Chapter Four: Methodology

Abstract

This chapter examines the methodology adopted to study the pattern and nature of settlement in the Chalcolithic period and Early Bronze Age I (EB I) in the southern Jordan Valley and the desert fringes of Samaria. The methodology that was decided upon combined the two accepted research methods in archaeology - excavation and survey. The principle of probability is intended to define the chronological ascription of the Chalcolithic site. The reason for this stems from the real need that arose to examine physically each of the finds from the different surveys. At quite a number of sites it was unclear why the surveyor decided that the site actually belonged to a particular chronological horizon. Frequently a chronological ascription to a specific period was solely based on body sherds, or a site was ascribed to a very long chronological period without making a more precise segmentation of the period.Keywords: archaeology; Chalcolithic period; Early Bronze Age I; research methods; Samaria; southern Jordan Valley