Tel Ali is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

located one mile south of the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

, 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 ...

, Israel. It has been excavated twice. First, during the years 1955–1959, Moshe Prausnitz conducted salvage excavations on behalf of the

Israel Department of Antiquities The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...

. He published only preliminary reports and most of the excavation finds remained unstudied. Prausnitz uncovered a detailed sequence of occupation including:

Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) is part of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, a Neolithic culture centered in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant, dating to years ago, that is, 8800–6500 BC. It was typed by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon during h ...

Pre-Pottery Neolithic C The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) represents the early Neolithic in the Levantine and upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent, dating to years ago, (10000 – 6500 BCE).Richard, Suzanne ''Near Eastern archaeology'' Eisenbrauns; il ...

, Pottery

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 ...

B (Wadi Rabah), Middle

Chalcolithic The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

(

Beth-Shean Beit She'an ( he, בֵּית שְׁאָן '), also Beth-shean, formerly Beisan ( ar, بيسان ), is a town in the Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is be ...

XVIII) and Late Chalcolithic (

Ghassulian Ghassulian refers to a culture and an archaeological stage dating to the Middle and Late Chalcolithic Period in the Southern Levant (c. 4400 – c. 3500 BC). Its type-site, Teleilat Ghassul ( Teleilat el-Ghassul, Tulaylat al-Ghassul), is loc ...

). However, at the time of excavation many of these phases had not yet been defined. The picture at Tel Ali became clearer only after

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 ...

's excavations in 1989–1990. Two excavation areas were opened and were uncovered. Tel Ali contributes to the understanding of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in a variety of ways: # Very few sites in the southern Levant present such a long settlement history # It was occupied during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C (PPNC) period, a phase not recognized in the earlier days of research # It was occupied during the Middle Chalcolithic period. This cultural horizon is known in the Jordan Valley from a number of small assemblages: Beth-Shean XVIII, Tel Tsaf, Tell esh-Shunah, Tell Abu Habil, and Abu Hamid.

Bibliography

* M. Prausnitz. 1971. ''From Hunter to Farmer and Trader''. Jerusalem: Sivan Press. * Y. Garfinkel. 1994. The ‘PPNC’ Flint Assemblage from Tel ‘Ali. In H.G. Gebel and St.K. Kozlowski, eds. ''Neolithic Chipped Stone Industries of the Fertile Crescent'', pp. 543–562. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence and Environment 1. Berlin: Ex Orient. . * Y. Garfinkel. 1999. ''Neolithic and Chalcolithic Pottery of the Southern Levant''. Qedem 39, Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali 1955 archaeological discoveries Prehistoric sites in Israel Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Sea of Galilee Ghassulian