Qa'aqir Resisim 1998 Overview

Jebel Qa’aqir and Be?er Resisim
William Dever

The Jebel Qa'aqir and Be'er Resisim materials constitute one of the fundamental databases for our understanding of the still enigmatic EB IV period, ca. 2400-2000 B.C., often considered a "Dark Age" between the great urban Early and Middle Bronze Ages in ancient Palestine. Excavated with fully modern methods, and the basis for much of modern theory, these materials are even more significant in some ways than when they were first brought to light a generation ago. Yet only a small proportion of the basic data has been published, and these only in preliminary reports. Obviously the Jebel Qa'aqir and Be'er Resisim materials must be fully published and discussed comparatively in the light of today's theories and knowledge.

For many years Professor Dever was a leading authority in EB IV studies; and many of his doctoral students and younger colleagues have carried on research in this field in subsequent years with his strong encouragement in both Israel and Jordan. The Jebel Qa'aqir and Be'er Resisim materials provided much of the momentum for what has been a 30-year American research project that has had considerable impact on Syro-Palestinian archaeology. Final publication of the material must be insured in order to bring the project to a successful conclusion.

The first excavation (Jebel Qa'aqir) was a salvage campaign after the Six Day War, sponsored by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. It brought to light a large cemetery of more than 100 shaft-tombs on the slopes, as well as an extensive settlement in caves on the ridge. One cave alone. Cave G 23, produced nearlv 1800 ceramic forms, more than the total corpus of EB IV pottery known previously. Preliminary reports have appeared in the Israel Exploration Journal; the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research; Eretz-Israel; Archaeolog v magazine; and elsewhere. The final report is planned for the HUC-JIR, in its Annuals of the Jerusalem School, the sponsoring institution.

The second excavation (Be'er Resisim) was jointly sponsored by the University of Arizona and the Israel Department of Antiquities, in affiliation with ASOR. It was funded in part by NEH and the National Geographic Society. Be'er Resisim revealed the largest EB IV settlement site ever excvated at the time, one that is in fact still unsurpassed in size. Unusually full preliminary reports appeared in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, in Eretz-Israel, and elsewhere.