Ḥaluẓa

Between 2015 and 2019, five seasons of survey, geophysical prospections, excavation and various material analyses were conduct ed at H alu z a (Elusa, el-Khalasa) in the western Negev (License Nos. G-11/2015, G-16/2016, G-9/2017, G-14/2018, G-21/2019; map ref. 16710/55625 ). The project, on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Cologne in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority, is being directed by M. Heinzelmann and T. Erickson-Gini. Supplementary funding has been provided by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development since 2017 (G-1351-108.4/2016). A sub-project investigating an Early Christian basilica (Basilica B) and led by F. Jordan and S. Schrenk (University of Bonn) is financed by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. Students of both Cologne and Bonn Universities participated in the work. The project was assisted by C. Schöne (organization, surveying and GIS), S. Lehnig and G. Bar-Oz (archaeozoology), D. Wozniok (archaeological survey), D. Heinzelmann (architectural documentation), N. Pickartz (geophysics), M. Kahan (surveying), S. Braun and J. Linden (excavation technique), D. Zell (digital terrain modelling), D. Hinz (3D modelling), H. Mamalya (underground sewer exploration), A. Smadi (final drawings), A. Schröder (final drawings, portable X-Ray Fluorescence), CologneAMS (radiocarbon dating), D.T. Ariel (numismatics), Y. Gorin-Rosen (glass), H. Bruins, B. Lucke, J. Roskin (geoarchaeology), D. Langgut and M. Kühn (archaeobotanics) and R. Hirsch of Makman Dunes Desert Lodge (accommodation and logistics). We thank both the Israel Antiquities Authority and Israel Nature and Parks Authority for the excavation permit and their continuous support of our project.