Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The geopolitics of the Upper Galilee at the dawn of the Iron Age: a petrographic study of Mt. Adir

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Located in the steep hilly terrain of the Upper Galilee, the Iron Age I mountain fort of Mt. Adir dominates its surroundings. The region’s topography has limited population growth throughout history, which in turn has limited archaeological research. This situation is improving however, with renewed surveys, excavations and re-examination of unpublished finds. Concordantly, this study is part of a renewed publication of the finds from the excavation of Mt. Adir. A time of geopolitical shift, the Levantine Iron Age I saw the appearance of new local polities. While some vanished as soon as they appeared, others became regional powers. Sitting in the border area between such groups, the cultural and political affinity of Mt. Adir, and in accordance its environs, has been an ongoing source of debate. For these reasons, a petrographic study of the pottery assemblage was initiated, examining a range of ceramic types. By reconstructing the movement of goods, we aim to help shed light on the geopolitical status of the region. Four of the petrographic groups were made locally or at a nearby region, the other two reflect geological environments of the Mediterranean coast, areas which at the period were part of Phoenicia. In addition, we discuss new and legacy data concerning the production local of the wavy-band pithoi, suggested in the past to have been produced in Tyre.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Availability of data and material

The prepared thin sections are kept in the Ben-Gurion University’s laboratory for microarchaeology thin-section collection. An inventory of the database is available online at https://www.bgumicroarchaeology.com/thin section-collection, visiting scholars and students are invited to use this resource.

Code availability

Not applicable.

References

  • Aharoni Y (1956) Galilean survey: Israelite settlements and their pottery. Eretz-Israel 4:56–64 (Hebrew). https://www.jstor.org/stable/23612224. Accessed 15/11/2020

  • Arie E, Buzaglo E, Goren Y (2006) Petrographic analysis of Iron Age I pottery. In: Finkelstein I, Ussishkin D, Halpern B (eds) Megiddo IV: the 1998-2002 seasons. Emery and Claire Yass Archaeology Press, Tel Aviv, pp 558–567

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold DE (1985) Ceramic theory and cultural process. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Artzy M (1994) Incense, camels and collared rim jars: desert trade routes and maritime outlets in the second millennium. Oxf J Archaeol 13:121–147. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.1994.tb00035.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bahat D (1986) The excavation at Sasa 1975. In: Yedaya M (ed) The Western Galilee antiquities. Ministry of Defense Press, Tel Aviv, pp 85–105 (Hebrew)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Ami D (2004) The Casemate Fort at Tel Harashim in Upper Galilee. Tel Aviv 31:194–208. https://doi.org/10.1179/tav.2004.2004.2.194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Ami D (2009) Early Iron Age II fortified settlements in the Upper Galilee: Phoenician fortresses or fringe settlements in the Northern Kingdom of Israel? Eretz-Israel 29:48–53 (Hebrew). https://www.jstor.org/stable/23631307. Accessed 20/07/2019

  • Ben-Shlomo D (2019) Cooking pot production in Judah during the Iron Age II. Jud Samaria. Res Stud 28:5–36. https://doi.org/10.26351/JSRS/28-1/6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Shlomo D, Shai I, Zukerman A, Maeir AM (2008) Cooking identities: Aegean-style cooking jugs and cultural interaction in Iron Age Philistia and neighboring regions. Am J Archaeol 112:225–246. https://doi.org/10.3764/aja.112.2.225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bettles E (2003) Carinated-shoulder amphorae from Sarepta, Lebanon: a Phoenician commodity and its intra-regional distribution. Archaeol Hist Lebanon 17:60–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyl T (2013) Phoenicia: identity, and geopolitics in the Iron I-IIA period: an examination of the textual, archaeological, and biblical evidence. Ph.D. Dissertation. Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati.

  • Biran A (1989) The collared-rim jars and the settlement of the Tribe of Dan. In: Gitin S, Dever WG (eds) Recent excavations in Israel: studies in Iron Age Archaeology. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 49th edn. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, pp 71–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloch-Smith E, Nakhai BA (1999) A landscape comes to life. Near East Archaeol 62:62–127. https://doi.org/10.2307/3210703

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boness D, Clarke J, Goren Y (2015) Ceramic Neolithic pottery in Cyprus – origin, technology and possible implications for social structure and identity. Levant 47:233–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2015.1105480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braun E (1980) Ḥorbat ’Avot. Hadashot Arkheologiyot 74–75:4 (Hebrew)

    Google Scholar 

  • Braun E (2015) Two seasons of rescue and exploratory excavations at Ḥorbat ’Avot, Upper Galilee. Atiqot 83:1–66. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24585512. Last accessed: 21/07/2019

  • Broekmans T, Adriaens A, Pantos E (2004) Analytical investigations of cooking pottery from Tell Beydar (NE-Syria). Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res Sect B Beam Interact Mater At 226:92–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2004.02.032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronitsky G, Hamer R (1986) Experiments in ceramic technology: the effects of various tempering materials on impact and thermal-shock resistance. American Antiquity 51/1:89–101. https://doi.org/10.2307/280396

  • Bunimovitz S, Yasur-Landau A (1996) Philistine and Israelite pottery: a comparative approach to the question of pots and people. Tel Aviv 23:88–101. https://doi.org/10.1179/tav.1996.1996.1.88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen-Weinberger A, Goren Y (1996) Petrographic analysis of Iron Age I Pithoi from Tel Sasa. Atiqot 28:77–83. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23458344. Last accessed: 28/09/2021

  • Cohen-Weinberger A, Wolff SR (2001) Production centers of collared-rim pithoi from sites in the Carmel Coast and Ramat Menashe Regions. In: Wolff SR (ed) Studies in the archaeology of Israel and neighboring lands in memory of Douglas L. Esse. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization, 59th edn. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, pp 639–658

    Google Scholar 

  • Drebushchak VA, Mylnikova LN, Drebushchak TN (2018) Thermoanalytical investigations of ancient ceramics: review on theory and practice. J Therm Anal Calorim 133:135–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7244-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards WI, Segnit ER (1984) Pottery technology at the Chalcolithic site of Teleilat Ghassul (Jordan). Archaeometry 26:69–77. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.1984.tb00319.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esse DL (1992) The collared pithos at Megiddo: ceramic distribution and ethnicity. J Near East Stud 51:81–103. https://doi.org/10.1086/373533

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fabbri B, Gualtieri S, Shoval S (2014) The presence of calcite in archeological ceramics. J Eur Ceram Soc 34:1899–1911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2014.01.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelstein I (2011a) Stages in the territorial expansion of the Northern Kingdom. Vetus Testam 61:227–242. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853311X571437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelstein I (2011b) The last Labayu: king Saul and the expansion of the first north israelite territorial entity. In: Amit Y, Ben-Zvi E, Finkelstein I, Lipschits O (eds) Essays on ancient Israel in its near eastern context, a tribute to Nadav Na’aman. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, pp 171–177

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelstein I, Na’aman N (2005) Shechem of the Amarna Period and the rise of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Isr Explor J 55:172–193. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27927106. Last accessed: 13/04/2019

  • Frankel R, Getzov N, Aviam M, Degani A (2001) Settlement dynamics and regional diversity in ancient Upper Galilee: archaeological survey of Upper Galilee. Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Freud L (2014) Local production of edomite cooking pots in the Beersheba Valley: petrographic analyses from Tel Malhata, Ḥorvat cUza and Ḥorvat Qitmit. In: Tebes JM (ed) Unearthing the wilderness: studies on the history and archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age. Peeters, Leuven, pp 283–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Gal Z (2014) Horbat Rosh Zayit and Har Adir – Two Phoenician fortresses in the Galilee. In: Aviam M (ed) From watch tower to fortified city: forts and fortresses in Northern Israel from the canaanites to the IDF. Kinneret Institute for Galilean Archaeology, Zemah, pp 31–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Gal Z, Alexandre Y (2000) Horbat Rosh Zayit: an Iron Age storage fort. Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gilboa A (2001) The significance of Iron Age “wavy-band” pithoi along the Syro-Palestinian Littoral, with reference to Tel Dor Pithoi. In: Wolff SR (ed) Studies in the archaeology of Israel and the neighboring lands in memory of Douglas L. Esse. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization, 59th edn. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, pp 163–173

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilboa A (2005) Sea Peoples and Phoenicians along the southern Phoenician coast: a reconciliation: an interpretation of Šikila (SKL) material culture. Bull Am Sch Orient Res 337:47–78. https://doi.org/10.1086/BASOR25066874

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilboa A, Goren Y (2015) Early Iron Age Phoenician networks. Anc West East 14:73–110. https://doi.org/10.2143/AWE.14.0.3108189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilboa A, Sharon I (2008) Between the carmel and the sea: Tel Dor’s iron age reconsidered. Near East Archaeol 71:146–170. https://doi.org/10.1086/NEA20361363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gitin S (1993) Scoops: corpus, function and typology. In: Heltzer M, Segal A, Kaufman D (eds) Studies in the archaeology and history of ancient Israel, in honor of Moshe Dothan. Haifa University Press, Haifa, pp 99–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Golani A, Yogev O (1996) The 1980 excavations at Tel Sasa. Atiqot 28:41–58. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23458341. Last accessed: 21/07/2019

  • Gopher A, Sadeh S, Goren Y (1992) The pottery assemblage of Naḥal Beṣet I: a neolithic site in the Upper Galilee. Isr Explor J 42:4–16. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27926247. Last accessed: 29/08/2019

  • Goren Y (1988) A petrographic analysis of pottery from sites P14 and DII. Mitekufat Haeven: J Isr Prehist Soc 21:131–137. http://www.jstor.com/stable/23369789. Last accessed: 25/09/2021

  • Goren Y (1996) Petrographic study of the pottery assemblage. In: Gopher A, Tsuk T (eds) The Nahal Qanah cave: earliest gold in the Southern Levant. Emery and Claire Yass Publications in Archaeology, Tel Aviv, pp 147–154

  • Goren Y (2004) Technological study of the ceramic assemblage from Nevé Yaraq. Atiqot 47:51–55. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23462874. Last accessed: 25/09/2021

  • Goren Y, Finkelstein I, Naʾaman N (2003) The expansion of the Kingdom of Amurru according to the petrographic investigation of the Amarna Tablets. Bull Am Sch Orient Res 329:1–11. https://doi.org/10.2307/1357820

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goren Y, Finkelstein I, Na’aman N (2004) Inscribed in clay: provenance study of the Amarna tablets and other ancient Near Eastern texts. Emery and Claire Yass Archaeology Press, Tel Aviv

    Google Scholar 

  • Goren Y, Zuckermann S (2000) The typology, provenance and technology of the Early Bronze Age I “Gray Burnished Ware”: an overview. In: Philip G, Baird D (eds) Breaking the past: ceramics and change in the Early Bronze Age of the Southern Levant. Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, pp 165–182

    Google Scholar 

  • Ilan D (1999) Northern Israel in the Iron Age I: cultural socioeconomic and political perspectives. Tel Aviv University, Dissertation

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz H (2020) Settlement processes in the Meron Ridges during the Iron Age I. Bull Am Sch Orient Res 383.1:1–18. https://doi.org/10.1086/707395

  • Katz H (2021) Mount Adir: an iron I polity in the Upper Galilee?. Tel Aviv 48.2:171–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2021.1958618

  • Killebrew AE (1999) Late Bronze and Iron I cooking pots in Canaan: a typological, technological, and functional study. In: Kapitan T (ed) Archaeology, history, and culture in Palestine and the Near East: essays in memory of Albert E. Glock. Scholars Press, Atlanta, pp 83–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Kochavi M (1984) The period of Israelite settlement. In: Epha’l I (ed) The history of Eretz Israel, Vol 2, Israel and Judah in the Biblical Period. Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, Jerusalem, pp 19–84 (Hebrew)

  • Lehmann G (2001) Phoenicians in western Galilee: first results of an archaeological survey in the hinterland of Akko. In: Mazar A (ed) Studies in the archaeology of the Iron Age in Israel and Jordan. Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, pp 65–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann G, Michael Niemann H (2014) When did the Shephelah become Judahite? Tel Aviv 41:77–94. https://doi.org/10.1179/0334435514Z.00000000033

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitte D, Sneh A (2016) Zefat 2-III, geological map. Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem. https://www.gov.il/en/departments/general/zefat-map. Last accessed: 22/01/2021

  • London G, Shuster R (2011) Calcite: a hard habit to break. In: Chesson MS (ed) Daily life, materiality, and complexity in early urban communities of the Southern Levant: papers in honor of Walter E. Rast and R. Thomas Schaub. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, pp 233–246

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Maggetti M, Neururer C, Ramseyer D (2011) Temperature evolution inside a pot during experimental surface (bonfire) firing. Appl Clay Sci 53:500–508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2010.09.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McFadden GH, Sjoqvist E (1954) A Late Cypriote III Tomb from Kourion Kaloriziki No. 40. Am J Archaeol 58:131–142. https://doi.org/10.2307/500111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Namdar D, Gilboa A, Neumann R, Finkelstein I, Weiner S (2013) Cinnamaldehyde in early Iron Age Phoenician flasks raises the possibility of Levantine trade with South East Asia. Mediter Archaeol Archaeom 13(2):1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn PS (2013) Ceramic petrography: the interpretation of archaeological pottery & related artefacts in thin section. Archaeopress, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Raban A (1991) The Philistines in the Western Jezreel Valley. Bull Am Sch Orient Res 284:17–27. https://doi.org/10.2307/1357190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raban A, Stieglitz RR (1991) The Sea Peoples and their contributions to civilization. Biblic Archaeol Rev 17:34–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Reedy CL (2008) Thin-section petrography of stone and ceramic cultural materials. Archetype Publications, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rice PM (2015) Pottery analysis: a sourcebook, 2nd edn. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt A, Badreshany A, Tachatou E, Sader H (2018) Insights into the economic organization of the Phoenician homeland: a multi-disciplinary investigation of the later Iron Age II and Persian period Phoenician amphorae from Tell el-Burak. Levant 50(1):52–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2018.1547004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sergi O, Kleiman A (2018) The Kingdom of Geshur and the expansion of Aram-Damascus into the northern Jordan Valley: archaeological and historical perspectives. Bull Am Sch Orient Res 379:1–18. https://doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.379.0001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shoval S, Gaft M, Beck P, Kirsh Y (1993) Thermal behaviour of limestone and monocrystalline calcite tempers during firing and their use in ancient vessels. J Therm Anal 40:263–273. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02546577

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stepansky Y, Segal D, Carmi I (1996) The 1993 sounding at Tel Sasa: excavation report and radiometric dating. Atiqot 28:63–76. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23458343. Last accessed: 21/07/2019

  • Stern E (2013) The material culture of the Northern Sea Peoples in Israel. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stieglitz RR (1990) The geopolitics of the Phoenician Littoral in the Early Iron Age. Bull Am Sch Orient Res 279:9–12. https://doi.org/10.2307/1357204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tite MS, Kilikoglou V, Vekinis G (2001) Strength, toughness and thermal shock resistance of ancient ceramics, and their influence on technological choice. Archaeometry 43:301–324. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4754.00019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tschegg C, Ntaflos T, Hein I (2009) Thermally triggered two-stage reaction of carbonates and clay during ceramic firing — a case study on Bronze Age Cypriot ceramics. Appl Clay Sci 43:69–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2008.07.029

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vitto F, Davis D (1976) Har Adir. Hadashot Arkheologiyot 59–60:9–10 (Hebrew)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wachtel I (2018) The Upper Galilee in the Bronze and Iron Ages: settlement patterns, economy and society. The Hebrew University, Dissertation

    Google Scholar 

  • Waiman-Barak P, Gilboa A (2016) Maritime transport containers: the view from Phoenician Tell Keisan (Israel) in the early iron age. In: Demesticha S, Knapp AB (eds) Maritime transport containers in the bronze-iron age aegean and eastern mediterranean. Åströms, Uppsala, pp 131–155

  • Waiman-Barak P, Gilboa A, Yasur-Landau A, Arie E (2017) Iron Age Phoenician pottery at Tel Achziv: two commercial snapshots based on optical mineralogy. Riv di Studi Fenici 45(1):87–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Waiman-Barak P, Gilboa A (2019) A petrographic study of early Iron Age containers at Tel Dan. In: Ilan D (ed) Dan IV - the Iron Age I settlement: the Avraham Biran Excavations (1966-1999). Annual of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology, 12th edn. Hebrew Union College Press, Cincinnati, pp 391–414. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvw04drv.10

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Yahalom-Mack N, Galili E, Segal I et al (2014) New insights into Levantine copper trade: analysis of ingots from the Bronze and Iron Ages in Israel. J Archaeol Sci 45:159–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.02.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yellin J, Gunneweg J (1989) Instrumental neutron activation analysis and the origin of Iron Age I collared-rim jars and pithoi from Tel Dan. In: Gitin S, Dever WG (eds) Recent excavations in Israel: studies in Iron Age archaeology. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 49th edn. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, pp 133–141

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The study was made in the Laboratory for Microarchaeology at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near East, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, 8410501, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Yarden Pagelson & Yuval Goren

  2. Department of Land of Israel Studies, Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, M. P. Jordan Valley, 1513200, Zemach, Israel

    Hayah Katz

Authors
  1. Yarden Pagelson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hayah Katz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yuval Goren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuval Goren.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pagelson, Y., Katz, H. & Goren, Y. The geopolitics of the Upper Galilee at the dawn of the Iron Age: a petrographic study of Mt. Adir. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 2 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01462-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01462-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation