Understanding Alleyways of the Early Bronze Age Southern Levant: A View from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel

Authors

• Haskel J. Greenfield, Department of Anthropology and St. Paul’s College, University of Manitoba, CanadaFollow
• Jeremy A. Beller, SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), AHKR, University of Bergen, Norway
• Sarah J. Richardson, Department of Anthropology and St. Paul’s College, University of Manitoba, Canada
• Shira Albaz, The Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, Haifa University, Israel
• Tina L. Greenfield, University of Winnipeg, Department of Anthropology, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
• Aren M. Maeir, Institute of Archaeology, the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and ArchaeologyFollow

Abstract

Public passageways enable people, animals and goods to navigate a built environment, allowing access to residences, shops and public buildings, and also demarcate the spheres of society: economic versus social, sacred versus profane and public versus private. Passageways also mark the arrangement of neighborhoods and typically reflect a purposeful organization for settlements. This paper explores the nature of passageways at early urban settlements in the Southern Levant, and particularly their placement and maintenance in Early Bronze Age domestic neighborhoods. To this end, it summarizes the architecture, stratigraphy and artifactual remains associated with an alleyway in the recently excavated domestic neighborhood at Early Bronze Age III Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel (c. 2900–2400 BCE).

Keywords

Levant, built environment, urban societies, streets, alleyways, rubbish, discard, neighborhoods, household and spatial archaeology

Recommended Citation

Greenfield, Haskel J.; Beller, Jeremy A.; Richardson, Sarah J.; Albaz, Shira; Greenfield, Tina L.; and Maeir, Aren M. (2026) "Understanding Alleyways of the Early Bronze Age Southern Levant: A View from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel," 'Atiqot: Vol. 120, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70967/2948-040X.2408
Available at: https://publications.iaa.org.il/atiqot/vol120/iss1/3