Tel Qedesh and the Galilee at the onset of Levantine urbanism

Date: 
Mon, 20/06/2022
Ido Wachtel
Location: 
Mandel Building
Lecturer: 
Dr. Ido Wachtel

The transition from a village-based society to a society dominated by urban centers and urban culture is one of the most dramatic turning points in human history. The Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant (ca. 3700-2500 BCE) presents profound cultural changes in the organization of settlement systems, intra-site layout, and economic modes of production and distribution, which constitute the basis for its definition as the first 'urban' period. Ido Wachtel presented an overview of the Tel Qedesh excavation project and the regional archaeological survey he is conducting in the Galilee. The project is designed to reconstruct the socio-economic development of one Galilean mega-site (Tel Qedesh) in tandem with regional and inter-regional analysis of the surrounding settlement system.