Rishon le-Ẓiyyon

THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE II CEMETERY

INTRODUCTION

Many archaeological sites were exposed beneath the sand dunes in the area of Rishon le-Ẓiyyon during increased development activity in Israel in the 1990s. One is a Middle Bronze Age II cemetery discovered in 1991, the largest cemetery excavated on the central Coastal Plain. It lies in the vicinity of many other archaeological remains, including Persian period burials, prehistoric lithics, and an Iron Age II fortress (for the latter, see below). The cemetery is located on the eastern of two kurkar ridges that run parallel to the coast.

Excavations in the cemetery were conducted in 1991–1998 under the direction of Y. Levy on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Six main excavation areas were opened (A–D, F, G; an additional pit burial was found in the area of the Iron Age fortress, area E). To date, 22 shaft tombs and 190 pit burials have been excavated, although many additional graves were located during the excavations and classified according to plan (shaft or pit) based on surface indications. All together, the cemetery contains at least 218 pit burials and 28 shaft tombs. In addition, three jar burials were excavated. The graves contained pottery and alabaster vessels; metal artifacts such as daggers, axes, and toggle pins; beads; and sheep bones inside jars or bowls, sometimes together with a metal knife.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

PIT GRAVES. Pit graves, the most common burial, were uncovered in areas A, B, C, and E. The largest groups were found in areas B and C. These are rectangular pits dug directly into the sand or the ḥamra soil. Some of the pits are lined with bricks. They were dug perpendicular to the slope in order to prevent erosion or the penetration of sand into the grave. Both single and multiple burials were found in them. In areas A, C, and E, almost all the pits contained single burials; in area A, only one example of a double burial was found. The deceased were carefully laid out in a primary burial, in full articulation, usually supine with legs outstretched and hands on pelvis. Some were laid on their sides in a fetal position. Offerings were placed in the graves after burial, as some of the artifacts were found above the bodies. In area B, only one grave with a single burial was uncovered; the others contained a primary burial in the center and one or two secondary burials along the sides. There are two possible explanations for such multiple burials. They may have originally been single primary burials, and at some later stage—still during the Middle Bronze Age II—the graves were opened and the bones of the initial burial were pushed to the sides to accommodate a new primary burial. However, it is also possible that there was only one burial stage, with the deceased interred in a primary burial together with the bones of one or two individuals in secondary burial. The bodies were subsequently covered with a clay-like material. It is interesting to note that, at least in area B, burial offerings—mainly jars—were found outside the pit graves. This phenomenon is not observed in the shaft tombs. The placement of offerings near pit graves has also been documented at Megiddo and Kabri. In another pit grave in area B, two jars were laid side by side next to the deceased after their necks had been removed.

SHAFT TOMBS. Shaft tombs were found in areas A and F. These tombs are composed of a round shaft descending to a wider burial chamber. The shafts were hewn into the hard kurkar layer, while the burial chambers were located in the ḥamra layer below. Following interment, the entrance shafts were filled with moistened clay that dried and hardened, thus sealing the burials. In some of the shafts ceramic finds were retrieved in this fill, while the clay sealant in the pit graves was sterile. The shafts were relatively wide, unlike the narrow shafts in tombs of this period in the hill country. All the shaft tombs contained multiple burials; sometimes a number of burial levels could be discerned, one upon the other. In most cases they were divided into northern and southern compartments. Each compartment contained four to seven separate burial layers separated by a fill of clay-like material that sealed each burial phase. These clayish layers were apparently deliberately laid to level the surface in preparation for addition burials. Each level contained an average of four burials, both primary and secondary. Most of the primary burials were supine, oriented east–west with the head towards the east. A similar burial position was observed in the cemetery excavated by J. Kaplan near Tel Aviv harbor and at Daharat el-Humraiya, published by J. Ory in 1948. In all the burials, the general impression is that the primary burials were laid with care and attention, as opposed to the secondary burials, which usually comprised only long bones and skulls. In many cases a stamp seal was placed above the long bones or in the mouth of the deceased. Occasionally the bones of a secondary burial were pushed to the side to make room for a primary burial, and, as in tomb 10A, were even supported by pottery sherds to prevent them from falling towards the new burial.

It is clear that the entrance shaft remained open until the last burial. The shafts may have been protected in the meantime by a temporary covering of earth, cloth, or wood. (Evidence of temporary coverings is known from the excavations in the cemetery of Baghaz, Syria.) As opposed to the pit graves with single burials, the shaft tombs cannot be clearly placed within a short time span. One burial might even penetrate into the tomb of its neighbor, as is the case with shaft tomb 4a, which infringes upon shaft tomb 5a, so that the foot of the later deceased was found below the skull of the earlier. In area F, due to the friability of the kurkar, the shapes of the shafts were deformed over time by natural processes.

DATE AND DISCUSSION

The pit graves appear to be earlier than the shaft tombs. The graves contained a rich and varied ceramic assemblage, including red-slipped and burnished vessels. These finds can be dated to the middle phase of the Middle Bronze Age IIA, contemporary with the palace phase at Aphek. In contrast, most of the shaft tombs date to the later phase of the same period—the “post-palace” phase at Aphek—while others (in area A) belong to the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age IIB. In these later shaft tombs the ceramic assemblage is poorer; most of the bowls are only partially slipped, up to the line of carination, or decorated with a line of paint on the rim; and the jugs and juglets are unslipped. While the pit graves contained no scarabs, an unusually large corpus of 86 scarabs was retrieved from the various shaft tombs. This further demonstrates the chronological difference between the shaft tombs and the pit graves, as scarabs appear more commonly in Middle Bronze Age IIB tombs, in which there are also more luxury items—toggle pins, daggers, and other items—than are found in Middle Bronze Age IIA tombs. This suggests that all or most of the shaft tombs date to the Middle Bronze Age IIB. It is interesting to note that a single pit grave in area A is probably later than the other pit graves and contemporary with the shaft tombs in the same area. This grave was lined in brick, an unnecessary measure given that the pit was hewn in kurkar. It is possible that the graves in area B comprise a transitional Middle Bronze Age IIA–B phase between the earlier pit graves and the later shaft tombs, since the pottery combines Middle Bronze Age IIA and IIB features and the tombs in area B also appear to be intermediate in form between pit and shaft tombs.

Although the entire cemetery was not excavated, it is clear today that it is one of the richest and most interesting cemeteries in the Coastal Plain. It may be suggested, with some caution, that the cemetery originally extended over an area of approximately 25 a. and included some 1,000 burials. The large number of burials may be evidence of a tradition of family burial. Every shaft grave contained between 16 and 28 individuals. To date, anthropological research has been conducted on the remains of 200 individuals, among them 23 males and 14 females, 76 (41 percent) younger than 18 years of age and 109 older. The age distribution throughout the cemetery is indicative of long-term usage of the cemetery, rather than burial following some catastrophe such as a plague. It is possible that specific areas within the cemetery were set aside for different groups: family burials, burials of youths, males, etc.

It is not known to which settlement the cemetery belonged. There is no Middle Bronze Age II tell or large site in the immediate vicinity, although roughly 300 m to the east of the tombs in area C, the remains of a Middle Bronze Age II settlement were uncovered, its extent unknown. And some 1.5 km to the north of the Rishon le-Ẓiyyon site, a small settlement of the same period was excavated by R. Gophna (site 9). Somewhat farther away, within a radius of 10 km, tombs and settlements from the Middle Bronze Age II have been documented and excavated, as at Ḥolon, Naḥal Soreq, Sede Dov, Yavneh-Yam, the Bat-Yam sand dunes, Ashdod, Bene-Beraq, and Azor. The cemetery in the sand dunes of Rishon le-Ẓiyyon may have functioned as a central cemetery for the many small settlements scattered in the area, or for a mainly nomadic population, although to attribute this large, rich cemetery to such a population seems unfeasible. It is much more likely that it served a substantial and relatively wealthy sedentary population that lived within a settlement hierarchy of fortified towns and scattered villages. Such a system existed in the area during the Middle Bronze Age IIB, with sizeable fortified settlements uncovered at Jaffa, Tel Gerisa, and Yavneh-Yam. Yet it remains unknown if such a settlement existed in proximity to the cemetery.

Significant differences are evident in the shapes of the tombs and the quality of the offerings, usually interpreted as reflecting differences in social and economic status. For example, many burials contained a stamp seal, most made of bronze, some of silver, and a few of gold. The scarabs also reflect wealth or social status; some are schematic, some are made of oval-shaped semi-precious stones, others have actual writing or symbols engraved on them. A study of the finds from the Rishon le-Ẓiyyon cemetery can further our understanding of the material culture and social structure of the Middle Bronze Age II.

YOSI LEVY

THE IRON AGE II FORTRESS

INTRODUCTION

A square fortress from the Iron Age II was discovered in the sand dunes of Rishon le-Ẓiyyon. It was built on a kurkar hill that stood about 30 m above the surrounding terrain, or 50 m above sea level. The hill, situated near the Middle Bronze Age II cemetery (see above), is the highest point in the area, an excellent lookout and defensive position. The site occupies an area of less than 1 a. Its ancient name is unknown. The entire site, including the summit of the hill, lay buried under thick sand dunes and went undetected in earlier surveys.

The site was first discovered in 1992 during an exploratory investigation. Excavations were undertaken in 1995–1996, by Y. Levy, M. Peilstöcker, and A. Ginzburg on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. About 100 squares or half-squares were opened in a number of main areas in the center of the site, and sections were also dug on its northern, eastern, and southern sides. The precipitous slope to the northwest, toward the wadi, did not allow for the investigation of that area.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

The brick fortress, 15.5 by 15 m, was uncovered in the center of the hill. Its wall foundations were built of sun-dried bricks uniform in size, 50 by 30 by 10 cm. The bricks do not conform in size to the standard Assyrian bricks used in other Assyrian fortresses in Israel, such as at Tell Jemmeh. The foundations are particularly massive, at about 3.5–3.8 m wide, and preserved to a height of 3.50 m. They were identified as foundations because no entrances were encountered and the ground floor and other floors were not preserved. The structure consists of a central area, 7.7 by 6.8 m; a trial trench was dug on the southwestern side of this area. Surrounding the central area were eleven rectangular compartments, nine measuring 3 by 1 m and two 3 by 2 m. The arrangement of the compartments is not completely symmetrical. In the center of the northern side of the fortress, two parallel walls extend from the fortress and join walls running to the east, suggesting that the fortress area may have greatly exceeded the square structure. North of these walls, a glacis was laid on the northern slope of the hill at a 45-degree angle to the walls.

A leveled area uncovered in the center of the structure may have been a floor. It contained some collapsed bricks and pottery of the eighth century BCE. No conflagration or destruction layer was encountered, and it can be assumed that the structure was abandoned. In the other parts of the building, the only remains above this level consisted of a fill of red clay (ḥamra), sand, and crushed kurkar that was almost completely devoid of archaeological remains. If this level does represent the floor of the central area, the area was most likely a basement or storeroom; if the ground floor, the area was an unroofed courtyard. Another possibility is that the structure was some kind of podium raised above surface level, the area in its center having been leveled before construction. This building method, in which spaces were filled with retaining walls (tamlu in Akkadian), is well known in Assyrian and Babylonian architecture.

Ruins of kurkar houses were found to the south and southeast of the fortress. The remains reflect several phases, although all of the finds were very similar and date in general to the eighth century BCE. The houses were also founded on a fill of sand and crushed kurkar covered with a thin layer of clay, probably to prevent water seepage. The buildings to the southeast were erected on a steep slope, necessitating the construction of retaining walls. The finds in the buildings included jars, juglets, cooking pots, kraters, and carinated “Assyrian” bowls.

Because the excavations inside the fortress failed to reveal any clear floors and recovered only a very meager amount of sherds (from the eighth century bce), found not in situ, the dating of the fortress is primarily based on the assemblages in the adjoining buildings. In the opinion of the excavators, these buildings served as auxiliary or service buildings for the fortress and were thus contemporaneous with it. The walls of the buildings and of the fortress are similarly oriented, although some may be somewhat later in date. The finds from the Rishon le-Ẓiyyon buildings correspond to stratum VIII at Ashdod and stratum VIA at Gezer.

A number of hearths containing the remains of charred animal bones and pottery were found near the service buildings and to their southwest. About 15 m to the south was a round installation, 2.7 m in diameter (square G7), with animal bones and pottery from the eighth century BCE and some mud bricks that may have been part of its wall. The relationship between these installations and the fortress is not clear.

The structure unearthed at Rishon le-Ẓiyyon is a fortress dating to the Iron Age II and perhaps remaining in use for a short time after the eighth century BCE. An exact parallel for it has not yet been found. The plan of the foundations corresponds with buildings of the Assyrian period, but also with later buildings, and does not indicate the identity of its builders. It was constructed with no specific Assyrian building techniques, nor is there any definite evidence, such as inscriptions, that would attest to the presence of Assyrian garrison troops at Rishon le-Ẓiyyon. The “Assyrian” bowls may indicate a social class rather than a foreign presence, and apparently some of them were produced locally.

YOSI LEVY, MARTIN PEILSTÖCKER

THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE II CEMETERY

INTRODUCTION

Many archaeological sites were exposed beneath the sand dunes in the area of Rishon le-Ẓiyyon during increased development activity in Israel in the 1990s. One is a Middle Bronze Age II cemetery discovered in 1991, the largest cemetery excavated on the central Coastal Plain. It lies in the vicinity of many other archaeological remains, including Persian period burials, prehistoric lithics, and an Iron Age II fortress (for the latter, see below). The cemetery is located on the eastern of two kurkar ridges that run parallel to the coast.