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Tell Halif, located in southern Israel at the juncture of the northern
Negev and the Judaean hills, is a medium-sized tell with a history of occupation
from late Chalcolithic to 20th century Kibbutz Lahav. 
The Lahav Research Project, under the direction of Dr. Joe D. Seger, first began work at the site in 1976. Seger directed both Phase I and Phase II of the Lahav Project, whose purposes included the establishment of the stratigraphic history of Halif and a multidisciplinary investigation of the site in its environment. Phase III was under the co-direction of Dr. Paul F. Jacobs and Dr. Oded Borowski (Emory University); Phase III centered work on Field IV to determine specific information from Iron II remains known to be located just below the modern surface of the tell. The figurines, subject of the Halif portion of the DigMaster database, were found during excavations in the summers of 1992 and 1993 in Field IV at the western edge of the tell. Previous excavation in Fields I-III and Sites 101 and 301 reported but a single example similar to the figurines found in Field IV. Hence, the encounter of a "Persian" level on Halif, while not unknown (in Field II a structure belonging to the 5th century BCE was excavated), was unanticipated in Field IV. Site 101, subject of a future segment of the Lahav Digmaster Database, produced important Early Bronze I and late Chalcolithic strata, including (most importantly) indications of continuity between the two cultures. |
