Image Details

RITMEYER ARCHAEOLOGICAL DESIGN

TEMPLE TRADITIONS. Three successive temples, one on top of the other, were built at Tell Qasile between the late 12th century and the beginning of the tenth century BCE. Despite their varied architectural plans, they shared the same orientation and the location of the “holy of holies,” remaining rather small and embedded in the town’s residential quarter. In its final, most developed stage (artist’s reconstruction shown here), the mudbrick temple featured an entrance room (A), which gave access to the main hall (B) with two wooden columns along its central axis. The walls were lined with plastered benches, except along the back wall, where the raised platform (C) served as the focal point of the sanctuary.