ABSTRACT
The tell of Netiv Hagdud is located about 10 km north of Jericho. The site is situated on a natural promontory, at an elevation of -180 m below sea level, overlooking the Salibyia depression. The depression, varying in elevation between -190 m and -240 m below sea level, contains several Natufian and preceramic Neolithic sites (Schuldenrein and Goldberg 1981). During the early Holocene, spring activity inside the depression resulted in a marshy environment in which the Natufians camped. Forced by increasing marshy conditions, the early Neolithic population avoided the bogs and situated their settlements on opposite margins of the depression: Netiv Hagdud on the western edge (Bar-Yosef et al. 1980) and Gilgal on a flint ridge on the eastern edge, nearer to the river Jordan (Noy et al. 1980).
