Hamadia
Skyline of Hamadia
Hamadia is located in Jezreel Valley region of Israel
Hamadia
Hamadia
Coordinates: 32°31′12.72″N 35°31′11.27″E / 32.5202000°N 35.5197972°E / 32.5202000; 35.5197972 Coordinates: 32°31′12.72″N 35°31′11.27″E / 32.5202000°N 35.5197972°E / 32.5202000; 35.5197972
DistrictNorthern
CouncilValley of Springs
AffiliationKibbutz Movement
Founded1939
1942 (refoundation)
Population
 (2017)
379

Hamadia (Hebrew: חֲמַדְיָה) is a kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley, just north of Beit She'an in northern Israel. It belongs to the Valley of Springs Regional Council. In 2017 it had a population of 379.

Name

The kibbutz took its name from al-Hamidiyya, an abandoned Arab village north of the kibbutz named for the sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid II.

History

The kibbutz was founded in 1939 as part of the Tower and stockade movement. It was re-established in 1942 by the "Hermonim" pioneers, a garin of native-born Israelis who were part of a youth group.

Hamadia. 1949

Archaeology

The location is situated on a terrace of ancient Lake Beisan, 200 metres below sea level. Tell Hamadia is a single layer archaeological site of about 100 m2 (0.010 ha), first reported and excavated at Hamadia by N. Tzori in 1958 then again by Jacob Kaplan in 1964. Ovens, pits and fireplaces were found with Yarmukian pottery and an assemblage of many axes, picks, scrapers, "saw" elements[ dubious ] and sickles. Large saw elements indicated possible earlier Neolithic occupation which was suggested to date at least to the early Chalcolithic (MOM period 7). A flint sickle workshop was located close to the site with over 300 sickle blades found. Tell Hamadia is 10 km (6.2 mi) south of Munhata and is suggested to date between ca. 5800 and 5400 BCE. Detailed reports have yet to be published.

Notable residents

Gal Nevo
  • Gal Nevo, Olympic swimmer

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Hamadia, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.