Geographical background:
Tel Bet Yerah is located next to the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the Jordan valley (Greenberg, 2014). West of the site are the Galilee slopes, where the late Miocene Bira Formation overlaps with the of Pliocene/Miocene Gesher Formation (Shaliv 1991; Aharon 1997 in Greenberg, 2014). Both formations are covered by the Pliocene Cover Basalt (Aharon 1997 in Greenberg, 2014). The site is stationed on a hill, that was once 12 M above the ancient sea of Galilee's level, 200 m below sea level (Greenberg, 2014). The site is 25 ha in size today, but was significantly larger in the past, it's size diminished due to erosion caused by the sea.

The Kinorot Valley that is placed south of the site, is covered by Quaternary alluvium, the formations south of the site are small outcrops of the Pliocene- Pleistocene Gadot and Mishmar Ha-Yarden Formations consisting of conglomerate, sandstone, mudstone, and chalk. The formation located Northwest of it is outcrops of Miocene Lower Basalt, above the Bireh and Gesher Formations. The hill of the site itself have Lisan marl belonging to the Kinneret Formation, covered by clayey-silty gray, occasionally hydromorphic valley rendzina soil, this formation has marl laminae overlying coarse clastic deposits and cross-deposited layers of coarse sand and shells. Those formation are a resolt of the changing levels of the ancient Lisan lake before 17,00 ybp.

Main archaeological finds:
The earliest sign of human activity in the site was dated to the Neolithic period, but is not indicative of occupation, the first significant settlement in the site is dated to the early part of the Early Bronze Age I (EBI) the remains of this period consists mostly of pits, during the latter half of the EBI the settlement grows in size. In EB II period, the construction of the fortification and of the site began along with intense domestic and public architecture made of stone and mudbricks, one of the main attributes of this phase is the presence of Metallic Ware pottery alongside local 'southern Potter' Ware. After this period, partial abandonment of the site that was followed by the arrival of the Khirbet Kerak Ware (KKW) in parts of the site in the beginning of the EB III. In this time the fortification wall expanded and the circular building, whose construction began in the EB II was now occupied by the KKW people. After the end of the EB III period, the site was abandoned, and the next substantial occupation of the site occurred during the Hellenistic period and later in the Byzantine and Islamic periods.

History of the research:
The presence of ancient architectural elements on the mound's surface of mound el-Kerak was noted as early as the Medieval times and mentioned in several accounts until the early twentieth century. The first modern disturbance to the site occurred 

during the 1920' when a road was constructed, cutting the site trough it's whole length, E.L. Sukenik identified the site as Talmudic Beth Yerah and as Philoteria (Sukenik 1922 in Greenberg et al, 2006) based on the remains from the road construction, and W.F. Albright examined the pottery shards left from the road construction as mainly dating to the Hellenistic and roman period, but mentioned several meters of earlier stratums beneath it dating from the early to middle bronze age, He was the first defined the Khirbet Kerak Ware but dated it to the Middle Bronze Age (Albright 1924).

The first excavation was in 1933 by Makhouly who found a Stone drain and a paved EBA street in a salvage excavation in the site, and Between 1945 –1944 Mazar and Stekelis excavated in the south of the mound and found parts of the ancient Fortifications, as well as EBA and Hellenistic houses. In 1946 Stekelis excavated Bet Yerah for another season, this time with Avi-Yonah, they excavated in the Northern acropolis and discovered the late-antique bath and fort and the EBA Circles Building. 

Bar-Adon also excavated the site in 1949 in the area where the Ohalo seminary was built, at first only discovering some disturbed EBA remains, but in the 1950 excavation alongside Guy in the North of the Circles Building they unearthed a large compound surrounded by fortification that was then identified as a synagogue from the Roman period, the area was further excavated by Bar-Adon between 1951 –1953 when remains dating from the EB I to the Late Islamic period where found, including significant parts of a late EBA fortification. An additional excavation was conducted by the Oriental Institute in 1952-1953, headed by Delougaz who unearthed the Byzantine church in the northern part of the mound. The Oriental Institute Excavations continued, headed by Delougaz and Kantor returned to the site in 1963-1964 where more EBA remains were discovered.

In addition, between 1967–1995 several salvage excavations were conducted at the site due to the construction of the Ohalo seminary and the main road. In 1967 Ussishkin and Netzer discovered the remains of a domestic area including houses and a paved alley from the EBA. The Amiran and Cohen excavation in 1976 identified ten stratigraphic phases dated between the EBA to the Hellenistic period. In the same year Bahat also excavated in Bet Yerah and identify several EBA stratums continuing domestic architecture below remains dated to the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods.

Eisenberg conducted salvage excavations in the site in 1981–1982 in the southern side of the mound and identify ten main strata, eight of which were dated to the EBA and two to the Hellenistic period. The remains contained domestic houses and a street with significant quantities of complete pottery. This excavation expanded in 1985–1986 by Yogev who unearthed more of the domestic structures. In 1994-1995 Getzov excavation unearthed more parts of the EB I–III fortifications and some remains of a domestic area.

Some additional Inspectors’ excavations in the site include the Ravani excavations between 1950 and 1958 who carried out limited excavations discovering a jar burial of an infant, and in 1971 mechanical excavation of three trenches in the south-central part of the mound was overseen by Tzaferis that unearthed some EBA remains. In 2014 an additional salvage excavation was conducted by Golani (2016) unearthing five layers of domestic settlement inclusion architectural remains dated between the EB Ib to the EB III.

Contributor: Tamar Leitner, August 2021