The Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods in the Southern Levant: New data from the site of Teleilat Ghassul Jordan

Teleilat Ghassul (a few kilometres north east of the Dead Sea) is important in the archaeology of the southern Levant, offering as it does a possibility to draw together data from a number of sites that provide primary evidence for the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (c. 5000 – c. 3500 BC). The Australian excavations at the site in 1967-77 (J.B. Hennessy) and 1994-97 form the basis of this study and provide an opportunity not only for a thorough reappraisal of the data, but also its interpretation in the light of present knowledge of the period elsewhere, and up-to-date research strategies. The stratigraphic and ceramic sequences are structured and assessed, and the site set in its contemporary cultural and social contexts. The monograph concludes with a reappraisal of the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in the southern Levant.