# Tel Qiri
Tel Qiri is a small multi-period settlement mound inside modern Kibbutz HaZore'a in the western [Jezreel Valley](https://www.edgepedia.org/jezreel-valley), Israel, excavated in 1975-1977 as the first site of the Yoqne'am Regional Project.[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) The excavations revealed occupational levels of the [Neolithic](https://www.edgepedia.org/neolithic) period, the Middle Bronze Age II, and, after a gap, a sequence from Iron Age I to the Late Roman-Early Byzantine periods, with burial remains from the Late Muslim period and sporadic finds from the [Chalcolithic](https://www.edgepedia.org/chalcolithic), Early Bronze, Middle Bronze I, Late Bronze, Umayyad, Crusader, and Ottoman periods.[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) Its final report, *Tell Qiri: A Village in the Jezreel Valley* (Qedem 24, 1987), presents the mound as a case study of village life, the aspect of ancient society Ben-Tor called often neglected in an archaeology centered on large tells.[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) • [2](https://doi.org/10.2307/3209371)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Location | Within Kibbutz HaZore'a, 2 km south of Tell Yoqne'am, about 4 km from Mt. Carmel[3](https://doi.org/10.5040/9780300261912-0466) |
| Excavation | 1975-1977, first site of the Yoqne'am Regional Project[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) |
| Main occupation | Neolithic; Middle Bronze II; Iron Age I through Late Roman-Early Byzantine[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) |
| Iron Age stratigraphy | Five major settlement strata comprising twelve stratigraphic stages[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) |
| Final report | Qedem 24, 1987[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) |
| Petrographic finding | Only 20% of sampled pottery locally made, against 80% local production at three neighboring villages[4](https://www.academia.edu/44568097/2020_Arie_E_Covello_Paran_K_and_Shapiro_A_The_Rural_Hinterland_of_the_Jezreel_Valley_in_the_Late_Bronze_Age_III_and_Iron_Age_I_A_Petrographic_Perspective) |
| Recent fieldwork | Early Iron Age cist grave with six vessels, exposed on the mound's southeastern fringes, published 2025[5](https://doi.org/10.70967/2948-040x.1313) |
## Location and setting
Tel Qiri sits where the hill country of Mt. Carmel tapers off into the Jezreel Valley, about 4 km from the mountain.[3](https://doi.org/10.5040/9780300261912-0466) The mound lies within the built area of Kibbutz HaZore'a, 2 km south of Tell Yoqne'am.[3](https://doi.org/10.5040/9780300261912-0466) The *Encyclopedia of the Ancient Levant* notes artifacts at the site dated to the biblical period.[3](https://doi.org/10.5040/9780300261912-0466)
## Excavation and publication
The mound was excavated over three seasons, 1975-1977, by Amnon Ben-Tor and Y. Portugali of the [Hebrew University of Jerusalem](https://www.edgepedia.org/hebrew-university-of-jerusalem)'s Institute of Archaeology; Tell Qiri was the first site dug in the framework of the Yoqne'am Regional Project.[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) Ben-Tor published a preliminary account in *The Biblical Archaeologist* in 1979 under the title "Tell Qiri: A Look at Village Life", framing the work as "an archeological examination of an oft-neglected aspect of ancient culture and society, the village."[2](https://doi.org/10.2307/3209371)
The final report appeared in 1987 as volume 24 of the Qedem monograph series of the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology, a volume cataloged under the full title *Tell Qiri: a village in the Jezreel Valley; report of the archaeological excavations 1975-1977; archaeological investigations in the Valley of Jezreel, the Yoqne'am regional project*.[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) • [6](https://ub16.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1084042975) Judith M. Hadley reviewed it in *Vetus Testamentum* the following year, one sign of the prompt scholarly engagement the report received.[7](https://doi.org/10.2307/1519299)
## Chronology and stratigraphy
The occupational sequence spans the Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age II, then resumes in the Iron Age and runs, in the report's phrasing, "from the Iron Age I to the Late Roman-Early Byzantine periods."[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) Between the Middle Bronze II and Iron I levels the mound yielded only sporadic Late Bronze finds.[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf)
The Iron Age is the backbone of the sequence: five major settlement strata made up of no fewer than twelve stratigraphic stages.[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) The report devotes a dedicated chapter by Ben-Tor and Portugali, "The Iron Age: Stratigraphy, Architecture and Key Loci" (pages 53-131), to this sequence, and the Levantine Ceramics Project indexes the site's occupation phases as Iron Age I, Iron Age IB, and Iron Age IIC on the basis of that chapter.[8](https://www.levantineceramics.org/sites/1106-tel-qiri)
## A small agricultural village
The excavators' central conclusion is demographic and economic rather than monumental: an extensive analysis employing various methods enabled the reconstruction of Tell Qiri as a small agricultural settlement within its environmental setting.[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) Ben-Tor's 1979 article placed the site in the same frame, as an archaeological examination of the village as a neglected unit of ancient culture and society.[2](https://doi.org/10.2307/3209371)
A 2020 petrographic study by Eran Arie, Karen Covello-Paran, and Amir Shapiro complicated the picture of the self-sufficient village. Seventy-seven ceramic vessels were sampled from four rural sites in the Jezreel Valley dating to the Late Bronze Age III and Iron Age I; eighty percent of pottery samples from three of the sites were locally produced, a pattern the authors read as highlighting self-sufficient economies.[4](https://www.academia.edu/44568097/2020_Arie_E_Covello_Paran_K_and_Shapiro_A_The_Rural_Hinterland_of_the_Jezreel_Valley_in_the_Late_Bronze_Age_III_and_Iron_Age_I_A_Petrographic_Perspective) Tell Qiri behaved differently: only 20% of its sampled pottery was local, a distribution the study interprets as indicating significant external trade connections for this one village among its otherwise self-sufficient neighbors.[4](https://www.academia.edu/44568097/2020_Arie_E_Covello_Paran_K_and_Shapiro_A_The_Rural_Hinterland_of_the_Jezreel_Valley_in_the_Late_Bronze_Age_III_and_Iron_Age_I_A_Petrographic_Perspective)
## The Yoqne'am Regional Project
Tel Qiri was dug as the opening site of a regional design. The Yoqne'am Regional Project also included the excavations at [Tel Qashish](https://www.edgepedia.org/tel-qashish) and Tel Yoqne'am and a survey of the western Jezreel Valley.[9](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qreports5.pdf) The Qashish excavation ran eight seasons (1978-1987) and uncovered remains consisting mainly of domestic structures, dating principally from the Early Bronze Age I to the Late Bronze Age, with special finds including a cylinder seal and seal impressions.[9](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qreports5.pdf)
## Burial evidence
Burial remains from the Late Muslim period were unearthed on the mound.[1](https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf) A salvage excavation published in *Atiqot* on 20 January 2025 exposed a stone-lined cist grave containing six pottery vessels at Kibbutz HaZore'a, on the southeastern fringes of Tel Qiri; the vessels date from the Late Bronze Age until the late Iron Age.[5](https://doi.org/10.70967/2948-040x.1313) The report notes that this grave type is characteristic of areas of the country covered with alluvium, in which one could not hew tombs.[5](https://doi.org/10.70967/2948-040x.1313)
## References
1. Ben-Tor, A. and Portugali, Y., *Tell Qiri: A Village in the Jezreel Valley. Report of the Archaeological Excavations 1975-1977*, Qedem 24, Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1987. https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qedem24.pdf
2. Ben-Tor, A., "Tell Qiri: A Look at Village Life", *The Biblical Archaeologist* 42/2 (1979). https://doi.org/10.2307/3209371
3. "Qiri, Tell", *Encyclopedia of the Ancient Levant*, Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.5040/9780300261912-0466
4. Arie, E., Covello-Paran, K. and Shapiro, A., "The Rural Hinterland of the Jezreel Valley in the Late Bronze Age III and Iron Age I: A Petrographic Perspective" (2020). https://www.academia.edu/44568097/2020_Arie_E_Covello_Paran_K_and_Shapiro_A_The_Rural_Hinterland_of_the_Jezreel_Valley_in_the_Late_Bronze_Age_III_and_Iron_Age_I_A_Petrographic_Perspective
5. "An Early Iron Age Cist Grave at Kibbutz Ha-Zore'a", *Atiqot* (published 20 January 2025). https://doi.org/10.70967/2948-040x.1313
6. IxTheo catalogue record, Universität Tübingen. https://ub16.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1084042975
7. Hadley, J. M., review of *Tell Qiri: A Village in the Jezreel Valley*, *Vetus Testamentum* (1988). https://doi.org/10.2307/1519299
8. "Tel Qiri", The Levantine Ceramics Project. https://www.levantineceramics.org/sites/1106-tel-qiri
9. Ben-Tor, A., Bonfil, R. and Zuckerman, S., *Tel Qashish: A Village in the Jezreel Valley, Final Report of the Archaeological Excavations (1978-1987)*, Qedem Reports 5, 2003. https://heb.archaeology.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/archaeology/files/qreports5.pdf
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Places and geography › Ancient and historical places › Cities and sites of the ancient Near East, Egypt, and Nubia › Ancient Levant › Bronze Age Syria and Canaan: cities, sites, and monuments › Bronze Age sites in Canaan*
*Initially written Sep 19, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026 · Last review: Sep 19, 2026*
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