Wine, Feasting, and Frescoes: the ongoing excavation of a Canaanite palace at Tel Kabri, Israel

Excavations and survey from 2005-2015 at the site and environs of Tel Kabri, located in the western Galilee of modern Israel, have shown that the Middle Bronze Age Canaanite palace there is at least three times as large as previously thought, with much still remaining to be excavated. The palace is painted with what may be the earliest-known western art in the Eastern Mediterranean, for it is the earliest of the four known sites in Egypt and the Near East (Alalakh, Qatna, Daba, and Kabri) that have palaces decorated with frescoes painted in an Aegean manner, probably by Cycladic or Minoan artists. Highlights of the 2009-2013 seasons include the discovery of nearly 100 additional fragments of plaster, 60 of which are painted, from both a previously-unknown Aegean-style wall fresco with figural representations and a second Aegean-style painted floor; a monumental building, perhaps used for dining or feasting, with in situ orthostats; and a palatial storeroom filled with nearly 40 complete but smashed storage jars which all originally contained wine. The audience at the Bible Fest will be the first to hear of the new discoveries made during the upcoming 2015 field season. This was part of the Biblical Excavations DVD.