Protohistoric 2005 Overview

Publishing the J. Kaplan Protohistoric excavations in Israel
Avi J. Gopher

This grant is requested for the publication of a book summarizing excavations of the late Dr. J. Kaplan in Protohistoric sites in Israel in the 1950-1970s. J. Kaplan has excavated (amongst many other sites) a series of Late Neolithic (Pottery Neolithic), Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age (Protohistoric) sites in the Tel Aviv area and in the northern part of Israel, none of which were published in a final report. We intend to study the finds of these excavations and use the records left in order to produce detailed site reports of the Protohistoric sites of Lod (in the city of Lod near the Ben Gurion airport), Wadi Rabah (some 10 km east of Tel Aviv), Teluliyot Batashi (on the Nahal Soreq, some 30 km west of Jerusalem), Habashan Street (Tel-Aviv), Kefar Gileadi (in the Hula basin, upper Galilee), Beit Hamitbachayim (Tel-Aviv) and Jabotinsky Street (Tel Aviv). Most of these sites have been destroyed throughout the years.

J. Kaplan was a pioneer of Protohistoric studies and has defined the Wadi Rabah culture, established the stratigraphic relationship between the Pottery Neolithic and the Chalcolithic periods, described the assemblages of their material culture and was the first to attempt a broad view interpretation of their origin and place in the wider Levantine Protohistoric picture. J. Kaplan was one of the very few archaeologists working with finds originating from Pottery Neolithic sites (about which he wrote his Ph. D. thesis in 1958) and his legacy of insights as well as his educated propositions need to be exposed to the community of researchers working on the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods today.

Protohistoric and especially Pottery Neolithic research developed immensely in the last dozen years and many new questions have arisen. J. Kaplan's work remained unique and intensively cited although publication was meager including a handful of short papers (some of them in Hebrew only) and newsletter statements.

This project is to be accomplished by a team of experienced Pottery Neolithic researchers including Prof. (emeritus) Ram Gophna who has personally taken part in some of J. Kaplan's excavations and has excavated and investigated Pottery Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age sites and cultures for a long time; Prof. Avi Gopher, who excavated the Pottery Neolithic villages of Nahal Zehora in the Menashe hills (now in the final stages of publication); and Mrs. Ruth Eyal who excavated in Pottery Neolithic sites and was a full partner to the preparation of the volume summarizing the excavations of the Nahal Zehora sites.

The main objective of this project is to produce a final report and summary monograph presenting J. Kaplan's work in Protohistoric sites and an updated, wider view of the Pottery Neolithic as seen from J. Kaplan's work and the accumulated data since.

The monograph will include chapters on the different sites and their finds by the applicants and some expert colleagues (archaeozoology, archaeobotany, archaeomaterials etc.).