Taur Ikhbeineh

Taur Ikhbeineh is located {{convert|3|km}} inland from Gaza's Mediterranean coast. When the site was established in the prehistoric period it was likely located near an estuary of the Wadi Gaza, and the coast was closer.{{sfn|Morhange|Hamdan Taha|Humbert|Marriner|2005}}

The extent of the site is uncertain though it is likely that it has been reduced by erosion over the millennia. Archaeological investigations identified three areas of activity (dubbed areas A, B, and C in the archaeological reports) within an area of {{convert|8|acre|order=flip}}; area A was the main inhabited part and occupied an area of at least {{convert|2.5|acre|order=flip}} but it is unclear whether the three areas are part of the same settlement or whether areas B and C are peripheral to the main settlement.{{sfn|Oren|Yekutieli|1992|pp=365, 377-378}}

The history of Taur Ikhbeineh is understood from partial archaeological excavations. The investigations identified four phases of occupation dated through radiocarbon dating to the 34th century BC,{{sfn|Oren|Yekutieli|1992|pp=363, 381}} during the Early Bronze Age I (the first part of the Early Bronze Age, referred to as EBI){{refn|group=note|Taur Ikhbeineh is sometimes referred to as a Chalcolithic site, see eg: {{harvnb|Morhange|Hamdan Taha|Humbert|Marriner|2005}}. There are different naming schemes for this period, and the earliest part of EBI is sometimes considered to be Late Chalcolithic.{{sfn|Sharon|2013|loc=note 16}}}} The EBI period saw the development of the first urban settlements.{{sfn|Sharon|2013|pp=50-52}}

The settlement was abandoned in the Early Bronze Age,{{sfn|Oren|Yekutieli|1992|p=380}} though there were later prehistoric burials at Taur Ikhbeineh. Human remains were found at the site and broadly dated to the Early Bronze Age IV or Middle Bronze Age I periods based on pottery found with the burials (corresponding to 2500/2300BC–1750BC). The bones belonged to two individuals: an adult aged 20–30 and a 3-month-old infant. The burial practice was similar to the burials found at Tell el-Ajjul, a nearby Bronze Age settlement.{{sfn|Oren|Yekutieli|1992|p=363}}{{sfn|Horwitz|Tchernov|Mienis|Hakker-Orion|2002|p=113}}{{sfn|Sharon|2013|p=63}}

The earliest occupation layers at Taur Ikhbeineh, which dated to the 4th millennium BC, included evidence of Egyptian and Canaanite cultures interacting.{{sfn|Oren|Yekutieli|1992|pp=363, 373-375, 381}} Along with imported Egyptian pottery, archaeologists discovered locally produced material made with Egyptian and Canaanite techniques, assimilating Egyptian processes into local techniques. They hypothesised that there were two workshops either at Taur Ikhbeineh or in the area, with different groups producing different wares.{{sfn|Oren|Yekutieli|1992|pp=373-375, 381}} Archaeologists Pierre de Miroschedji and Moain Sadeq suggest that the nearby Tell es-Sakan may have been intended to replace Taur Ikhbeineh. Tell es-Sakan was a major fortified Egyptian settlement established around 3300 BC.{{sfn|de Miroschedji|Sadeq|2005|p=155}}

The site was discovered in 1932,{{sfn|Gophna|1978}} and investigated by Ram Gophna (Tel Aviv University) in 1977 and Eliezer Oren and Yuval Yekutieli (Ben Gurion University) in 1987, with surveys of the area and excavations conducted. Pottery discovered at Taur Ikhbeineh in the 1930s is in the Rockefeller Archeological Museum's collection.{{sfn|Oren|Yekutieli|1992|p=361}}

In 2004 the site was used agriculturally. Since then, construction work has taken place nearby, along with clearances and the widening of the Salah al-Din Road which passed north-west of Taur Ikhbeineh.{{sfn|Andreou|Fradley|Blue|Breen|2024|pp=21-22, 24}} During the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip the area around Taur Ikhbeineh was affected by airstrikes. In late 2023, the Gaza Maritime Archaeology Project (GAZAMAP) used satellite imagery to identify a damaged building but the extent of the damage to the archaeological site could not be determined.{{sfn|Andreou|2023|p=12}}

• Naqada culture – culture in Egypt partly contemporary with Taur Ikhbeineh

{{Reflist|group=note}}

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{{Refbegin|indent=yes}}

• {{cite report |last=Andreou |first=Georgia M. |title=Gaza Maritime Archaeology Project |url=https://honorfrostfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GAZAMAP-2023-Short-Report.pdf |year=2023 |publisher=Honor Frost Foundation |access-date=7 June 2024 |archive-date=7 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240607185949/https://honorfrostfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GAZAMAP-2023-Short-Report.pdf |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Andreou |first1=Georgia M. |last2=Fradley |first2=Michael |last3=Blue |first3=Lucy |last4=Breen |first4=Colin |date=2024 |title=Establishing a baseline for the study of maritime cultural heritage in the Gaza Strip |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |language=en |volume=156 |issue=1 |pages=4–42 |doi=10.1080/00310328.2022.2037923 |issn=0031-0328 |doi-access=free|url=https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/files/99831361/00310328.2022.pdf }}
• {{cite magazine |last=Gophna |first=Ram |title=En-Bensor |magazine=Expedition Magazine |volume=20 |issue=4 |date=July 1978 |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/en-bensor/}}
• {{cite book |last1=Horwitz |first1=Liora Kolska |last2=Tchernov |first2=Eitan |last3=Mienis |first3=Henk K. |last4=Hakker-Orion |first4=Dalia |last5=Bar-Yosef Mayer |first5=Daniella |chapter=The archaeozoology of three Early Bronze Age sites in Nahal Besor, northwestern Negev |title=In Quest of Ancient Settlement and Landscapes: Archaeological Studies in Honour of Ram Gophna |year=2002 |publisher=Ramot Publishing and Tel Aviv University |editor-first1=Edwin C. M. |editor-last1=van den Brink |editor-first2=Eli |editor-last2=Yannai |pages=107–133 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311556533}}
• {{citation |last1=de Miroschedji |first1=Pierre |last2=Sadeq |first2=Moain |chapter=The frontier of Egypt in the Early Bronze Age: preliminary soundings at Tell es-Sakan (Gaza Strip) |title=Archaeological Perspectives on the Transmission and Transformation of Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean |year=2005 |editor-first=Joanne |editor-last=Clarke |publisher=Council for British Research in the Levant |pages=155-169 |jstor=j.ctv310vqks.24 |jstor-access=free |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv310vqks.24}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Morhange |first1=Christophe |last2=Hamdan Taha |first2=Mohamed |last3=Humbert |first3=Jean-Baptiste |last4=Marriner |first4=Nick |title=Human settlement and coastal change in Gaza since the Bronze Age |journal=Méditerranée: Revue géographique des pays méditerranéens |year=2005 |volume=104 |issue=104 |pages=75–78 |doi=10.4000/mediterranee.2252 |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite book |last1=Oren |first1=Eliezer D. |last2=Yekutieli |first2=Yuval |chapter=Taur Ikhbeineh: Earliest Evidence for Egyptian Interconnections |title=The Nile Delta in Transition: 4th–3rd Millennium B.C. |year=1992 |editor-first=Edwin C. M. |editor-last=van den Brink |location=Tel Aviv |publisher=Israel Exploration Society |pages=361–384 |url=https://www.academia.edu/43433973}}
• {{cite book |last=Sharon |first=Ilan |chapter=Levantine chronology |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |pages=44–65 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199212972.013.004|isbn=978-0-19-921297-2}}

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{{Gaza Governorate}}

Category:History of Palestine (region)

Category:Archaeological sites in the Gaza Strip

Category:Archaeology of the Near East

Category:Chalcolithic sites of Asia

Category:Bronze Age sites in Palestine

Category:Populated places established in the 4th millennium BC

Category:Populated places disestablished in the 4th millennium BC