Hartuv, an Aspect of the Early Bronze I Culture of Southern Israel

Excavations at the site of Hartuv, in the Shephelah region of Israel, have revealed a single-period site dating to the Early Bronze I. The major discovery is an architectural complex excavated at the center of the site. It includes a central courtyard surrounded by rooms on at least three sides. One of the rooms, a rectangular hall with pillar bases along its long axis, may have been a sanctuary with a line of standing stones (massebot) which in a previous phase probably stood free. Another hall has a monumental entrance flanked by two large, monolithic door jambs. The complex appears to have had both religious and secular functions. The material culture of the site represents a regional variant, hitherto poorly recognized, of EB I, characterizing southern Israel. It can be dated to the main part of the period, between an earlier and a later phase, and thus contributes to a better understanding of both the chronology of this period in southern Israel and the process of urbanization in the central Shephelah region.