1992 Excavation Opportunities: A Spirit of Discovery
In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, but in 1992 you can embark on a historic journey of your very own. By joining a dig as a volunteer, you’ll be doing some things very differently than Columbus did—you’ll be heading for the Old World instead of the New, for one thing, and you will be traveling into the past instead of navigating toward the future—but in a deeper sense you will he very much following the example of the Great Navigator himself You will transform yourself into an explorer and join other hardy souls in diving into uncharted territory. Unlike Columbus’ crew, you will never despair of seeing land again; indeed you will become intimately familiar with terra firma as you spend hours sifting it, shovelling it, picking at it, carting it. But what treasures that earth may contain! The find may be a lowly potsherd or a portion of a city’s fortification wall, a simple domestic structure or a complex temple, an inexpensive trinket or an electrifying inscription. As one volunteer put it, “You never know what the next trowelful of dirt will uncover and many big discoveries are completely accidental.” Much like the job specifications for the crew of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, the requirements for working on a dig are few: no special education, language proficiency or training are needed. What is essential, however, is a willingness to rise early, a desire to work hard under sometimes difficult outdoor conditions, an ability to live in usually spartan accommodations (though some digs offer 4-star hotel luxury) and—most important of all—a spirit of discovery. In return you will meet fellow adventurers from all over the world, of all faiths, ranging in age from 18 to active retirees. To help you choose a dig, we have condensed important information about 38 excavations into a chart—the most ever since we began our surveys—starting on page 46. Summaries of the sites, giving their historical significance and their connection with the Bible, are given below. Its time to lift your sights to the horizon, pull up any anchors that may be holding you back and set sail for new lands!
Abila
One of the cities of the Decapolis—a federation of ten cities in eastern Palestine (Matthew 4:25; Mark 5:20, 7:31)—Abila appears in the works of several ancient writers such as Polybius, Pliny the Elder and the geographer Ptolemy. It is located about nine miles from Irbid, in northern Jordan.
Six seasons of survey and excavation have revealed evidence of human habitation during every period from the Neolithic (8300–4500 B.C.) onward. The site’s highlights include three churches—two of them large Byzantine (324–640 A.D.) basilicas—an extensive Roman-Byzantine cemetery and three long subterranean aqueducts.
In the coming season, dig director W. Harold Mare (Covenant Theological Seminary) will continue excavating the three churches, the civic center and more tombs.
The site is open to visitors all year.
Ashkelon
The Bible frequently mentions the Philistine port city of Ashkelon. Samson went there in a rage and killed 30 men (Judges 14:19); David lamented, “Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,” when he learned of the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, slain by the Philistines at the Battle of Gilboa (2 Samuel 1:20); and the seventh-century B.C. prophet Zephaniah predicted that “Ashkelon shall become a desolation” (Zephaniah 2:4).
Previous work at this large seaside site located in a National Park uncovered a vast array of remains: Canaanite ramparts, city-gates and monumental buildings; Philistine fortifications; a Phoenician dog cemetery with more than 700 burials; a Roman and Byzantine bathhouse and bordello; oil lamps bearing erotic art; and a unique cult object from the second millennium B.C., a tiny calf fashioned from bronze and other metals, featured on the cover of the BAR 17:02.
In 1992, director Lawrence E. Stager (Harvard Univ.) will continue excavation of the Canaanite gate and the lower “sea gate” and will begin excavation of the Philistine city destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 604 B.C.
The site is open to visitors only by appointment through the excavation office at the Shulamit Gardens Hotel. Guided tours are available by appointment.
(See the following 1991 BAR articles by Lawrence E. Stager: “When Canaanites and Philistines Ruled Ashkelon,” BAR 17:02; “Why Were Hundreds of Dogs Buried at Ashkelon?” BAR 17:03; “Eroticism and Infanticide at Ashkelon,” BAR 17:04.)
Banias
Lying at the foot of Mount Hermon, Banias overlooks the Jordan Valley’s fertile northern end, an area of lush vegetation and abundant opportunities to walk and swim. A large, nearby spring gushes from the mouth of the famous Cave of Pan, mentioned by many ancient writers. As the Greek historian Polybius tells, Antiochus the Great defeated Egypt in an important battle at Banias in about 200 B.C. Jesus visited the area (Matthew 16:13; Mark 8:27), and many important Roman buildings were erected here. Josephus, the first-century A.D. Jewish historian, records that Herod the Great built a temple to Augustus at Banias and that Herod’s son Philip enlarged and beautified the city, which he renamed Caesarea Philippi.
Two separate excavations are working at Banias, one at the site of the ancient city and the other at the Hellenistic cult site in the grotto of Pan. The excavation of the city, now in its fourth season under the direction of Vassilios Tzaferis (Israel Antiquities Authority), has brought to light the remains of an early Roman basilica and a large vaulted building containing 12 arches. Tzaferis plans to expose more of these buildings in the comma season.
The excavation of the religious sanctuary in the grotto of Pan, directed by Zvi Maoz (Israel Antiquities Authority), has uncovered the temple to Augustus that Herod built, as well as other temples and shrines, statuary, and Greek and Latin inscriptions. In the coming season, Maoz will complete the excavation of the temples and ancillary buildings and begin to excavate the Hellenistic phase inside the grotto.
The city excavation is open to visitors all year, but the excavation at the sanctuary of Pan is closed to visitors.
Beit Gan (Beit Jann)
A large site in the eastern lower Galilee, Beit Gan stands adjacent to the road that formerly served as the border between the tribes of Naphtali and Issachar. Occupation of the site spanned three millennia, from about 1200 B.C. to the 19th century A.D. The Iron Age (1200–586 B.C.) occupation of Beit Gan came as a total surprise to archaeologists, who discovered it during a preliminary examination of the site.
Directed by Harold Liebowitz (Univ. of Texas at Austin), the excavation has so far found part of a large Mameluke building and evidence for mosaic pavements of the late Byzantine period. The site also has abundant Mameluke pottery and unusual late Byzantine/Early Arab artifacts. Recently archaeologists discovered evidence of an early Israelite settlement.
Next season archaeologists will continue work on the Iron Age to Ottoman period remains and will begin to explore the mound’s western slope for presumed Late Bronze and Iron Age occupations.
The site is open to visitors by appointment on Mondays, 11:00 a.m. to noon. Guided tours are available if arranged in advance.
Tel Beth-Shean
After Saul and his sons were slain on Mount Gilboa, the Philistines displayed Saul’s body on the city-wall of Beth-Shean (1 Samuel 31:8–10). The site of Beth-Shean marks one of the longest, essentially unbroken occupations in Palestine, stretching from the fifth millennium B.C. to the Byzantine period (324–640 A.D.). The city served as an Egyptian stronghold during Egypt’s domination of the region in the Late Bronze Age, and it resisted Israelite attack during the Canaanite occupation. King David, however, eventually conquered the city when he expanded his kingdom northward (I Kings 4:12).
The site is especially noted for its Canaanite temples and for the abundance of cult objects unearthed by previous expeditions. In its first three seasons, this new expedition led by Amihai Mazar (Hebrew Univ.) discovered a 15th-century B.C. Canaanite temple and an Egyptian residence from the 12th century B.C. Two other separate excavations at the site, led by Hebrew University’s Yoram Tsafrir and Gideon Foerster and by the Israel Antiquity Authority’s Rachel Bar Natan and Gaby Mazor, will work on the Hellenistic/Roman/Byzantine remains.
The site is open to visitors.
(See “Glorious Beth-Shean,” BAR 16:04.)
Tel Beth-Shemesh
Once a major Canaanite city-state and later an Israelite royal administrative center, Tel Beth-Shemesh, has several significant Biblical associations. Located in the Shephelah about 16 miles west of Jerusalem, it stood close to Judah’s border with Philistia. When the Philistines gave back the Ark of the Covenant, which had plagued them during the seven months since their theft of it, they returned it to the Israelites at Beth-Shemesh (I Samuel 6:1–16). The city also hosted the battle in which King Jehoash of Israel (800–784 B.C.) defeated and captured the over-ambitious King Amaziah of Judah (798–769 B.C.). The last Biblical reference to Beth-Shemesh (2 Chronicles 28:18) tells us that the Philistines seized the city during the reign of King Ahaz (733–727 B.C.).
Excavations have revealed a massive fortification system, a monumental structure from the Late Bronze Age (the time of the Canaanites, 1550–1200 B.C.) and a city from the period of the Judean Monarchy (1000–701 B.C.). The site includes one of the earliest known olive-oil production centers and many metal artifacts, pieces of jewelry, seals, and tablets with Ugaritic and paleo-Hebrew writing. In 1992, directors S. Bunimovitz (Bar-Ilan Univ.) and Zvi Lederman (Harvard Univ.) will excavate a late Canaanite/Philistine structure and the city wall, extend the excavation of a large structure from the late Iron Age, and examine a possible gateway.
Bethsaida
The Gospels mention Bethsaida more often than any other town except Jerusalem and Capernaum. The birthplace of the Apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip, Bethsaida was where Jesus restored a blind man’s sight (Mark 8:22 26) and fed the multitude (Luke 9:10–17) In addition, Josephus led forces that clashed with the Romans here during the First Jewish Revolt (66–70 A.D.).
Located on the east side of the Jordan River, slightly north of the Sea of Galilee, Bethsaida has yielded an Iron Age II (1000 586 B.C.) room filled with vessels, a figurine head of a possible Geshurite king, possible Hellenistic pottery and coins, and a fisherman’s house from the time of Jesus. Director Rami Arav (Univ. of Haifa) will excavate more of the Hellenistic Roman remains and more of the Iron Age city in 1992.
The site is open to visitors all year.
Caesarea Maritima
A marvel of ancient engineering, Caesarea’s harbor could hold an entire Roman fleet Herod the Great built the city and harbor between 22 and 10 B.C. on the site of an earlier Phoenician and Hellenistic trading station known as Strato’s Tower. A major port for over 1,000 years, Caesarea reached its zenith during the Byzantine period (324–640 B.C.), when it was the largest city in Palestine. Pontius Pilate resided in the city, and an inscription bearing his name has been found here. Peter’s conversion of Cornelius, a Roman centurion (Acts 10:1–48), and Paul’s brief imprisonment (Acts 23–25) also occurred in Caesarea.
The site has well-preserved ancient aqueducts, a Roman theater in use once again for summer music and dance performances, imposing fortifications from Crusader times and the remains of many other ancient buildings. One of the largest and richest sites in Israel, Caesarea has yielded a vast assortment of statuary, inscriptions, coins, mosaics, ceramics and other finds.
In 1992, directors Kenneth G. Holum (Univ. of Maryland) and Avner Raban (Univ. of Haifa) plan to continue excavating in all sectors, but will devote special attention to the early Christian church on the temple platform and to the temple platform itself Underwater work will continue on the lighthouse ruins as well as on other parts of the harbor.
The site is open to visitors from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
(See the following BAR articles: Kenneth G. Holum, “From the Director’s Chair: Starting a New Dig,” BAR 17:01; Lindley Vann, “Herod’s Harbor Construction Recovered Underwater,” BAR 09:03; Robert L. Hohlfelder, “Caesarea Beneath the Sea,” BAR 08:03; Robert J. Bull, “Caesarea Maritima—The Search for Herod’s City,” BAR 08:03.)
Tel Dor
A major Mediterranean port from the Bronze Age through the Roman period, Tel Dor is now the site of one of Israel’s largest excavations. One of the Canaanite cities defeated by Joshua (Joshua 12:23), Dor became the capital of one of Solomon’s administrative districts and played an important role in ancient Israel’s economy. After its conquest by Tiglath-pileser III in 732 B.C., it served as an Assyrian administrative center. The Phoenicians and the Sea Peoples also occupied it at various times. Dor became a major fortress in the Hellenistic Age. In 137 B.C., the Syrian king Trypho took refuge there and withstood a siege by Antiochus VII before managing to escape (I Maccabees 15:10–14, 25, 37–39). The excavations have uncovered slingstones from that siege. Dor continued to thrive in the Roman period, and a Crusader fortress in the 13th century was the last occupation of the site.
Excavations led by Ephraim Stern (Hebrew Univ.) at this beautiful site have revealed the main street, forum, sanctuaries, stoa, basilica and aqueduct of the Roman city and gates and fortifications from the Hellenistic, Persian and Iron Age cities. Archaeologists have also found a destruction level with Philistine pottery and early Phoenician artifacts. The upcoming season will bring further work on the exterior gate of the Iron Age cities, the opening of a new area in the Roman city and a continuation of the excavation of the Iron Age, Hellenistic and Phoenician occupations.
The site is open to visitors all year through the local archaeological center at Kibbutz Nasholim. Guided tours are available.
Gamla
A Jewish city on the Golan Heights, Gamla was settled about 150 B.C. It thrived as a trading and olive-oil production center until destroyed by the Roman in 67 A.D. in one of the major battles of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome. The Jewish historian Josephus, who may have been an eye-witness to Gamla’s fall, well describes the battle in his book The Jewish War. The site also has occupational remains from the Early Bronze I and II periods (c. 3200–2500 B.C.).
Excavations since 1976 have uncovered the earliest synagogue in Israel, four mikva’ot (ritual baths), thousands of ancient coins, oil presses and numerous remains from the battle, including over 1,600 arrowheads. In 1992, directors Shmarya Gutmann and Arthur Segal (Univ. of Haifa) hope to begin excavation on a possible monumental building and to continue cleaning a stuccoed room.
The site is open to visitors all year, unless closed by the army (call in advance, 06–762040). Guided tours are available by appointment for professional groups.
(See “Gamla: Portrait Of A Rebellion,” in this issue, and “Gamla: the Masada of the North,” BAR 05:01.)
Tel Gerisa
A major Canaanite harbor city at the mouth of the Yarkon River, a few miles from Tel Aviv, Tel Gerisa was founded in the Early Bronze Age (3150–2200 B.C.) and occupied until the ninth century B.C. In the Late Bronze Age to Iron I period (1550–1000 B.C.), it was a Philistine village.
Discoveries in past seasons include a large palace from the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 B.C.); Middle Bronze (2200–1550 B.C.) fortifications; a water system hewn in rock; Philistine dwellings; and Canaanite and Philistine figurines, seals and tools.
Director Ze’ev Herzog (Tel Aviv Univ.) hopes to complete the dig of the Late Bronze Age palace and its vicinity in 1992. He also plans more excavation of the water system.
The site is open to visitors all year.
Tel Hadar
The Bible refers to the area east of the Sea of Galilee as Geshur, an Aramean kingdom (2 Samuel 15:8) that fell under the military control of King David (2 Samuel 8:3–8). Absalom, David’s son by a Geshurite princess, fled to Geshur and spent three years there after having his brother Amnon killed for the rape of their sister (2 Samuel 13:1–39).
The excavation of Tel Hadar is a part of the Land of Geshur Regional Project, which is conducting the first excavations of the Biblical period in the Golan. Tel Hadar was a Geshurite stronghold in the late 12th to late 11th centuries B.C. The site features an 11th-century B.C. palace that may have belonged to Talmai, King David’s father-in-law (2 Samuel 3:3). Other finds at Tel Hadar include an intact granary with one room still filled with wheat, massive basalt fortifications and a building with a pillared hall.
In the coming season, directors Moshe Kochavi (Tel Aviv Univ.), Ira Spar (Ramapo College) and Timothy Renner (Montclair State College) will excavate the 11th-century B.C. gate and administrative quarters.
Tel Halif
Excavations since 1976 have uncovered remains from all stages of Tell Halif’s habitation, from its settlement sometime before 3000 B.C. to modern times. The 1977 discovery of a unique ceramic bowl with a molded pomegranate at its center supports speculation that this was the Biblical city of Rimmon (Hebrew for “pomegranate”), mentioned in Joshua 15:32 and Zechariah 14:10. Other evidence suggests the site may be Biblical Ziklag, which King Achish of Gath gave to David (1 Samuel 27:5–6). After a band of Amalekites burned Ziklag and captured its people, David pursued and defeated them, recovering all that they had taken (1 Samuel 30:1–20). Ziklag was also the place where David’s supporters assembled as an army before David became king (1 Chronicles 12:1).
Work in past seasons has uncovered major town sites from the Early and Late Bronze Ages. In 1992, directors Paul Jacobs (Mississippi State Univ.) and Oded Borowski (Emory Univ.) will begin excavations aimed at exposing significant parts of the eighth-century B.C. town and fortifications.
The site is open to visitors by appointment during the excavation season. Guided tours are available.
Har Karkom
Boasting 35,000 petroglyphs—the largest concentration of rock art in the Negev—and some 600 archaeological sites, the vicinity of Har Karkom provides a rich field for exploration. Subject of a heated debate in BAR, Har Karkom is identified by archaeologist and dig director Emmanuel Anati (Centro Camuno Di Studi Preistorici) as a holy site from the time of the Exodus, perhaps even Mt. Sinai, but in the view of archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, it was simply a popular gathering place for nomads over the millennia. Whoever is right, the site has abundant pottery, altars, campsites and tumulus gravesites dating from about 3000–2000 B.C.
In 1992, Anati will continue to survey the area, excavate selected sites and record the rock art.
The site is open to visitors by appointment during the excavation season. Guided tours are available.
(See the following BAR articles: Emmanuel Anati, “Has Mt. Sinai Been Found?” BAR 11:04; and Israel Finkelstein, “Raider of the Lost Mountain,” BAR 14:04.)
Tel Haror
The largest Canaanite city in southern Israel, Tel Haror has been identified as Biblical Gerar where Abraham and Isaac both tried the same ruse: pretending to the Philistine king Abimelech that their wives were really their sisters (Genesis 20 and 26). Excavations at this site in the western Negev desert have unearthed impressive remains from the Middle Bronze Age to the Persian period (17th to fifth centuries B.C.). Among the remains are a Hyksos temple with a large collection of votive objects, a rich Philistine settlement with painted pottery, Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions and well-preserved Assyrian fortifications from the Late Iron Age.
In 1992, director Eliezer D. Oren (Ben-Gurion Univ.) will expand the excavation of the Hyksos temple complex and the Philistine settlement.
The site is open to visitors by appointment during the excavation season.
Hazor
Located in northern Galilee, Hazor was the site of an important dig and the subject of a popular book by the late Yigael Yadin, one of Israel’s most famous archaeologists. For its “enormous size and peculiar features,” Yadin said, “Hazor is unparalleled by any other site in the country.” Yadin also noted that the wide geographical and temporal range of the numerous references to the city in extra-Biblical sources made Hazor “almost unique among Palestinian cities.”
Hazor played an important role in Joshua’s conquests. Its king, Jabin, gathered together a league of kings to oppose Joshua. Consequently, when Joshua defeated them, he singled out Hazor and burned it (Joshua 11:1–13). Jabin also appears in the prose story of the battle between Deborah and Sisera (Judges 4). Solomon apparently rebuilt the city (1 Kings 9:15), which finally disappears from the Biblical record after its conquest by the Assyrian ruler Tiglath-pileser III in 732 B.C. (2 Kings 15:29). Extra-Biblical references to Hazor include the Egyptian Execration Texts (c. 19th–18th centuries B.C.), which curse Hazor as an enemy of Egypt; and tablets from the royal archive at the Mesopotamian city of Mari, one of which notes that Hammurabi, the king of Babylon (1792–1750 B.C.), had ambassadors residing in Hazor.
The site contains a wide variety of Canaanite and Israelite structures, including temples, fortifications and a water system. Director Amnon Ben-Tor (Hebrew Univ.) plans to expand the excavated area in the center of the upper city in 1992 in order to expose extensive remains from the Israelite and Canaanite periods.
The site, located in a national park, is open to visitors during park hours.
(See the following BAR articles:
Horvat Karkur
A Byzantine church from the sixth century A.D. stands on Horvat Karkur, a small tell in the Negev, about four miles north of Beer-Sheva. Excavations at the church have uncovered inscriptions, five intact graves in the floor and a baptistery in a mosaic-paved side-chapel. Director Pau Figueras (Ben-Gurion Univ.) hopes to clean the whole church area in the coming season.
The site is open to visitors all year.
Tel el-Ifshar
Sometimes identified with Biblical Hepher—one of the cities that Joshua and the Israelites conquered Joshua 12:17) and one of Solomon’s domains (I Kings 4:10)—Tell el-Ifshar was occupied from the Early Bronze Age until Byzantine times. A large fortified site on the central Sharon plain, the settlement served as a river port and stood astride the Via Maris, the Roman road that linked Egypt with Mesopotamia. Among the most important finds at the site are Middle Bronze Age pottery imported from North Syria and Egypt and Canaanite figurines dated to about 1250 B.C.
In 1992, directors Samuel M. Paley (State Univ. of NY at Buffalo) and Yosef Porath (Israel Antiquities Authority) will continue excavating the granary building and the public building.
The site is open to visitors by appointment during the excavation season. Guided tours are available.
Tell Jalul
The start of a dig, directed by Randall W. Younker (Andrews Univ.), at this previously unexcavated site offers archaeologists the chance to test the suggestion that Tell Jalul is the location of early Iron Age, Biblical Heshbon. Captured by the Amorites from the Moabites, “Heshbon was the city of Sihon, the king of the Amorites” when the Israelites conquered it (Numbers 21:24–26). The Jordanian site lies six miles south of Tell el-‘Umeiri, a major Ammonite administrative center, in a region distinguished by complex, ancient dry-farming systems that seem to have been highly successful.
The deadline for submission of security forms (required by the Jordanian government for entry into the country) is March 15.
The site is open to visitors on weekdays, but an appointment is preferred. Guided tours are available.
Tell Jawa
The exploration of Tell Jawa, located near Tell el-‘Umeiri and Tell Jalul, in Jordan, has barely begun. The site exhibits a well-fortified city surrounded by a casemate wall system visible on the surface for its full length. During the first two seasons of work, excavators focused on Iron II domestic structures with remains of food preparation and cooking. Excavators have also partially exposed an impressive gate. In 1992, director P. Michele Daviau (Wilfrid Laurier Univ.) will continue to uncover the Iron Age city walls and other structures.
The deadline for submission of security forms is March 15.
The site is open to visitors on weekdays, but an appointment is preferred. Guided tours are available.
Tel Jezreel
Either King Omri (882–871 B.C.) or King Ahab (871–852 B.C.) and his wife Jezebel built Jezreel as a second capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. Standing on a spur of Mount Gilboa, at the edge of Jezreel Valley, it served primarily as a winter residence for the royal family. This is the place where Naboth was framed by Jezebel and executed so that Ahab could take possession of Naboth’s vineyard; as a result, Elijah cursed Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 21). Later, during his coup d’etat in 842 B.C., Jehu took over Jezreel and there killed Jezebel and King Jehoram, Ahab’s son.
During the first two seasons of work at the site, dig directors David Ussishkin (Tel Aviv Univ.) and John Woodhead (British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem) explored the fortifications, including the eastern towers and moat. In 1992, they will continue to excavate the eastern towers, attempt to locate the western perimeter and begin to investigate the interior of the enclosure.
The site is open to visitors all year.
Tel Kabri
Tel Kabri, in the western Galilee, may be identified with Rehob, one of the cities given to the tribe of Asher (Joshua 19:30). Excavation has revealed a Canaanite palace from the 17th century B.C., Early Bronze I (3150–2850 B.C.) oval buildings and a Phoenician fort from the Iron Age (1200–586 B.C.).
The 1992 excavations directed by Aharon Kempinski (Tel Aviv Univ.) and W. D. Niemeier (Heidelberg Univ.) will continue to uncover the Canaanite palace.
The site is closed to visitors.
Tel Kryot
A large Israelite and Byzantine community near Tel Arad in the eastern Negev, Tel Kryot features a Byzantine church with mosaic floors. Dig directors Steven Derfler (Hamline Univ.) and Yehuda Govrin (Israel Antiquities Authority) expect to finish excavating the church and the mosaics in the coming season.
The site is closed to visitors.
Tel Malhata
An important site in the Negev, Tel Malhata’s Biblical name remains a mystery. Past suggestions have included Moladah, Hormah and even Arad. The site was occupied from the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1550 B.C.) through the Roman period (37 B.C.–324 A.D.). Archaeologists are particularly interested in supposedly Edomite artifacts found here.
In the coming season, directors Bruce Cresson (Baylor Univ.) and Itzhaq Beit Arieh (Tel Aviv Univ.) will expand probes begun in the first season in the hope of further defining the site’s fortifications.
The site is closed to visitors.
Tel Miqne-Ekron
A major Iron Age site in Israel, Tel Miqne is identified with Biblical Ekron, one of the five capital cities of the Philistines. When the Philistines captured the ark, they carried it to a number of their cities, including Ekron (1 Samuel 5:10). A powerful, independent city-state, Ekron threatened the existence of the indigenous Canaanites and the newly settled Israelites in the early 12th century B.C. For most of the ensuing 600 years, Ekron was a major Philistine political and commercial center. It came under the shadow of the Kingdom of Judah in the tenth century B.C., however, and had become a vassal city-state of the Neo-Assyrian empire by the seventh century B.C. In 603 B.C., the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Ekron and with it the last vestiges of Philistine culture.
Excavations under the direction of Trude Dothan (Hebrew Univ.) and Seymour Gitin (Albright Institute) have shed new light on four dramatic chapters in Ekron’s history. The first was the Canaanite settlement of the second millennium B.C.; the second, a large fortified city founded by the Sea Peoples/Philistines in the 12th and 11th centuries B.C., which contained metal and other industries, a large palace and a hearth sanctuary with Aegean affinities. The third occurred in the tenth through eighth centuries B.C., when the city was reduced in size and conquered by the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II in 712 B.C. The fourth took place when the city expanded and became one of the most important olive-oil production centers in the ancient Near East. Excavations have yielded more than 1,000 restorable vessels, a unique assemblage of four-horned altars and inscriptions to the goddess Asherah.
The 1992 season will focus on investigating the urbanization process in the Iron Age and the factors that determined Ekron’s growth and decline as a major border city in the Iron Age.
(See Trude Dothan and Seymour Gitin, “Ekron of the Philistines,” BAR 16:01; Trude Dothan, “Ekron of the Philistines, Part I: Where They Came From, How They Settled Down and the Place They Worshiped In,” BAR 16:01; and Seymour Gitin, “Ekron of the Philistines, Part II: Olive Oil Suppliers to the World,” BAR 16:02.)
Nahal Yattir
Nahal Yattir was one of the small satellite villages of the administrative center of Beer-Sheva during the period of the United Monarchy (11th to early tenth centuries B.C.). It has been tentatively identified with Biblical Moladah, one of the towns allotted to the tribe of Simeon (Joshua 19:2). In addition to Iron Age remains, the site also features a fortress from the fifth century B.C.
Finds at the site include an Egyptian scarab, from the end of the sixth century B.C., bearing the inscription, “Under the sun god Ra, lord of the two lands”; a jug with two bronze daggers inside; incense altars from the Israelite period; and three, Israelite-type, four-room houses. In 1992, director Steven Derfler (Hamline Univ.) hopes to complete excavation of the four-room houses.
The site is open to visitors all year.
Tel Nessana (Nizzana)
Tel Nessana stands near the junction of two ancient routes: “the way to Shur,” leading to Egypt, and a branch of the Via Maris, running from the Mediterranean shore at Gaza to the Gulf of Elath. Founded by the Nabateans in the second half of the second century B.C., the settlement flourished from the first century B.C. through the first century A.D. During the second to fourth centuries A.D., the city suffered a decline when trade with Elath was diverted from the Gaza route to a new route to Damascus. A Byzantine settlement including two churches, built in the first quarter of the fifth century, thrived until the Arab conquest and continued to exist until the eighth century.
Discoveries at the site include a late Roman fort and papyri of a Greek dictionary of Virgil’s Aeneid and of a fragment of the Aeneid. In the coming season, directors Dan Urman (Ben-Gurion Univ.) and Dennis E. Groh (Evangelical Theological Seminary) will begin excavation of a newly discovered Hasmonean fort and will continue work on the eastern church.
The site is closed to visitors.
(See Avraham Negev, “Understanding the Nabateans,” BAR 14:06.)
Palmahim Quarry
Palmahim Quarry, on the coast about eight miles south of Tel Aviv, is a late-Chalcolithic and Early Bronze I (late fourth to early third millennia) site with some Egyptian relations. Past work under the direction of Eliot Braun (Israel Antiquities Authority) has uncovered an Egyptian king’s serekh (the king’s personal emblem, surrounded by a representation of the royal palace) and Early Bronze I oval houses including cultural traits usually found farther to the north. Next spring, this salvage excavation project seeks to expose as much as possible of the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze I levels before the site’s final destruction.
The site is open by appointment only to interested professional archaeologists.
Petra
First identified by J. L. Burckhardt in 1812 and used as a locale in the third Indiana Jones movie, Petra, in Jordan, is the most famous Nabatean site. It features spectacular temples and tombs sculpted from red sandstone cliffs between about 50 B.C. and the end of the first century A.D. Less well known are the remains of an Edomite stronghold and of Roman and Crusader occupations. Artifacts found at the site include a door-lock, a glass vessel, tools and evidence of trade with the Far East. Director Philip C. Hammond (Univ. of Utah) will continue to excavate the residential complex of the Nabatean Temple of the Winged Lions in 1992.
(See the following BAR articles: Avraham Negev, “Understanding the Nabateans,” BAR 14:06; Philip C. Hammond, “New Light on the Nabataeans,” BAR 07:02.)
Tell Safut
Located about eight miles southwest of Amman, Jordan, Tell Safut has been proposed as the site of Nobah, a city passed by Gideon as he pursued the Midianite army (Judges 8:11). The city served as a defensive-administrative center, overseeing a large valley below it, on the perimeter of the Ammonite kingdom. Major buildings from the Late Bronze Age and from the late Iron Age to the Persian period have been found. Among the artifacts discovered are a unique assemblage of Ammonite painted ware, a Baal-type seated figurine and a Babylonian seal impression. In the coming season, director Donald H. Wimmer (Seton Hall Univ.) hopes to explore further the Late Bronze through late Iron occupations.
The site is open to visitors all year. Guided tours are available only by appointment during the excavation season.
Sepphoris
The traditional birthplace of Mary, mother of Jesus, Sepphoris has been continuously occupied from the Iron Age to the present. During the Roman period, Sepphoris was rebuilt in grand style by Herod Antipas. In the first century A.D., Josephus testified to its beauty, calling it “the ornament of all Galilee.” After the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome (132–135 A.D.), Sepphoris became, for a time, the seat of the Sanhedrin, the central legal and spiritual council of the Jewish people. In about 200 A.D., Rabbi Judah Hanasi (Judah the Prince) compiled in Sepphoris the collection of rabbinical legal rules called the Mishnah.
Finds at Sepphoris include bronze statuettes, a Roman villa with underground chambers, a bath, a building with colored mosaics and a street with Roman vaults. An extraordinary mosaic female portrait from Sepphoris was featured on the BAR 14:01 cover. In 1992, directors Eric Meyers (Duke Univ.), Ehud Netzer (Hebrew Univ.) and Carol Meyers (Duke Univ.) will continue excavating in both domestic and public areas, including structures with beautiful mosaic floors.
The site is open to visitors from 7 a.m. to noon, but an appointment is preferred. Guided tours are possible if staff is available.
(See “Mosaic Masterpiece Dazzles Sepphoris Volunteers,” BAR 14:01.)
Sha’ar ha-Amakim
A monumentally built, late Hellenistic fortress at this site has been identified as Gabba-Hippeon, an administrative center where Herod the Great (37–4 B.C.) settled his retired cavalry men. The site, ten miles east of Haifa, also features an extensive, subterranean, water supply system. This year, director Arthur Segal (Univ. of Haifa) plans to complete the excavation on the west side of the fortress and on stone houses nearby.
The site is open to visitors by appointment all year. Guided tours are available.
Shiqmim
Located about 10 miles west of Beer-Sheva, Shiqmim is one of the largest Chalcolithic (c. 4500–3200 B.C.) village sites in Israel. The well-preserved village features residences, alleyways, metalworking areas, public buildings and courtyards. The recent discovery of large underground storage facilities suggests the presence of a network of subterranean rooms and tunnels. Among the important finds uncovered by directors Thomas E. Levy (Hebrew Union College) and David Alon (Israel Antiquities Authority) are copper cultic objects and ivories. The 1992 season will focus on exploration and excavation of the newly discovered underground rooms.
The site is closed to visitors.
(See Thomas E. Levy, “How Ancient Man First Utilized Rivers in the Desert,” BAR 16:06.)
Tiberias
Located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias was founded about 20 A.D. by Herod Antipas and named for the Roman emperor Tiberias. The city served as a major center of Jewish life for nearly 700 years. Tiberias became the seat of Jewish political and religious leadership in the third century and flourished until the 11th century.
A six-year excavation program directed by Yizhar Hirschfeld (Israel Antiquities Authority), the first full-scale effort ever at this site, aims to transform Tiberias into a major archaeological park. The first two seasons of work have already uncovered a marketplace, basilica, bathhouse and theater. In 1992, work will focus on the theater and main street.
(See Yizhar Hirschfeld, “Tiberias—Preview of Coming Attractions,” BAR 17:02.)
Tell el-‘Umeiri
When Jephthah subdued the Ammonites, “he smote them … as far as Abel-keramim (Judges 11:33), whose ruins today constitute Tell el-‘Umeiri, a site in Jordan, about 37 miles east of Jerusalem. Occupied from about 3000 B.C. to nearly 500 B.C., the site has been linked with the Ammonite king Baalis Jeremiah 40:14) and with Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 B.C.). During the Biblical period, the Ammonites used the city as an administrative center near their southern border with the Moabites.
In past seasons, excavators have found a seal impression bearing Baalis’ name, dating from the end of the seventh century B.C.; a jar handle stamped with the cartouche of Thutmose III; a Late Iron Age acropolis and citadel; and an 11th-century B.C. casemate defense system with a moat. Next season, director Larry G. Herr (Canadian Union College) will continue work on the Bronze and Iron Age areas. The deadline for submission of security forms is March 15.
The site is open to visitors on weekdays, but an appointment is preferred. Guided tours are available.