Galilee

=== Hellenistic period ===
Up until the end of the [[Hellenistic period]] and before the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean]] conquest, the Galilee was sparsely populated, with the majority of its inhabitants concentrated in large fortified centers on the edges of the western and central valleys. Based on archeological evidence from [[Tel Anafa]], [[Kedesh]], and ash-Shuhara, the Upper Galilee was then home to a pagan population with close ties to the [[Phoenicia|Phoenician]] coast.<ref name="Leibner2009" />

Yardenna Alexandre discovered minor short-lived Israelite settlements in the Naḥal Ẓippori basin, which were built by survivors of the Assyrian conquest. Elsewhere, Galilee was depopulated.<ref name="Atiqot98">{{cite journal |author=Yardenna Alexandre |year=2020 |title=The Settlement History of Nazareth in the Iron Age and Early Roman Period |url=http://www.atiqot.org.il/download.ashx?id=1797 |url-status=live |journal='Atiqot |volume=98 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526102938/http://www.atiqot.org.il/download.ashx?id=1797 |archive-date=26 May 2020 |access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref> But there is evidence of Assyrian presence, based on artefacts in [[Cana]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Skinner |first=Andrew C. |date=1996–1997 |title=A Historical Sketch of Galilee |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43044121 |journal=Brigham Young University Studies |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=113–125 |jstor=43044121 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> and [[Konrad Schmid (theologian)|Konrad Schmid]] and Jens Schroter believe it was likely that Assyrians settled in the region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schmid |first=Konrad |title=The Making of the Bible: From the First Fragments to Sacred Scripture |last2=Schroter |first2=Jens |publisher=Belknap Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0674248380}}</ref>