This report discusses 558 malacological remains from a salvage excavation at the harbor of Yafo (... more This report discusses 558 malacological remains from a salvage excavation at the harbor of Yafo (Jaffa; see Haddad and Glick, this volume).
In the present paper, we will describe the small assemblage of bone tools made from shoulder blad... more In the present paper, we will describe the small assemblage of bone tools made from shoulder blades found at Tel Yavne and present a possible new type of tool. In addition, we seek to understand how these tools were created, how they were used, and for what purpose. We are basing this on experimental archaeology and Infrared spectroscopy (IR) analysis of traces of a plaster-like substance found on the working edge of two tools.
Life On the Soreq Riverbank: A Chalcolithic Ghassulian Site in Yavne, 2022
The excavations at Area J of the Yavne East site, south of Tel Yavne, on the bank of Nahal Soreq,... more The excavations at Area J of the Yavne East site, south of Tel Yavne, on the bank of Nahal Soreq, were undertaken in 2021, as part of soundings by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The excavations revealed another portion of the Chalcolithic site. Geomorphological research shows that during the Chalcolithic period this part of the site was located on the flood plain of an active stream. The site seems to have been a large village with two Ghassulian Chalcolithic phases, featuring stone and mud brick architecture, rich assemblages of pottery vessels, and flint and stone artifacts. The site fits well into the known concentration of Mediterranean coastal plain Chalcolithic sites, e.g. Palmahim, Namir Road, and Agamim and enriches our understanding of connections along the river channel in this period. The Chalcolithic deposit in Area J was adjacent to a river to its south. The continuation of the site was excavated north of the stream channel and up the moderately sloping kurkar ridge. The architecture and domestic finds there (Areas A, R) emphasize how different the activity on the bank was from the rest of the village
A shallow, human dug pit dated to the Early Islamic period (Area C3, 9th-10th century CE) and con... more A shallow, human dug pit dated to the Early Islamic period (Area C3, 9th-10th century CE) and containing solely pig remains (Sus scrofa/S. s. domesticus) was discovered in an ongoing large scale excavation in Tel Yavne, Israel. Evidence of the intentional disposal or interment of the pig remains in the pit raises questions regarding the reasons for this peculiar occurrence at a time that the southern Levant was subject to the rule of Islamic law and dietary prohibitions. While it is known that non-Muslim communities continued to flourish in the region during the Early Islamic period (Fischer and Taxel 2007, and see the historical references therein), direct evidence of pig exploitation at this time has not been extensively documented. Our results indicate that at least seven suids, most of them domesticated and a few of feral/wild individuals, were slaughtered and rapidly deposited together inside the pit, in a one-time event. A comparison of the remains from the pit with other suid remains from the site, dated to the late Byzantine-Early Islamic period (7th-10th century CE), shows the pit to be a strikingly dense concentration of pig remains and reveals a unique techonomic pattern of the dominance of maxilla over mandibles. Pig husbandry at the site was generally based on culling of young animals (piglets), a pattern typical of dense urban sites, while many of the animals in the pit displayed abnormal molar tooth wear, suggesting consumption of abrasive food and teeth defects indicating stressful captivity conditions. We refer to archaeological and historical data in an attempt to reconstruct a scenario explaining the suid pit.
This paper provides preliminary results of our ongoing analysis of faunal remains from the Middle... more This paper provides preliminary results of our ongoing analysis of faunal remains from the Middle Bronze IIa site of Tel Ifshar (1950-1750 BCE). The site is located in the Sharon Coastal Plain region of Israel. Tel Ifshar offers a high-resolution sequence of five major phases with four destruction layers spanning over less than 200 years. The studied faunal assemblage (NISP=3,047) is dominated by sheep and goat ( ̃50% throughout all occupation phases). Cattle and pigs vary according to the occupational horizons. Wild game, which comprise predominantly of mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella) and fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica), also fluctuate over time. The zooarchaeological research seeks to explore the socio-cultural changes at the site in a period with high social and political complexity that might derive from international trade and urbanization. Moreover, the abundance of destruction layers attests to a society living in an atmosphere of conflict and stress, but characterized by ...
This report presents an assemblage of 76 malacological remains from a salvage excavation at the F... more This report presents an assemblage of 76 malacological remains from a salvage excavation at the French School in Yafo. The assemblage includes 11 species of local Mediterranean seashells and land snails (n = 72), and also one indo-pacific bivalve—a cross made of a mother of pearl, one bivalve from the Nile River, and two fragments of freshwater bivalves, for which the species could not be identified. The specimens were retrieved from loci of the Crusader period (n = 50), the late Ottoman period (n = 24), and mixed contexts (n = 2).
This report discusses the 232 malacological remains from the excavations on Me-Raguza Street, Yaf... more This report discusses the 232 malacological remains from the excavations on Me-Raguza Street, Yafo. The assemblage includes mostly Mediterranean shells (221), land snails (10), and a fragment of Chambardia rubens from the Nile River, as well as three mother-of-pearl buttons.
This report presents 209 malacological remains from a salvage excavation in the Magen Avraham Com... more This report presents 209 malacological remains from a salvage excavation in the Magen Avraham Compound, Yafo. The assemblage includes Mediterranean (n = 201), and Indo-Pacific bivalves (n=8). Dating to the following periods: Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader, and Ottoman–British Mandate.
27 malacological remains were retrieved from the excavation within the French Hospital Compound, ... more 27 malacological remains were retrieved from the excavation within the French Hospital Compound, Yafo. The shells originated in two loci: L521, from the Late Roman period, and L401, from the Abbasid period. The malacological assemblage included common marine shells from the Mediterranean Sea.
The Late Chalcolithic site 66B is located in the northern Negev on the eastern bank of Nahal Beso... more The Late Chalcolithic site 66B is located in the northern Negev on the eastern bank of Nahal Besor about 30 km west of some of the renown Late Chalcolithic sites of the Beer Sheva basin. While the site is known for nearly 90 years, discovered by E. Macdonald, revisited by F. Burian and E. Friedman and finally incorporated into the Urim Map by D. Gazit, so far only little is known about it and its material culture. The current paper summarizes the published information regarding the site and focuses on a descriptive account of the finds collected from the site by Burian and Friedman during their surveys in the southern Coastal Plain and northern Negev. The finds suggest that the main occupation at the site (its size and characteristics are yet unknown) should be attributed to the Late Chalcolithic period, while minor components reflect an earlier presence at the site during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and Middle Chalcolithic (Qatifian/Besorian) periods and the later Early Bronze Age period.
The historic event of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) was recently identified in dozens o... more 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 Le-vant 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. ancient urban trash mounds | societal collapse | Late Antique Little Ice Age | Byzantine period | southern Levant
The historic event of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) was recently identified in dozens o... more 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 Le-vant 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. ancient urban trash mounds | societal collapse | Late Antique Little Ice Age | Byzantine period | southern Levant
This report discusses 558 malacological remains from a salvage excavation at the harbor of Yafo (... more This report discusses 558 malacological remains from a salvage excavation at the harbor of Yafo (Jaffa; see Haddad and Glick, this volume).
In the present paper, we will describe the small assemblage of bone tools made from shoulder blad... more In the present paper, we will describe the small assemblage of bone tools made from shoulder blades found at Tel Yavne and present a possible new type of tool. In addition, we seek to understand how these tools were created, how they were used, and for what purpose. We are basing this on experimental archaeology and Infrared spectroscopy (IR) analysis of traces of a plaster-like substance found on the working edge of two tools.
Life On the Soreq Riverbank: A Chalcolithic Ghassulian Site in Yavne, 2022
The excavations at Area J of the Yavne East site, south of Tel Yavne, on the bank of Nahal Soreq,... more The excavations at Area J of the Yavne East site, south of Tel Yavne, on the bank of Nahal Soreq, were undertaken in 2021, as part of soundings by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The excavations revealed another portion of the Chalcolithic site. Geomorphological research shows that during the Chalcolithic period this part of the site was located on the flood plain of an active stream. The site seems to have been a large village with two Ghassulian Chalcolithic phases, featuring stone and mud brick architecture, rich assemblages of pottery vessels, and flint and stone artifacts. The site fits well into the known concentration of Mediterranean coastal plain Chalcolithic sites, e.g. Palmahim, Namir Road, and Agamim and enriches our understanding of connections along the river channel in this period. The Chalcolithic deposit in Area J was adjacent to a river to its south. The continuation of the site was excavated north of the stream channel and up the moderately sloping kurkar ridge. The architecture and domestic finds there (Areas A, R) emphasize how different the activity on the bank was from the rest of the village
A shallow, human dug pit dated to the Early Islamic period (Area C3, 9th-10th century CE) and con... more A shallow, human dug pit dated to the Early Islamic period (Area C3, 9th-10th century CE) and containing solely pig remains (Sus scrofa/S. s. domesticus) was discovered in an ongoing large scale excavation in Tel Yavne, Israel. Evidence of the intentional disposal or interment of the pig remains in the pit raises questions regarding the reasons for this peculiar occurrence at a time that the southern Levant was subject to the rule of Islamic law and dietary prohibitions. While it is known that non-Muslim communities continued to flourish in the region during the Early Islamic period (Fischer and Taxel 2007, and see the historical references therein), direct evidence of pig exploitation at this time has not been extensively documented. Our results indicate that at least seven suids, most of them domesticated and a few of feral/wild individuals, were slaughtered and rapidly deposited together inside the pit, in a one-time event. A comparison of the remains from the pit with other suid remains from the site, dated to the late Byzantine-Early Islamic period (7th-10th century CE), shows the pit to be a strikingly dense concentration of pig remains and reveals a unique techonomic pattern of the dominance of maxilla over mandibles. Pig husbandry at the site was generally based on culling of young animals (piglets), a pattern typical of dense urban sites, while many of the animals in the pit displayed abnormal molar tooth wear, suggesting consumption of abrasive food and teeth defects indicating stressful captivity conditions. We refer to archaeological and historical data in an attempt to reconstruct a scenario explaining the suid pit.
This paper provides preliminary results of our ongoing analysis of faunal remains from the Middle... more This paper provides preliminary results of our ongoing analysis of faunal remains from the Middle Bronze IIa site of Tel Ifshar (1950-1750 BCE). The site is located in the Sharon Coastal Plain region of Israel. Tel Ifshar offers a high-resolution sequence of five major phases with four destruction layers spanning over less than 200 years. The studied faunal assemblage (NISP=3,047) is dominated by sheep and goat ( ̃50% throughout all occupation phases). Cattle and pigs vary according to the occupational horizons. Wild game, which comprise predominantly of mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella) and fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica), also fluctuate over time. The zooarchaeological research seeks to explore the socio-cultural changes at the site in a period with high social and political complexity that might derive from international trade and urbanization. Moreover, the abundance of destruction layers attests to a society living in an atmosphere of conflict and stress, but characterized by ...
This report presents an assemblage of 76 malacological remains from a salvage excavation at the F... more This report presents an assemblage of 76 malacological remains from a salvage excavation at the French School in Yafo. The assemblage includes 11 species of local Mediterranean seashells and land snails (n = 72), and also one indo-pacific bivalve—a cross made of a mother of pearl, one bivalve from the Nile River, and two fragments of freshwater bivalves, for which the species could not be identified. The specimens were retrieved from loci of the Crusader period (n = 50), the late Ottoman period (n = 24), and mixed contexts (n = 2).
This report discusses the 232 malacological remains from the excavations on Me-Raguza Street, Yaf... more This report discusses the 232 malacological remains from the excavations on Me-Raguza Street, Yafo. The assemblage includes mostly Mediterranean shells (221), land snails (10), and a fragment of Chambardia rubens from the Nile River, as well as three mother-of-pearl buttons.
This report presents 209 malacological remains from a salvage excavation in the Magen Avraham Com... more This report presents 209 malacological remains from a salvage excavation in the Magen Avraham Compound, Yafo. The assemblage includes Mediterranean (n = 201), and Indo-Pacific bivalves (n=8). Dating to the following periods: Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader, and Ottoman–British Mandate.
27 malacological remains were retrieved from the excavation within the French Hospital Compound, ... more 27 malacological remains were retrieved from the excavation within the French Hospital Compound, Yafo. The shells originated in two loci: L521, from the Late Roman period, and L401, from the Abbasid period. The malacological assemblage included common marine shells from the Mediterranean Sea.
The Late Chalcolithic site 66B is located in the northern Negev on the eastern bank of Nahal Beso... more The Late Chalcolithic site 66B is located in the northern Negev on the eastern bank of Nahal Besor about 30 km west of some of the renown Late Chalcolithic sites of the Beer Sheva basin. While the site is known for nearly 90 years, discovered by E. Macdonald, revisited by F. Burian and E. Friedman and finally incorporated into the Urim Map by D. Gazit, so far only little is known about it and its material culture. The current paper summarizes the published information regarding the site and focuses on a descriptive account of the finds collected from the site by Burian and Friedman during their surveys in the southern Coastal Plain and northern Negev. The finds suggest that the main occupation at the site (its size and characteristics are yet unknown) should be attributed to the Late Chalcolithic period, while minor components reflect an earlier presence at the site during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and Middle Chalcolithic (Qatifian/Besorian) periods and the later Early Bronze Age period.
The historic event of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) was recently identified in dozens o... more 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 Le-vant 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. ancient urban trash mounds | societal collapse | Late Antique Little Ice Age | Byzantine period | southern Levant
The historic event of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) was recently identified in dozens o... more 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 Le-vant 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. ancient urban trash mounds | societal collapse | Late Antique Little Ice Age | Byzantine period | southern Levant
ARCHAEO + MALACOLOGY GROUP NEWSLETTER, Aug 13, 2018
In Jaffa, 50 fragments of at least 20 individuals of Chambardia rubens were found in a refuse pit... more In Jaffa, 50 fragments of at least 20 individuals of Chambardia rubens were found in a refuse pit of the Late Ottoman to Early British Mandate periods. Although Chambardia rubens has been known, used and consumed in Israel/Palestine since proto-historic times, the evidence under discussion for consumption of imported Chambardia rubens in Late Ottoman and British Mandate Jaffa remains the most significant one of its kind known from the archaeological or written records so far. It is a rare product whose presence testifies to the highly cosmopolitan and urbanized character of Jaffa as a coastal city in the Levant.
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and enriches our understanding of connections along the river channel in this period.
The Chalcolithic deposit in Area J was adjacent to a river to its south. The continuation of the site was excavated north of the stream channel and up the moderately sloping kurkar ridge. The architecture and domestic finds there (Areas A, R) emphasize how different the activity on the bank was from the rest of the village
pig remains (Sus scrofa/S. s. domesticus) was discovered in an ongoing large scale excavation in Tel Yavne, Israel.
Evidence of the intentional disposal or interment of the pig remains in the pit raises questions regarding the
reasons for this peculiar occurrence at a time that the southern Levant was subject to the rule of Islamic law and
dietary prohibitions. While it is known that non-Muslim communities continued to flourish in the region during
the Early Islamic period (Fischer and Taxel 2007, and see the historical references therein), direct evidence of pig
exploitation at this time has not been extensively documented. Our results indicate that at least seven suids, most
of them domesticated and a few of feral/wild individuals, were slaughtered and rapidly deposited together inside
the pit, in a one-time event. A comparison of the remains from the pit with other suid remains from the site, dated
to the late Byzantine-Early Islamic period (7th-10th century CE), shows the pit to be a strikingly dense concentration
of pig remains and reveals a unique techonomic pattern of the dominance of maxilla over mandibles.
Pig husbandry at the site was generally based on culling of young animals (piglets), a pattern typical of dense
urban sites, while many of the animals in the pit displayed abnormal molar tooth wear, suggesting consumption
of abrasive food and teeth defects indicating stressful captivity conditions. We refer to archaeological and historical
data in an attempt to reconstruct a scenario explaining the suid pit.
and enriches our understanding of connections along the river channel in this period.
The Chalcolithic deposit in Area J was adjacent to a river to its south. The continuation of the site was excavated north of the stream channel and up the moderately sloping kurkar ridge. The architecture and domestic finds there (Areas A, R) emphasize how different the activity on the bank was from the rest of the village
pig remains (Sus scrofa/S. s. domesticus) was discovered in an ongoing large scale excavation in Tel Yavne, Israel.
Evidence of the intentional disposal or interment of the pig remains in the pit raises questions regarding the
reasons for this peculiar occurrence at a time that the southern Levant was subject to the rule of Islamic law and
dietary prohibitions. While it is known that non-Muslim communities continued to flourish in the region during
the Early Islamic period (Fischer and Taxel 2007, and see the historical references therein), direct evidence of pig
exploitation at this time has not been extensively documented. Our results indicate that at least seven suids, most
of them domesticated and a few of feral/wild individuals, were slaughtered and rapidly deposited together inside
the pit, in a one-time event. A comparison of the remains from the pit with other suid remains from the site, dated
to the late Byzantine-Early Islamic period (7th-10th century CE), shows the pit to be a strikingly dense concentration
of pig remains and reveals a unique techonomic pattern of the dominance of maxilla over mandibles.
Pig husbandry at the site was generally based on culling of young animals (piglets), a pattern typical of dense
urban sites, while many of the animals in the pit displayed abnormal molar tooth wear, suggesting consumption
of abrasive food and teeth defects indicating stressful captivity conditions. We refer to archaeological and historical
data in an attempt to reconstruct a scenario explaining the suid pit.