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 recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

located one mile south of the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...

, in the central Jordan Valley, 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. 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 Type site, typed by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon ...

Pre-Pottery Neolithic C The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) represents the early Neolithic in the Near East, dating to years ago, (10000 – 6500 BCE).Richard, Suzanne ''Near Eastern archaeology'' Eisenbrauns; illustrated edition (1 Aug 2004) p.24/ref> It succeeds the ...

, Pottery

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

B (

Wadi Rabah The Wadi Rabah culture is a Pottery Neolithic archaeological culture of the Southern Levant, dating to the middle of the 5th millennium BCE. Research This period was first identified at the ancient site of Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) by British ar ...

), Middle

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

(

Beth-Shean Beit She'an ( '), also known as Beisan ( '), or Beth-shean, 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 believed to be one of the oldest citie ...

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 el-Ghassul, is located in the eastern Jordan Valley near ...

). 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 a professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and of Archaeology of the Biblical Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Biography Yosef G ...

'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 Tel Tsaf () is an archaeological site located in the central Jordan Valley, south-east of Beit She'an. Tel Tsaf is dated to the Middle Chalcolithic (ca. 5300/5200–4700/4500 BC) a little-known period in the archaeology of the Levant, post-datin ...

Tell esh-Shunah Beth-Nimrah or Beth-nimrah (), also called Nimrin and Bethennabris, was an ancient city in Transjordan, which features prominently the history of ancient Israel and Judah. Tell Nimrin has been identified by Nelson Glueck as the last of three sites ...

, 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