Galilee Prehistory Project
Directed by Yorke Rowan and Morag Kersel (DePaul University), the Galilee Prehistory Project combines archaeological evidence, geophysical, pedestrian and aerial survey, and paleoenvironmental studies to examine the dramatic changes in the lives of people in the Galilee during the fifth to fourth millennium BC (the Chalcolithic Period). This research examines the reasons for the rapid population expansion and settlement expansion into more marginal environments during the Chalcolithic period. Five seasons of excavation and survey at the site of Marj Rabba, the largest site in the Galilee, was the first phase of the project. This was followed by single seasons of exploration at Wadi Ashert, Tel Nes and Horvat Duvshan. (Publications below)
Recent Publications:
Rowan, Y. M., M. M. Kersel, A. C. Hill and T. Urban 2021. Late Prehistory of the Lower Galilee: Multi-faceted investigations of Wadi el-Ashert. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 385.1. doi.org/10.1086/711381.
Price, M., Rowan, Y. M., Kersel, M. M., and Makarewicz, C. A. 2020. Fodder, Pasture, and the Development of Complex Society in the Chalcolithic: isotopic perspectives on animal husbandry at Marj Rabba. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 12, 95. doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01043-z.
Hill, A.C., Price, M. and Y. M. Rowan 2016. Feasting at Marj Rabba, an Early Chalcolithic Site in the Galilee. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 35(2): 127-141.