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Phase III: Late Hellenistic/Early Roman
Phase III was preserved only in Squares 65 and 75, on the easternmost edge
of the grid, the remainder having been bulldozed away when the new areas were
opened. Most of our information regarding this phase comes from the east section
and a few small architectural features.
Fig. 8. Whole vessels recovered from the backfill of Phase IV installations.
From left: strainer jug (RP # 11525), feeder bottle (RP # 11547),
Hellenistic unguentaria (RP #11483 and MC # 63002).
The Phase IV bin-installations were put out of use by Phase III pottery-rich
leveling fills, the contents of which dated primarily to the 2nd-early 1st centuries B.C.
(65.U, 75. U24, 75.U22). A number of complete or near-complete vessels were
recovered from these layers, including unguentaria, juglets, amphoriskoi, and lamps.
Of particular interest was the backfill in the Square 65 bin, 65.U4, where a large
cache of ribs from 2-3 sheep or goats were found clumped together in a pile, as
though tossed out with meat still attached. Nearby were a large chunk of eggshell
and two Rhodian stamped handles (See Fig. 9), perhaps suggesting the deposited
remains of a feast.
While the Phase III assemblages in these fills spanned the Late Hellenistic to
Early Roman periods (certain vessels ranged between the 2nd centuries B.C. to 1st
centuries A.D., particularly given some disagreements over the proper dating of
Fig. 9 Rhodian Stamped Handles from Square 65, backfill of Phase IV installation.
MC # 63206 (Photo # 18685, left) MC# 63106 (Photo # 18673, right)
Eastern Terra Sigilatta), the Rhodian stamped handles recovered from the subfloor
fills helped us to considerably narrow that range (See Fig. 9, above). The handle on
the left, MC #63206, bears the familiar Rhodian rose and reads “”
(Damokrates) the name of a licensed manufacturer of Rhodian wines between 200185 B.C. The stamped handle (MC#63106) on the right, beautifully preserved,
reads “I” (Hippokrates), whose shop is typically dated to between
183-150 B.C. V. Grace and others have even suggested a relationship between the
two, with Hippokrates being either the son or successor of Damokrates.1 The two
handles above were the better preserved of a set of four recovered from the
backfilling of bins, the other two were either Rhodian or possibly East Greek, with
rectangular stamps, and largely illegible. One additional Rhodian (or possibly
Knidian) handle was discovered in the nearby street (75.U14) bearing the partial
inscriptions ANI[ and a caduceus, a symbol more typical of the late second century
B.C. (MC # 62249).2
The rich fill layers which put the Phase IV installations out of use were set
down in preparation for beaten earth surfaces – one of which is clearly visible in the
East sections at ca. 18.65-18.80m, running up to the E-W wall 75.U18 in the north,
and extending for another 3.25m south before ending on the line of what seems to
be a robber trench; most likely the continuation of the trench 75.U31/32 which
continues the line of the partially robbed N-S wall 75.U39 (which may equal
75.U41.) This surface was removed by bulldozer. U18 was set down directly onto
the surface of the installation 75.U23, (clearly putting it out of use).
Finally, a stone drain (75. U38 + 75.U16=85.U9) was cut down into the N-S
street (75. U21=35=37=433; 85.21). It may originally have been capped with
1
V.R. Grace, “The Middle Stoa dated by Amphora Stamps”, Hesperia 54/1 (1985): 9-10.
Ibid. See also 2nd century examples from Be’er Sheva’ in W. Coulson, M. Mook et al. “Stamped
Amphora Handles form Tell Beersheba”, BASOR 306 (1997), nos. 15-17, 24.
3 75.U43 was defined initially as a street accumulation below U14, and later equated with U14 on the
basis of consistency and composition. However it essentially reflects a continuous buildup of the
2
stones (the latter robbed out during the Fatimid-Crusader period). The drain
appears to have been used continuously throughout the Roman and early Byzantine
periods, and shows signs of partial reuse after the capstones were removed in the
Islamic period.
Phase IV: Hellenistic/ Late Hellenistic
Phase IV was exposed in two separate buildings in Square 74 and 75 but only
excavated in Square 75. Only the western edge of the Building 2 (the eastern
building) peeks out of the eastern baulk of Squares 65 and 75, defined by the northsouth wall 75.U39 of which only little remains. An east-west wall, robbed out by
75.U9/40, likely divided rooms between Squares 65 and 75. Two mudbrick
bins/installations 65.U2 and 75.U23 were constructed against the face of this
exterior wall. Each was lined with mudplaster, had a kurkar subfloor and layer of
plaster across the floor (75.U40, 75. U58), which was coated by a thin accumulation
of ash 75.U54 and U57. Both the mudplaster and the kurkar subflooring were fired
to a bright orange. A series of sediment samples were taken from the mudplaster
linings, the ash and the white plaster flooring from the bin in Square 75 (U23=44).4
Preliminary results indicate that burning occurred within the temperature range
300-600 degrees Celsius. These temperatures preclude certain specialized
industrial activities (i.e. pottery production, metallurgy or lime plaster production),
they do not preclude baking or other smaller-scale industry, though we have no
material evidence to point us in any specific direction.
A N-S street (75. U21=35=37=43; 85.21) separated Buildings 1 and 2.
In Building 1 (Square 74), two rooms from this Phase were exposed though not
excavated during this season. A small area of the NFE room was exposed, defined by
the stone wall 74.U222 to the south, the mixed mudbrick and ashlar 74.U245 to the
west, and a wall robbed by 74.U223 to the east was exposed immediately
underneath the bulldozer. A bricky fill with shell inclusions 74.U259 was set in
down in preparation for a beaten earth floor coated by a thin layer of mudplaster
74.U246. The mudplaster flooring had clearly been exposed to fire and was burnt
to reddish-orange. The mudbricks interspersed between the ashlars of wall
74.U245 likewise showed signs of exposure to fire.
In the adjacent room immediately to the south (CFE), defined by 74.U222 to
the north, 74. U260=240=241 to the east (the southern and western boundaries
presently unclear), an identical bricky and shell-peppered subfloor fill 74.U249 was
set down beneath a layer of burnt mudplaster 74.U253 = 272. The eastern
subsidiary section of Square 74W shows what may be a mudbrick installation,
unrecognized during excavations in 1999, quite similar in character to the mudbrick
bin/installations excavated in Building 2 across the way. A thin layer of burnt
mudbrick lining is visible, supported by a mudbrick on its southern edge and
seemingly running up the interior of the northern wall 74.U144 (or possibly F.111).
street, and although the specific division between Phase II and Phase IV of that street buildup could
not be cleanly separated it is more accurate to treat U43 as the Phase IV street buildup and U14 as
the Phase III accumulation.
4 Sediment Sample # 467: from plaster surface 75.U40; Sediment Sample # 466 from the 75.U54,
the ash accumulation above it; Sediment samples 382-400 and 468: from mudplaster lining
74.U23.
Faint patches of white plaster material were visible along its base. Most of the
installation was dramatically cut away with the construction of the later Byzantine
“kiln”, but its floor – from the section – rests at 18.2m, which is identical to the
elevation of the bin floors 75. U45 and 75.U23 in Building 2.
In Square 73, what may have been a similar mudbrick-lined bin/installation
was excavated in 1998-1999. It was limited on the south by the wall 73.F22,
bounded on the north by an E-W mudbrick wall stub 73.F23, and on the east by a
thick mudplaster lining (73.F44), which likely ran along a N-S wall, later robbed out
by a huge pit 73.F42. The backfill within the installation, 73.L34, was filled with
2nd-1st century B.C. ceramic material; much as the backfills of the Phase IV bins in
Squares 74-75, 75.U22 and 24, likewise dated predominantly to the 2nd century B.C.
This bin was originally phased as “3A”, a designation equivalent to our Phase IV.
The widespread use of such bins in both Buildings 1 and 2 may indicate that
the area was a dedicated industrial zone. However, the evidence for burning within
these installations notwithstanding, it is difficult to interpret how industrial use of
these and other bins – regardless of how widespread – might have caused the
burning visible all across mudplaster floorings 74.U246 and 74.U253. Moreover
the absence of evidence for burning in the area of the bin in Square 73 suggests that
exposure to such temperatures may have been more localized than previously
thought. It may simply be that Phase IV in the eastern portions of Building 1 and the
western side of Building 2 came to an end in a widespread conflagration (a
conclusion not contradicted by the temperature readings gleaned from the
Sediment Samples). Alternately, it is possible that the Phase IV levels were exposed
to high temperatures due to their proximity to heating elements (furnaces, or
hypocaust chambers) constructed for the Phase IIA Late Byzantine bathhouse which
may have rested immediately above them.
Excursus: Wall 74.U245 and its Ancestors
Fig. 10 Massive stone wall in East section of NE room (Photo 18599)
The wall shown in Fig. 10, above, became visible in the 2010 after heavy
erosion during the winter of 2009 sloughed off a large portion of the east section of
Square 74W. The highest visible rebuild, of mudbrick and stone at the top, is the
Phase IV Late Hellenistic wall 73.U245 discussed in context above; the lower
courses have yet to be named and excavated but will be as 73E is excavated.
Beneath 73.U245 is a medium sized fieldstone wall that presumably functioned
with the early Phase IV and Phase V surfaces, blocking up the doorway active during
Phase VI. Phase VI mudbrick floors in the NE room (74.F205=206) and the clay
surface 74.LF193 are associated in section with the wall immediately below, built of
ashlars with cobble foundations. These surfaces can also be seen passing through
the constructed doorway. The Phase VII floor 74.U279 can be seen touching the
lowest courses of visible cobblestone foundations, above the level of the meterstick.
The revelation of this wall has therefore significantly deepened our understanding
of the architecture, axes and flow of Building 1 during the Hellenistic and Persian
periods.
Phase V: Late Persian/Early Hellenistic
While only a few scattered remains from Phase V were excavated in Square
73, the season clarified a number of architectural issues relating to Phases V-VII.
The new data has resulted in a shift of some materials from Phase VI to Phase V.
During Phase V, the walls defining the SW room in Phase V were 73.F137 in
the west, 73.F157 in the north, 73.153=165 in the east; the southern closing wall
being outside the line of the Square. These walls functioned with two Phase V
surfaces: 73.LF152 (excavated in 2008-9) and 73.LF235 (excavated in 2010),
separated by the accumulation 73.U180. Both functioned with the wall 73.F157,
which though originally Phased as VI, has now been shown to cut through the Phase
VII-VI walls 73.164 and 73.F137 and has been moved to Phase V.
Phase VI: Persian
The layout and limits of the Phase VI Mudbrick-floored building were
discussed in depth in the 2009 Report. Our original interpretation of the boundaries
of each of the rooms and their construction has remained essentially consistent
excepting the following changes: In the west side of the building, in the CC room,
grey mudbrick walls 73.F167-168 were initially described as curbing, or earlier
Phase VII walls cut into by the Phase VI walls 73.F216 and 73.F225. Our work this
year shows that 73.U167-8 were constructed with the Phase VI floor in this room as
interior buttressing, to support the reuse of the original north-south Phase VII walls
73.F216 and 73.225 (See Fig. 11, top). Similar buttressing (73.U196) was
constructed against the interior southern wall of the room later in Phase VI;
however both this southern wall and the buttressing were removed during the
construction of the later wall 73.U157 which served as the Phase V closing wall for
the CC room.
In general, Phase VII walls were reused in VI, some as-is, some with the
addition of new mudbrick superstructure (74.F169, 74. 201=211); possibly also
73.F216. The Phase V E-W wall 73.U157 was constructed over an earlier cobble
and fieldstone wall, 73.U260 which appears to span both Phases VI and VII. It
functioned with its N-S counterpart 73.U251=261, which was likewise in use in
both phases. (Thus during Phases VI and VII, the SW room was defined by walls
73.U260, 73.U261=251, and 73.U137; the southern wall being beyond the
southern limit of Square 73.) The only exception to the pattern of reuse was the
stone wall 73.F200=74.F215, which appears to have been constructed anew at the
beginning of this phase in preparation for the mudbrick-floored building. Perhaps it
Fig. 11 Phase VI Mudbrick Floors in the CC, CW and SW rooms of Building 1.
Top: CC room, 73.U245; Bottom left: CW room, 73.U263; Bottom right: SW, 73. U247.
Top and bottom left: views to N. Bottom right: view to south.
was necessary to replace this wall given damage sustained during the Phase VII fires
in this southern portion of the building (see below, 74.U254). This wall functioned
with mudbrick floors 74.U190 (SW), and 73.169=74.198 (CE), excavated in 2009.
During the 2010 season Phase VI mudbrick floors were excavated in the CW,
CC and SW rooms of Building 1: 73.U264, 73.U245 and 73.U247, respectively (See
Fig. 11, above). These surfaces appeared at elevations considerably lower than the
level of the mudbrick flooring in the eastern half of the building. The flooring of the
SW and CW rooms was founded at 16.9, roughly 40cm below the eastern rooms, and
in the CC room, the mudbrick floors appeared at 16.45, a full 85cm below. The
variation in elevation may in part be explained by terracing, following the general
northeast to southwest slope noted in later periods. However, the surprising depth
of the CC room does not fit within the expected progression down the slope.
In the SW and CW rooms, unlike elsewhere in Building 1, Phase VI occupation
followed quite closely upon the heels of Phase VII, in certain cases –such as in the
SW room – not even bothering to clear up visible destruction debris before setting
down the floors. (In the SW, a layer of sand was piled up over the charcoal and burnt
wood fragments, before setting down the first mudbricks). Unlike the flooring of the
SW and CEE rooms, these mudbrick floors were not constructed with alternating
colors of mudbrick, although in the CC room some effort appears to have been made
to alternate rows of headers and stretchers, though this was not continuous
throughout.
A number of metal objects were recovered from this side of Building 1. In the
CW room, in the occupational debris above the mudbrick floor 73.U263 was a iron
blade. In the SW, a well-preserved iron chisel head (MC # 62499), lay directly
Fig. 12 Iron Chisel head (MC # 62499)
(Photo 18339)
Fig. 13 Iron Plowshare (MC # 62719)
(Photo 18509)
upon the mudbrick floor in the center of the room. In the CC Room, an iron
plowshare (MC # 62719), lay with in the occupational debris 73.U219 above the
mudbrick floor 73.LF245. (See Figs. 12 & 13). The surface of the floor was covered
with several layers of organic material which, when sampled, belonged to species of
grain: wheat, oat or barley.5 Such a pairing raises the image of a tenant who resides
in the city but travels to the hinterland to work as an agricultural day-laborer.
5
Sediment Samples 431-2.
Persian Period: The Duplex Question
Insulae in Phoenician or coastal cities during the Persian period share certain
aspects of architectural syntax. The examples from Dor suggest that they tend to be
constructed as a single large building at times spanning the entire block. Some
were duplexes, constructed with a shared central wall, and with doorways generally
aligned along a single axis. Building 1 clearly reflects certain elements of this
architectural style, although there is some question regarding how to divide the two
“halves” of the Persian period duplex. There are two central questions: First, is
there an obvious candidate for the shared central wall? And second, are there
significant material differences in the construction techniques, floor materials and
functional use of space that differ between the two halves of the Building?
Fig. 14 Phase VI Mudbrick Building showing points of access.
(Red arrows mark doorways which functioned in Phase VII and Phase VI.)
Identification of a single central shared dividing wall is somewhat
complicated by the construction techniques required for terracing. What on flat
ground might be a simply constructed non-loadbearing divider might have to be
more substantially constructed on a slope. And indeed there are number of points
throughout the grid where walls were constructed with substantially deeper stone
foundations than expected (see for example, 73.F244, the fieldstone foundations of
wall 74.F169 or 73.U240). In all, however, the depth and solidity of both the major
E-W wall 73.134=74.201=211 and the N-S wall 73.F225 suggest that these walls
were the oldest in the area. Their degree of preservation, too, may itself speak to
the difficulty inherent in repairing a major load-bearing wall which could not be
casually knocked down and rebuilt. The later stone walls, such as 73.244, appear
to have been built against and with a knowledge of them. Thus either might
arguably have functioned as the shared Central Wall of this duplex.
Some material differences, both constructional and occupational, do exist
between different areas of the building, most pointing to a distinction between the
western and eastern halves. The Phase VI mudbrick floors are substantially lower
in the western rooms of Building 1. The subfloor fills between the Phase VII and the
Phase VI floors in the west were minimal; by contrast, the subfloor fills in the
eastern half of the building were considerably deeper, in some cases exceeding
75cm. Moreover, if we are correct in our reconstruction of the doorway in the south
wall of Room CC (this based on the presence of a door socket found in the fill above
the floor, situated against the southern face of the closing wall), then the alignment
of 3 of 4 doorways known in the building is north-south. (Fig. 14) If the model of
Phoenician insulae at sites such as Tell Dor holds, then it is to be expected that
doorways of the building would tend to parallel, channeling traffic along a single
major axis.6 Thus for the present we reconstruct Building 1 in Phase VI
(presumably also in V and following, though with some changes in plan) as a duplex
with a major north-south dividing wall along the line of 73.244 + 73.225 = 73.260.
Phase VII: Early Persian (ca. 500-400 B.C.)
This is the earliest phase represented in which the original plan of Building 1
appears to have been defined. The spaces were delimited as follows: the NE and NC
rooms were closed on the south by the mudbrick/fieldstone foundation wall
74.F211=74.F201=73.U134, and shared the mudbrick/fieldstone foundation wall
74.F169. The earlier Phase VII surfaces in these rooms may have run up to the
foundation stones of these walls, rather than the mudbrick superstructure. The NC
room was limited on the west by the well-founded stone wall 73.F244, and the NE
room limited on the east by the equally substantial ashlar and cobble wall visible in
the Square 74 East baulk. (See Fig. 10). The CE room was subdivided into its
eastern and wstern halves by a N-S wall 74.U282, shallowly founded and
thoroughly robbed out prior to the construction of the Phase VI mudbrick floors in
6In PhaseV, an east-west doorway was cut through the mudbrick superstructure of the wall
74.F169,
joining the NC and NE rooms, at a time when the doorway connecting NE with NFE was still in use.
This doorway does not appear to have functioned in Phase VI, however.
the room. Its southern wall was obliterated by the construction of the Phase VI wall
73.200=215.
Phase VII Early
Phase 7 surfaces were excavated in eight of the thirteen known rooms in
Building 1. Within these, at least two subphases were recognized, though not fully
excavated, in the CE and CW rooms. The full nature of the earliest Phase VII
occupation in the Building will be explored next season. We present here a
preliminary view, and note a few interesting features of the earlier Phase VII, the
distinguishing characteristics of which appear to be the use of shell-covered mud
plastering over the interior of wall foundations, shell surfaces, and mudbrick floors.
The greatest depth of Phase VII occupation thus encountered was in the CEE
Room. The probe 74.U200, initially cut in 2008, showed a series of occupational
surfaces in section: a later surface 74.LF284 and an earlier (not yet completely
excavated) series of striations 74.LF287. This earliest Phase VII surface in the CEE
Room, 74.LF287, was set down over a bricky fill 74.U280. The floor was somewhat
unusual in that the base beaten earth surface had scattered thin patches of
mudplaster, fired to bright orange/red. The material appears to have been fired in
situ, perhaps a coating of mudplaster along the floor exposed to higher
temperatures (as in Phase IV, above, though much patchier), and was not preserved
throughout. The surface ran up to a layer of shell-covered mudplaster which
covered the exposed foundation stones of the east-west wall
74.F211=74.F201=73.U134, which bounded the room to the north. Similar
mudbrick-plaster with shell facing may have been applied in the CW room, over the
cobblestones of the western face of 73.U240, poorly preserved only in the south.
The earliest Phase VII surface in the CW room was a mudbrick-paved floor
73.LF268. With its discovery, it is clear that such constructed floors were used in
both Phases VII and VI (the Phase VI floor being 73. U265, discussed above). It is
possible other such floors may be encountered as the earliest Phase VII occupation
is revealed throughout the Grid. It lay almost immediately underneath the later
Phase VII shell surface 73.U267 with only minimal occupational debris between.
The general paucity of occupational debris is a trait consistently observed
throughout the mudbrick-floored rooms of Phase VI.
Phase VII Late
In the NC and NE rooms, the later Phase 7 surfaces were ash and phytolith
surfaces 73.LF241 and 74.LF279 set down over bricky fills 73.U257=74.U288 and
74.U289, respectively. The only indications of function were a basalt mortar and
pestle, MC # 63126-7, discovered quite close together in the NE Room. Iron slag
recovered throughout (MC #s 63139, 63162, 63168) hint at the proximity of
metalworking though no installations were discovered. Nails, beads and bone
needles were also noted.
The later Phase VII surfaces in the south of the building were for the most
part characterized by large quantities of bivalve shells, largely crushed, and
substantial amounts of ash in the occupational debris. Shell surfaces were
uncovered in Rooms CW (73.LF267), SW (73.LF259), and Room SC=SE
(73.LF255=74.LF277). [It seems as though the southern rooms may have been
burned near the end of the phase. Substantial deposits of thick black ash collected
over these shell floors, with large chunks and fragments of charred wood clearly
visible in the debris in the SW room (73.U254; see Fig. 15).7 Thick striations of
black ash, though fewer chunks, were spread over the floor in the SC=SE Room
74.F277, and were more highly concentrated towards the southern and eastern
edges of the room.
Fig. 15 73.U254, closeup of ashy debris on Phase VII surface 73.LF259. Note charred
remains of partial plank of wood in the center. (Photo # 18535).
Thick ash accumulations such as these over a widespread area are atypical for
simple occupational buildup and may indicate instead some sort of destruction
horizon. However, large quantities of ash such as found in these two rooms were not
recovered in the northern or eastern rooms of the Building 1. Phase 7 floors have
yet to be reached in the NW, CC, and CEW rooms, and as such we must defer
judgment until that time.
Phase VII Trade
If the section in the probe 74.200 is an accurate reflection of the state of
occupation, then the neighborhood of Grid 51 was largely abandoned and
uninhabited following the 604 B.C. destruction of the city. Phase VII therefore
seems to represent the earliest phase of reoccupation, most probably a part of the
urban renewal program instituted by the Phoenicians once the city came under
Sidonian control. We do not yet have a complete picture of the early stages of this
Phase, but it can be observed that the first construction efforts were both
substantial and well-planned. Ashkelon was rebuilt according to an orthogonal city
plan; insulae are constructed in the Phoenician duplex-style and oriented on the
new grid plan. Warehouses were constructed in Grid 50 at the portside across the
way, and the gears of trade creaked into action again.
7
Extensive sediment and charcoal samples were taken for radio carbon dating, materials and
temperature analysis, with the results to be returned later in the year. Sediment Samples 441-3,
446, 448-52. Charcoal samples taken as MC # 62887-8, 62900.
In Grid 51, evidence for Phase VII trade is limited but clear, in the form of
small quantities of Attic black glaze and (rarely) Red Figure imported ceramics, and
basket-handled amphorae. The Attic wares need date no earlier than 500 B.C., and
the quality of glaze confirms a fifth, rather than fourth century date. Basket-handled
amphorae in the subfloor fills include both the low-handled, wide-bodied biconical
form and the high-handled elongated forms. The assemblages of Tel Dor and Tell
Keisan place the former category in the 7th-5th century B.C. range, and the latter in
the 5th-4th centuries B.C.8 The concurrent appearance of both forms in the same fills
support and earlier 5th century date for these levels. (red fabric and cream-green
fabric).
Of note too are a number of Egyptian or Egyptianizing objects recovered
from the Phase VII floors in the east side of Building 1: a partial frit amulet of the
hippopotamus goddess Taweret, (MC # ), a frit amulet of the goddess Bastet (MC #
63252), a blank scarab bead (MC # 63239), and a glass eye bead (MC #
63301).(See Fig. 16) 9
Fig. 16 Blank Scarab bead (MC 63239, left) and frit Bastet amulet (MC # 63252, right)
These items all belong to the category of mass-produced Egyptianizing trinkets
likely originating in a Greek colony near Alexandria, and can date either to the 6th or
5th centuries B.C.10 They suggest a resurgence of trade beginning locally, and
gradually growing throughout Phase VII as reflected in the increasing quantities of
Attic and broader Mediterranean imports. In addition, most if not all of these
objects are likely to have belonged to women. Taweret was known particularly as a
goddess of childbirth; Bastet of (among other traits) feminine fertility. These
charms and bits of jewelry provide a brief glimpse into the lives of the women who
occupied these apartments.
Future Goals for Grid 51
8
E. Stern et al., Excavations at Dor, Final Report. Vol IB. Areas A and C: The Finds (Jerusalem 1995), :
61-2; Z. Herzog, Excavations at Tel Michal, Israel. (Minneapolis, 1989), 143.
9 Nearly all of hese items were all recovered from Phase VII floors 74.LF287/74.283 in the CEE
Room; the Taweret amulet was recovered from occupational debris pushed up against the wall
73.200=74.215 in the SC room .
10 B. Brandl, personal communication 7/2010.
2010 saw tremendous progress towards the broader understanding of Persian and
Byzantine levels within Grid 51. According to current plans, the Grid will be
expanded an additional 5m to the south during the 2011. The new cut will expose
the half-Squares 83E, 85W and a full Square 84. Depending upon the state of
preservation in these new areas – being lower down the slope they are more likely
to have suffered erosion of the late period materials – the focus in these areas will
be on exposing and excavating the Late Byzantine shell subfloor building, and
therein refining our understanding of its function and chronology. In Squares 73E
and 74W Phase VII will be fully exposed and excavated throughout Building 1.
Thanks are due to directors Larry Stager and Daniel Master for the continuing
opportunity to participate in the new phase of the Ashkelon Expedition.