Ancient Fishing Methods and Fishing Grounds in the Lake of Galilee

Fishing was an important economic activity in the Lake of Galilee during the Roman period. This study proposes a comparative analysis involving archaeological remains, classic literature, ancient art and modern ethnographical accounts regarding fishing in the Kinneret to produce an historical reconstruction of the ancient commercial fishing methods. Furthermore, it aims to individuate the most important fishing areas, the fishing seasons, and to the roll of cities and towns around the Kinneret within the fishing industry.     

Galilee Blooming: First palynological and archaeological data from an Early Byzantine Cistern at Horvat Kur

Abstract

Preliminary archaeological and palynological results are presented from an early Byzantine cistern of the village Horvat Kur in eastern Lower Galilee/Israel. The rural site was settled from the Hellenistic until the Early Arab period, its synagogue was constructed shortly after 425 AD and renovated sometimes during the 2nd half of the 6th century AD. It was abandoned probably as a consequence of the earthquake of 749 AD. The intact and properly sealed cistern contained complete or fully restorable pottery. Two cooking pots from the early 5th century AD comprised sediments which was sampled for palynological purposes. Both samples, as well as a sample from the soil beneath one of the pots and a modern surface sample from the site, revealed well preserved palynomorphs in comparably high concentration showing a great potential of the cistern as a pollen archive. The pollen content points to an open, grassy semiarid landscape with an apparent scarcity of cultivars and trees in the vicinity of the site and an abundance of herbs, especially Asteraceae, which are still commonly found in modern regional vegetation.     

Determining the settlement history of Hellenistic,Roman, and Byzantine sites in the Galilee,Israel: Comparing surface,subsurface, and stratified artifact assemblages

Abstract

Archaeological field survey is the basic method for determining the history of settlement on the regional level. The backbone of survey is locating and surveying individual sites, estimating their size, and uncovering their settlement histories. Various biases place doubt on the reliability of surface data and the conclusions drawn from them. This study presents three methods for investigating multiperiod sites in eastern Galilee, Israel: advanced surface survey, shovel test sampling, and large-scale stratigraphic excavations. Advanced surface survey was carried out at 46 sites settled during the Hellenistic through Byzantine periods (ca. 300 b.c.–a.d. 650). Three of these sites were later sampled using shovel test pits. Large-scale excavations were conducted at two of these sites, Khirbet Wadi ?amam and Nasr ed-Din enabling the comparison of the three methods. Applying these three methods to the same sites allowed us to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each method for determining settlement history. The results indicate that a thorough surface survey of a site in an area where local pottery is well documented can provide a clear picture of its occupation history. However, these data are not sufficient to determine variations in the size of the site over time. Shovel test sampling presents no advantage over surface survey with regard to documenting periods of activity at a given site, but it is preferable for tracing changes in the intensity of occupation during different periods. Excavation is the most informative method, but because it is costly and time consuming, it often sheds light only on small portions of selected sites.     

Khalsa: The Town with a ‘Golden Fountain’: The Rise and Fall of an Arab Town North of the Huleh Valley

This article deals with the history of a frontier Arab town—Khalsa—which was the centre of the Huleh Valley and the connection between Galilee, Southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights during the British Mandate in Palestine (1918–48). This article aims to explore the changes and transformations that occurred in the town and the Huleh Valley in general, and tries to show that, during that period, this remote and peripheral area underwent many social and economic changes. It also demonstrates that these changes not only occurred in the central areas in Palestine but also reached the northern parts. In addition, this article tells the ‘story’ of how this Arab town, which has not been addressed in earlier studies, grew rapidly, and why it collapsed quickly in the 1948 war. It examines what the role of its leader, Kamil Hussein, was and how his relationship with the Bedouin tribes and the Jewish settlements and leaders in the valley affected the results of the war. The story of Khalsa is, to some extent, a case study on the macro-level of what was happening in the Holy Land in the three decades of British rule.