Sha’ar Hagolan Excavation Project
Project type/s:
Archaeological research project and field school
Location:
The Kibbutz Sha’ar HaGolan, Israel
Funding:
The French Research Centre in Jerusalem (CRFJ, Israel), the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the Rust Family Foundation through King Baudouin Foundation New York (USA) and the Balkan Heritage Foundation (Bulgaria).
Project started / Status:
2022 / Ongoing
There is a Balkan Heritage Field School affiliated with this project.
Sha’ar Hagolan is a major stratified site dated to the 7th-millennium cal. BCE, located in the Jordan Valley, Israel. It extends over 20 hectares, making it one of the largest Neolithic villages in the Near East. Between 1989 and 2004, Yosef Garfinkel (Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) carried out a 3000 sq. m excavation aiming to explore the last Neolithic occupation phases of the village (6200-5900 cal. BCE). This large-scale excavation revealed the existence of real living quarters separated by streets, upsetting our knowledge regarding the social organization of the Yarmukian communities at the end of the 7th-millennium cal. BCE. It provided an impressive amount of Neolithic artifacts including 1 000 000 lithic pieces, 90 000 potsherds, 50 000 animal bones and more than 300 clay figurines, shedding new light on the economic and symbolic worlds of the society. The excavation of the site was resumed by a joint French-Israeli team in 2022.
The 7th millennium cal. BCE represents a decisive stage in the long Neolithization process insofar as the Levantine populations definitively adopted a way of life based on sédentarisé, agriculture and livestock as well as pottery. This historical shift – the so-called Second Neolithic Revolution – occurred during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) to the Pottery Neolithic (PN) transition, which was characterized by deep:
- Economic changes. Although it emerged as early as the PPN, the practice of pottery became widespread during the PN. What did the populations of the Southern Levant do with their ceramic vessels? Did they use them to store, transport or cook the various animal and plant resources exploited? The other major economic change that occurred during the 7th millennium cal. BC is the development of pastoralism. For what purpose did the communities of the 7th millennium begin to practice transhumance? Did they exploit the secondary products of the breeding, such as milk? Is there a link between the widespread adoption of pottery and the development of pastoralism during the PPN-PN transition?
- Social transformations. During the PN, we observe the emergence of villages structured in neighborhoods and streets. Why did the inner organization of the open-air settlements change during the 7th millennium cal. BC?
- Symbolic changes. While they were common at the end of the PPN, the human burials became rare at the beginning of the PN. What did the populations of the Southern Levant do with their dead? Did they bury them outside the village or cremate them? In contrast, anthropomorphic figurines which were rare during the PPN became numerous during the PN. What did they represent for the Neolithic communities? Were they the evidence of ancestor cult or mother goddess devotion? Is there a link between the disappearance of skeletons and the appearance of human figurines during the PPN-PN transition?
The assumptions made so far on the various economic, social and symbolic changes that characterize the so-called Second Neolithic Revolution remain, however, highly speculative due to the lack of consistent data on the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Pottery Neolithic (± 6600-6200 cal. BCЕ) transition. Because it has a unique stratigraphic sequence (2m thick) covering the entire 7th millennium cal. BC, the eponymous village of Sha’ar Hagolan represents a key site for explaining the various changes that took place during this historical period.
The current excavation project concerns the early occupation phases of the Neolithic village (6700-6200 cal. BCE). It aims to better understand the full development of the Neolithic way of life in the Near East (the so-called “Second Neolithic Revolution”), by questioning the human processes underlying the various economic (emergence of pottery, development of pastoralism), social (emergence of urban concept) and symbolic (scarcity of human burials, explosion of anthropomorphic figurines) changes that occurred during the 7th millennium cal. BC. In other words, why did the Levantine populations make all these changes? When and How did it take place? To answer these historical questions, a meticulous excavation of the PPN-PN transitional layers following the palaethnographic approach elaborated by André Leroi-Gourhan will be undertaken. It will consist of carefully clearing out the successive Neolithic occupation floors by following the slope of the archaeological layers identified on the basis of sedimentary differences and/or concentrations of prehistoric artifacts.
Excavation Directors:
Dr Julien Vieugué – Permanent researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Field archaeologist – Specialist of the Early Pottery Neolithic period in the Southern Levant. Research topic: “From stone to ceramic vessels: paces, causes and processes for the late adoption of pottery in the Southern Levant”.
Anna Eirikh-Rose – Permanent researcher at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) Field archaeologist – Specialist of the Early Pottery Neolithic period in the Southern Levant. Research topic: “Jericho IX assemblages and the Pottery Neolithic of the Southern Levant”.
BHF contribution: The Foundation has supported the project through:
- Participation in the field research of the BHF affiliate archaeologists: Dr Kamen Boyadzhiev – Permanent Researcher at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Science. Field Archaeologist and specialist in Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in Bulgaria and the Balkans and Dr. Brent Whitford – Senior Curator and Administrator в Cornwall Community Museum, UK (PhD candidate at New York University, USA).
- A grant of 7000 USD awarded by the Rust Family Foundation through King Baudouin Foundation New York (USA) in 2023.
- Archaeological field school – part of the Balkan Heritage Field School program.
BHF project partners: UMIFRE 7 French Research Centre in Jerusalem (CNRS), Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), UMR 8068 TEMPS Laboratory (CNRS).
Readings:
- Eirikh-Rose A. and Garfinkel Y. 2002 The pottery. In: Garfinkel Y. and Miller M. (eds.), Sha’ar Hagolan I. Neolithic Art in Context: 86-138. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
- Garfinkel Y. 1992 The pottery assemblages of the Sha’ar Hagolan and Rabah stages of Munhata (Israel). Paris : Association Paléorient (Les cahiers du CRFJ 6).
- Garfinkel Y. 1993 The Yarmukian Culture in Israel. Paléorient 19,1: 115-134.
- Garfinkel Y. 1999 Neolithic and Chalcolithic pottery of the Southern Levant. Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology (Qedem 39).
- Garfinkel Y. 2014. The Levant in the Pottery Neolithic and the Chalcolithic period. In: Renfrew C., Bahn P. (eds.), The Cambridge World Prehistory 3: 1439-1461. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Garfinkel Y. and Ben-Shlomo D. 2009. Sha’ar Hagolan II – The rise of urban concepts in the Ancient Near East. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society (Qedem Reports 9).
- Garfinkel Y. and Miller M.A. 2002 Sha’ar Hagolan I: Neolithic Art in Context. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
- Garfinkel Y., Ben-Shlomo D. and Korn N. 2010 Sha’ar Hagolan III. Symbolic dimensions of the Yarmukian Culture: canonization in Neolithic art. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.
- Garfinkel Y., Ben-Shlomo D. and Marom N. 2012 Sha’ar Hagolan: a major pottery Neolithic settlement and artistic center in the Jordan Valley. Eurasian Prehistory 8,1: 97-143.
- Gopher A. 1998 Early Pottery-bearing groups in Israel: the pottery Neolithic period. In: Levy E. (ed.), The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land: 205-221. London: Leicester University Press.
- Gopher, A. 2012. The Pottery Neolithic in the Southern Levant: a second Neolithic revolution. In, Gopher, A. (eds), Village communities of the Pottery Neolithic period in the Menashe hills, Israel. Archaeological investigations at the sites of Nahal Zehora, Tel Aviv: Emery and Claire Yass Publications in Archaeology: 1525-75.
- Gopher A. (e d .) 2012 Village communities of the Pottery Neolithic period in the Menashe hills, Israel. Archaeological investigations at the sites of Nahal Zehora. Tel Aviv: Emery and Claire Yass Publications in Archaeology.
- Gopher A. and Eyal R. 2012 The pottery assemblages at the Nahal Zehora sites: a summary. In: Gopher A. (ed.): 697-744.
- Gopher A. and Gophna R. 1993 Cultures of the eight and seventh Millennia BP in the Southern Levant: a review for the 1990s. Journal of World Prehistory 7,3: 297-353.
- Gopher, A. and Orrelle, E. 1996. An alternative Interpretation for the material imagery of the Yarmukian, a Neolithic culture of the sixth millennium BC in the Southern Levant. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 6/2: 255-79.
- Goren Y. and Gopher A. 1995 The beginning of pottery production in the Southern Levant: a model. In: Vincenzini P.V. (ed.), The Ceramics Cultural Heritage: 21-28. Faenza: Techna.
- Goren Y., Gopher A. and Golberg P. 1993 The beginnings of pottery production in the Southern Levant: technological and social aspects. In: Biran A. and Aviram J. (eds.), Biblical Archaeology Today 1990: 33-40. Jerusalem.
- Kafafi Z. A. 1993 The Yarmoukians in Jordan. Paléorient 19,1: 101-113.
- Kafafi Z. A. 2001 Jebel Abu Thawwab (Er-Rumman), Central Jordan. The Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age 1 Occupations. Berlin: ex Oriente.
- Nativ A., Gopher A. and Goren Y. 2012 Pottery production at Nahal Zehora II. In: Gopher A. (ed.), Village communities of the Pottery Neolithic period in the Menashe hills, Israel. Archaeological investigations at the sites of Nahal Zehora: 657-696. Tel Aviv: Emery and Claire Yass Publications in Archaeology.
- Nativ A., Rosenberg d. and Nadel D. 2014 The southern tip of the northern Levant? The Early Pottery Neolithic assemblage of Tel ro’im West, Israel. Paléorient 40,1: 99-115.
- Rollefson G.O. 1993 The origins of Yarmoukian at ‘Ain Ghazal. Paléorient 19,1: 91-100.
- Rollefson, G. O. and Kohler-Rollefson, I. 1993. PPNC adaptations in the first half of the 6th millennium B.C. Paléorient 19/1: 33-42.
- Rosenberg D. and Garfinkel Y. 2014 Sha’ar Hagolan IV: The Ground-Stone Industry: Stone working at the dawn of pottery production in the Southern Levant. Jerusalem: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel Exploration Society 29).
- Vieugué, J., Garfinkel, Y., Barzilai, O. and Van den Brink, E. 2016. Pottery function and culinary practices of Yarmukian societies in the late 7th millennium cal. BC: first results. Paléorient 42/2: 97-115.
