Ḥalif, Tel

EXCAVATIONS

In phase III of the Lahav Research Project, P. Jacobs and O. Borowski directed three seasons of excavations (1992, 1993, 1999) at Ḥalif, with work at site 101, on a terrace east of the tell, and in field IV, at the western summit of the tell. At site 101, five phases of the late Chalcolithic period and Early Bronze Age I were excavated. Recovered in field IV were the remains of the late Iron Age II, along with traces of stratified Persian and Roman-Byzantine occupations, all of which had been disturbed by trenching in the ninth century CE. Field IV also yielded several hundred pottery figurines and stone artifacts.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

THE LATE CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD AND EARLY BRONZE AGE I AT SITE 101 (STRATA XVII–XVI). Excavation at site 101 produced stratified evidence of the transition from the late Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age I. The earliest known occupation at site 101 consists of a domestic unit (Chalcolithic, phase 10) situated on bedrock within a cave shelter. The collapse of large portions of the shelter brought about reorientations of the living space within phase 10 itself and throughout subsequent rebuilding in the Early Bronze Age I (phase 9). As additional segments of the roof collapsed, new construction incorporated the fallen slabs, and eventually a house was built inside the depression left from the completely collapsed cave (phases 8–6). These five phases of stratified Chalcolithic period and Early Bronze Age I occupations provide a unique, detailed sequence of occupation and artifacts from the late fourth and early third millennia BCE. A trace presence of the Early Bronze Age IV (phase 5) was also detected above the ruins of phase 6.

THE IRON AGE II IN FIELD IV (STRATA VIB–VIA). In the late eighth century BCE, Ḥalif was a fortified town of the kingdom of Judah. Excavations in field IV recovered portions of the town wall, with pillared buildings (four-room houses) built directly against it. These domestic structures contained large numbers of ceramic vessels and household tools on the ground floors (with evidence of second stories in the collapsed bricks and roofs). Ḥalif stratum VIB had been destroyed, most likely, by the forces of Sennacherib during his 701 BCE siege of Lachish.

Iron plows found in the southernmost house in field IV indicate that Ḥalif was, in addition to a military outpost, an agricultural community, which shared and protected a fertile valley with nearby Tell Beit Mirsim. Grains were grown in the valley and wine grapes cultivated on the surrounding hillsides, both for local consumption. The great number of storage jars for liquids and dry comestibles preserved in the houses suggests that each household produced and stored provisions for consumption during winter months and for spring planting. The “wine kit” (funnel and strainer) found in the northernmost house in field IV supports this conclusion. Vertebrae of fish found tramped into the floors of the houses indicate a diet supplemented with salted or pickled fish from the Mediterranean.

The religious life of Ḥalif in the Iron Age II is illustrated by the “house shrine” discovered in the broad-room of the northern house in field IV. The cultic apparatus consisted of a mold-made head of a “pillar figurine” (Asherah), two carved and polished tapered blocks of local limestone (possibly maṣṣebot), a ceramic fenestrated incense stand or burner, and a flat stone that may have served as an offering table. In addition, the shrine room contained four storage jars, two cooking pots, two jugs, one juglet, a pomegranate-shaped jar, four bowls, and pieces of pumice and grinding stones. Microscopic floor samples indicate that food was prepared in the shrine room; grape pips, carbonized grain, and fish bones were found tramped into the soil between the cobbles of the floor. Fragments of several other ceramic cult figurines were found in the pillared houses in field IV. Based on the numbers of pillar figurines found at Ḥalif, it seems clear that the cult of Asherah was a popular mode of religious expression—probably alongside the cults of Yahweh and El—among the Judahites of Ḥalif.

Shortly after the destruction of the fortified town of stratum VIB, some small-scale rebuilding of one of the houses in field IV did take place, similar to the resettlement observed in field III. Residents of stratum VIA were likely survivors of the Assyrian military campaign who for a brief time attempted to revive the life of the town. Within a few years the tell site was abandoned and not resettled until the second half of the Persian period.

THE PERSIAN PERIOD (STRATUM V). The Persian period occupation of Ḥalif (possibly En-Rimmon, a site within the province of Idumea resettled by returning exiles from Judah, according to Neh. 11:29) was apparently limited to a few buildings. The single late Persian period structure in field II has been variously interpreted as a storehouse, a military barracks, or a seat of regional administration. Other buildings of the period on the tell were mostly destroyed by villagers of the Islamic period, who cut deep trenches across the western and eastern edges of the tell in search of building material.

In field IV the evidence for a Persian period presence at Ḥalif was abundant, though nearly all unstratified. Stratified remains include a 3 m-long wall segment and the lower portions of two stone-lined, subterranean grain silos. From its secondary use as a refuse pit, silo G7006 yielded evidence of possible ritual activity in the immediate area. The midden deposit within that silo included more than 8,000 fragments of burned bones from small and immature animals (birds, lambs, etc.), along with three fragments of ceramic figurines. The layer of soil above the midden, also defined as stratum V, included two figurine fragments and a limestone incense altar of the type common in the Persian period. The figurines and incense altar have an obvious cultic provenance; the burned bones may represent the sacrifice of animals and birds, whose remains were subsequently deposited in the abandoned silo.

In the backfill of a robber trench that ran the full length of field IV were found some 750 ceramic figurines and stone statuettes, the majority of which may be assigned on typological grounds to the Persian period. Because these were discovered in disturbed settings, little can be determined on their functions and nothing on original contexts (whether temple, shrine, or private worship). The fact that all of the ceramic figurines were broken suggests that they had been removed from a temple or shrine, ritually destroyed, and disposed in a favissa. A heavy concentration of figurines in areas J7, J8, and K7 might indicate the original location of the favissa.

The Persian period building in field II yielded no evidence suggesting that it functioned as a temple. It seems that the mold-made ceramic figurines were used in a structure that has since been scavenged for building materials. With the scarcity of construction on the tell, along with the relatively large collection of figurines, it seems likely that the missing temple or shrine served as a regional holy place. The corpus of figurines, however, does suggest individual (as opposed to corporate) worship, with an emphasis on the role of women. But because the identity of the population of Ḥalif during the Persian period has not been determined, it is not yet established whether these figurines were the cultic artifacts of Idumean settlers, returning exiles from Judah, or Phoenicians.

PAUL F. JACOBS

EXCAVATIONS

In phase III of the Lahav Research Project, P. Jacobs and O. Borowski directed three seasons of excavations (1992, 1993, 1999) at Ḥalif, with work at site 101, on a terrace east of the tell, and in field IV, at the western summit of the tell. At site 101, five phases of the late Chalcolithic period and Early Bronze Age I were excavated. Recovered in field IV were the remains of the late Iron Age II, along with traces of stratified Persian and Roman-Byzantine occupations, all of which had been disturbed by trenching in the ninth century CE. Field IV also yielded several hundred pottery figurines and stone artifacts.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

THE LATE CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD AND EARLY BRONZE AGE I AT SITE 101 (STRATA XVII–XVI). Excavation at site 101 produced stratified evidence of the transition from the late Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age I. The earliest known occupation at site 101 consists of a domestic unit (Chalcolithic, phase 10) situated on bedrock within a cave shelter. The collapse of large portions of the shelter brought about reorientations of the living space within phase 10 itself and throughout subsequent rebuilding in the Early Bronze Age I (phase 9). As additional segments of the roof collapsed, new construction incorporated the fallen slabs, and eventually a house was built inside the depression left from the completely collapsed cave (phases 8–6). These five phases of stratified Chalcolithic period and Early Bronze Age I occupations provide a unique, detailed sequence of occupation and artifacts from the late fourth and early third millennia BCE. A trace presence of the Early Bronze Age IV (phase 5) was also detected above the ruins of phase 6.