The Manasseh Hill Country Survey is an

archaeological survey In archaeology, survey or field survey is a type of field research by which archaeologists (often landscape archaeologists) search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human c ...

of the Manasseh Hill Country, a region in

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 ...

and the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

associated with the territory of the biblical

Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

tribe of Manasseh According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Manasseh (; Hebrew: ''Ševet Mənašše,'' Tiberian: ''Šēḇeṭ Mănašše'') was one of the Tribes of Israel. It is one of the ten lost tribes. Together with the Tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh also fo ...

. It began in 1978 under the direction of Israeli archaeologist

Adam Zertal Adam Zertal ( he, אדם זרטל; 1936 – October 18, 2015) was an Israeli archaeologist and a tenured professor at the University of Haifa. Biography Adam Zertal grew up in Ein Shemer, a kibbutz affiliated with the Hashomer Hatzair movemen ...

, and continues for over 40 years. It has been described by fellow archaeologist

Israel Finkelstein Israel Finkelstein ( he, ישראל פינקלשטיין, born March 29, 1949) is an Israeli archaeologist, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University and the head of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa. Fin ...

as “one of the most important ever undertaken in the Land of Israel”. The survey covered an area of more than 2,500 square kilometers, from the Jordan Valley in the East to the Israeli coastal plain in the West, and from

Nahal Iron Wadi Ara ( ar, وادي عارة, he, ואדי עארה) or Nahal 'Iron ( he, נחל עירון), is a valley and its surrounding area in Israel populated mainly by Arab Israelis. The area is also known as the "Northern Triangle". Wadi Ara is ...

in the North to the north-eastern point of the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...

in the South. It unearthed over 200

Iron Age I The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly a ...

sites covering the area's settlement from 1250 to 1000 BCE. Among the sites discovered during the survey were the Mount Ebal Site (1980) and

Ahwat El-Ahwat ( ar, الاحواط, "the walls") is an archaeological site in the Manasseh Hills, Israel. It located 10 miles east of Caesarea near Katzir. The site was discovered in November 1992 by Adam Zertal during the Manasseh Hill Country Survey ...

(1992). The survey's findings were published in seven volumes, originally in 1992 in Hebrew, with an English edition first published in 2000.

Publications

The Manasseh Hill Country Survey's finding were published in seven volumes. The volumes cover the following areas: *Volume 1: The area of ancient

Shechem Shechem ( ), also spelled Sichem ( ; he, שְׁכֶם, ''Šəḵem''; ; grc, Συχέμ, Sykhém; Samaritan Hebrew: , ), was a Canaanite and Israelite city mentioned in the Amarna Letters, later appearing in the Hebrew Bible as the first cap ...

and

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first- ...

. Author: Adam Zertal *Volume 2: The Eastern Valleys and the Fringes of the Desert. Author: Adam Zertal *Volume 3: North-western

in Israel/Palestine, from

Nahal Shechem Nahal ( he, נח"ל) (acronym of ''Noar Halutzi Lohem'', lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) is a program that combines military service with mostly social welfare and informal education projects such as youth movement activities, as well as training ...

. Authors: Adam Zertal and

Nivi Mirkam The New International Version Inclusive Language Edition (NIVI) of the Christian Bible was an inclusive language version of the New International Version (NIV). It was published by Hodder and Stoughton (a subsidiary of Lagardere Publishing) in ...

*Volume 4: The north-eastern region of Samaria, mainly the northern area of the Jordan Valley from

Nahal Bezeq Nahal ( he, נח"ל) (acronym of ''Noar Halutzi Lohem'', lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) is a program that combines military service with mostly social welfare and informal education projects such as youth movement activities, as well as training ...

to the

Sartaba Alexandreion (Greek), or Alexandrium (Latin), called Sartaba in the Mishna and Talmud and Qarn Sartaba in Arabic, was an ancient hilltop fortress constructed by the Hasmoneans between Scythopolis and Jerusalem on a pointy barren hill towering ...

Authors: Adam Zertal and Shay Bar *Volume 5: The eastern region of Samaria, mainly the Middle Jordan Valley, from

Wadi Fasael Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

Wadi Auja Wadi Auja ( ar, وادي العوجا‎), also spelled Ouja, known in Hebrew as Nahal Yitav () is a valley or stream ( ar, وادي‎ ', "wadi"), in the West Bank, originating near the Ein Samia spring and flowing to Al-Auja near Jericho b ...

, within the territory of Israel/Palestine. Authors: Shay Bar and Adam Zertal *Volume 6: The Eastern Samaria Shoulder, from

Nahal Tirzah Wadi al-Far'a ( ar, وادي الفارعه) or Tirzah Stream ( he, נַחַל תִּרְצָה, Nahal Tirzah) is a stream in the northern West Bank that empties into the Jordan River south of Damia Bridge. It is the largest stream in the West Ba ...

(Wadi Far'ah) to Ma'ale Efrayim Junction within the territory of Israel/Palestine. Authors: Shay Bar and Adam Zertal *Volume 7: The South-Eastern Samaria Shoulder, from

Wadi Rashash Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

to Wadi Auja within the territory of Israel/Palestine.The Manasseh Hill Country Survey Volume 7
/ref> Authors: Shay Bar and Adam Zertal

References

{{Reflist Archaeology of Israel Archaeological expeditions