Sha‘ar Hagolan: a Ma Jor Pot Tery Neo Lithic Set Tle Ment and Ar Tis Tic Cen Ter in the Jor Dan Val Ley

Ab stract Eleven ex ca va tion sea sons were con ducted at the 8,000 year old Pot tery Neo lithic site of Sha‘ar Hagolan, Jor dan val ley, Is rael (1989–1990, 1996–2004). The field work has been con cluded in 2004 and now the ex pe di tion is con cen trat ing on the prep a ra tion of the fi nal ex ca va tion re ports. The field work meth od olog i cal ap proach was a large hor i zon tal ex po sure and in ac cor dance ca. 3,000 m were un cov ered in five dif fer ent ex ca va tion ar eas. Ground break ing re sults were ob tained, in clud ing mon u men tal court yard struc tures, a sys tem of streets, a wa ter well and the larg est col lec tion of pre his toric art ever found in Is rael. This new data com pletely con tra dicts what was known be fore on the Pot tery Neo lithic pe riod of the south ern Lev ant. It is clear now that this pe riod re flects an im por tant step to wards the tran si tion from early sed en tary vil lages to well planned ur ban set tle ments. The size of the site, its de vel oped ar chi tec ture and plan ning, the rich ma te rial cul ture and the long-dis tance con nec tions, in di cate that Sha‘ar Hagolan was one of the ma jor Neo lithic set tle ments in the Near East.