Front Matter

This report focuses on the Early Bronze Age IB burial caves excavated on the northern hill in the Palmaḥim Quarry site. Pottery assemblages were retrieved from six burial caves; the petrographic study of the vessels indicates trade between the central hill country and the coastal plain. The Palmaḥim Quarry site represents a well-known phenomenon in the coastal plain, where Chalcolithic-period caves were reused for burial, employing organized mortuary practices and exhibiting an increasing investment in mortuary paraphernalia.

Excavation within the Early Bronze Age I Site at Ashqelon exposed two EB I occupation strata (III–II). The Stratum III remains consist of disjointed fragments of mud-brick architecture and several pits. The main architectural features in Stratum II include a large architectural complex, probably part of an enclosure, and several pits. The ceramic assemblage of both Strata III and II is associated with the early stages of EB I (EB IA). The intra-site infant burial discovered in the excavation conforms well with other infant burials previously documented at EB I Ashqelon. The ceramic, flint, groundstone, malacological and faunal remains indicate a continuation of the cultural traits from the Chalcolithic period, which is characteristic of EB IA in southwestern Canaan.

Four rock-cut burial caves were exposed on a hillside to the south of Migdal Ha-‘Emeq, One (Cave 2) yielded archaeological finds. The cave was badly damaged in antiquity, and the finds within it were found scattered. Most of the finds date to EB IB, including pottery vessels, such as red-slipped and gray-burnished bowls, chalices, amphoriskoi and juglets, as well as beads, a figurine and a few flint items. Skeletal remains belong to at least 19 individuals—children and adults. The burial cave, in use from EB IB to EB II, was probably part of a much larger cemetery, which served the inhabitants of nearby Tel Shadud.

This article presents three tomb assemblages dated to Iron Age IIA–B. The analysis of the pottery indicates that the three tombs were in use in Iron II: Tomb C2, the earliest tomb, served in Iron IIA, perhaps continuing in use in the transitional Iron IIA–B phase; Tomb A3 was used during the later stage of Iron IIA, possibly continuing slightly into Iron IIB; and Tomb B, the latest of the three tombs, in use in Iron IIB, the eighth century BCE. The Tel ‘Eton tombs provide significant data for the continuous use of this cemetery from the Late Bronze Age to Iron IIB.

The excavation in the village of ‘Illuṭ exposed an installation comprising two plastered pools, serving during three phases (A–C). In Phase B the installation was used for fish farming (piscina), as indicated by the incorporation of antilia jars and a clay pipe in one of the pool’s walls. The installation was dated to the Middle Roman period based on the pottery finds, continuing in use until the end of the Byzantine period. This fish farm attests to consumption and economic facets of the inhabitants of the site, as well as to their high technological and agricultural skills.

An excavation conducted in a two-story Ottoman-period building within the Old City of ‘Akko uncovered a flagstone floor, which was probably the original floor of the late Ottoman building, dating to the later half of the eighteenth, or the early nineteenth, century CE (Stratum I). Below the floor was evidence of an early Ottoman, seventeenth-century CE occupation (Stratum II), and beneath it, a Crusader thirteenth-century CE building, which was destroyed by a fierce fire (Stratum III). It is assumed that the Crusader building was destroyed in the summer of 1291, following its conquest by the Mamluks. The phenomenon of Ottoman rebuilding directly upon the remains of Crusader-period buildings, and reusing the Crusader walls as foundations, was also detected in other excavations in the city. The finds from the Crusader period included pottery vessels, local and imported wares, glass vessels and a stone mortar, as well as sheep and goat, cattle, domestic fowl and fish bones. The finds from the Ottoman period included local and imported wares, as well tobacco pipes. The inhabitants of the Ottoman city were mainly merchants and seamen, who were involved in the export of cotton.