‘Atiqot 82, 2015 Beisamun: an early Pottery neolithic site in the Hula Basin hamoudi Khalaily , t ali KuPerman, nimrod marom, ianir milevsKi and dmitry yegorov introduction During April–May 2007, a salvage excavation was conducted on the western fringe of the site of Beisamun (map ref. NIG 25403–8/77682– 715; OIG 20403–8/27682–715), 1 prior to construction on north–south Road 90, between Rosh Pinna and Qiryat Shemona. The site is located in the western part of the Hula Basin, about 5 km north of Yesud Ha- Ma‘ala and some 2 km west of modern-day Hula Lake (Fig. 1). It is situated alongside numerous water sources, including Nahal ‘Eynan, which conveys water from the ‘Eynan Springs to the Hula Valley, and ‘En Agmon, to the south of the site. A broad alluvial plain, formed as a result of the draining of the original Hula Lake in the 1950s, extends east of the site. Several prehistoric sites in the vicinity include ‘Eynan (‘Ein Mallaha), a major site of the Natuian culture (Perrot 1966; Valla et al. 2007), and Tel Te’o (Eisenberg, Gopher and Greenberg 2001), a multi-stratum site occupied from the Neolithic period to the Early Bronze Age. Beisamun is one of the largest sites in the southern Levant dating to the late phase of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB; Lechevallier and Perrot 1973; Lechevallier 1978), extending over an estimated area of c. 10 hectares. The site of Beisamun comprises three subsites: Tel Mallaha, a multi-occupational tell from the Early Bronze Age until the Roman period, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) site that extends to the north of Tel Mallaha, and the Pottery Neolithic (PN) occupation in Beisamun West, southwest of the tell, situated on a gentle slope . . Rosh Pinna Tel Ro‘im West Metulla Tel Dan U p p e r G a l i l e e Golan Heights Korazim Kefar Gil‘adi Tel Te’o Nahal ‘Ayun Qiryat Shemona Jordan River 0 5 km 255 000 260 000 265 000 270 000 250 000 255 000 260 000 265 000 270 000 250 000 755 000 755 000 795 000 785 000 790 000 780 000 775 000 770 000 765 000 760 000 795 000 785 000 790 000 780 000 775 000 770 000 765 000 760 000 Road 959 Road 918 Road 91 Road 87 Road 92 Road 978 Road 99 Beisamun ‘En Agmon Ha-Gosherim Hula Valley Yesud Ha-Ma‘ala Jalabina ‘Eynan Road 90 Sea of Galilee Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov Fig. 1. Location map.