Dor
EXCAVATIONS
Following the publication of the results of the first ten years of excavations at Tel Dor (1980–1990), work continued at the site through the year 2000. As in the previous years, the excavations were conducted by E. Stern on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Exploration Society, with the participation of the University of California at Berkeley and California State University, Sacramento.
During these ten years, excavations were undertaken in areas A, C, and B1. Work continued to a limited extent in area B2 and ceased on the eastern side of the mound. Efforts were concentrated primarily on areas D1 and D2 in the southern sector of the mound, where another small area, D3, was also opened. Area G, in the center of the mound, continued to be a major focus of the excavations. The work in area F on the western side of the city was expanded and a new area, H, was opened on that side.
EXCAVATION RESULTS
The excavation results are presented chronologically, from early to late, beginning with the meager Canaanite remains, and continuing to the Sikil strata of settlement, the Iron Age, and through the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader periods.
THE CANAANITE CITY. During the 20 years of excavation at Tel Dor, the Canaanite city was not exposed and only a few traces of its existence were noted. It was believed, in accordance with the conclusions of the early excavators, that the Canaanite city extended over the entire site and was as large as, if not larger than, its successor, the first Iron Age city. Over the years, however, it became evident that in all the excavation areas, from A to H, no remains of the Canaanite city were exposed, because contrary to expectations, that city was extremely small and apparently limited to a portion of the western hill along the sea. The excavations in the west, in areas E, F, and H, were not extended deep into strata of this period and only in area G, in the center of the mound, was the debris that descended from the Canaanite city to the vicinity of the eastern wall investigated. In area D2, as well, where a section of the eastern part of the Canaanite city wall was exposed, only the outer (eastern) side of the wall and the collapsed accumulation of debris outside the wall were examined.
Even though the Canaanite city was not reached in any of the excavated areas (with the exception of area G where, as stated, a layer of collapsed debris from this period was excavated), numerous objects from that period were found, though out of context, in almost all the areas. In area B2, for example, a layer of sand was found which reinforced the city wall of the Iron Age and contained a relatively large amount of Cypriot and Mycenean pottery from all phases of the Late Bronze Age. Numerous Cypriot sherds from the Middle and Late Bronze Ages were recovered on the coast to the west of the mound (and also in excavations in the vicinity of the “shipyard” carried out for the expedition by the University of Haifa Underwater Survey).
The most important finds from these periods, however, came from debris accumulated outside the city wall in area D2. One of these is a cylinder seal that was probably manufactured at an urban center located on the Levantine littoral. Another is an Egyptian bulla. These two finds date to the end of the Middle Bronze Age or beginning of the Late Bronze Age.
THE CITY OF THE SIKILS. In the excavations conducted in the 1980s, a stratum of settlement was discovered (local phase 12) in area B1 on the eastern side of the site, which was attributed on the basis of its remains to the city of the Sikils mentioned in Egyptian sources, mainly in the Tale of Wen-Amon. These remains were the earliest in this area (they lay on virgin soil). The settlement was fortified by a massive wall with a solid stone base and brick superstructure. Only a narrow strip of the settlement was excavated. It ended in total destruction, leaving behind a thick burnt layer. During the 1990s the Sikil city was examined in two other areas: in area G in the center of the mound and in area D2 on the southern side. Contrary to the picture revealed in area B1, in these two areas (in which larger sections were dug), two or more phases of the Sikil settlement were exposed (phases 11–9 in area G and phases 14–13 in area D2), indicating that it was of much longer duration than had been previously thought.
Of the three phases in area G, the lower phases, 11–10, contained thick accumulations of industrial ash, scant building remains, and indications of a secondary metallurgical (bronze) industry, whose nature was not definitely ascertained, but which yielded fragments of tuyere bellows, crucibles, and chunks of copper. The main Sikil stratum in this area is associated with phase 9, which was also the latest Sikil settlement. This phase was destroyed in a fierce conflagration and was covered with a thick ash layer, apparently in the same destruction which put an end to phase 12 in area B1.
Phase 9 was first reached on both sides of area G. On the northern side, building remains were found in a relatively limited area and it was impossible to establish any coherent plan. Near an offering bench next to one of the walls lay a group of about a dozen pottery vessels, mostly offering bowls. Two cult vessels typical of the Sea Peoples were also found in this assemblage. One is a ceramic incense burner on a square stand with human figures, executed in an unusual cut-out technique. The other is a clay chalice with red-striped decoration and two horizontal handles.
In the southern part of area G, beneath an enormous burnt layer, similar to that which sealed the Sikil layer in area B1, were found remains of a room, perhaps a kitchen. It probably belonged to a large structure, most of which has not been uncovered. In the center of the room was a long, narrow table built of unfired clay, at least 3 m long, 1 m high, and 1 m wide, that may have served for preparing dough or as a grinding table. The latter possibility is suggested by the discovery of large basalt vessels, some of a previously unknown type, which may have been used for grinding grain. Adjoining this room was another room full of storage jars, and some smaller rooms that contained a large quantity of objects. On the floor, in a thick ash layer, were found different types of pottery, as well as the bone handle of an iron knife of unusual design that is identical to complete iron handles found in the Philistine temple at Ekron (Tel Miqne).
Around the table and in the surrounding rooms was a large and unusual assemblage of pottery belonging to five distinct vessel types: (1) Local ware, mainly jars of the latest type of “Canaanite commercial jar.” Some of this pottery is identical to vessels found in the Sikil strata of area B1. (2) Sea Peoples’ pottery, which includes some common bichrome ware but mostly monochrome pottery of the type widespread in the northern Levantine Coastal Plain, the western Galilee, and the western Jezreel Valley, with classic “Philistine” patterns. It includes kraters, strainer-spouted jugs, pyxides, flasks, and even stirrup-vases, all of them imitating vessels of Cypriot origin. Among this pottery are also local shapes, such as jars and jugs that were also decorated with the typical red to purple monochrome paint. (3) Fragments of huge pithoi with relief decorations (found also in area B1), also of Cypriot origin. (4) Ordinary “collared-rim” jars, of a late type. (5) A group of about eight Egyptian storage jars that were produced in the Egyptian Delta region.
This concentration of a variety of vessels of distinct types on a small floor not only indicates the existence of extensive maritime trade (as reflected in the Tale of Wen-Amon) but also provides a rare chronological peg for such vessels, which could only have been together as a group during the late twelfth and eleventh centuries BCE.
During the last two seasons of excavations, another building with at least two phases (12–13) was uncovered in area D2, beneath a huge, solid brick building (see below). This was a monumental structure, only its well-built, stone foundations preserved, to floor level. The building was constructed on bedrock and was the lowest structure on the site (similar to the Sikil settlement in areas B1 and G). Only the southern end of the building, facing the bay, was excavated. The solid southern wall of the building formed the outer wall of the city (as did the eastern wall of phase 12 in area B1); it was built into the earlier Bronze Age wall that surrounded the acropolis. Inside the wall a row of rooms was cleared; on their floors lay monochrome pottery, as well as the bone handle of an iron knife similar to the one discovered in the destruction level of phase 9 in area G. Above this structure no signs of the massive destruction level were preserved as they were in other areas, probably because the intensive construction work above it (that is, the foundations of the solid brick structure) completely “erased” this level. Here too, there may have been some sort of metallurgical industry prior to the construction of the building, for a thick layer of industrial ash was found beneath the building and outside it (phase 14).
Among the finds in area D2 was another typical Philistine cultic vessel: an anthropomorphic juglet with slanted, coffee bean-shaped eyes. Two almost identical parallels have been found in Israel, one in the stratum XII Philistine temple at Tell Qasile and another at nearby Tel Gerisa, which are dated to the twelfth century BCE. Another Sikil find is a clay bull figurine with an exact parallel at Ekron (Tel Miqne).
Limited additional remains of the Sikil city were found in all the other excavation areas in the eastern and western parts of the site. In area F, on the western side of the mound, a section of the city’s western wall has apparently survived. Pottery and other finds that can be related to the Sikils and their unique culture were found scattered about these areas, most not in situ. These finds included a rhyton in the form of the head of a lioness and several bovine scapulae of the type common in Cypriot and Philistine temples, such as the temples at Ekron.
In summary, the examination of the Sikil remains from areas B1, G, and D2 reveals that the Sikils were engaged in industrial activities involving metal processing. At the time of their initial occupation of the site, they built on a very limited scale, but their construction would become much more intensive in later stages, including the building of the solid city wall. It is interesting to note that, with the arrival of the Sikils, the area of the walled city grew to five times its Bronze Age size. According to A. Raban, who investigated the sea around the mound, the southern harbor was also first constructed in this period; it would become the city’s main harbor from this time onwards. This picture corresponds well with the description of the city presented in the Tale of Wen-Amon, far from a “Dark Age” settlement. The excavation of the Sikil strata at Dor has revealed the unique material culture of the Sea Peoples who settled on the northern coast of Palestine and the western part of the Jezreel Valley.
THE PHOENICIAN AND ISRAELITE TOWNS. The Iron Age remains in area B that postdate the Sikil phase 12 were mostly uncovered in the first ten years of excavation and are included in Vol. 1, p. 360.
In area G, the destruction layer of the upper Sikil city (stratum 9) was sealed by several superimposed clay floors, mainly in phases 8–6a. On these floors Phoenician bichrome vessels appeared for the first time together with Cypriot pottery of the early Geometric style. Phases 8–7 included sections of residential dwellings that were not excavated in their entirety and whose plans could not be ascertained. These phases apparently belonged to the Phoenicians, who occupied the site in this period. A heap of fallen stones was found in one of the rooms of a house of phase 7; beneath the stones lay half a dozen broken storage jars and a complete skeleton of a woman, about 40 years old, lying on her right side with her face towards the wall. She was apparently killed when the wall collapsed, either when the Israelites captured the city from the Phoenicians, or in some natural catastrophe.
The following phase, 6b, was excavated over a larger area, the walls of its buildings found scattered throughout area G. On several of its floors were found pottery and other objects. Phase 6a, which is also attributed to the time of the United Monarchy, contained an assemblage of cult objects including a
The principal remains of the first Phoenician settlement at Dor and of its early Israelite settlement, however, were uncovered in area D2, which extends above the main harbor in the south of the city. On the western border of this area, in its phases 10–9, a solid stone wall was found. It was oriented north–south and descended to the rocky coastline and then turned westward. This wall appears to have surrounded the city’s acropolis during the Iron Age (and perhaps even during the Late Bronze Age). Its continuation adjacent to the sea indicates that it was constructed directly on bedrock. Still standing to a height of over 3 m, the wall exhibits several building phases, its lowest courses built of extremely large stones. The wall’s date of construction is unknown, but there is little doubt that it served the Phoenician town in all phases of the Iron Age I, as well as in the later Iron Age cities.
On the east side of the excavation in area D2, four complexes of monumental architecture from this period were excavated. They are the largest buildings excavated so far at Tel Dor, much larger than any structures of other periods, including the Roman period. Two of the complexes extend far beyond the excavation area. The first is a 40-m-long structure with massive stone foundations abutting the built quay of the port that even today juts into the sea. Its entire western wall and part of its northern wall were excavated. They are built of huge limestone blocks, probably brought from the Carmel. The corner of the building was also constructed of these huge limestone blocks, carefully dressed with the broad chisel typical of the Iron Age and laid in header-stretcher fashion. A large drainage channel running north–south was exposed along the foot of the western wall. It was covered with dressed stone slabs, each over 1 sq m in size, and emptied into the sea. Next to this building to the south, on the side facing the sea, is a huge stone wall with a broad base that narrows towards the top. This so-called seawall connected the acropolis wall on the west and the monumental stone building on the east. Its function remains unclear, though it may have been intended to protect the city from sea marauders or from enemy fleets of other city-states. Today it rises to a height of 3 m. The wall was built at the same time as the acropolis wall and the monumental stone building and it is bonded to them. The large drainage channel that descends to the sea was built into this seawall.
At some point during the existence of these three structures, the entire area between them was filled with a huge building constructed of sun-dried brick walls. This building has a complicated plan, consisting of three parallel rooms, two of which are long and narrow and lack openings. The foundations are mainly of brick, but some sections are of stone. A later phase of this building stands on part of the drainage channel, which it postdates. The brick walls, approximately 1 m thick, were preserved to a height of 3 m. Two phases and several floors were distinguished in the building. On the lower floors of the building was found Phoenician pottery, both monochrome and bichrome ware, of very early types. Other interesting finds include calf-shaped bronze weights of an Early Iron Age type that have also been found at Megiddo and Taanach. In phase 9 of the brick building, or dug into it, a jug was found carefully covered by a bowl, and plastered over. It contained a hoard of 8.5 kg of silver, packed into 17 bags of 490 g each and sealed by stamped bullae. This unique find clearly attests to the wealth of the city’s citizens during this period. In the later phase 8, the brick building went out of use and the entire area above it was buried under a thick layer of clay. The southern sector of this layer slopes toward the seawall; its northern part was leveled.
Above this stratum, mostly on the northern, leveled section, was a dwelling of the “four-room” architectural type, of which only two rooms were excavated. It is built of medium-sized, unhewn stones, which included some well-dressed stones, although not in situ. This structure may represent the rebuilding of the first Israelite city after David and Solomon’s conquest of Dor, although the characteristic fortification of this stage, found earlier on the eastern side, did not appear here. (The seawall may still have been in use.) This stone structure contained at least two superimposed floors (and probably more), on which lay numerous pottery vessels, primarily classic Phoenician bichrome ware. The fact that so many bichrome vessels were found among the local tenth-century vessels at Dor should come as no surprise, since a large proportion of the population in this period was presumably still Phoenician and this was the pottery they used.
Although almost nothing has remained of the strata above this building (phases 7–5), the corner of a large, well-built structure of dressed stones was exposed on the western edge of the area, but was not excavated.
The destruction of the area was caused by a group of large pits dug deep into it. The pits contained sizeable assemblages of potsherds from the seventh century BCE, when the city was the capital of an Assyrian province. These assemblages are among the largest found in the north of the country from this period. Why the pits were dug and filled with potsherds is unknown.
THE PERSIAN PERIOD. In two areas in the southern part of the mound, areas D1 and D2, remains were uncovered from the period of Persian rule. In area G more pits were found from this period.
During the last ten years of excavations, work continued in the large warehouse in area D2, which contained numerous jars. The warehouse, at least 20 m long, is situated south of the southern east–west coastal street. The intersection of this street and the broad, north–south street on the east marks the edge of an insula of workshops. This area was disturbed by numerous pits, rich in finds, which were dug after the construction of the commercial area and the paving of the street. In addition to a large quantity of Persian pottery, including a complete Bes vase, they contained a green faience amulet that depicted Isis holding the boy Horus on her knees; a Phoenician ostracon with an inventory of vessels; and a fragmentary cow scapula bearing on one side a rare Greek dedicatory inscription to Astarte in Cypro-Archaic syllabic script, and on the other, an equally rare engraved scene of a ritual involving a Phoenician ship setting sail from a port.
Another important find from the Persian period were fragments of two painted clay tiles depicting the head of a Gorgon which once adorned the edge of a Greek sanctuary erected at Dor in this early period. Also found were a number of dog burials in one of the streets. Dog burials were quite common in this period and many have been uncovered at Ashkelon and Berytus. Area G also included a few Persian period pits, some of them very deep and rich in finds, one yielding a complete ceramic mask depicting a grimacing face.
Found in area D1 was a monumental Persian period structure, which extended over nearly the entire excavated area. During the final years of excavation, the area investigated was enlarged to include all four sides of this building. Below it, facing the street, was a poorly constructed structure that was probably a murex dye installation. A few pits from this period contained large amounts of Persian period pottery and stone figurines. Among the finds was a clay figurine that is the “twin brother” of the child-god Horus-Harpocrates found several years earlier in area D2. The pits also contained faience amulets in Phoenician-Egyptian style that were also similar to earlier finds. In one of the pits was the head of a Cypriot limestone figurine depicting Astarte wearing a crown symbolizing the city-goddess Tyche. This is the smallest Cypriot stone figurine found to date.
At the end of the 2000 season, the building was found to consist of four large broad-halls (oriented north–south) and a long room (oriented east–west), parallel to them on the north. The southern, western, and northern sides of this stage of the building were examined. To the east it disappears into an unexcavated area and the Crusader moat; its extent on this side is unknown. It is constructed in a style reminiscent of that typical of the Punic settlements of the western Mediterranean, although employing receding courses. As was noted above, this building was located at the entrance to the acropolis and in its initial Persian period stage, as well as in its more developed Hellenistic form (see below), it constituted a part of the acropolis complex. It dominated the terrain to such an extent that the buildings constructed above it in the Hellenistic period followed its plan. Numerous pottery vessels from the Persian period, as well as figurines, coins, and other artifacts, were found in the Hellenistic phase of the building.
THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD. Remains of Phoenician-Greek Dor of the Hellenistic period were uncovered in areas D and F, in the southern and western parts of the mound. The most important Hellenistic structure uncovered in the late 1990s is undoubtedly the public building discovered in area D1, in the eastern part of the acropolis. It was constructed directly above the Persian period public building (see above), its walls essentially following the plan of the Persian walls, except on the western side, where the plan deviates from the Persian period building and extends to the Crusader period moat surrounding the acropolis, which severed it. The building was also expanded on its northern side. It appears that the area of the building excavated so far represents only the southern side of the complex; the northern side, for the most part not yet excavated, was identical in plan. It therefore seems that this large complex occupied the entire width of the entrance to the acropolis and served as the entrance building to the Hellenistic city’s government center.
The method of construction of the Hellenistic building differs from its Persian period predecessor. Most of its walls were built of large fieldstones with ashlar monoliths (diatons) placed between them at intervals. This method of construction, similar in principle to that employed in the building of the previous Persian period walls (referred to above as Punic construction), differs primarily in the fact that the ashlar monoliths were laid on their narrow rather than their long sides. The Hellenistic walls are also much thinner.
A pit attributed to this period was found dug into the building. It contained a limestone statue of Nike and two Doric capitals, probably from a Doric temple and its propylaeum from the third–early second century BCE. In another pit, which may have been filled in during the first century CE, a mosaic pavement was discovered that probably came from a triclinium of a Roman villa. It depicts a theater mask of a young man wearing a party hat adorned with fruit and flowers.
Several clay figurines were found here in situ. Two are of special interest. One depicts the Phrygian-Greek goddess Cybele, seated on a chair supported by a pair of lions, and the other depicts Harpocrates holding a rabbit. Another interesting find is a rectangular lead weight, with the sign of the Phoenician goddess Tanit-Astarte depicted on one side, and on the other the club of Heracles, who is identified with Ba‘al Melqart, the god of the city of Tyre.
In area D2 two construction phases of the Hellenistic period were distinguished, and the continuation of the insulae on the Hippodamian plan encountered in previous years was noted. The plans of the two Hellenistic phases differ in numerous details and it appears that significant changes occurred to this plan and to the course of the main east–west street that crossed the area along the southern slope of the city. A few rooms of insulae extended into area D2 and outside the excavated area. These rooms were constructed in two building styles, primarily in the traditional Phoenician method of the Persian and Hellenistic periods, namely, ashlars laid in headers and stretchers with a fill of fieldstones. Some of the walls (especially the façades of insulae) were built of ashlars only (small and elongated, resembling bricks), laid in several variations as headers and stretchers.
In area F, on the western side of the mound, Hellenistic strata were reached beneath the large northern Roman temple (see below). A wall containing niches and alcoves, dated to the end of the Hellenistic period, proved to be part of an oil press. At the edge of this installation, in two depressions in the floor, were found oil-press weights made of large, heavy ashlars, each with two intersecting holes. The installation consisted of two presses: a northern unit with four square weights and an identical southern unit. The arrangement of the parts of this oil press closely resembles that of the press found in area D2 in the previous excavations. The discovery of two oil presses, one on the southern shore and the other on the western, indicates the presence of industrial activity there in this period.
THE ROMAN PERIOD. During extensive excavations in recent years, the remains of the Roman city were examined, new areas were opened, and buildings, streets, sewage channels, and various installations were uncovered, helping complete the picture of the city in this period.
In area B1, the area of public buildings inside the eastern city gate, excavations were extended southward and public buildings were exposed on both sides of a street. Excavated here was a large structure, very likely a caravanserai or a barracks for the troops defending the city gate. The building was constructed around a square paved peristyle courtyard, surrounded on all sides by paved colonnades. Farther south, the façade of another large structure was uncovered. But the main discovery in area B1 was a large public building, nearly square in shape (17 by 16 m), which dated to the latest phase of the Roman city. It may have served as the bouleuterion, the meeting hall of the citizens of Dor. The paved street extending southward from the plaza and the eastern gate to the southern shore was found to have continued in use in the Roman period. On both sides of the street were large public buildings that were constructed over a considerable period, up to the time of the city’s final abandonment at the beginning of the third century CE.
In area E, the first excavation area opened on the western side, excavations were not renewed in recent years. The large bathhouse uncovered there is its main feature. On the western slope south of area E, the large area F was opened and divided into three sub-units. To its south is area H. These areas extend along the entire western slope to the acropolis in the southwestern corner of the city. The new excavations in area F indicate that the temple podium lay adjacent to and to the east of the mound and rose above the courtyard surrounding it on three sides––the north, south, and west. The temple could thus be reconstructed (contrary to earlier suggestions) as a building with its façade on its long side, facing the mound, and entered from the east. Beneath the floor of the north temple an earlier Roman stratum was exposed down to its original floor. Most of this building was destroyed when the later north temple was constructed, so that neither its plan nor function could be ascertained. On its floor lay artifacts from the Early Roman period, including a rare bronze lamp decorated with a conch relief.
The temenos of the south temple, which is nearly square in shape, was almost completely destroyed by the sea. Only its foundations survived, cut into bedrock under water and topped by one or more courses of huge kurkar ashlars. Also preserved were its southern and eastern walls, and the walls of the square temple in its center. The remains of the southern wall of the temenos now rest upon the slope of the acropolis. The southeastern corner of the temenos was removed by the Crusaders when they dug the moat that separated the acropolis from the rest of the mound. The eastern wall of the temenos, an impressive ashlar wall rising today to a height of 8 m, was preserved along most of its length. The temple remains indicate that it stood upon a podium, the foundations of which were cut into bedrock in the sea. Only the eastern wall of the temenos abutted the mound. Nothing remains of the superstructure of the temple or podium.
Area H was opened south of and aligned with area F, extending from the southern edge of the north temple to the acropolis. Excavations in this area revealed two main building phases. Of the upper phase, the meager remains of the upper paved street (“corniche”) were exposed approximately 1 m above the lower street and following a slightly different course, to accommodate the temple’s orientation. A ramp led from it to the temple. On the western side of the area (towards the sea) was a retaining wall that separated the temple from the city. This wall was cut into the remains of the earlier Roman city, thus providing a date for the temple’s foundation in the second century CE. Of this earlier Roman stratum, large houses were uncovered abutting one another and extending into areas not yet excavated on the western slope of the mound.
This complex was bounded to the east by the well-preserved, early western paved street (corniche), the southern edge of which was encountered in area D, its northern part in area F, and its western in the street or paved plaza facing the sea. A lower street on the lower part of the western slope was some 3 m below the level of the corniche at the upper edge of the mound. Between the two streets were remains of an elaborate ashlar structure that belonged to a wealthy person or dignitary. Its walls were plastered and decorated with colored frescoes, depicting a scene in which Poseidon, god of the sea, is represented by two of his attributes, a pair of dolphins and the end of a trident. The eastern side of the cluster of buildings contained a series of rooms, probably shops and workshops, which faced the paved street. Their western façade faced another street that may have been a sea promenade. The eastern wall of the temple, however, founded on bedrock, had obliterated almost all earlier traces in this area.
The two Roman building phases in area H thus correspond to the same phases in the other excavation areas and emphasize the genuine revolution in Roman city planning that occurred in the second phase, in the second century CE. Like the great north temple adjoining it, the south temple also appears to have been founded in this period.
In area D2, the excavation areas of the Roman period were extended to the east and exposed the continuation of the local (southern) corniche and the main paved street, together with the built drainage channel running along it. In the newly excavated area, the intersection of this street and the beginning of a street extending northward to area G was uncovered. Based on a comparison of the measurements of the two drainage channels, the new south–north street was larger and wider than the southern corniche and emptied into a deep channel that drained southward, toward the port. Some rare glass vessels were found inside the channel.
On the southern side of the corniche a densely constructed industrial complex was uncovered in the latest Roman settlement stratum. Found in rooms of this complex were two circular, stone-lined installations facing one another, each with a single opening. Next to them were four circular tabun-like clay constructions, one paved with large clay tiles. Another structure contained a clay pipe that passed through the side of the installation––probably a vent to the bellows. No signs of industrial waste were found there, and what was produced in this complex of installations remains a mystery. Almost identical installations were found in area D3, opened during two seasons of excavations several meters north of area D2, between area D2 and area G. Most of the installations from this area are large, circular, tabun-like constructions with ceramic tile floors. Here too no industrial waste or ash was found, so that the function of the installations cannot be known. These installations also date to the later Roman phase, from the second century CE.
Uncovered in area D1, west of area D2, was the crossroads, known from earlier excavations, of the southern corniche with the south–north street along the western shore of the city, the continuation of which appeared in areas H, F3, and E. In area D an insula was uncovered with additional structures and industrial installations. To its north the remains of a large ashlar building were partly excavated. In all above-mentioned areas, just a few centimeters below the present surface, floors from the later Roman period were found above the main Roman buildings. These floors are mainly cement pavements that were probably bedding for mosaics. The new excavation areas also yielded valuable information on the Roman water installations.
The Roman strata produced rich numismatic finds, beginning with Early Roman period coins of Phoenician city-states, Herodian coins, and others. Almost none of the coins were later than the beginning of the third century CE. These strata, in all the excavated areas, also contained a large amount of pottery, both local and imported ware, and numerous clay, stone, glass, metal figurines, and other artifacts.
THE BYZANTINE PERIOD. In 1994, C. Dauphin returned for another season of excavation at the site of the church at the base of the mound, in order to fully ascertain the plan of the church. She made several new discoveries. The two outer aisles of the church were found to also end in apses, so that three apses, not one, protruded from the eastern side. It was also found that a colonnade with additional rooms on either side extended along the façade of the building on its western side and that the façade faced the street. Other facts emerging from these excavations are that the church was constructed above a Hellenistic or Roman temple that had served the inhabitants of the lower city, the church building practically superimposed on this earlier structure, with the main hall and two aisles built above the temple cella, and the atrium and two outer aisles built above the temple colonnades. Dauphin also noted that the final destruction of the church took place in the eighth or as late as the ninth century CE, and not in the seventh century as previously thought.
THE CRUSADER PERIOD. No architectural remains from the Crusader period were excavated, except for part of the eastern side of the moat dug between the acropolis, on which a small citadel stood, and the rest of the mound. In area H, near surface level, an assemblage of 13 complete vessels, some of them glazed, was found, as was a bronze frying pan. Dated to the thirteenth century, this assemblage is one of the most beautiful collections of Crusader period pottery found in Israel. Especially impressive is a bowl decorated with a sphinx. Some of the pottery was manufactured in Cyprus and Antioch while other pieces are local ware, probably produced in Acco.
EPHRAIM STERN
Maritime Dor
Color Plates
EXCAVATIONS
Following the publication of the results of the first ten years of excavations at Tel Dor (1980–1990), work continued at the site through the year 2000. As in the previous years, the excavations were conducted by E. Stern on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Exploration Society, with the participation of the University of California at Berkeley and California State University, Sacramento.
During these ten years, excavations were undertaken in areas A, C, and B1. Work continued to a limited extent in area B2 and ceased on the eastern side of the mound. Efforts were concentrated primarily on areas D1 and D2 in the southern sector of the mound, where another small area, D3, was also opened. Area G, in the center of the mound, continued to be a major focus of the excavations. The work in area F on the western side of the city was expanded and a new area, H, was opened on that side.