Sha‘ar Hagolan 2: The Rise of Urban Concepts in the Ancient Near East
This is the second of the final reports on the excavation of the Neolithic site of Sha‘ar Hagolan in the Jordan Valley of Israel, which presents and analyzes the architecture and stratigraphy of the site. Sha‘ar Hagolan was a major settlement in numerous respects: its large size (20 hectares), the earliest known appearance of the courtyard house concept in its large dwelling complexes, and its planned layout with an organized network of passageways, including straight main streets that were regularly resurfaced. In addition, the well uncovered at the site, one of the oldest in the world, reveals sophisticated hydrological technology. These revolutionary discoveries have completely altered our understanding of the 6th millennium BCE and shed new light on the rise of urban concepts in the ancient Near East.