53 RURAL GALILEE AND RAPID CHANGES of a general increase in the number of settlements in Palestine during these periods. Hel. Rom. Byz. (332-63 BCE) (63 BCE ― 324 CE) (324-641) Samaria 1993 170 235 306 Samaria 1997, 15.680 22.000 32.520 number of settlers Chart 4 The final chart summarizes the most important survey for our purposes. Over a five year period, Uzi Leibner directed a team that systematically surveyed an area of 285 square kilometers west of the north-eastern part of the lake of Galilee with the objective of describing the developments in settlement density in the Hellenistic through Byzantine periods (300 BCE ― 650 CE) 33. The importance of the survey stems from two facts: First, it is located in the heart of Lower Galilee, and, second, it offers a more refined picture by establishing what Leibner terms a “high resolution analysis” with relatively short sub-periods. Leibner thus distinguishes between an early Roman period lasting until 135 CE, a mid-Roman period lasting until 250 CE and, finally, a late Roman period (the Byzantine period is similarly divided into three). The basis of this “high resolution analysis” is twofold. On the one hand, Leibner uses David Adan-Bayewitz’s detailed classification of Galilean pottery types 34, and, on the other hand, the survey managed to collect a large sample of ceramics from each site; in total an average of 200, counting only identifiable shards. Leibner arrived at the following results: In the Hellenistic period, settlements were “sparse” and, furthermore, proved to be “fortified sites of Benjamin (Archaeological Survey of Israel; Jerusalem 1993); I. FINKEL- STEIN – Z. LEDERMAN – S. BUNIMOVITZ, Highlands of Many Cultures. The Southern Samaria Survey. The Sites (Tel Aviv University Monograph Series 14; Tel Aviv, Israel 1997). 33 Cf. LEIBNER, Settlement. Chart 2 summarizes the numbers given at p. 310 and 314. 34 Cf. D. ADAN-BAYEWITZ, Common Pottery in Roman Galilee. A Study of Local Trade (Ramat-Gan, Israel 1993).