Until the present day the Dead Sea is associated with the lowest point on Earth’s surface, the many biblical stories that take place around the Dead Sea, or the Salt Sea as it is called in Hebrew and the large number of world famous archaeological sites. The region is certainly suited to serve as a microcosmic mirror of the different stages of archaeological and historical research in the Near East. 26 contributions explore the region of the Dead Sea in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan – in particular Qumran, Jericho, Machaerus, Kallirrhoe, En-Gedi, Ghor es-Safi. They focus on its archaeology (including environmental archaeology and studies on climate and vegetation and excavations), the history of the exploration as well as the role of the Dead Sea in the Bible. They cover a wide range of topics from Neolithic and Chalcolithic until the Byzantine Era and Early Islam.

Martin Peilstöcker – Sabine Wolfram: Foreword

Abbreviations

Martin Peilstöcker – Sabine Wolfram: Life at the Dead Sea. The Exhibition Draft

Wolfgang Zwickel: The Dead Sea in the Bible

Felicity Cobbing: The Work of the Palestine Exploration Fund in the Dead Sea Region

Lutz Martin: Jericho in Berlin

Hermann Michael Niemann: Ernst Sellin, Carl Watzinger and the German Excavation of Jericho, 1907–1909

Katharina Galor: Gender at Qumran. Between Text and Material Culture

Frank H. Neumann – Wolfgang Zwickel: Settlements, Climate and Vegetation at the Dead Sea from the Neolithic until the Crusader Period

Jutta Häser: Water Management in the Dead Sea Region

Eva Kaptijn: Surviving the Summer. Ancient Water Management in the Southern Jordan Valley as Compared to the Central Jordan Valley

Verena J. Schuenemann: Genome Sequences of 6000-Year-Old Barley Provide New Insights into the History of Crop Domestication

Andrea Orendi: Development and Importance of Agrarian Resources in the Dead Sea Region in the Bronze and Iron Age

Lorenzo Nigro: Jericho and the Dead Sea. Life and Resilience

Susanne Kerner: The Chalcolithic Period in the Dead Sea Area

Florian Klimscha – Danny Rosenberg: The Pace of Progress. Technical Innovations in the Prehistory of the Dead Sea Region and the Jordan Valley

Eliot Braun: A Brief Survey of Human Activity in the Dead Sea Region in Late Prehistory

Gunnar Lehmann: Ancient Society and Economy at the Dead Sea from the Neolithic through the Persian Period

Gideon Hadas: Excavations in the Oasis of En-Gedi

Jürgen K. Zangenberg: Farms and Fortresses. Exploring the Diversity of Life Around the Dead Sea in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods

Hans-Peter Kuhnen: Guarding the Dead Sea. Military Concepts and Sites Between Herod and Justinian

Győző Vörös: Machaerus. The Herodian Fortified Royal Palace and City

Stefan Jakob Wimmer: Kallirrhoe – Herod’s Hot Springs Resort. The German Excavations by August Strobel 1986–1989

Konstantinos D. Politis: Archaeology at the Lowest Place on Earth. Ghor as-Safi, Jordan

Marcello Fidanzio: Qumran Cave 11Q Through the Ages

Itamar Taxel: The Byzantine-Early Islamic Transition in the Dead Sea Region

Jean-Baptiste Humbert: Qumran and Machaerus on a Hasmonean Axis

Orit Shamir – Naama Sukenik: Textiles from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B until the Medieval Period in the Dead Sea Region

List of Authors

Plates