Front Matter

Excavations on the Outskirts of Tel Yafo

Urban Archaeology

Pottery of the Ottoman Period

Eight excavation areas (A–G, J) were exposed, revealing seven strata dating from Middle Bronze Age II to the days of the British Mandate. The earliest find is an MB IIA infant jar burial—a significant find outside the boundaries of Tel Yafo. Burial graves from the Hellenistic, Roman and Crusader periods confirm that this street marked Yafo’s eastern limits in those times. The Hellenistic presence, probably under Ptolemaic rule, included scattered dwellings and farms with associated pottery dating from the late fourth to the second century BCE. The finds from the Byzantine period include a structure and pottery, reflecting a significant economic, agricultural and demographic development in Yafo during the sixth century CE. In the late Ottoman period, the area was exploited for agriculture, as is evidenced by the exposure of water channels and a well house. This area may have played a role in one of Yafo’s more obscure warfare episodes, possibly during the Egyptian occupation of 1840–1932, as indicated by the finding of eight cannon balls. 

Excavations in the French Hospital compound uncovered built tombs and burial caves, architectural remains, built installations and rock cuttings from the Persian, Late Roman, Byzantine, Abbasid and Crusader periods. The Persian-period burial caves were hewn in the kurkar bedrock, with vertical shaft entrances. Intact pottery vessels comprised mainly juglets and oil lamps dating from the mid-fifth to the mid-fourth century BCE. Burial in the Persian period was apparently familial, and the burial practices resemble those observed in the Phoenician burials located along the Israeli coast. Remains dating from the Late Roman period consist of a rock-cut tomb, an installation and a rock cutting. From the Byzantine period, a burial cave hewn in the kurkar rock and a section of a mosaic paving containing a Greek inscription were unearthed, as well as a few installations and rock cuttings. The large quantity of oil lamps found in the burial cave, a cross engraved on the stone that blocked the cave entrance, and possibly also the mosaic pavement, attest to the presence of a Christian population at the site during this period. A stone building, installations and a cesspit were discovered from the Abbasid period, and a pit grave and a burial cave were attributed to the Crusader period.

The excavation in the Magen Avraham Compound exposed the remains of Yafo’s agricultural hinterland during the Hellenistic, Byzantine and Crusader periods. Seven strata were exposed, including a single Hellenistic-period wall, a Byzantine-period industrial (wine?) press of unusual size, Ottoman-period graves, a large late Ottoman-period well house and an irrigation channel. Most of the pottery found in fill accumulations throughout the compound dated to the Byzantine period, including mainly storage jars. Small ceramic assemblages from the Hellenistic, Roman, Early Islamic and Crusader periods, mostly unrelated to structures, were also found. The structures uncovered here furnish important insights regarding the historical development of Yafo and its agricultural hinterland.

Two areas (A, B) were excavated on Ben Gamli’el Street, yielding building remains and a waste pit from the Hellenistic period (fourth–second centuries BCE), a large quantity of Byzantine-period pottery (fourth–seventh centuries CE) and two late Ottoman-period walls (late nineteenth–early twentieth centuries CE). During the Hellenistic period, which appears to have spanned both the Ptolemaic and Seleucid periods, the city seems to have been settled by a pagan population. During the Byzantine period, the area was exploited for intensive agricultural activities and industries and served as the hinterland of the city. Urban construction in this area was resumed on a large scale in the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods.

The French School excavation encompassed three areas (A, B, C): Area A yielded a substantial volume of Crusader-period pottery, perhaps alluding to the existence of a Crusader-period moat, and late Ottoman-period building remains and a water reservoir; in Area B, a Crusader-period pedestal, as well as a late Ottoman-period well, channels and wall foundations, were exposed; and in Area C were found the remains of Crusader-period pedestals, late Ottoman-period wall remains and two pit graves of uncertain date. The remains from the late Ottoman period point to Yafo’s orderly spatial organization during the nineteenth century.