Second Preliminary Report of the Excavations at Tell Abil el-Qameh (Abel Beth Maacah) (original) (raw)
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Tell Abil el-Qameh is the northernmost site in Israel, some 6.5 km northwest of Tel Dan. It is about 10 ha in area with a prominent upper tell in the north and a flat lower tell in the south. From its vantage point overlooking the northern Hula Valley, the tell commands roads that lead north to the Beq‘a Valley and the Lebanese coast, and northeast towards inland Syria and Mesopotamia. The site is mentioned as Abel Beth Maacah in the Hebrew Bible. Our research focus is on remains from the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, as well as from the Iron Age I-II. The site's location on the border between Phoenicia, Ancient Israel, and Aram/Syria affords us with an opportunity to study cross-cultural interaction during the Bronze and Iron Ages and shifting political alliances in the region during Iron Age I-II. Also featured in this article is the small faience head of a bearded male (probably an elite) wearing a headband. It was found in 2017 in the room of a 9th century BCE building and is currently on display in the Israel Museum.
Locating 'Ai- Excavations at Kh. el-Maqatir 1995-2000 and 2009-2014.pdf
Since the publication of William F. Albright’s 1924 watershed article “Ai and Beth-Aven”, the location of ‘Ai has been fixed at et-Tell and uncritically accepted by most scholars without question, so much so that if one wishes to read about the archaeology of et-Tell, one must look under the subject heading “Ai” in reference books. This, in spite of the fact that et-Tell has little correspondence with the description of ‘Ai given in Joshua 7–8 in the Hebrew Bible. On December 13, 1981, the Archaeological Survey of the Hill Country of Benjamin surveyed the small site of Kh. el-Maqatir 1 km west of et-Tell and reported evidence for Middle Bronze Age occupation. When visiting the site in the early 1990s, the author noted the striking correspondence between the topography of the site and the details given in Joshua 7–8. Excavations were commenced in 1995 to determine if there is archaeological evidence to support the hypothesis that Kh. el-Maqatir is the ‘Ai of Joshua 7–8. After 12 seasons of excavation, substantial evidence has been found to confirm this hypothesis.
Salvage Excavations at Tel Qashish (Tell Qasis) and Tell el-Wa’er (2010-2013)
Jezreel Valley Regional Project Studies vol. 1, 2023
This volume brings together the final reports of salvage excavations carried out in the vicinity of Tel Qashish in the northern Jezreel Valley, Israel, from 2010 to 2013. These include the Middle and Epipaleolithic flint workshops at Tel Qashish West and Tel Qashish South, the early Early Bronze Age I settlement at Tell el-Wa‘er, the late Early Bronze Age I features and the Late Bronze Age II cultic repository at Tel Qashish, as well as some early Roman remains. Twenty-nine chapters by twenty-five authors present the context, stratigraphy, finds, and analyses of these four major aspects of the excavations. Jezreel Valley Regional Project Studies vol. 1
Excavations at Khirbet el Mastarah, the Jordan Valley, 2017
This article presents the results of the 2017 excavations at Khirbet el Mastarah in the middle Jordan Valley near 'Aujah. The site was identified by Zertal in the fifth volume of his series, The Manasseh Hill Country Survey, and its main occupation was dated to Iron Age I. Ben-Yosef grouped the site as one of the main Iron Age I 'complex oval compounds', possibly representing the presence of a new pastoral population in the region. The results of the excavation so far have, however, not yielded a clear date for the structures built at the site. In general, the site was very poor in finds, which date from the Middle Bronze through to the Ottoman period. The excavation results and their implications as well as suggestions for further research are discussed.
Excavations at Tel Beth-Shean 1989 -1996, Volume IV: The Fourth and Third Millennia BCE
Excavations at Tel Beth-Shean 1989 -1996, Volume IV: The Fourth and Third Millennia BCE Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2012
The fourth volume of Tell Beth Shean excavation reports is dedicated to the Early Bronze Age and the Intermediate Bronze ages. A substantial Early Bronze IB building in Area M was violently destroyed and rebuilt shortly afterwards. Its plan and rich finds have implications for our understanding of social and economic aspects of this formative period. After a gap in Early Bronze II, the Early Bronze III is represented by a series of occupation phases, most of them accompanied by a large amount of Khirbet Kerak Ware, confirming that Beth-Shean was the southernmost settlement site of the ‘Khirbet Kerak people’. After a possible occupation gap, an ephemeral Intermediate Bronze Age settlement existed for a short time on top of the abandoned Early Bronze Age city. The volume includes stratigraphic and architectural analysis; pottery analysis, discussion of various artifacts, metallurgical studies, and archaeo-botanical studies. 19 contributors, 437 pages.