Our Research
Our research ideas spring from the excellent work in the region done by so many other archaeologists. We hope that our answers will lead to even more questions in the coming years as we seek to piece together the deep history of the Jezreel Valley and Galilean Hills. Please visit the links below to learn about specific areas of research within the excavation.
Geographic Setting
Early Bronze Age
Middle Bronze Age
Late Bronze Age
Iron Age
Persian Period
Hellenistic Period
Roman and Late Roman Periods
Islamic Period
Our Progress
Summer 2024: Sixth Field Season
The team excavated a cache of rare cultic objects used 3,800 years ago by ancient Canaanites at the top of tel. Team members also continued to excavate the Iron Age building located down the slope from the Middle Bronze Age complex.
Summer 2023: Fifth Field Season
Excavation continued on the summit of the tel where a vaulted passageway dating back 3,800 years was excavated. Down the slope, work revealed more of the alley and houses in the Jewish village. In adjacent areas, excavation revealed more of the Iron Age building first uncovered during the 2021 field season as well as Mamluk garbage dumps full of kitchen waste. At the base of the tel, work exposed more of the Middle Bronze Age settlement.
Summer 2022: Fourth Field Season
The team excavated in all previously opened areas revealing more of the Middle Bronze Age, Ptolemaic, and Hellenistic settlements at the base of the tel. Up the slope, more of the Jewish village and Iron Age building were uncovered, and at the top of the tel, excavators uncovered more Middle Bronze Age levels.
Summer 2021: Third Field Season
Team members excavated Middle Bronze Age houses at the base of the tel, uncovered an Iron Age building, revealed more of the Jewish village, and excavated Mamluk garbage dumps on the tel, and exposed more Middle Bronze Age levels on the summit of the tel.
Summer 2019: Second Field Season
Excavated in all previously opened areas exposing more of the Middle Bronze Age settlement, the Hellenistic industrial courtyard and an earlier Ptolemaic building, as well as the Jewish village.
Summer 2018: First Study Season
Team members studied ceramics collected during the first season of excavation to investigate and further develop the ceramic typology and chronology for the site.
Summer 2017: First Field Season
During our first field season, we opened excavation areas on the summit of the tel, midway down the slope, and at the base of the tel. Excavation in these areas uncovered Middle Bronze Age houses, Iron Age pits, a Hellenistic industrial courtyard, and houses in a Jewish village dated to the first century CE.
Summer 2016: Geophysical Survey
Conducted a site-wide reconnaissance survey using traditional pedestrian survey and ground-based geophysical methods in order to determine the general periodization of the site as well as the potential layout of any near sub-surface architecture. The survey served as both an extension and re-evaluation of the 1982 survey by Yuval Portugali and Avner Raban.