Tell el-Hesi is located near the modern city of Qiryat Gat in the Southern District of Israel, 23 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. The site, which covers 35-40 acres, includes both an acropolis and a lower city. Occupation of the site began as early as the Neolithic period, and the city grew significantly during the Early Bronze Age before being abandoned until the Late Bronze Age. The latest phase of occupation occurred during the Hellenistic period. The acropolis was in use for almost two thousand years. This volume is the first in a new iteration of the Joint Archaeological Expedition to Tell el-Hesi series that builds on previously published volumes. It publishes a final report for part of one of Tell el-Hesi's excavation fields; a reevaluation of the stratigraphic findings of the original 1891-1892 excavations on Tell el-Hesi, based on excavation work from the 1970s and 1980s; in-depth studies of groups of small finds from the tell; and zooarchaeological analyses that widen the investigative perspective to include the region around the tell. Paying tribute to the long excavation history at Tell el-Hesi, the contributors to this volume employ state-of-the-art scientific methods that honor the careful work and findings of a century of excavations. Hesi After 50 Years and 130 Years will be an important reference for scholars researching the history and culture of southern Palestine.
John R. Spencer is Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies from the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at John Carroll University. He is coauthor of Tell el-Hesi: The Muslim Cemetery in Fields V and VI/IX and coeditor of Material Culture Matters, both published by Eisenbrauns. James W. Hardin is Codirector of the Cobb Institute of Archaeology and Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures at Mississippi State University. He is the author of Lahav II-Households and the Use of Domestic Space at Iron II Tell Halif: An Archaeology of Destruction and coeditor of Gezer VII: The Middle Bronze and Later Fortifications in Fields II, IV, and VII, also published by Eisenbrauns. Jeffrey A. Blakely is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures at Mississippi State University. He is the author of numerous excavation reports and guides, including The Tell el-Hesi Field Manual and Tell el- Hesi: The Persian Period (Stratum V), the latter also published by Eisenbrauns.
