Current Issue
Past Issues
Editoral Policy
About Us
Guide to Contributors
Call for Papers
Submission
‘Atiqot 75 (2013)
ISBN 2948-040X
Gat-Govrin (Nahal Qomem): A Late Chalcolithic Site in the Northern Negev
(pp. 1–25)
Hamoudi Khalaily and Sorin Hermon
Keywords: chronology, Ghassulian culture
A salvage excavation at Gat-Govrin, located in the southern coastal plain, exposed an archaeological layer subdivided into two sedimentological levels. At the base of the archaeological layer were pits—some shallow and wide, others deep and bell-shaped. Ten pits were excavated; all contained potsherds, stone vessels and flint artifacts. The homogeneous pottery assemblage, manufactured from local material, is characteristic of the Chalcolithic repertoire. The flint artifacts include Canaanean blades, some retouched and with gloss. It appears that the Gat-Govrin site was a seasonal settlement, occupied by small groups toward the end of the Chalcolithic period (last quarter of the fourth millennium BCE). The finding of ‘Canaanean’ artifacts within a late Chalcolithic assemblage may indicate continuity from the Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age cultures in this area.