Qedesh in the Galilee Excavations

The site of Qedesh houses one of the largest biblical mounds in northern Israel. First settled as early as the Chalcolithic period, the site reached its peak during the Early Bronze Age, when an enormous site (ca. 60 hectares), extending well beyond the main mound, emerged during this crucial phase of early Levantine urbanism. A Canaanite city occpied the mound during the second millennium BCE, to be followed by an important Israelite center during the Iron Age II, known as one of the Refuge Cities of the Israelite Kingdom (Joshua 20:7; 21:32). Following its conquest by the Assyrian emperor Tiglath Pileser III in 732 BCE (2 Kings 15:29), it re-emerged as a Phoenician administrative center during the Persian and Hellenistic periods, and later as an important pagan town (Cydasa) on the boundary between Tyre and Jewish Galilee during the Second Temple period (BJ 3:35-40). A rural cultic center, housing two temples and numerous mausolea, developed here in the Late Roman period, and an important market town is attested during the Early Islamic period. A Shi’i village by the name of Qadas, known already from early Ottoman sources, occupied the upper mound until its abandonment during the Israeli-Arab 1948 war.

The Hebrew University Excavations at Tel Qedesh began in 2016, under the co-directorship of Uri Davidovich, Ido Wachtel and Roi Sabar. If followed a three-year intensive survey of the mound by Wachtel and Sabar, which encompassed an area of ca. 75 hectares surrounding the main mound, most of which contained archaeological remains from the EBA. This discovery prompted the decision to embark on a multi-annual excavation project at the site, with a major focus on the regional role of Qedesh in the advent of urbanism in northern Canaan. Our excavations focus in one component of the site (“Qedesh West”), where EBA remains are found immediately below topsoil. Two main areas are currently under excavation, one studying one the site’s domestic quarters, and the investigates its outer fortification system. In addition, excavations are also held on the upper mound, within the ruins of the village of Qadas, exposing both the latest phases of settlement on the site as well as earlier remains of a monumental edifice from the Roman Period.

You can follow the Qedesh excavation on Facebook and on the excavation website. 

Registration for 2023 season can be found here.