Abu Gosh
אבו גוש · Abu Ghosh · Tell Abu Gosh · Qiryat Yearim ridge
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to Pottery Neolithic (7600–5500 BCE)·Southern Levant PPNB → Yarmoukian (Pottery Neolithic)·🇮🇱 Jerusalem District, Judean Hills, Israel
About
About Abu Gosh
Middle–Late PPNB hilltop village (c.7600–6600 BCE) on Judean Hills ridge 12 km west of Jerusalem, excavated Lechevallier (1971), Rollefson and Khalaily. Two occupations: early MPPNB (Naviform, PPNB plaster) and late PPNB (Byblos points) with Rectilinear plaster-floor houses, naviform blade cache, Early Domestic Goat ancient DNA archive (Kahila Bar-Gal: wild→domestic transition dataset), and PN Yarmoukian pottery above. Classic case for Jerusalem hills sedentary onset before pottery, contemporary with Motza and Basta.
Why it mattersCaprine aDNA locus demonstrating morphometric vs genetic domestication criteria; anchors Judean hills PPNB vs Jordan Valley (Jericho) comparison.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why Judean hills PPNB smaller than Jordan Valley mega-sites?
Theories
- 01Hill adaptation with goat herding as risk buffer
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 7600 BCE (MPPNB)
- Period
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to Pottery Neolithic (7600–5500 BCE)
- Culture
- Southern Levant PPNB → Yarmoukian (Pottery Neolithic)
- Builders
- Levantine PPNB farmers
- Purpose
- Hill-country farming–herding village overlooking Jerusalem corridor
- Abandoned
- c.5500 BCE (PN abandonment)
- Rediscovered
- 1968 Rollefson–Lechevallier excavations; 2000s IAA salvage
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.7500 BCE
MPPNB village founded with plaster floors
c.7000 BCE
LPPNB naviform blade production peak
1971
First published PPNB sequence for Judean hills
On the ground
Structures & features
31.8050° N · 35.1080° E · 700 m · 2 mapped features
PPNB house floor
houseRectilinear house with white plaster floor and naviform blades in situ
31.8052° N · 35.1083° EGoat bone midden
middenConcentration of Capra hircus bones sampled for aDNA
31.8049° N · 35.1078° E
Gallery