(Jerusalem: Hebrew University/Israel Exploration Society, 1995), 2 vols., 369 pp. and 503 pp., $140 plus $21shipping
The Ancient Harbour and Anchorage at Dor
Sean A. Kingsley, Kurt Raveh et al.
British Archaeological Reports
(Oxford, UK: Tempus Reparatum, 1996), 123 pp. plus drawings, charts, maps and photos, $56
Dor is an excavators’s dream: Each new layer reveals the presence, long ago, of yet another civilization. Canaanites, Sikhils (one of the Sea Peoples), Phoenicians, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans all occupied this distinctive mound, on the Israeli coast about 12 miles south of Haifa. From 1980 to 1987 Ephraim Stern directed excavations at Dor’s Area A and C, on the eastern part of the mound, and these two large volumes constitute the dig’s final report. The first volume traces Dor’s archaeological history stratum by stratum—from the Late Bronze Age through the Byzantine period—and presents the excavators’ conclusions about the various historical periods. The second volume catalogues and analyzes the finds. Both volumes are copiously illustrated with black-and-white photos, maps, drawings, charts and ceramic typologies.
Why was each new dominant power in the Middle East, over a 2,000-year span, attracted to Dor? Largely because of its harbor. Offshore reefs and islands created a natural a breakwater, providing safe anchorage at Dor—something extremely rare on the Levantine coast—and allowing the city to function as a commercial center. From 1976 to 1991 Kurt Raveh conducted underwater surveys on all three sides of the tell’s peninsular mound, with the assistance of Shelley Wachsmann and later of Sean Kingsley. This final report is a comprehensive summary and analysis of the results; it contains a useful bibliography, maps showing the distribution of finds and the shifting course of the harbor, aerial and underwater shots of the harbor (in black and white) and drawings and photos of the finds.
Retrieving the Past: Essays on Archaeological Research and Methodology in Honor of Gus W. Van Beek
ed. by Joe D. Seger
(Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1996) 312 pp., $39.50
Whether excavating in southern Arabia or at Tell Jemmeh in Israel, at prehistoric sites or Byzantine, Gus Van Beek has pursued the most exacting methods of obtaining and analyzing archaeological data. He has even helped develop a software program that draws pottery.
Written by his colleagues and friends, the essays in this tribute to Van Beek, curator for old world archaeology at the Smithsonian Institution, reflect the broad range of his work. Chapters cover pottery from Gezer, Early Bronze Age finds from Tell Halif and protohistoric culture in the northern Negev. His support for the careful and thorough study of faunal remains (at Tell Jemmeh, Van Beek retrieved not only animal and bird bones but fish scales and owl pellets) is remembered in essays by Brian Hesse, on the use of animals in ancient Yemen; by Paula Wapnish, on Assyrian royal economics; and by Melinda Zeder, on the role of pigs in Near Eastern economics. His fascination with improving field techniques is represented by a report on recent experiments with remote sensing.
Excavations at Dor
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