Galilee Prehistory Project
Overview
The Galilee Prehistory Project investigates the prehistoric period known as the Chalcolithic Period (c. 4500-3600 BCE) in the Galilee of northern Israel. This period witnessed dramatic changes in society, including the introduction of formal cemeteries and secondary burial practices, new technologies such as metallurgy, and exchange networks from Egypt to Anatolia. Yet very little is known about this period in the Galilee, where one of the most elaborate Chalcolithic burial caves was discovered.
Drone survey near Wadi al Ashert, Galilee
Yorke Rowan | Death's Dominion: Chalcolithic Religion and the Ritual Economy of the Southern Levant
History and Mission
The fifth to fourth millennia BCE in the southern Levant witnessed dramatic changes in socio-economic organization. During the Chalcolithic period (c.4500–3600 BCE), people created new ways to treat the dead, such as formal cemeteries and secondary burial practices, new technologies, such as metallurgy, and broad exchange networks. These changes underscore profound shifts in the ways that people understood and interacted with their social and physical landscapes. Scholars of prehistory struggle with why these changes occurred and their impact on social, political, and economic organization. Our interpretations rely on evidence collected from a few major Chalcolithic sites primarily located in the Negev desert and the Jordan Valley. To create a baseline for the Galilee, we conducted research at a range of sites in the region, collecting data from a variety of sites dated to the fifth through fourth millennia (Chalcolithic Period), including six seasons of excavation at the site of Marj Rabba.
The Galilee Prehistory Project Team
Select Publications
- Yorke M. Rowan, Morag M. Kersel, Austin Chad Hill, and Thomas M. Urban. "Late Prehistory of the Lower Galilee: Multifaceted investigations of Wadi el-Ashert." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 385 (2021): 1–32.
- Max D. Price, Yorke M. Rowan, Morag M. Kersel, and Cheryl A. Makarewicz. "Fodder, Pasture, and the Development of Complex Society in the Chalcolithic: Isotopic Perspectives on Animal Husbandry at Marj Rabba." Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 12 (2020): 95.
- Max D. Price, Austin Chad Hill, Yorke M. Rowan, and Morag M. Kersel. "Gazelles, Liminality and Chalcolithic Ritual: A Case Study from Marj Rabba." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 376 (2016): 7–27.
- Austin Chad Hill, Max D. Price, and Yorke M. Rowan (2016). "Feasting at Marj Rabba, an Early Chalcolithic Site in the Galilee." Oxford Journal of Archaeology 35 (2016): 127–141.
- Austin Chad Hill, Yorke M. Rowan, and Morgan M. Kersel. "Aerial Photographs: Recording the Past, the Present, and the Invisible at Marj Rabba, Israel." Near Eastern Archaeology 77 (2014): 182–186.
- Thomas M. Urban, Yorke M. Rowan, and Morag M. Kersel. "Ground penetrating radar investigations at Marj Rabba, a Chalcolithic Site in Lower Galilee, Israel." Journal of Archaeological Science 46 (2014): 96–106.
- Yorke M. Rowan, and Morag M. Kersel. "New Perspectives on the Chalcolithic Period in the Galilee: Investigations at the Site of Marj Rabba." In Material Culture Matters: Essays on the Archaeology of the Southern Levant in Honor of Seymour Gitin, edited by J. R. Spencer, A. Brody, and R. Mullins, pp. 221–237. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2013.
- Max D. Price, Mike Buckley, Morag M. Kersel, and Yorke M. Rowan. "Animal Management Strategies during the Chalcolithic in the Lower Galilee: New Data from Marj Rabba." Paléorient 39 (2013): 183–200.
- Yorke M. Rowan, Thomas M. Urban, and Morag M. Kersel. "Recent Ground Penetrating Radar Discoveries at Marj Rabba, Israel." Antiquity 86/334 (2012): 1–3. (online at http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/rowan334/)