Naḥal Tut
INTRODUCTION
The archaeological site of
Salvage excavations were carried out at the site in 1993 by Y. Alexandre on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, prior to the widening of the modern road. A strip c. 15 m wide and c. 55 m long was excavated down to bedrock, revealing part of a large building complex dating to the late Persian period. Beneath the northern part of this structure, fragmentary walls of a Middle Bronze Age building were discovered. The site was abandoned following the destruction of the Persian period complex. It later served as a cemetery in the Mameluke–Ottoman periods, some of the graves making use of the extant ruined walls.
EXCAVATION RESULTS
THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE. The architectural remains of the Middle Bronze Age were extremely limited and do not permit the reconstruction of a comprehensive plan. A few fragmentary fieldstone walls, one or two courses high and built directly on the bedrock, were preserved in the northern part of the excavated area, having been incorporated into the stone-paved floor of the Persian period building. A significant quantity of sherds of bowls, kraters, cooking pots, jugs, juglets, storage jars, and pithoi date the building to the Middle Bronze Age IIA–B.
THE LATE PERSIAN PERIOD. No evidence was found for occupation at the site from the Middle Bronze Age IIA–B until the late Persian period.
The Architecture. In the fourth century BCE, a large square building was constructed, its external dimensions c. 55 by 55 m. It was founded directly on bedrock and is generally oriented north–south. The excavation exposed the entire western wing and the southwestern tower of the building, as well as part of the northern and southern wings and the inner courtyard. The tops of the walls of the northeastern and southeastern corners of the building were partially exposed in trial trenches sunk beyond the main excavation area in order to establish the basic plan and dimensions of the building. The plan consists of two parallel walls running on all four sides of the building around a large open courtyard, c. 40 by 40 m. The outer walls were reinforced by a sloping stone-built revetment. The walls were well preserved, with 6–7 courses standing to an average height of 1.3–2.0 m. They were carefully constructed of dry masonry, the fieldstones usually laid in a rough herringbone pattern, with large horizontal dressed stone blocks at the corners. The excavated tower in the southwestern corner consisted of a single, almost square room. The northwestern corner of the complex was destroyed by road works in the 1970s, but the southeastern and northeastern corners traced in the trial trenches were almost certainly towers, enabling the reconstruction of a square, four-towered building. Its main entrance was not exposed in the excavations, but on the basis of topographical considerations and the presence of a stone heap, it is presumed to have had only one entrance, located in the middle of the southern wall. The 5-m-wide area between the two parallel walls of each wing was partitioned into rooms of varying sizes that were entered via the inner courtyard or an adjoining room. The rooms had beaten-earth floors, while a few had flagstone floors directly on the bedrock. There were no superimposed floors. The rooms were furnished with various stone-built installations including benches, stairways, storage bins, and channels to drain the runoff water from the open courtyard through the western wing and down to the adjacent riverbed.
The overall impression is of a well-planned complex with no indication of architectural changes having been carried out during its use. Based on the distribution of the finds, the large rooms were used for various activities including milling, and the small rooms for storage. Two of the small rooms were filled with two layers of storage jars; their entrances were subsequently blocked, presumably to prevent access. Use of the complex came to an end in an extremely violent destruction, burying a wealth of finds beneath a thick layer of burnt debris and a huge quantity of stones, some melted to lime by the extreme temperatures. The pattern of the stone collapse indicates an upper story in some of the rooms.
The Finds. The finds buried beneath the debris comprised enormous quantities of pottery, mainly hundreds of smashed storage jars; as well as a number of pottery bowls, mortaria, cooking pots, a few lamps, and a couple of imported black-glazed Eastern Greek bowls with impressed designs. All the pottery should be dated to a short period in the late fourth century BCE. Additional finds include numerous metal agricultural tools such as an iron plowshare and plow rings, scythes, pick axes, sheep shears, dozens of bent bronze and iron nails, and weapons such as a few arrowheads, a small spearhead, and a catapult arrowhead. An imported pair of large, fine, basalt hopper-rubber millstones, whose provenance in the Aegean has been ascertained on the basis of geo-chemical analysis, lay in situ on the floor in a corner of one of the larger rooms. A single coin retrieved from the floor beneath the burnt debris is a low denomination bronze coin of Alexander the Great, possibly minted in Macedonia.
Date and Historical Context. The archaeological excavations exposed a well-planned, fortified public building of short duration. The pottery is a homogeneous repertoire dating to the late fourth century BCE. The finds indicate that the complex functioned as a center for the processing and storage of agricultural produce. The fine imported millstones of Aegean origin and the Macedonian coin suggest that the occupants were affiliated with Alexander the Great at the time of the conquest of the Levant, well recorded in ancient Greek sources. Thus, the construction of the complex may perhaps be attributed to Alexander’s demand from his Levantine allies to supply provisions for the Macedonian army during the protracted seven-month-long siege of Tyre in 333–332 BCE. In this case, the destruction of the complex may be attributed to the period of the revolt of Samaria in 332–331 BCE.
THE BEDOUIN BURIALS. The site was deserted following the destruction of the complex. During the Mameluke or early Ottoman period, the area was used as a Bedouin cemetery. Eight of the excavated burials exploited the walls of the Persian period building; one or two stones in various spots on the walls were removed and the deceased were inserted into the remaining gaps. All the burials were laid in a west–east orientation with their faces towards the south. The graves were covered with large stone slabs. Four of these slabs, from four separate graves, bore incisions, probably tribal markings. The only burial goods were four bronze bracelets, a ring, and a bone spatula found with a young female.
YARDENNA ALEXANDRE
INTRODUCTION
The archaeological site of
Salvage excavations were carried out at the site in 1993 by Y. Alexandre on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, prior to the widening of the modern road. A strip c. 15 m wide and c. 55 m long was excavated down to bedrock, revealing part of a large building complex dating to the late Persian period. Beneath the northern part of this structure, fragmentary walls of a Middle Bronze Age building were discovered. The site was abandoned following the destruction of the Persian period complex. It later served as a cemetery in the Mameluke–Ottoman periods, some of the graves making use of the extant ruined walls.