Tel Hadar (Sheikh Khadr) is a well-stratified mound in the central Levant, located on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee (32°51’2.96 “N, 35°38’58.46 “E). It was excavated between 1987 and 1998 by the late Moshe Kochavi and Pirhiya Beck as part of the “Land of Geshur Regional Project.” Despite its relatively small size, the finds from the excavations have immense importance for understanding the cultural interactions between Syria and the southern Levant in the Bronze and Iron Ages and for the chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean in the early first millennium BCE.
Several stratigraphic sequences, ranging from the end of the Middle Bronze Age to the early days of the Iron Age IIB, were exposed during the fieldwork at Tel Hadar, including coherent architecture and rich finds from secure contexts. Of particular importance is a massive Iron Age I destruction layer that was radiocarbon dated to the early 10th century BCE (Stratum IV). Due to the excellent preservation of the remains, the well-established absolute date of the event, and the discovery of a rare Euboean Protogeometric vessel within the ruins, this stratum became one of the chronological anchors of the Early Iron Age in the southern Levant and beyond. The remains from the Iron Age II strata, which include two well-planned domestic quarters, are no less interesting, as Tel Hadar is commonly considered one of the towns of the Kingdom of Geshur (2 Sam 3:3; 13:37–38; 14:32; 15:8). The finds from the excavations provide, therefore, a rare snapshot into the daily life of the residents of a small-scale polity that flourished in the central Levant, at the southernmost fringe of the Syro-Anatolian culture.
The publication project is directed by Assaf Kleiman.
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