‘Ein el-Ḥilu (Migdal Ha-‘Emeq)
INTRODUCTION
The site of ‘Ein
EXCAVATION RESULTS
The excavations exposed a multi-period site with occupation dating to the Intermediate Bronze Age, the Middle Bronze Age II, the Late Bronze Age, and the Iron Age I, with later agricultural activities dating to the Roman period.
THE INTERMEDIATE BRONZE AGE. The earliest occupation in the Intermediate Bronze Age consists of at least six separate multi-roomed domestic units, many of which yielded a high density of ceramic, bone, flint, and stone tool deposits. These units are clustered together with only limited unenclosed space between them; the built-up area is flanked on both the east and west by open areas. The western open area is covered by hard-packed floors of small stones (overlying sterile soil of the valley floor) with six large stationary stone mortars around the perimeter. The eastern open area is on the bedrock of the sloping hill and has hewn surfaces, cupmarks, and installations. These were probably communal areas used for processing agricultural produce or secondary animal products.
The walls of the domestic units are mostly constructed from a single row of large stones, and due to the sloping bedrock, are not always straight. Additional architectural features in the units include stone sockets on the left side of the entrances, rectangular and circular corner installations, and cooking platforms. The floors are either smoothed bedrock or packed earth; in only a few rooms are there remnants of a smooth stone pavement. Notable are the large stationary mortars and smaller lower grinding stones, which were imbedded in the floor. Upon most of the floors were large quantities of in-situ smashed pottery vessels. In one room, storage jars and cooking pots were stacked together; the storage jars were sealed with stone stoppers.
Cultic activity was evident from a circular standing stone monolith found in situ in one of the domestic units, and additional monoliths found in two other units. The in-situ monolith (0.8 m high, 0.4–0.5 m in diameter with a maximum circumference of 1.5 m) stood in the room’s center, directly opposite the entrance, and was fixed in place by stones placed around it. A circular depression (19 cm in diameter, 2–3 cm deep) was hewn into the center of the top of the monolith and suggests an altar-like function.
The finds include pottery vessels and flint, stone, bronze, and bone implements. Vessel types include large bowls, often with ledge handles, smaller bowls or cups, open spouted bowls, hole-mouth jars of a wide variety of forms and sizes, very few jugs, wide- and narrow-necked amphoriskoi, cooking vessel types (open bowls, closed hole-mouth pots, and closed necked pots), and small storage jars that are either round or flat based, lacking handles or with flat loop or ledge handles. The storage jars are the most common vessel type and constitute almost half of the pottery repertoire. A phenomenon noted exclusively within the storage jar assemblage is the presence of well-levigated jars, fired at a very high temperature. Various forms of spouts appear on different vessel types: bowls, hole-mouth jars, “teapots,” and bottles.
The flint assemblage at ‘Ein
THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE FARMSTEAD. The settlement plan of the Middle Bronze Age IIA farmstead reveals a decrease in the built-up area with an increase in agricultural installations on the slopes surrounding the site. Evidence was recovered for at least three architectural phases, during which all structures were built of walls with stone foundations and a brick superstructure. Stone-lined circular silos are common. A well-hewn basalt pillar base reflects the high quality of construction. Notable are the segregated areas for local industries, such as a large courtyard containing a concentration of grinding stone implements, baked clay loom weights, and a potters’ workshop exposed at the eastern fringes of the site. The potters’ workshop includes two vertical updraft pottery kilns, adjacent rock-hewn work surfaces, and finds such as wasters and forming tools. The predominant vessel types fired in the vertical updraft kilns on site, according to the wasters, were storage vessels. The pottery industry was interdependent with other industries at the site associated with viticulture. Evidence for intensive grape cultivation is indicated by the dozens of rock-hewn winepresses dated to the Bronze Age, excavated and surveyed on the slopes surrounding the site. It is suggested that the pottery workshop was engaged in specialized production of storage and transport vessels for the wine industry.
There are three discernible burial traditions associated with the inhabitants of the Middle Bronze Age farmstead: intramural pit tombs, a built cist tomb, and an extramural burial cave. The intramural pit burials included well-preserved infant jar burials, a child burial covered by a broken pithos, and adult burials in which the heads were placed above a stone slab or above a disturbed infant jar burial. The built cist tomb contained a secondary burial and was topped by a massive stone slab. Burial goods include pottery vessels such as jugs, juglets, and bowls.
Ceramic finds are of typical local Middle Bronze Age IIA forms, some bearing a red burnished slip. Among the imported vessels is a white-painted IV Cypriot jug. Additional finds include flint implements such as geometric sickle blades, numerous basalt grinding and pounding tools, bone mouthpieces for drinking straws, wheels for pottery models, baked clay loom weights, bronze toggle pins, and socketed spearheads.
THE LATE BRONZE AGE. The only architectural feature dated to the Late Bronze Age is a large pit that consisted of a matrix of fine powdery gray soil with successive intervals of stone layers. This pit contained large amounts of pottery, including local ware and fragments of imported Cypriot pottery (white slip bowls, base-ring bowls), two anthropomorphic “Asherah” figurines, and bronze objects such as an intact arrowhead and toggle pin fragments.
THE IRON AGE. The Iron Age occupation, spanning two architectural phases, is confined to the southernmost reaches of the excavated area. It represents the remains of a small, unfortified settlement, not extending to the western limits of the site. The earlier phase is composed of a large residential building, with stone walls and a stone-paved floor and surrounding installations for agricultural industries. Adjacent to this building is an olive-oil press with three main components: a large flat oblong stone (1.2 by 0.70 m), a large round stone bowl (0.50 m inner diameter) placed at the short side of the slab, and a small stone wall running along the eastern edge of the slab. This installation was constructed directly above a Middle Bronze Age tomb. The later phase of the Iron Age occupation is void of architectural features and consists primarily of stone accumulations and large pits, amorphous in shape and containing large quantities of restorable pottery, and often with a stone covering. In the eastern reaches of the site, a cultic assemblage encountered above bedrock consisted of a large number of chalices bearing signs of burning, a shouldered adze of bronze, and a concentration of basalt tools.
The pottery assemblage from the Iron Age occupations is homogenous and can be dated to the Iron Age I (twelfth–eleventh centuries BCE). It includes mostly simple, undecorated vessels, however small quantities of both bichrome and monochrome Philistine ware and other painted wares were retrieved. Notable are the presence of “Galilean” and collared-rim pithoi. The largest numbers of metal objects retrieved at the site originate from the Iron Age strata and include bronze and iron objects for personal adornment (bracelets, rings) and tools (adze, awls, staff butts). Evidence for metallurgical activities during this period was found in two pits containing slag, a nozzle (tuyere), and a crucible.
The Iron Age economy was based on agriculture and animal husbandry, as reflected in the results of the faunal analysis, ground stone implements, and the olive-oil press. In addition, secondary metallurgical activity was undertaken for local use.
TOMBS. An area utilized for burials is located at a distance of c. 300 m south of the site, on the upper slopes of the hills of Nazareth that flank the wadi. A single rock-hewn shaft tomb, tomb Y, contained pottery dated to both the Intermediate Bronze Age and the early Middle Bronze Age IIA.
ABANDONMENT. ‘Ein
KAREN COVELLO-PARAN
INTRODUCTION
The site of ‘Ein
EXCAVATION RESULTS
The excavations exposed a multi-period site with occupation dating to the Intermediate Bronze Age, the Middle Bronze Age II, the Late Bronze Age, and the Iron Age I, with later agricultural activities dating to the Roman period.