Nature of the Site: Natural Formation Processes

Tel Kinrot(Arabic Tell el-‘Orēme) is situated at the north-western side of the Sea of Galilee (Figs 1.1, 3.3; Appendix 1; 252859.200791 Palestine Grid). The area of the tell is about 10 hec-tares, and according to surface surveys it has signs of Early Iron Age activities throughout the area (Stepanski 1999; 2000). In the Early Iron Age Tel Kinrot was a large urban site. Its location along an ancient trade route from Egypt to Mesopotamia, theVia Maris,undoubtedly affected the growth of the settlement. Cities like Megiddo, Hazor, and Damascos have flourished along this route, especially during the Bronze Age and Iron Age II (Pakkala et al. 2004: 6–8). The urban nature of the site can be inferred from the size of the settlement, the town planning apparent in street and drainage systems, the use of defensive structures such as the earlier city-wall, and the presence of imported wares attesting to trade networks of trans-local scale (Münger et al. 2011: 77; for definition of ‘urban,’ Cowgill 2004: 526–529). The subsequent habitation phases have formed an artificial mound, atell, upon a natural limestone hill (Köppel 1932: 300–301). On its southern side are the fertile plains of Ginnosar (ArabicEl-Guweir), to the east the hill slopes towards the Sea of Galilee, and to the north and west the terrain is hilly. The south side of the mound has a very steep slope (figs 3.1–2). The slopes on the east and north sides are shorter, and the slope on the west side is rather gentle until it turns steep when closer to the lake. There are water resources aplenty, as in addition to the lake there are several springs at the foot of the tell (Pakkala et al. 2004: 6). The contour lines vary con-siderably on the slopes. The shore line itself is narrow, and the natural fluctuation of the sea level had dictated that the settlement be set higher on the hill. Similar phenomena appear around the sea coast in its northern parts (Maier 2010: 19). Along with the water and lacus-trine resources for subsistence, the sea has also provided means of transportation.

Fig. 3.1. Aerial photograph from 1918, © Bayerisches Staatsarchiv (Dalman 1925). Photo from the University of Tübingen Library. Tel Kinrot/Tell el-‘Orēme is on the lower left, encircled.

Fig. 3.2. Aerial photograph from 2010, photographed by Skyview, © KRP. To the south.

Fig.3.3 Geological map of Teverya, detail from Sneh 2008. Tel Kinrot circled. North is at the top of the drawing.

For a full legend, see http://www.gsi.gov.il/_Uploads/ftp/GeologicalMap/EnglishSite/Teverya.html. Abbrevia-tion Al refers to alluvial soils, Ebk to limestone formaAbbrevia-tions, Nhq to conglomerates, and Pβc to cover basalt. Black solid lines indicate faults.

Geology and Topography of the surroundings

Early topographic surveys in Galilee were conducted by Edward Robinson (1838–1839), H.B.

Tristram (1863–1864), the Palestine Exploration Fund (1887–1888), Gustav Dalman (1919), William Albright (1921), and Aapeli Saarisalo (1927). The studies of Robinson and Albright were focused on identification of biblical sites, reflecting an interest in biblical stories. Tristram paid close attention to landscapes and topographical and geological details, as did as Dalman and Saarisalo in later decades. They sometimes include descriptions of land use by the fellahin or Bedouins (Tristram 1866: 425, 433). However, their writings were also motivated by the relationship of the region with the biblical scriptures, and the ability of these landscapes to supply illustrations for the Bible (Tristram 1866: b-b2; see also Saarisalo 1924: 24).

The present topography of the Lower Galilee is characterized by the Jordan rift valley, the hill country on its western side and the Jezreel valley on the southern side of the hills of the Lower Galilee. The Jordan rift valley was formed during the Miocene age (23─5.3 million years ago⁵) and arrived at its present morphology towards the end of Pliocene (5.3─2.6 million years ago) and during the Pleistocene (2.6 million─11.7 thousand years ago). The valley is part of an over 6 500 km long fault extending from the Red Sea to Anatolia, running along the Arabian and African plates (Orni & Efrat 1966: 70–73). The width of the Jordan rift varies from between 5 and 25 kilometres. Traditionally, the Upper and Lower Galilee are divided by the deep gorge of the perennial stream(wadi) of Amud, running to the Sea of Galilee through the plain of Ginnosar (Orni & Efrat 1966: 63; Sneh 2008). According to this division, Tel Kinrot is located in the southernmost part of the Upper Galilee, as wadi Amud runs on its southern side (Sneh 2008). The height of the hill country in Lower Galilee is usually around 300 meters above the sea level, and the highest elevations are less than 600 meters above sea level, while the moun-tains in the Upper Galilee reach double such elevations (Orni & Efrat 1966: 63). Faulting and uplifting of tilted blocks characterize the present topography, especially of the Upper Galilee (Orni & Efrat 1966: 67). The local differences in landscape are strong (Saarisalo 1927: 13). Tel Kinrot is located in the valley south of the higher Upper Galilean hills. The mound is fully below the sea level of the Mediterranean, although it is accumulated upon a natural hill. The peak of the tell is measured at 125.00 meters below the sea level.

The geology of the Galilee and the Golan was mainly formed during the Neogene age, and consists of chalk, lime- and sandstone formations, and conglomerates that are covered by vol-canic basalts. The Galilean hills were formed during the Miocene age, and are sedimentary carbonates including limestone, chalk, marl, and dolomite. In the Eastern parts of Galilee the hills are covered by later volcanic basalt plateaus (Raphael 1992: 966, 968–969). These basaltic plateaus are remains of the tectonic and volcanic activities that took place after the soft lime-stone and dolomite formations of the Upper Cretaceous Age were formed (Orni & Efrat 1966:

51, 64). There have been several waves in their formation (Tristram 1866: 435–436). The vol-canic episodes that resulted in the basaltic covers in the Golan and in the Eastern Galilee took

5 For the chronologies of the geological periods, see the International Chronostratigraphic chart: Cohen, Finney

& Gibbard 2013.

place during the Pleistocene (Raphael 1992: 966). A map made by Gottlieb Schumacher in 1889 of the Tabgha shows basaltic hills rising on the north-western side of Tell el ʿOrēme. The hill itself is a limestone formation, and all the basalt stones now present on the hill have been brought from the hills on its northern side (Köppel 1932: 300). Schumacher already identified the tell as an area that should be excavated (Schumacher 1889). The chalk/limestone and bas-alt materials play a prominent role in ancient settlements as building material (Tristram 1865, Dalman 1921, Fritz 1985). In the Carmel region the chalk and limestone formations are inter-spersed with harder stones called silex by Tristram (1866: 112–113). The same holds for the limestone formations at Kinrot: they include chert (Sneh 2008). Local stone materials were also most likely used for clay temper.

There are also quaternary alluvial deposits, including clays around the Sea of Galilee (Sneh et al. 1998; Bogoh & Sneh 2008: Sneh 2008). The deposits on the plain of Ginnosar are local clay sources for Tel Kinrot, but there are also clay formations on the slope of the tell itself. There were clay beds exposed on the northern foot of the tell, behind the parking area of the modern German pilgrims’ guesthouse Tabgha, that were observed by myself in October 2013 (Fig. 3.4).

These exposed clays were close to the modern surface, below the dark humus-rich layer, and included an over twenty meters long strip, more than 2 meters thick. There was both white and red clay visible. It is evident that there were several clay sources available for the potters of ancient settlement.

The faults and tilting have created a fractured landscape, divided by valleys and gorges of dif-fering sharpness between plateaus and peaks (Orni & Efrat 1966: 67). The landscape has also been exposed to the natural processes of erosion. The effects are both subtractive and addi-tive in nature, depending on the topography and the vegetation. The erosive moving of land is caused both by wind (mainly in the dry season) and by water. As the rains are heavy showers they effectively move material, especially where the differences in altitude are strong, as is

Fig. 3.4 Exposed clay bed behind the parking lot of the German pilgrim’s guest house. Photograph to the west by TT.

the case in the Jordan valley and its surrounding hills. A typical feature of the landscape is the forming ofwadis by the winter rains, where the rain water runs in the winter but which are dry in the summer (Saarisalo 1927: 17–18). Around the Sea of Galilee there are alluvial soils formed by erosion from the hills above and the fluctuating water level of the sea and the river Jordan. The plain of Ginnosar on the southern side of Tel Kinrot is mainly composed of alluvial materials on limestone, chalk, and basalt, enriched with organic materials (Orni & Efrat 1966:

81; Maier 2010: 22). The ground is dark and fertile (Saarisalo 1927: 15–16; Raphael 1992: 966;

Bogoch & Sneh 2008; Sneh 2008). The soils at the NW side of the Sea of Galilee are mainly terra rossas. On the basaltic rocks there are grumusols (alluvial clay) (Raphael 1992: 971).

The level of the Sea of Galilee in modern times has fluctuated around 208─209 meters below the sea level of the Mediterranean (Raphael 1992: 969; Saarisalo 1927: 13; Survey of Western Palestine 1881–1883). After a pumping station was built in 1964 on the southernmost part of the tell, the national use of water has most likely affected the level of the Sea of Galilee to some extent. There is a gap in the known level curve of the Sea of Galilee between 4000 and 2000 years BP, from the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000 BCE) to the beginning of the Common Era. Like other gaps, this one can be correlated with a low standing level of the lake. This low stand between 4000 and 2000 BP has estimated to have been between 220 and 210 meters below sea level (Hazan et al. 2005: 71–72). Thus the difference between the modern low stand and the one during the Bronze and Iron Ages is several meters, which would have left more shoreline exposed below the steep lowermost part of the hill’s eastern slope.

Water resources are a vital element of land use and subsistence; in addition to precipitation, the settlers of Tel Kinrot had access to the lake and several springs at the foot of the mound.

Climate and vegetation

The climate in the Lake Kinneret region is of the Mediterranean type, marked by mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. The conditions are greatly affected by the latitude, the distance from the Mediterranean, and the topography (Baruch 1986; Frick 1992; Meadows 2005). The rainy season takes place between October and May, and most of the rainfall occurs between November and February (Orni & Efrat 1966: 114–116). The rainfall is greatly affected by the local topography, as the air ascending a slope cools and takes in humidity. The annual precip-itation at the northern parts of the Sea of Galilee is around 500 mm (Frick 1992: 122). The precipitation decreases from north to south, from the 700 mm in the Hula basin to 400 mm over Lake Kinneret, and down to less than 300 mm in the Beth-Shean region south of the lake.

Another drop in rain fall occurs in the west-east gradient, from the Upper Galilee to the Kin-neret basin (Baruch 1986: 39). The valley around the Sea of Galilee, lying 200 meters below sea level, has a high barometric pressure and warm temperatures throughout the year. The air is compressed and warmed while descending into the valley, with its generally steep sides (Orni & Efrat 1966: 123).

Around the beginning of the Iron Age a shift from wetter to dryer climatic conditions took place in the Eastern Mediterranean (Schilman et al. 2002, 181). This dryer phase, taking place between 3100 and 2000 years BP, is attested by increased oxygen isotope (δ¹⁸O) values and

low lake levels (Schilman et al. 187–188). It has been suggested, based on carbon isotope anal-ysis (¹³C/¹²C), that the present arid climate regime started at this time (Magaritz et al. 1991:

455). Therefore, the modern temperatures and precipitations for Tiberias (9 km south of Tel Kinrot) can be regarded indicative of those during the Early Iron Age.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec total Temperature (C°) 14 15 17 20 22 24 27 28 26 24 20 15 Precipitation (mm) 130 95 60 15 4 0 0 0 2 18 80 130 534

Fig. 3.5 Average temperature and precipitation from 1960 to 2006 (http://weatherclimat.com/israel/ tibe-rias.html)

The natural vegetation of the Hula and Kinrot valleys during the Late Glacial period was dom-inated by oak forest, which decreased at the beginning of the Holocene (ca. 10 000 C¹⁴ years BP, uncalibrated) but recovered to some extent during the early Holocene (Baruch 1994: 110).

Later in the Holocene (9000–6000 C¹⁴ yr BP, uncalibrated), covering the Neolithic and Chalco-lithic periods in the Levant, arboreal pollen influx is still high but oak is partly replaced by pistachios, which indicates drier summers (Meadows 2005: 631). This period also shows a de-cline in the natural forests (especially of deciduous oak), which is probably mainly due to in-creased aridity (van Zeist et al. 2009). From the Neolithic on, there is also a growing impact from humans, seen both in the decline of the woodlands and in the rise of cultivated olive trees, cereal grasses, and weed plants. These phenomena reflect forest clearing, cultivation, settlement, and animal husbandry (Baruch 1994: 115–117; Yasuda et al. 2000: 131–132). Ac-cording to pollen analyses from the Sea of Galilee, the region was still rather densely forested by oak during the Bronze Ages, while a continuous decrease in oaks started around 1700 BCE and continued until 550 AD. Between the 1700 BC and 350 AD, the olive is represented by relatively low but stable values and pistachio and pine by very low values. The decline of ar-boreal vegetation and rising values of ruderal weeds attest to an increased clearing of the forests for agriculture and/or pasture land during the period between 1700 BC and 350 AD (Baruch 1986: 41–45). According to Zeist et al., olive cultivation declined during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages and largely disappeared during the Iron Age in the Hula region (Zeist et al. 2013: 29), just 30 kilometres north of Tel Kinrot. A similar phenomenon has been attested at Birkat Ram in the Golan Heights (Schwab et al. 2004: 1727). This may indicate a real differ-ence in local economies, reflecting the prosperity around the Sea of Galilee.

The analysed carbonized plant remains from the early Iron Age contexts at Tel Kinrot have yielded cultivated cereals (barley and wheat), pulses (bitter vetch and lentil), olives, grapes, and figs. The cultivated plants are grasses and shrubs (cereals, fig, and pulses), one liana, (the grapevitis vinifera), and a low growing tree, the olive(olea europaea). Wild plants included low grasses like stinking mayweed, oat, meadow grasses, and clover (Klee & Kühn 2005: 5–10;

2003: 30–31; Klee 2011: 80–81). Stinking mayweed and grasses often accompany cultivation in its pre modern phases (Lovell et al. 2005: 112, 114). Clover and oat may have been used as fodder (Boonman 1993: 285, 300). The cultivated plants were locally produced, most likely in the neighbouring fields and villages (Klee 2011: 80). Fishing has been attested by fish bones,

as well as hinted at by net weights from the site. However, the fish bones, especially those of the local species, are most likely under-represented because of their small size and fragility (Thomsen 2011: 79). The identified Nile perch also indicates imported fish (Ziegler & Boess-neck 1990: 155; Münger et al. 2011: 79). The faunal remains attest to the herding of mainly sheep/goat (59 %) and cattle (33 %), while domestic pig was used in small amounts (2 %) only.

The bone assemblage is dominated by complete skeletal remains of sheep/goat and cattle as adult animals and pigs at a young age. This indicates that milk and wool production were an important part of animal husbandry, while the pigs were kept for meat. The animals were slaughtered on-site. The inhabitants seem to have been self-subsistent as to their animal prod-ucts (Bar-Oz 2011: 86).

Frequent mentions of olive groves and vineyards in biblical sources (legal, story-telling, his-toric, and prophetic texts alike) attest to a scenery that the generations during and after exile in the 6^th century BCE were familiar with, where the main agricultural supplies included wheat, wine, and olive. This is in line with the clear increase in olive during the Persian and Hellenistic periods after a relative decrease in olive cultivation from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age (Baruch 1986: 42; Zeist et al. 2009: 29). Flavius Josephus, a Jewish antique history-writer, depicts the region around the Sea of Galilee in his account of the Maccabean rebellion against Rome in Palestine, written 76-79 CE. About the country around the lake, he writes:

Its nature is so wonderful as well as its beauty; its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees there; for the temper of the air is so well mixed, that it agrees very well with those several sorts, particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air and flourish there in vast plenty; there are palm trees also, which grow best in hot air; fig trees also and olives grow near them, which yet require an air that is more temperate. One may call this place the ambition of nature, where it forces those plants that are naturally enemies to one another to agree together; - - - it supplies men with the principal fruits, with grapes and figs continually, during ten months of the year and the rest of the fruits as they become ripe together through the whole year;

for besides the good air, it is also watered from a most fertile fountain. (Bell Jud. III.10.8, translated by Whiston 1999)

Josephus wants to convince the Roman aristocracy of the good nature of the Jews and their religion. This may affect his depiction of the Galilean nature, where “natural enemies agree together.” However, his depictions should have been credible for people living in the region, and thus not very far from the actual conditions. The Hellenistic and Roman periods are char-acterized by an increase in olive, walnut, and wine in the pollen analyses (Baruch 1986: 41–

46). In a travelogue of a pilgrimage from the late 4^th century CE, Egeria describes Heptapegon (modern Tabgha) as an area with springs flowing uninterrupted, surrounded by green fields and many palm trees (quoted by Petrus Diaconus in 12^th century CE inde locis sanctis V.3; for the dating and route of Egeria’s journey, see Röwekamp 1995: 21–24, 30–34). However, the devotional character of the travelogue may override exactness of depiction.

When archaeological activities started in the beginning of the 20th century, the landscape was largely deforested, but other greens were plentiful (Dalman 1911: 111–113). A travelogue from the Spring of 1911, written by the Finnish professor of the Old Testament Arthur Hjelt,

describes the region of Lower Galilee (when entering the district from south-east) as a thicket with bushes and small trees (oaks, maples, sycamores, etc.), in a contrast to the harsh Judean landscape (Hjelt 1917: 59). The hills around the Sea of Galilee are depicted as bare from trees but not barren, the north-western seashore growing some palms and the shoreline having bushes of oleander and thorn (Hjelt 1917: 70). Slightly earlier, Tristram (1886) described the scenery as barren and empty of all green except during the short rainy season.

The present-day western lakeshore can be described as a Mediterranean savanoid vegetation zone, dominated byZiziphus loti (a deciduous shrub in the buckthorn familyRhamnacae), as-sociated with dwarf shrubs of theBallotalia (black horehound) order (Baruch 1986: 39). In the beginning of the 20^th century eucalyptus was brought to the land and introduced to the sur-roundings of the Sea of Galilee (Dalman 1911: 111). They grow on the close lake shore, and do not disturb the remains higher on the slope. Other planting activities have taken place after 1948. At the present, the plain of Ginnosar on the southern side of the tell is planted with tropical varieties like banana, mango, and date. The mound grows mainly grasses, shrubs, and

The present-day western lakeshore can be described as a Mediterranean savanoid vegetation zone, dominated byZiziphus loti (a deciduous shrub in the buckthorn familyRhamnacae), as-sociated with dwarf shrubs of theBallotalia (black horehound) order (Baruch 1986: 39). In the beginning of the 20^th century eucalyptus was brought to the land and introduced to the sur-roundings of the Sea of Galilee (Dalman 1911: 111). They grow on the close lake shore, and do not disturb the remains higher on the slope. Other planting activities have taken place after 1948. At the present, the plain of Ginnosar on the southern side of the tell is planted with tropical varieties like banana, mango, and date. The mound grows mainly grasses, shrubs, and