Gesher is an archaeological site located on the southern bank of
Nahal Tavor, near
kibbutz Gesher in the central
Jordan Valley
The Jordan Valley ( ar, غور الأردن, ''Ghor al-Urdun''; he, עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, ''Emek HaYarden'') forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to ...
of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. It bears signs of occupation from two periods, the very
early Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
and the
Middle Bronze Age. The site was first excavated between 1986 and 1987 by
Yosef Garfinkel
Yosef Garfinkel (hebrew: יוסף גרפינקל; born 1956) is an Israeli archaeologist and academic. He is Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and of Archaeology of the Biblical Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Biography
Yosef (Yo ...
of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem and between 2002 and 2004 by Susan Cohen of
Montana State University. The average of 4
radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was dev ...
results suggested inhabitation of the settlement around 8000
BC.
During the
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A the site was a small village composed of a few rounded structures. Typical
flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...
finds included a high number of
el-Khiam points which Garfinkel argued, along with the relatively early date could class Gesher as a
Khiamian
The Khiamian culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture of Southwest Asia, dating to the earliest part of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), around 9,700 to 8,600 BC. It is primarily characterised by a distinctive type of stone arrowhead—t ...
site.
One outstanding discovery, unknown from any other
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
site of the period in the
Near East, is a workshop for the production of basalt
artifacts. The workshop produced basalt axes and various other tools which were then sent to other early Neolithic centers, such as
Jericho
Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...
and
Netiv Hagdud. According to radiometric dates, Gesher is one of the earliest Neolithic sites in the Near East. During this period the first villages were established and the transition to agriculture occurred. A final excavation report on the Neolithic site was published in 2006.
During the Middle Bronze Age IIA, Gesher served as a cemetery. Some 20 graves have been uncovered. These are shaft graves, dug into the local sediment, used for individual burials and never reopened. This facilitates the study of burial customs, including body position, the quantity of grave goods and their relation to the deceased. Bronze spearheads and axes (including three duck-bill axes) were found in four of the graves. A final excavation report on the Middle Bronze cemetery was published in 2007.
File:Calibrated Carbon 14 dates for Gesher as of 2013.jpg, Calibrated Carbon 14 dates for Gesher as of 2013.
Comparative chronology
Bibliography
*
*
* Y. Garfinkel and D. Dag. 2006. ''Gesher: A Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Site in the Central Jordan Valley, Israel. A Final Report''. Berlin: Ex Oriente.
* Y. Garfinkel and S. Cohen. 2007. ''The Early Middle Bronze Cemetery of Gesher. Final Excavation Report''. AASOR 62. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research.
References
{{Reflist
Populated places established in the 8th millennium BC
1986 archaeological discoveries
Bronze Age sites in Israel
Prehistoric sites in Israel
Neolithic
Khiamian sites
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A