Tell es-Safi/Gath I: The 1996-2005 Seasons

Tell Es-Safi/Gath is one of the largest pre-classical sites in the ancient Levant, continuously settled from the Protohis- toric periods until Modern times and is identified as ancient Canaanite and Philistine Gath (known from the el Amarna letters, Assyrian texts, and the Bible), Medieval Blanche Garde, and the modern Palestinian village of Tell es-Safi. Archaeologically, the site is of noteworthy importance in the study of the Bronze and Iron Age of the Levant, and in particular in relationship to the Canaanite, Philistine and Israelite cultures. Since 1996, a long-term international project has been studying the cultural and environmental history of the site and its surroundings. The volume, edited by Aren Maeir, is the first of a planned series of final reports on the project and deals primarily with the results of the 1996 through 2005 seasons. Discussions include a general overview of the project up to 2010, and studies on the geography and the environment, the written sources relating to the differ- ent periods, the history of research, the architecture and stratigraphy of the various excavation areas, and assorted finds of various classes (such as pottery, stone and bone objects, glyptic, inscriptions, and ancient fauna and flora). In addition, there are studies on pottery provenience, the archaeological surface survey, ground penetrating radar results, data mining of pottery finds, and a general overview of the Early Bronze Age of the Judean Foothills (Shephelah).