Research and Publications

Research at Tel Ḥadid grows directly out of our fieldwork. Excavation not only uncovers new material, but also raises questions that drive ongoing study by the project’s directors, staff members, and graduate students working on the finds. The site thus serves as both a field laboratory and a center for scholarly inquiry. Our aim is to translate these discoveries into meaningful research and publication. Through the study of artifacts, architecture, and landscape, we seek to reconstruct the history of Tel Ḥadid and to situate it within the broader context of the southern Levant. Publications emerging from the project address not only the site itself, but also wider questions of connectivity, daily life, and cultural interaction across periods.

Theses

Amir, Y. 2025. Zoomorphic Vessels and Libation Rituals in Iron-Age Southern Levant (MA thesis, Tel Aviv University). Tel Aviv (Hebrew).

Eyta, A. 2025. The Lydda Valley during the Late Hellenistic and the Roman Periods—A View from Tel Hadid (MA thesis, Tel Aviv University). Tel Aviv (Hebrew).

Leibin-Graiver, D. 2025. Mollusks in Iron Age Judah (MA thesis, Tel Aviv University). Tel Aviv.

Chen, J. 2022. Tracing Household Ingredients in Iron Age IIC Tel Hadid and Tel Bet-Shemesh: A Pilot Study with Organic Residue Analysis on Pottery Assemblages (MA thesis, Tel Aviv University). Tel Aviv.

Lewis, R. 2021. The Glass Assemblage at Tel Hadid: An Exploration and Illumination of the Byzantine Settlement (MA thesis, Tel Aviv University). Tel Aviv.

Tsiao, M. 2021. Fibulae of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age: Chronology, Inter-regional Connectivity, and Performance (MA thesis, Tel Aviv University). Tel Aviv.

Publications by the Tel Hadid Archaeological Project

Amir, Y. 2024. “Don’t Look at the Donkey, but Rather at What Is in It”: Zoomorphic Libation Vessels from the Iron Age. In: Stiebel, G.D., Ecker, A., Gorzalczcany, A., Tepper, A., Shadman, A., Dan-Goor, S. and Koch, I., eds. In Centro: Collected Papers IV: Faith. Tel Aviv: 1–17 (Hebrew with an English abstract).

Koch, I. 2022. A Framework for the Study of Deportations to and from the Levant during the Age of the Empires. Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 11 Supplement: 10–24

Koch, I. 2023. The Study of the Ancient and Recent Past in Israel: The View from Tel Ḥadid. In Greenberg, R. and Hamilakis, eds. Archaeology, Nation, and Race – Critical Responses. Forum Kritische Archäologie 12: 140–147.

Koch, I., Warner, D., Yannai, E., Lawson Pruit, L., Cole, D., and Parker, J. 2020. Forced Resettlement and Immigration at Tel Hadid. Biblical Archaeology Review 46/3: 28–37.

Koch, I., Yannai, E., and Warner, D. 2021. Tel Hadid – 2018, 2019. Hadashot Arkheologiot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel 133.

Etya, A. 2024. The Hasmonean Expansion West: The Lod Valley and Tel Hadid as a Case Study. In: Shavit, A., ed. Diospolis–City of God: Collected Papers on the History and Archaeology of Lod. Lod: 51–76 (Hebrew with English and Arabic abstracts).

Koch, I. 2023. Israel and Assyria, Judah and Assyria. Keimer, K.H. and Pierce, G.A. eds. The Ancient Israelite World. London and New York: 693–712.

Koch, I. and Parker, J. 2025. Tel Hadid – 2020, 2022. Hadashot Arkheologiot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel 137.

Lewis-Bloom, R. and Koch, I. 2022. Tel Hadid in the Byzantine Period: Preliminary Survey. in Shavit, A. ed. Lod “Diospolis – City of God”, Journal of the History, Archaeology and Heritage of Lod 1. Lod: 65–81.

Tsiao, M. and Koch, I. 2024. Fibulae of the Southern Levant During the Iron Age II: Chronology, Inter-Regional Connectivity and Performance. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 157:213–223.

Other publications on Tel Hadid

Avi-Yonah M. 1972. The Haditha Mosaic Pavement. Israel Exploration Journal 22:118–122.

Brand E. 1996. Trial Excavations on the Outskirts of Tel Hadid: Preliminary Report. Tel Aviv (Hebrew).

Brand E. 1998. Salvage Excavations on the Outskirts of Tel Hadid: Preliminary Report. Tel Aviv (Hebrew).

Torgë H. 2016. Tel Hadid: A Building from the Iron Age and the Early Persian Period. Hadashot Arkheologiot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel 128 (Hebrew; English summary, pp. 23–24). https://hadashot.iaa.org.il/images//Hadid.pdf

Na’aman N. and Zadok R. 2000. Assyrian Deportations to the Province of Samerina in the Light of Two Cuneiform Tablets from Tel Hadid. Tel Aviv 27:159–188

Nagorsky A. and Yannai E. 2016. A Late Bronze Age Pottery Assemblage from Tel Hadid (el-Haditha) ‘Atiqot 84:13*–22* (Hebrew; English summary, p. 121).

Yannai E. 2012. A Burial Cave from Iron Age II and the Early Roman Period North of Tel Hadid. ‘Atiqot 70:1–20 (Hebrew; English summary, p. 79*).