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The Chalcolithic Culture of the Golan
Claire Epstein
(Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 1998) IAA Reports, no. 4, 74 plates, 9 plans, 220 figures, 352 pp., $65.00 (available from the IAA, PO Box 586, Jerusalem 91004, Israel)
Claire Epstein’s long-awaited volume on the Chalcolithic period in the Golan Heights does not disappoint. A winner of the Irene Levi-Sala Book Prize for archaeological publications, this study is a mature and definitive treatment of 25 sites dating to 4500–3650 B.C.E. The inhabitants of these sites constructed their houses in elongated clusters or in chains, so each site indicates how a nuclear family dwelling gradually grew into a group of family dwellings. No sites were fortified, and none betrays evidence of differences in social status among the inhabitants. Along with her detailed account of the sites, Epstein describes the area’s pottery and basalt artifacts. The late Tamar Noy contributes a section on flint artifacts and other researchers add four especially useful appendices on charred wood and seeds, the faunal remains, carbon 14 dating and pottery analysis.
The Israel Antiquities Authority has once again produced a first-class archaeological report rich in photos, figures and plates, and organized in a handy and easily usable format. Epstein’s writing is clear and fresh and exudes the confidence of one who has worked in a particular region and period for more than three decades. Although some of the Golan materials may be idiosyncratic to the region, they are an essential point of reference for any serious study of the Chalcolithic period. Claire Epstein’s recent death is a great loss. Fortunately, she lived to see this volume.
The Chalcolithic Culture of the Golan
