An ecclesiastical complex has recently been discovered in Ashdod Maritima – ancient Azotus. The site was excavated in 2019 and 2021. The complex includes a basilica, several rooms, and a chapel on the north side, all decorated with mosaic pavements. A mixed trend comes to light in the mosaics: on the one hand, there is a continuation of the geometric and vegetal compositions and motifs that originated in the Roman world and continued into the Byzantine period. On the other hand, the complex is unique in the many symbols of faith that appear, scattered throughout its parts. All types of crosses are depicted; a medallion with a Greek cross accompanied by the Greek letters iota-chi, and alpha and omega; a medallion with a Latin cross standing on Golgotha Hill with the Greek letters iota-chi and alpha and omega; a large Latin cross standing on Golgotha Hill with two large Greek crosses between its arms; and a medallion with a quote from Psalms. The complex is exceptional in the large number of crosses, the names of the bishops, priest, deacon, and deaconesses who were involved in the construction and decoration or were buried in the complex, and the large number of dated inscriptions.

The color red has held significant historical symbolism and meaning throughout history and can be produced from various sources, including plants and animals. Some of the most luxurious red dyes were derived from various species of scale insects, particularly those in the Coccideae family. Today, advanced analytical methods allow us to trace the origins of dyes even after thousands of years. This information provides insights into the technological capabilities of the ancient world, as well as the economic and social conditions of the time. In our research on textiles discovered in the Cave of the Skulls in the Judean Desert, we conducted dye analyses using High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and identified one unique, red-dyed textile, which was dyed with scale insects. Moreover, this capability enables us to pinpoint the precise source of the red color in archaeological textiles down to the species level, and it can be determined with a high degree of certainty that the dye used was kermes. Radiocarbon dating places this textile in the Middle Bronze Age (1954-1767 B.C.). According to our results, this fragment is currently the earliest-known insect-dyed textile in the archaeological record, shedding light on the use of scale-insect dyes in ancient textile production.

Shells have been used as beads for ornamentation from early human history to this day. The Neolithic period in the Levant brought about profound changes in human lifeways that influenced the ways people chose, manufactured, and used shell beads. Different traces etched on shell beads may reflect various manufacturing modes and materials and diverse uses and interactions that shell beads had with different materials during use. In order to aid in the interpretation of such traces an experimental scheme was devised and carried out. Various Neolithic-style shell bead types were fabricated, using different techniques and materials; the replicas were strung by different strings, against different backdrop materials and in diverse configurations; and swung on a pendulating machine. Replicated shell beads were examined under low magnification and the traces recognized on them compared to wear traces identified on archaeological Neolithic shell beads from the Southern Levant. The comparison allowed, among other results, to define a specific type of wear associated with stringing and use of particular shell beads common in the Neolithic Levant. This finding will significantly increase our ability to recognize and interpret shell bead use in general, and particularly may be incorporated in a broader understanding of Neolithic dress, society and lifeways.

Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Armenian Highlands and wider southern Caucasus region emphasises the significance of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3 (c. 57–29 ka) as a crucial period for understanding hominin behaviours amidst environmental fluctuations. Ararat-1 cave, situated in the Ararat Depression, Republic of Armenia, presents potential for resolving emerging key debates regarding hominin land use adaptations during this interval, due to its well-preserved lithic artefacts and faunal assemblages. We present the first results of combined sedimentological, geochronological (luminescence and radiocarbon), archaeological and palaeoecological (macrofauna, microfauna and microcharcoal) study of the Ararat-1 sequence. We demonstrate sediment accumulation occurred between 52 and 35 ka and was caused by a combination of aeolian activity, cave rockfall and water action. Whilst the upper strata of the Ararat-1 sequence experienced post-depositional disturbance due to faunal and anthropogenic processes, the lower strata remain relatively undisturbed. We suggest that during a stable period within MIS 3, Ararat-1 was inhabited by Middle Palaeolithic hominins amidst a mosaic of semi-arid shrub, grassland, and temperate woodland ecosystems. These hominins utilised local and distant toolstone raw materials, indicating their ability to adapt to diverse ecological and elevation gradients. Through comparison of Ararat-1 with other sequences in the region, we highlight the spatial variability of MIS 3 environments and its on hominin land use adaptations. This demonstrates the importance of the Armenian Highlands for understanding regional MP settlement dynamics during a critical period of hominin dispersals and evolution.

The global distribution of footpaths and their inferred antiquity implies that they are widespread spatial and temporal anthropogenic landscape units. Arid environments are of special interest for investigating historically used footpaths, as older routes may preserve better due to minimal modern impact and slower pedogenic processes. Here we examine footpaths in the Judean Desert of the southern Levant, a human hotspot throughout the Holocene. We studied one modern and two archaeological footpaths (one attributed to the Early Bronze Age and one to the Roman period) using micromorphology, bulk samples laboratory analysis, and remote sensing. Field observations and color analysis indicate that footpaths in the studied arid limestone environment can result in brighter surface color than their non-path surroundings. Similar color changes are reflected using both laboratory analysis and high-resolution remote sensing, where the difference is also significant. Microscopically, the footpaths studied tend to be less porous and with fewer biogenic activities when compared to their non-path controls. However, the two ancient footpaths studied do exhibit minimal indicators of biogenic activities that are not detectable in the modern footpath sample. Our study shows that high-resolution remote sensing coupled with micromorphology, while using appropriate local modern analogies, can help to locate and assess both the environmental effect and the antiquity of footpaths.

During the Late Middle Paleolithic (-130 / -40 ka) in northern and western Europe, a massivedevelopment in bifacial tools productions has been identified at the end of MIS 5 (-90 / -80 ka) andMIS 3 (-60 / -40 ka). These bifacial tools are characterized by substantial morphological variations,suggesting the existence of regional cultural entities within Neanderthal societies. Thus far, severalsuch entities have been identified based on that variability. This is notably the case of a technocomplexidentified in southwestern part of France: the Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition (MTA). Based on thedistribution of handaxe morphologies, the geographical extent of this entity was initially thought torange from the Loire River to the western Pyrenean Mountains. However, recent research hasquestioned the homogeneity of Late Middle Paleolithic assemblages found in the northern and thesouthern parts of Aquitaine region.In 2018, a collective project supported by the Hubert Curien-Maïmonide program has broughttogether researchers from France, Spain, Portugal and Israel. Our research project applied aninnovative methodological approach for analyzing 3D digital models of handaxes using a combinationof 3D geometric morphometrics with traditional technological observations.Within this framework, 280 handaxes from 13 archaeological sites distributed in twochronological phases (MIS 5 and MIS 3) of the Late Middle Paleolithic and two regional settings(Northern and Southern Aquitaine). Sites were selected according to the reliability of theirchronostratigraphic context and geographical distribution across Aquitaine region.Our results provide new information concerning the variability in handaxes assemblages, bothfrom a diachronic and synchronic point of view, and their possible causes (environmental, functional,cultural). A clear shape-based distinction is identifiable between MIS 5 and MIS 3 handaxes suggestinga strong shift in tradition through time. From a geographic perspective, during MIS 5 handaxes do notshow clear regional differences, while during MIS 3 assemblages originating from north and southAquitaine exhibit strong morphological differences between them supporting interpretation ofregionally separated cultural entities.At this geographic scale, this work has the potential to provide quantitative data which can beused to evaluate hypotheses about population dispersals and their chronology in Western Europe aswell as the mechanisms of interregional interactions between Neanderthal societies during these phases.

The archaeological survey of the Kamon cave revealed several groups of finds, including a hoard of coins and jewelry; a cache comprising a lamp with agate beads inside it; several pottery vessels and an arrowhead found together in a rock crevice; and scattered pottery and metal artifacts. Based on the finds, it was concluded that the major period of human activity in the cave was at the beginning of the Hellenistic period, with meager activity during Iron Age IIA. The cave probably served as a refuge for a group of people during the Wars of the Diadochi. This article discusses the social background of the refugees and the circumstances leading to the deposition of the hoard.

Spheroids are one of the least understood lithic items yet are one of the most enduring, spanning from the Oldowan to the Middle Palaeolithic. Why and how they were made remains highly debated. We seek to address whether spheroids represent unintentional by-products of percussive tasks or if they were intentionally knapped tools with specific manufacturing goals. We apply novel three-dimensional analysis methods, including spherical harmonics and surface curvature, to 150 limestone spheroids from ‘Ubeidiya (ca 1.4 Ma), presently the earliest Acheulean occurrence outside of Africa, to bring a new perspective to these enigmatic artefacts. We reconstruct the spheroid reduction sequence based on trends in their scar facets and geometry, finding that the spheroid makers at ‘Ubeidiya followed a premeditated reduction strategy. During their manufacture, the spheroids do not become smoother, but they become markedly more spherical. They approach an ideal sphere, a feat that likely required skilful knapping and a preconceived goal. Acheulean bifaces are currently thought to represent the earliest evidence of hominins imposing a premeditated, symmetrical shape on stone. The intentional production of sphere-like objects at ‘Ubeidiya similarly shows evidence of Acheulean hominins desiring and achieving intentional geometry and symmetry in stone.

Human occupation of the 'En Gedi oasis, extending along the western coast of the Dead Sea, began in the Chalcolithic period, yet became especially significant from the late Iron Age (Mazar et al. 1966) until the Byzantine period, as can be inferred from numerous textual sources, as well as from archaeological data accumulated over 70 years of surveys and excavations in the area. The history of settlement in the Late Roman and Byzantine periods is quite well-documented following extensive excavations of the synagogue (Porath 2021) and the village to its north (Hadas 2005; Hirschfeld 2007; Hadas and Peleg-Barkat, forthcoming). Our knowledge of the settlement at the site during the earlier periods, however, remains vague, with lingering questions regarding, e.g., the extent of the settlement and the socio-economic character of its inhabitants, as well as settlement gaps. For example, apart from the citadel on Tel Goren, excavated by Mazar and very concisely published by Stern (2007:273-274), the Hasmonean settlement at 'En Gedi is largely unknown; known to even a lesser extent is the settlement under the reign of King Herod. This paper presents two clusters of burial caves dated to the second and first centuries BCE, excavated by the late Prof. Nahman Avigad, which shed light on the settlement at 'En Gedi under the reigns of the Hasmoneans and Herod the Great in the second—first centuries BCE.

The Cave of the Swords is a small cave located in the middle of a stepped cliff in the lower part of the Dead Sea Fault Escarpment (map ref. 237700/598207), some 700 m north of the 'En Gedi Field School and Nahal David, roughly 1.5 km north of the ancient settlement of 'En Gedi (Figs. 1; 2). The cave is located 236 m below sea level, about 150 m above Road 90 along the Dead Sea's western coast. The cave imay be reached by climbing up the escarpment from the Dead Sea coast or by using the path connecting the ancient irrigated terraces north of Naha] David. The cave comprises two superposed levels, each with a wide opening (Fig. 3). The lower level (c. 12 m long, max. width c. 3 m, max. height c. 6.5 m), conveniently accessed from the north, is an elongated narrow rock shelter, with an east-facing opening. The southern part of this level is lower than its northern part, and it is delimited by a wall of tufa and stalactites, with small spaces in between and a kind of 'window' to the southeast. Near the western wall in the northern part of the lower level is a narrow shaft (c. 3.5 m high), which provides access to the cave's upper level. The upper level is smaller (max. length c. 6 m, width c. 5 m, max. height c. 2.3 m), with tufa deposits, speleothems and flowstone on its southern side that create many small and narrow niches and crevasses in the cave walls (Figs. 4; 5).