Tel Kabri (c. 320 dunams; Fig. 1) is the largest archaeological site in the western Galilee, and it has a small mound on its southwest (Et-Tel; c. 20 dunams), c. four meters higher than the rest of the site. In 1986–1993, eight excavation seasons were conducted at the site (Fig. 1: G-65/1993) under the direction of A. Kempinski of Tel Aviv University and W.-D. Niemeier of the University of Heidelberg in Germany (Kempinski 1987, 1988, 1989, 2002; Kempinski and Niemeier 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994). Two additional excavations took place in 1999 and 2004 (Shalem 2001 [Fig. 1: A-3056]; Smithline 2007 [Fig. 1: A-4271]). The Tel Aviv University excavations were renewed in 2005 and continued until 2019 (Yasur-Landau 2012; Fig. 1: G-66/2019). These excavations uncovered the remains of an Early Bronze Age settlement (150 dunams), a Middle Bronze II fortified city with a magnificent palace at its center, and a late Iron Age and Persian fortified compound on the small mound. Neolithic and Chalcolithic remains were also uncovered in the site over the years.
 
The current excavation took place in two areas (1, 2; Fig. 1): Area 1 was opened on the site’s eastern edge, c. 180 m from the Middle Bronze II palace, while Area 2 was opened to the south of ‘En Shefa‘—the only water source in the site—and at the foot of Et-Tel, where the Iron Age, Persian period, Ottoman period, and British Mandate era settlements clustered. Both areas comprised three strata (3–1), yielding meager structural remains and abundant finds spanning the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period and Iron Age IIC.
 
Area 1 (32 sq m)
Stratum 3. A layer of small stones (L109, L121, L126; Figs. 2, 3) was uncovered, containing mixed pottery from the Early Chalcolithic period and Middle Bronze I–II transition, as well as stone and flint tools from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, Pottery Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic periods (Spivak, below).
 
Stratum 2. A wall (W111; length 6 m) built of roughly dressed fieldstones was preserved four courses high. Beside it, a surface paved with stone slabs (W112) was uncovered. Soil accumulations near the wall and above the paved floor yielded Middle Bronze IIA pottery and metal finds (below), as well as a few Middle Bronze IIB potsherds that derive from later interferences. A stone-circled infant jar burial (L106; below) was found beneath the paved surface and is also dated to MB IIA (Fig. 4).
 
Stratum 1. This stratum consists of modern Muslim graves (L102, L108, L116, L117, W113), part of the cemetery of En-Nahr, an Arab village abandoned in 1948. The graves were not excavated; a section beside one of the graves yielded a metal bracelet (below).
 
Area 2 (16 sq m; Figs. 5, 6)
Stratum 3. A level of brown soil (L205) was uncovered, containing Early Chalcolithic flint tools (Spivak, below).
 
Stratum 2. A wall (W203; length 1.4 m, width 0.5 m, preserved height 1.5 m) built of fieldstones was found with a fieldstone pavement abutting its base. Soil accumulations above the paved surface yielded bones and Iron Age IIC pottery that dates the wall and the paving.
 
Stratum 1. A surface of small stones and potsherds was uncovered (L201), probably deposited by natural agencies near the spring of ‘En Shefa‘.
 
The Pottery
The pottery from the excavation is attributed to four periods. Area 1, Stratum 3, yielded bowls from the Early Chalcolithic period (Fig. 7:1–5), bowls from Middle Bronze IIA (Fig. 7:6–8) and a cooking pot from the end of Middle Bronze I or the transition to Middle Bronze II (Fig. 7:9).
Area 1, Stratum 2, definitively associated with the wall, the paved floor and the infant burial, yielded a pottery assemblage attributed to the Middle Bronze IIA and IIB, based on parallels with previous excavations at Tel Kabri and other sites. It includes bowls (Figs. 8, 9:1–10), cooking pots (Fig. 9:11, 12), jars (Figs. 10, 11:1), a juglet (Fig. 11:2) and decorated body sherds (Fig. 11:3–5).
In Area 2, Stratum 2, in clear association with the wall and the pavement, an Iron Age IIC pottery assemblage was retrieved, according to parallels from previous excavations at Tel Kabri and the northern coastal plain. This assemblage includes bowls (Fig. 12), kraters (Fig. 13:1–4), cooking pots (Fig. 13:5, 6), a baking tray (Fig. 13:7), jars (Fig. 14:1–6), juglets (Fig. 14:7, 8), a beaker (Fig. 14:9) and open oil lamp (Fig. 14:10).
 
Flint Items and Stone Tools
Polina Spivak
 
The Flint Items
The two excavation areas yielded 176 flint items (Table 1). The items were collected and recorded by excavation areas but were not attributed to specific strata. Both assemblages are dominated by a flake industry, indicated by the high ratio of flakes to blades. However, it is also notable that the ratio difference is much more significant in Area 1 (13:1) than in Area 2 (4:1). The four documented cores are small and exhausted. Two are radial and irregular and bear scars of tiny flakes only. The two other cores have a single striking platform with scars indicative of tiny flake and bladelet production.
The two areas yielded a total of 20 tools and tool fragments. The tools’ composition is similar in both. In Area 1, they consist of sickle blades (5), burin fragments (2) and scrapers (2), one of which may be a fan scraper. The assemblage also contains fragments of blades (3) and retouched flakes (1), a microlith (1) and a bifacial (1). Area 2 yielded small sickle blade (2) and arrowhead (2)  fragments.
In both areas, the diagnostic tools represent daily activities during three periods: (1) A sickle blade and two arrowheads (Fig. 15:1, 2) are attributed to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period; (2) Two sickle blades (Fig. 15:3) are assigned to the Pottery Neolithic period; and (3) Four sickle blades (Fig. 15:4, 5) are of the Early Chalcolithic period.
  
Table 1. Flint finds
Item
Area 1
%
Area 2
%
Primary items
17
21.5
7
7.2
Flakes
37
46.8
38
39.2
Blades
1
1.3
8
8.2
Bladelets
2
2.5
2
2.1
Canaanean blades
 
 
1
1.0
Cores
1
1.3
3
3.1
Core debitage
1
1.3
4
4.1
Tools
9
11.4
11
11.3
Chunks
10
12.7
13
13.4
Chips
1
1.3
10
10.3
Total
79
100
97
100
 
Obsidian Bladelet. In Area 1, a fragment of a unidirectional obsidian bladelet (Fig. 15:6) was discovered in a stratigraphically indeterminate context. Extremely rare obsidian finds documented in the past at Tel Kabri include a large blade core (Stekelis 1958) and a round mirror (Prausnitz 1969: Pl. 37). Unfortunately, these and all other obsidian artifacts at Tel Kabri were retrieved from indefinite stratigraphic contexts. The nearest natural obsidian sources are in Anatolia and Armenia, and these rare items were undoubtedly brought to the site from a considerable distance, attesting to Tek Kabri’s substantial trade ties. Obsidian artifacts were highly prized in the Mediterranean Basin already at the beginning of the Neolithic period. Their frequency in settlement sites increased during the Neolithic period and decreased significantly during the Late Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age.
 
Stone Tools
The current excavation’s stone tools assemblage comprises ten items, none of which were found in a clear stratigraphic context (Table 2).
Most of the stone tools are upper grinding or pounding tools that could be grasped with one or two hands and applied against a fixed lower tool.
 
Table 2. Stone tools
Tool
Area 1
%
Area 2
%
Disk
2
28.6
 
 
Pestle
1
14.3
 
 
Multipurpose upper stone
2
28.6
1
33.3
Small bowl
1
14.3
 
 
Upper grinding stone
1
14.3
1
33.3
Small mortar
 
 
1
33.3
Total
7
100
3
100
 
Limestone disks (N=2; Fig. 16:1, 2). The disks were made of hard limestone using a bifacial flaking technique and have a characteristic lens-shaped or semi-lens-shaped transverse section. Such tools appeared in the region during Pre-Pottery Neolithic B and became particularly common in the Pottery Neolithic period. In the Chalcolithic period, their frequency decreased significantly. There is no scholarly consensus as to these tools’ purpose, but various proposals were put forward: choppers, scrapers, stoppers, hunting tools, and tools for working pottery, wood, plaster, etc.
 
Upper grinding stones (N=2; Fig. 17:1). Two fragments of upper grinding stones—of the unifacial loaf hand-stone type—were recovered. Both items were of porous basalt and had a single, heavily worn working surface. Although one is more grooved than the other, both were originally loaf-shaped.
 
Multipurpose upper stones (N=3). Two of these tools (e.g. Fig. 17:2) are made on flint pebbles, and the third on a hard limestone pebble. All three have one rounded face used for grinding and pounding (diam. 7–10 cm) and wear marks of beating and abrasion on their sides. The side opposite the working surface is convex and can be grasped with one hand; it is unmodified and bears no signs of use.
A hole perforated in one of the stones, probably in a secondary-use phase, allows hanging it as a counterpoise weight.
 
Unipolar conical pestle (N=1; Fig. 18:1). The pestle is made of basalt and has a single-use surface.
 
Miniature vessel (N=1; Fig. 18:2). A small limestone vessel with an entirely polished surface was found in an unstratified context. Similar vessels were found at Tel Kabri in the past, also in indeterminate stratigraphical contexts (Prausnitz 1969:127). Miniature finely-finished vessels may have served as luxury or cultic items.
 
Bowl mortar (N=1; Fig. 18:3). The mortar is made of basalt, and it was shaped by thoroughly pecking its entire surface. It is very small and was probably used for finely crushing small quantities of a substance.
 
The stone assemblage’s small size and its poor stratigraphic context render assessing its scope and character impossible. It is also difficult to estimate whether there was a preference for pounding or grinding and what materials were processed since the assemblage represents both types of activity equally. The well-finished quality of most of the stone tools is also of note.
Bifacial limestone disks were widespread in the region, especially during Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. However, the vast majority of tool types in the assemblage were used throughout most of the Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic periods.
 
Archaeozoology
Nimrod Marom
 
The excavations in the Middle Bronze Age complexes at Tel Kabri yielded a small assemblage of manually collected bones. The assemblage was identified using the comparative collection of the archaeozoological laboratory of the University of Haifa as a reference. The bones were classified according to diagnostic areas while recording features indicative of their taphonomy, such as signs of burning, predator gnawing marks, cutting and weathering. A total of 28 mammal bones was identified to the level of species and skeletal part.
 
Most of the identified bones are sheep/goat (64%; N=18; Ovis aries/Capra hircus), representing at least two individuals. Morphological indices suggest that four of these belong to sheep, but this is uncertain given the scarcity of sheep in other assemblages at Tel Kabri and the unreliability of such indices. Two pelvic bones belong to females. The cattle bones (25%; N=7; Bos taurus; representing at least one individual) are a significant find: given these animals’ high water consumption, their occurrence is probably related to the ability to raise large numbers of them in the northern valleys. The mandible of a young pig (Sus scrofa), a donkey tooth (Equus asinus) and a scapula of a Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) indicate the exploitation of these animals for meat, labor and game, respectively. With the exception of one sheep/goat bone and the pig mandible, the faunal assemblage represents adult animals (based on epiphyseal fusion and permanent teeth), indicating that they were exploited for various purposes and products—work, milk, wool—before eventually being slaughtered for meat.
The presence of females among the caprines attests to local, small-scale animal husbandry for meat and secondary products.
The breakdown of the skeletal parts shows that the initial butchering of the sheep and goats took place elsewhere: foot bones are entirely missing. This observation indicates some kind of spatial distinction between areas of meat processing and meat consumption, although the nature of this distinction cannot be determined at this stage. A sawn-off ram’s horn and a fine bone item attest to a horn and bone industry at the site.
 
Bone artifact
Accumulations dated to Iron Age IIC in Area 2 yielded a bone item that was apparently part of a pendant (L201, B2019; Fig. 19). The University of Chicago Expedition at Tel Megiddo found a similar item in Stratum 3 that was dated to 780–650 BCE (Lamon and Shipton 1939: Pl. 97:8, 9).
 
Metal Items
In the section of one of the Muslim graves in Area 1, a bronze bracelet (L120; Fig. 20) was found. This bracelet, a common item of women’s jewelry in the nineteenth–early twentieth centuries CE, was a grave good. Another metal item (Fig. 21) was an arrowhead recovered from Middle Bronze II accumulations (L101). A similar arrowhead from an excavation in Nahal Tut (Site 9) was dated to Middle Bronze II (Lieberman-Wander 1999: Fig. 76).
 
Human Skeletal Remains
Yossi Nagar
 
Fragments of human bones were found in a jar (L106) placed inside a stone circle and dated to the Middle Bronze Age. The bones, which were examined after being removed from the ground, comprise fragments of an infant’s cranial and postcranial bones and teeth. The long bones had disintegrated and could not be measured, and it was impossible to estimate the infant’s age based on cranial measurements. However, based on the fragment proportions, the bones were identified as those of a baby. In a vertebrate, the two halves of the neural arch were not yet fused, indicating the infant was less than two years old. Infant jar burials are typical of the Middle Bronze Age and have been previously documented both in burial caves and beneath habitation floors.
 
The excavation, conducted in previously unexamined areas of the site, showed that Tel Kabri’s eastern end (Area 1) contained residential buildings from the transitional Middle Bronze I–II period and from the Middle Bronze IIA and IIB. It also discovered that the Iron Age IIC settlement also extended at the foot of the small mound and south of ‘En Shefa‘. The pottery, stone, flint and obsidian tools of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods contribute to our understanding of settlement size at the site in ancient periods.