title: Gesher (archaeological site)
text: # Gesher (archaeological site)
  
  Gesher is an archaeological site located on the southern bank of Nahal Tavor, near kibbutz Gesher in the central Jordan Valley of Israel. It bears signs of occupation from two periods, the very early Neolithic and the Middle Bronze Age. The site was first excavated between 1986 and 1987 by Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and between 2002 and 2004 by Susan Cohen of Montana State University. The average of 4 radiocarbon dating results suggested inhabitation of the settlement around 8000 BC.
  
  During the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A the site was a small village composed of a few rounded structures. Typical flint finds included a high number of el-Khiam points which Garfinkel argued, along with the relatively early date could class Gesher as a Khiamian site. One outstanding discovery, unknown from any other Neolithic site of the period in the Near East, is a workshop for the production of basalt artifacts. The workshop produced basalt axes and various other tools which were then sent to other early Neolithic centers, such as Jericho and Netiv Hagdud. According to radiometric dates, Gesher is one of the earliest Neolithic sites in the Near East. During this period the first villages were established and the transition to agriculture occurred. A final excavation report on the Neolithic site was published in 2006.
  
  During the Middle Bronze Age IIA, Gesher served as a cemetery. Some 20 graves have been uncovered. These are shaft graves, dug into the local sediment, used for individual burials and never reopened. This facilitates the study of burial customs, including body position, the quantity of grave goods and their relation to the deceased. Bronze spearheads and axes (including three duck-bill axes) were found in four of the graves. A final excavation report on the Middle Bronze cemetery was published in 2007.
  
  * Calibrated Carbon 14 dates for Gesher as of 2013.
  * Gesher Pre-Pottery Neolithic A rounded building.
  * Gesher Pre-Pottery Neolithic A flint arrowheads.
  
  ## Comparative chronology
  
  vteChronology of the Neolithic period :
  
  Pre-Pottery Neolithic   Pottery Neolithic :
  
  BC
  
  Europe
  
  Egypt
  
  Syria Levant
  
  Anatolia
  
  Khabur
  
  Sinjar Mountains Assyria
  
  Middle Tigris
  
  Low Mesopotamia
  
  Iran (Khuzistan)
  
  Iran
  
  Indus/ India
  
  China
  
  11000
  
  Early Pottery (18,000 BC)
  
  10000
  
  Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Gesher Mureybet (10,500 BC)
  
  9000
  
  Jericho Tell Abu Hureyra
  
  8000
  
  Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Jericho Tell Aswad
  
  Göbekli Tepe Çayönü Aşıklı Höyük
  
  Initial Neolithic (Pottery) Nanzhuangtou (8500–8000 BC)
  
  7000
  
  Egyptian Neolithic Nabta Playa (7500 BC)
  
  Çatalhöyük (7500–5500) Hacilar (7000 BC)
  
  Tell Sabi Abyad Bouqras
  
  Jarmo
  
  Ganj Dareh Chia Jani Ali Kosh
  
  Mehrgarh I
  
  6500
  
  Neolithic Europe Franchthi Sesklo
  
  Pre-Pottery Neolithic C ('Ain Ghazal)
  
  Pottery Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad Bouqras
  
  Pottery Neolithic Jarmo
  
  Chogha Bonut
  
  Teppe Zagheh
  
  Pottery Neolithic Peiligang (7000–5000 BC)
  
  6000
  
  Pottery Neolithic Sesklo Dimini
  
  Pottery Neolithic Yarmukian (Sha'ar HaGolan)
  
  Pottery Neolithic Ubaid 0 (Tell el-'Oueili)
  
  Pottery Neolithic Chogha Mish
  
  Pottery Neolithic Sang-i Chakmak
  
  Pottery Neolithic Lahuradewa Mehrgarh II Mehrgarh III
  
  5600
  
  Faiyum A
  
  Amuq A
  
  Halaf Halaf-Ubaid
  
  Umm Dabaghiya
  
  Samarra (6000–4800 BC)
  
  Tepe Muhammad Djafar
  
  Tepe Sialk
  
  5200
  
  Linear Pottery culture (5500–4500 BC)
  
  Amuq B
  
  Hacilar Mersin 24–22  
  
  Hassuna
  
  Ubaid 1 (Eridu 19–15) Ubaid 2 (Hadji Muhammed) (Eridu 14–12)
  
  Susiana A
  
  Yarim Tepe Hajji Firuz Tepe
  
  4800
  
  Pottery Neolithic Merimde
  
  Amuq C
  
  Hacilar Mersin 22–20
  
  Hassuna Late Gawra 20
  
  Tepe Sabz
  
  Kul Tepe Jolfa
  
  4500
  
  Amuq D
  
  Gian Hasan Mersin 19–17
  
  Ubaid 3
  
  Ubaid 3 (Gawra) 19–18
  
  Ubaid 3
  
  Khazineh Susiana B
  
  3800
  
  Badarian Naqada
  
  Ubaid 4
  
  Succeeded by: Historical Ancient Near East :
  
  