Image Details

In this drawing, plans of the excavated remains of the two fortresses at Tell el-Kheleifeh have been placed one over the other to show the earlier fortress below and the later one above. The earlier level in blue and red includes the four-room house and the casemate wall; the later level in green and red clearly shows that the four-room house continued in use but was now surrounded by a solid fortress wall. In this later fortress most of the south and east casemate walls were enclosed within the solid offset/inset wall; the northern (unexcavated) casemate wall was buried beneath Nelson Glueck’s dump and the western casemate was buried beneath a low outside wall. Remains of this low wall were also found outside the solid offset/inset wall at the southeast corner.

Note that the dense network of buildings within the solid wall fortress is not shown in the simplified plan but is clearly seen in the aerial views. While this drawing pictures the two phases of the fortress, one above the other, the two aerial photographs show the overall excavation at two different times.