Preliminary results of the 2023-2025 seasons of archaeological investigations of the Italian-Palestinian expedition to Bethlehem (Palestine)

This paper illustrates research activities and protection interventions carried out by the joint Italian-Palestinian Expedition to Bethlehem of Sapienza University of Rome and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Palestine during the 9th and 10th campaigns of excavations (Spring 2023, Spring 2025). Works were mainly focused on the exploration of Area A of Khalet al-Jam’a.1 These campaigns continue the research project initiated in 2015 by Lorenzo Nigro, who directed the Sapienza Archaeological Mission in Bethlehem in cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities until 2021, establishing the systematic investigation of Khalet al-Jam’a and of the preClassical archaeology of Bethlehem.