Radiocarbon chronology of the EB I–II and II–III transitions at Tel Bet Yerah, and its implications for the nature of social change in the southern Levant

New Ams Chronology for the Early Bronze Iii/Iv Transition at Khirbat Iskandar, Jordan

“…For example, seven seed ages from Tell es-Safi/Gath, in the Hebron region, model the end of its EB III occupation between 2680 and 2580 cal BCE (Shai et al 2014), while a model of 17 AMS ages from Tel Yarmuth/Khirbet Yarmuk, in the foothills of the Shephelah, ends its EB III occupation about 2500 cal BCE (Regev et al 2012b). Models that include further AMS ages from Numeira, Bab edh-Dhra', Tell es-Sakan, Hebron and Khirbet Kerak/Beth Yerah (Rast and Schaub 1980;Weinstein 1984Weinstein , 2003Regev et al 2012a;Regev et al 2019) also terminate EB III at each of these sites about 2500 cal BCE (Regev et al 2012a). This substantial body of data represents a growing consensus that " : : : EB III ended at the latest ∼2450, perhaps before 2500 BC" (Regev et al 2012b: 505, emphasis original).…”

“…Nigro et al 2019). These changes set the stage for the elucidation of the EB III/IV interface, which is being shifted 200-300 years earlier, based especially on analytically robust Bayesian models for the end of EB III occupation at Numeira, Khirbet Yarmouk/Tel Yarmuth, Tell el-Mutesellim/Megiddo, Khirbet Kerak/ Beth Yerah and Tell es-Safi/Gath (Regev et al 2012b(Regev et al , 2014(Regev et al , 2019Shai et al 2014) and for the founding of the EB IV village at Tell Abu en-Ni'aj (Falconer and Fall 2019;Fall et al 2021).…”

Middle Bronze Age Jerusalem: Recalculating Its Character and Chronology

“…The dating assemblage (Boaretto 2015) for chronology is based on several proxies as burned sediments, ash composition, phytoliths, phosphate concentration, and control samples of above and below sediments, as described in Weiner (2010) and Boaretto (2015). This is the approach used for all the chronology studies at the D-REAMS laboratory (see Regev et al 2014Regev et al , 2020aRegev et al , 2020bWeiner et al 2020). All the samples, excluding the ones retrieved from baulk PQ5, were recovered from a horizontal excavation and not picked from a section.…”

Fishing, fish consumption, urbanism and migrants at Tel Bet Yerah, 3200–2700 BC

“…The northern area, area SA-M, consisted predominantly of large refuse deposits in an open plaza (grid squares P-T/7-8) associated with an Early Bronze III Khirbet Kerak Ware cultural assemblage and separated from contemporaneous local tradition Early Bronze III occupation deposits by a paved street. Radiocarbon dates (Regev et al 2020) from Bet Yerah suggest that the late Early Bronze I-II sequence should be bracketed between 3200 and 2850 BC, while the two Early Bronze III communities were contemporaneous, both apparently coexisting in the first half of Early Bronze III (c. 2850-2700 BC). The two areas of excavation thus provide insights into economic change or divergence on both temporal and spatial/cultural axes: from Early Bronze I-III in the local tradition and between deposits associated with the local tradition and those associated with Khirbet Kerak Ware.…”

“…A major goal of the Tel Aviv University excavations of 2003-2015 was the retrieval of a detailed dataset on human-environment interactions and on human foodways (not addressed by previous investigations at the site) by means of small-scale (450m 2 ) excavation in and around the previously excavated monumental granary, or 'Circles Building', in the northern part of the mound (Figure 1; for interim reports, see Greenberg et al 2013Greenberg et al , 2017Regev et al 2020). The fine-screening of approximately half of all sediments excavated over seven seasons provides-alongside extensive assemblages of mammalian fauna, microfauna, plant remains and flint-knapping waste-substantial evidence for the consumption of fish.…”