<home # start here # guides # builds # services # shop # about # categories>

Hurvat Husam is a relatively small but important Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) site in Lower Galilee, northern Israel. Although much less famous than sites such as Jericho, Kfar HaHoresh, or Yiftahel, it contributes valuable evidence for the spread of farming villages across Galilee during the eighth millennium BCE.

The site appears to have been a small agricultural settlement, rather than a ceremonial center, and is thought to have participated in the wider network of PPNB communities that stretched across the Jordan Valley, Galilee, and the Mediterranean uplands.

It’s about 25–30 km east of Haifa, around 35 km west of the Jordan Valley
Roughly 40 km southwest of the Sea of Galilee. And, near other major Neolithic sites such as Yiftahel and Kfar HaHoresh.

Available radiocarbon dates indicate occupation during approximately:
Phase Approximate dates
Early–Middle PPNB c. 8500–7600 BCE
There is presently no strong evidence for significant PPNA occupation, although nearby regions preserve earlier settlements.

Environment Around 9,000 Years Ago
During the Early Holocene, Lower Galilee was considerably greener than today. The landscape probably consisted of Mediterranean woodland. It included: wild pistachio (Pistacia palaestina), almond, wild fig, oak, terebinth, hawthorn, pear and occasional olive. Rainfall was somewhat higher than today, and perennial springs were more reliable.

Although archaeobotanical recovery from Hurvat Husam itself has been relatively limited, comparison with nearby PPNB sites strongly suggests cultivation of einkorn wheat, emmer wheat, barley, lentils, peas and bitter vetch.
Wild resources likely included: pistachios, almonds, figs, acorns and wild grapes. These inferences are consistent with better-preserved assemblages from nearby Yiftahel and Kfar HaHoresh.

Sheep and Goat Farming
The economy almost certainly included domestic livestock. Evidence from Hurvat Husam and nearby Galilean PPNB sites indicates sheep and goats. And, wild game gazelle, deer, wild boar, hare and birds. Goats were especially well suited to the rocky limestone hills.

The site lies within the Galilee limestone belt
Abundant high-quality flint occurs naturally within local limestone formations and supplied most stone tools.

Excavations have revealed typical PPNB domestic architecture
Rectangular plans, stone foundations, mudbrick walls, lime-plastered floors, internal partitions, hearths and storage areas.
The settlement was relatively modest compared with large villages such as Ain Ghazal or Basta. And, unlike nearby Kfar HaHoresh, Hurvat Husam appears to have functioned primarily as a residential farming settlement not ritual space. Burials probably occurred, but evidence is more limited.

Unique recovered artefacts include beads, personal ornaments and ground-stone tools
No substantial assemblage of anthropomorphic figurines, animal figurines or gaming pieces.

Hurvat Husam is valuable because it documents (5) permanent farming households; limestone construction; cereal agriculture; local flint industries; and, regional interaction within Galilee.
Although it lacks spectacular ritual architecture, it contributes to understanding everyday life in the Galilean PPNB.

Occupation and abandonment suggests one principal PPNB occupation, rebuilding of houses through several generations and gradual abandonment toward the end of the PPNB
There is no evidence for repeated destruction or multiple abandonment episodes comparable to those seen at some larger tells.

Although not a large or monumental settlement, Hurvat Husam helps fill an important gap in our understanding of small farming villages in Lower Galilee. It illustrates how communities adopted the classic PPNB package of rectangular architecture, cereal cultivation, sheep and goat herding, plaster technology, and flint tool production within the fertile uplands of northern Israel. Together with nearby Yiftahel, Kfar HaHoresh, and other Galilean sites, it demonstrates that the region was a significant center of Neolithic settlement and agricultural expansion.

References: Khalaily, H. (various excavation reports on Galilean PPNB settlements and Israel Antiquities Authority publications).

Gopher, A. (1994). The Flint Assemblages of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B in Israel.

Kuijt, I., & Nigel Goring-Morris (2002). Foraging, Farming, and Social Complexity in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Southern Levant. Journal of World Prehistory.

Weiss, E., Kislev, M. E., & Hartmann, A. (2006). Autonomous cultivation before domestication. Science.

Belfer-Cohen, A., & Bar-Yosef, O. (regional syntheses of the Levantine Neolithic).