Stone vessels first appeared in the southern Levant during the Upper Palaeolithic period, whereas pottery was introduced to the region at ca. 6,400 cal BC by the Yarmukian culture of the Pottery Neolithic period. Since the Yarmukian culture was first discovered, numerous studies have been devoted to the typo-technological characteristics of its pottery. A recent comprehensive study we conducted on the Pottery Neolithic period, demonstrated that the introduction of ceramic technology had no significant effect on stone vessel production, which continued to flourish throughout the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. While this suggests that stone and pottery vessels were produced and used differently, operating in discrete techno-functional systems, the technological characteristics of stone vessel production were hardly studied in comparable detail. The current paper focuses on the production of limestone vessels in the well-known Yarmukian site of Sha‘ar Hagolan. We will present and discuss these vessels’ characteristics, their technology and contexts of production, as well as contexts of use.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are essentially a historiographic composition that recounts the story of the returnees from the Babylonian exile (586 BCE) to Judah during the Persian Period (Ezra 1:1,5; 3:11). Scholars have debated whether Ezra-Nehemiah were initially composed as one book or as two books that were later merged. VanderKam, Kraemer, Grabbe, and Becking claim that Ezra and Nehemiah are two separate compositions based on the introductory verse in the book Nehemiah (Neh 1:1), the almost identical list of returnees included in both Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra 2//Nehemiah 7), and conceptual and ideological differences between the two compositions. 1 Other scholars argue for one composition as the earliest canonical traditions consider Ezra and Nehemiah to be one book. These include the Septuagint [LXX], the Talmud (b. B. Bat. 14b–15a), and the earliest manuscripts of the Masoretic Texts. These scholars point to the unity of the two books.

Innovations, such as symbolic artifacts, are a product of cognitive abilities but also of cultural context. Factors that may determine the emergence and retention of an innovation include the population's pre-existing cultural repertoire, exposure to relevant ways of thinking, and the invention's utility. Thus, we suggest that the production of symbolic artifacts is not guaranteed even in cognitively advanced societies.

Excavators of tell Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel uncovered a Tetrarchic boundary stone reused as a cover for a Mamluk-period grave. The inscription mentions a hitherto unknown imperial surveyor (censitor). It is suggested that this individual may have been a colleague of Aelius Statutus, the censitor recorded on the boundary stones of the province of Syria Phoenice. Additionally, the inscription reveals two new toponyms: ‘Tirthas’ and ‘Golgol’, which may correspond to preserved toponyms Kh. Turritha and Tell ʿAjul, respectively. These locations were last recorded by the Survey of Western Palestine (SWP). The paper places this discovery in the context of other boundary stones in the Paneas/Caesarea-Phillipi territory and attempts to explain their extraordinary concentration in light of Diocletianic tax reforms and rabbinic sources. The authors suggest that the territory was probably filled with fields and farms owned by small landholders who paid their taxes independently of the city, providing insight into the complex relationship between taxation, land ownership, and settlement history.

In recent years, archaeological research has demonstrated the presence of abstract non-utilitarian behaviour amongst palaeolithic hominins, fuelling discussions concerning the origin and implications of such complex behaviours. A key component in these discussions is the aesthetic and symbolic character of intentionally incised artefacts. In this study, we emphasize the geometry of the incisions as clues to intentionality. Using 3D surface analysis, we characterised incisions found on a Levallois core from Manot cave, and on a flake and retouched blade from Amud cave. In addition, we applied the same methodology to the previously published engraved Levallois core from Qafzeh and the plaquette from Quneitra. The incisions on the Manot, Qafzeh and Quneitra artefacts show similar geometric characteristics. Notably in each of these cases, the incisions form patterns that align with the artefact’s surface topography and shape. In contrast, the incisions on the Amud artefacts are shallower, with no clear orientation or patterning. The methodology applied thus creates a comparative context for MP incised items, reinforcing the interpretation of the Manot, Qafzeh and Quneitra artefacts as deliberate engravings, whereas the marks on the items from Amud are consistent with their functional use as abraders. While the Qafzeh, Quneitra and Manot items are isolated initiatives in their chronological and geographic contexts, the shared traits of the intentional engravings underscore their predetermined nature.

In contrast to animal foods, wild plants often require long, multistep processing techniques that involve significant cognitive skills and advanced toolkits to perform. These costs are thought to have hindered how hominins used these foods and delayed their adoption into our diets. Through the analysis of starch grains preserved on basalt anvils and percussors, we demonstrate that a wide variety of plants were processed by Middle Pleistocene hominins at the site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel, at least 780,000 y ago. These results further indicate the advanced cognitive abilities of our early ancestors, including their ability to collect plants from varying distances and from a wide range of habitats and to mechanically process them using percussive tools.

Research on the metallurgy of the Late Chalcolithic (LC), the first metal-bearing era in the southern Levant, has hitherto neglected an important metallurgical component – green-coated steatite beads, uncovered in multiple LC sites and contexts. In this study, we conducted a multifaceted study of coated and uncoated beads found in 1960 in the Cave of Skulls (Judean Desert, Israel), where the largest LC bead collection known to date was uncovered. For the first time, the green coating was extracted from the beads and analyzed separately. Combining scanning electron microscope and lead isotope analysis (LID), the study shows that all beads were made of fired steatite, and some were coated with copper (Cu) compounds. The LID results could not trace the origin of the steatite but point to the southern Arabah Valley, Israel as a likely source of the Cu minerals. This indicates that the green beads were manufactured in two separate processes in different locations. These findings shed light on the economic connections between sedentary and mobile groups during the late fifth millennium BCE.

A unique mudbrick installation with a plastered double basin on its top was uncovered in the latest Iron I stratum (A2) at Tel Abel Beth Maacah (Tell Abil el-Qamh), a large site in the northern Hula Valley, Israel. The installation was discovered in a unit that was part of a large, elaborate public complex with an exceptional architectural plan, located in the centre of the site. The installation under discussion appears with other features that bear cultic associations, along with some that can be considered mundane. This article presents the context, focusing on the installation by itself and in tandem with the other features, with the goal of exploring the possible cultic function of this space and of the unit as a whole.

In this article we deal with the site of Tall adh-Dhahab al-Gharbi in the valley of the az-Zarqa River, the biblical Jabbok, in Jordan. We discuss a group of incised ashlar blocks found there, probably dating to the first half of the 8th century BCE. We suggest that the blocks originated from an official building, a residency or a gate complex, not yet excavated, and propose thematic similarities with visual imagery from Kuntillet ʿAjrud. We then show that this site can be securely identified with biblical Mahanaim and point to several biblical verses that may hint at the existence of a North Israelite residency there.