgression. These findings demonstrate how robust integration of different data sets can be used to reconstruct the geomorphic evolution of coastal settings as well as provide an important addition to the nature of human–landscape interaction and cultural development.

Archaeologists have a responsibility to use their research to engage people and provide opportunities for the public to interact with cultural heritage and interpret it on their own terms. This can be done through hypermedia and deep mapping as approaches to public archaeology. In twenty-first-century archaeology, scholars can rely on vastly improved technologies to aid them in these efforts toward public engagement, including digital photography, geographic information systems, and three-dimensional models. These technologies, even when collected for analysis or documentation, can be valuable tools for educating and involving the public with archaeological methods and how these methods help archaeologists learn about the past. Ultimately, academic storytelling can benefit from making archaeological results and methods accessible and engaging for stakeholders and the general public. ArcGIS StoryMaps is an effective tool for integrating digital datasets into an accessible framework that is suitable for interactive public engagement. This article describes the benefits of using ArcGIS StoryMaps for hypermedia and deep mapping–based public engagement using the story of copper production in Iron Age Faynan, Jordan, as a case study.

This chapter describes the hardware and software design of the CAVEkiosk--the first large-scale immersive Virtual Reality environment intended for public use--developed at UC San Diego as part of the Catalyst project. It discusses how the authors collaborated to build new CAVEkiosks at four UC campuses linked by the high-speed Pacific Research Platform to share research data and imagery from at-risk sites around the world, specifically Greece, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey. The authors present technical concepts in a way that is understandable to the lay reader and the proposed audience for the volume. This contribution provides a solid literature background for topics presented in other chapters. It introduces readers to Virtual Reality (VR) technology, which is now widely used in archaeology and museums to represent sites and artifacts for scholarly and public-facing purposes.

This chapter describes the digital workflow from archaeological data collection in the field to permanent storage in the UCSD Library and dissemination via VR environments that UCSD, as the lead campus for the Catalyst project, designed and field-tested at sites in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. This contribution has a particular emphasis on at-risk cultural heritage and its preservation in those areas of interest and presents results of applying the digital methods at the Late Bronze Age site of Kastrouli, Greece.

This chapter describes the destruction by ISIS of archaeological and cultural heritage sites in 2014 and 2015 and the formation of the At-Risk Cultural Heritage and the Digital Humanities Project.

The examination of butchering technology and patterns from archaeological sites provides insight into various socio- economic aspects of past societies, including diet, technology, and cultural identity. This study presents the analysis of 183 butchered animal bones recovered from the Early Bronze Age I site of Nahal Tillah, located on the northern fringe of the Negev Desert, Israel, in an effort to elucidate some of this information. The butchered assemblage is comprised primarily of domestic taxa, of varying ages, which exhibit a range of butchery-mark types that are the result of the full suite of butchering-related activities—from slaughter to toolmaking. As such, this report contributes to understanding the butchering practices and subsistence economy of early sedentary societies of the southern Levant.

Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom's northern provinces. Anatolia exhibited extraordinary continuity down to the Roman and Byzantine periods, with its people serving as the demographic core of much of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome itself. During medieval times, migrations associated with Slavic and Turkic speakers profoundly affected the region., National Institutes of Health [GM100233, HG012287]; John Templeton Foundation [61220]; Allen Discovery Center program; Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group advised program of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The newly reported dataset is described in detail in an accompanying manuscript, where we also acknowledge the funders who supported dataset generation (1). Analysis of data was supported by the National Institutes of Health (GM100233 and HG012287), the John Templeton Foundation (grant 61220), a private gift from Jean-Francois Clin, the Allen Discovery Center program, a Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group advised program of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (to D.R.).

We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia., National Institutes of Health [GM100233, HG012287]; John Templeton Foundation [61220]; Allen Discovery Center program; Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group advised program of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The newly reported dataset is described in detail in an accompanying Research Article, where we also acknowledge the funders who supported dataset generation (12). Analysis of data was supported by the National Institutes of Health (GM100233 and HG012287), the John Templeton Foundation (grant 61220), a private gift from Jean-Francois Clin, the Allen Discovery Center program, a Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group advised program of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (D.R.).

Science, politics, identity, and conflict converge in investigations of the city of peace.

Constraining secular variation of the Earth's magnetic field strength in the past is fundamental to understanding short-term processes of the geodynamo. Such records also constitute a powerful and independent dating tool for archaeological sites and geological formations. In this study, we present 11 robust archaeointensity results from Pre-Pottery to Pottery Neolithic Jordan that are based on both clay and flint (chert) artifacts. Two of these results constitute the oldest archaeointensity data for the entire Levant, ancient Egypt, Turkey, and Mesopotamia, extending the archaeomagnetic reference curve for the Holocene. Virtual Axial Dipole Moments (VADMs) show that the Earth's magnetic field in the Southern Levant was weak (about two-thirds the present field) at around 7600 BCE, recovering its strength to greater than the present field around 7000 BCE, and gradually weakening again around 5200 BCE. In addition, successful results obtained from burnt flint demonstrate the potential of this very common, and yet rarely used, material in archaeomagnetic research, in particular for prehistoric periods from the first use of fire to the invention of pottery.

The Tel-Dor embayment located along the Carmel coast provides a valuable opportunity to study environmental and human interaction due to its protecting geomorphic properties that are unique for the generally linear Israeli coast. Interpretations of seismic profiles collected from transects across the bay show five seismic units that have been correlated to dated and well-analyzed sediment units in coastal cores, enabling a detailed deep time reconstruction of the coastal system over the last ~77 ka. The earliest borehole deposits are low-stand aeolian followed by terrestrial sediments including wetland remains that were subsequently flooded by the mid-Holocene transgression. Evidence of the earliest human settlement submerged Pottery-Neolithic (8.25-7 ka) remains, found immediately above the wetland deposits landward of a submerged aeolianite ridge at the mouth of the bay. The wetland deposits and Pottery-Neolithic settlement remains are at present buried by coastal sand recording middle Holocene sea-level rise and thus, suggesting that these coastal communities were displaced by sea-level transgression ca. 7.6–6.5 ka. The sedimentological and archaeological evidence identified in the stratigraphical sequence of the sheltered bay is a good example of better understanding the essential environmental changes on the shallow shelf and the coastline migration especially in bays and the human settlement adaptations to these changes. This high-resolution reconstruction based on seismic methods in the shallow water and core analysis on land combined with detailed archaeological data from the studied area provides an important addition to the puzzle of the Mediterranean story, the cradle of Western Civilizations.

Constraining the secular variations of the Earth’s magnetic field strength in the past is fundamental to understanding short term processes of the geodynamo. Such records constitute a powerful and independent dating tool for archaeological sites and geological formations. In this study, we present 10 new and robust archaeointensity results from Pre-Pottery to Pottery Neolithic and, for one of the first times, flint (burnt chert) from Jordan. Two of these results constitute the oldest archaeointensity data for the entire Levant, ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia extending the archaeomagnetic dating reference for the Holocene. Virtual Axial Dipole Moments (VADM)s show that the Earth’s magnetic field in the Southern Levant was weak (about half the present field) at around 7,600 years BCE, recovering its strength to greater than the present field around 7,100 BCE and gradually weakening again around 5,200 years BCE. In addition, successful results obtained from burnt flint demonstrate the potential of this rarely used material in archaeomagnetic research, in particular for prehistoric periods from the first use of fire to the invention of pottery.

In 2014, the Edom Lowlands Regional Archaeology Project renewed excavations at Khirbat al-Jariya (KAJ), an Iron Age copper smelting site in Faynan, Jordan. Located roughly 3 km from the prominent s...

Tsunami events in antiquity had a profound influence on coastal societies. Six thousand years of historical records and geological data show that tsunamis are a common phenomenon affecting the eastern Mediterranean coastline. However, the possible impact of older tsunamis on prehistoric societies has not been investigated. Here we report, based on optically stimulated luminescence chronology, the earliest documented Holocene tsunami event, between 9.91 to 9.29 ka (kilo-annum), from the eastern Mediterranean at Dor, Israel. Tsunami debris from the early Neolithic is composed of marine sand embedded within fresh-brackish wetland deposits. Global and local sea-level curves for the period, 9.91–9.29 ka, as well as surface elevation reconstructions, show that the tsunami had a run-up of at least ~16 m and traveled between 3.5 to 1.5 km inland from the palaeo-coastline. Submerged slump scars on the continental slope, 16 km west of Dor, point to the nearby “Dor-complex” as a likely cause. The near absence of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A-B archaeological sites (11.70–9.80 cal. ka) suggest these sites were removed by the tsunami, whereas younger, late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B-C (9.25–8.35 cal. ka) and later Pottery-Neolithic sites (8.25–7.80 cal. ka) indicate resettlement following the event. The large run-up of this event highlights the disruptive impact of tsunamis on past societies along the Levantine coast.

Cutting-edge photogrammetric techniques combined with traditional methods are a boon for archaeologists interested in performing spatial analyses. Low-altitude aerial photography (LAAP) combined with photogrammetric Image Based Modeling (IBM) comprise a workflow that allows for precise and accurate recording of both photographic and elevation data of archaeological sites with a great deal of speed and efficiency. Through these techniques, the researcher can create spatially-referenced orthophotos and digital elevation models (DEMs), which can serve as the basis for investigations into site formation processes. Due to the rapidity of the creation of these datasets, analysis of site formation processes can be completed over the course of hours or days. The results of such site formation studies can inform and guide further archaeological investigations of sites. This paper presents the application of a combined LAAP-IBM method to acquire GIS data, which serves as the basis for a case study of a new model of the effects of erosion on archaeological sites – a key factor in understanding site formation processes. These methods are applied to Khirbat Nuqayb al-Asaymir, a Middle Islamic site in southern Jordan, as a case study.

Science, politics, identity, and conflict converge in investigations of the city of peace

The Faynan region of southern Jordan became a center of industrial-scale metallurgical production during the Bronze and Iron Ages. However, socio-economic developments of the Pottery Neolithic period (ca. 6500-5500 B.C.E.) that helped set the stage for the rise of complex copper-producing societies are not well-understood. In this paper, we focus on ceramic technology at the early Pottery Neolithic site of Wadi Fidan 61 in the western part of the Faynan region. The composition of 38 pottery sherds is characterized using an analytical approach that integrates petrography, instrumental geochemistry and Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Results indicate six distinct clay recipes and suggest the use of different clay deposits and tempering materials from locations within ca. 5 km of the site. Implications of this compositionally diverse pottery assemblage are considered, possibly linking this initial phase of ceramic production in the Faynan with a kind of foraging-farming economy.

This article presents new archaeological observations and multidisciplinary research from Dor, Israel to establish a more reliable relative sea level for the Carmel Coast and Southern Levant between the Middle Bronze Age and the Roman period (ca. 3500–1800 y BP). Our record indicates a period of low relative sea level, around -2.5 m below present, from the Middle Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period (ca. 3500–2200 y BP). This was followed by a rapid rise to present levels, starting in the Hellenistic period and concluding during the Roman period (ca. 2200–1800 y BP). These Roman levels agree with other relative sea-level indications from Israel and other tectonically stable areas in the Mediterranean. Several relative sea-level reconstruction models carried out in the current study provide different predictions due to their parameters and do not model the changes observed from field data which points to a non-isostatic origin for the changes. Long-term low stable Iron Age relative sea level can be seen in Dor, where Iron Age harbor structures remain around the same elevation between ca. 3100–2700 y BP. A similar pattern occurs at Atlit, the Iron Age harbor to the north used continuously from ca. 2900 y BP to the beginning of the Hellenistic period (ca. 2200 y BP). An examination of historical and archaeological sources reveals decline and occasional disappearance of Hellenistic sites along the coast of Israel at ca. 2200 y BP (2ndcentury BCE), as in the case of Yavneh Yam, Ashdod Yam, Straton’s Tower, and tel Taninim. In Akko-Ptolemais, the large harbor installations built in the Hellenistic period were never replaced by a substantial Roman harbor. The conclusions of this research are thus relevant for the sea-level research community and for the historical analyses of the Israeli and South Levantine coastline.