If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to [email protected]. Since the discovery in the 1930s of fantastic wall murals at Teleilat al-Ghassul, researchers have debated the reasons for the period's striking florescence of imagery, iconography, and representation and the accompanying new burial traditions, technological advances, and population expansion. This lecture touches upon new excavations launched by the Oriental Institute in 2009 as part of its regional exploration of the ancient Galilean landscape. These investigations aim to explore the links between burial caves and settlements during this formative period of human development.