Altar-ed Theories at Ashkelon

It was a typical domestic structure in Philistine Ashkelon from about 1200 B.C.E. (roughly contemporaneous with the settlement of the Israelites in adjacent Canaan). In two of the rooms were typical Philistine hearths in the floor. In one of the smaller rooms of the house, however, was a feature the archaeologists did not recognize—a white lime-plastered mound of earth about 2 feet high and around 2.5 feet in diameter.1 Roughly pyramidal in shape, it had a flattened top. On each of the four corners was a slightly rounded projection—horns? Archaeologists Lawrence Stager, Daniel Master and Adam Aja didn’t recognize […]