The Culture of the Yarmukians

A good percentage of archeological sites throughout the world have been discovered by accident; the same is true with the finds of Middle Neolithic art and artifacts from Sha'ar Hagolan. The site was discovered in the late 1930s by the members of Kibbutz Sha'ar Hagolan during the construction of fishponds. The collection of finds included pestles and grindstones, stone bowls, flint tools, pottery and figurines, etc. As this was the pioneer era in Israel, the finds were assembled by the kibbutz members and stored in their tents. Subsequently, the finds were displayed in a disused underground bunker. 

During the 1970s a museum was constructed by the kibbutz and today a large assemblage of Neolithic finds from the site are on permanent display. The late, Yehuda Roth, was its founder and first curator; he was a local expert who, despite the lack of formal training in archaeology, became very knowledgeable in the Neolithic era. 

DISCOVERING A LOST CULTURE 

Sha'ar Hagolan is an 8000-year-old archaeological site located in the Jordan Valley 1.5 kilometers from the Sea of Galilee. The site lays on the northwest bank of the Yarmuk River - hence the eponymous name of the `Yarmukian Culture'. 

Sha'ar Hagolan now a kibbutz (agricultural cooperative) lies between three modern states: Israel, Syria and Jordan, in a magnificent setting that includes the Golan Heights to the east, Mount Gilead to the southeast, and the Hills of the Galilee to the west. The area is rich in water and the land is fertile. The archaeological remains on the cooperative's land cover a broad area of approximately 20 hectares, making it the largest known Neolithic settlement in the Near East.