Table Of ContentEl-Ahwat, A Fortified Site from
the Early Iron Age Near Nahal ‘Iron, Israel
Culture and History of the
Ancient Near East
Founding Editor
M.H.E. Weippert
Editor-in-Chief
Thomas Schneider
Editors
Eckart Frahm
W. Randall Garr
Baruch Halpern
Theo P.J. van den Hout
Irene J. Winter
VOLUME 24
The titles published in this series are listed at www.brill.nl/chan
El-Ahwat, A Fortified Site
from the Early Iron Age
Near Nahal ‘Iron, Israel
Excavations 1993-2000
Edited by
Adam Zertal
With Contributions by:
Shay Bar, Ron Be’eri, Dror Ben-Yosef, Baruch Brandl,
Oren Cohen, David Eitam, Jack Green, Nirit Lavie-Alon,
Omri Lernau, Henk K. Mienis, Michal Oren-Paskal,
Amit Romano, Haim Winter, Yuval Winter
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2012
Style and Language Editing: Yaakov Eitan
Design and Graphics: Sapir Haad
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zertal, Adam.
El-Ahwat : a fortified site from the early Iron age near Nahal ‘Iron, Israel : excavations
1993–2000, final report / Adam Zertal ; with contributions by Shay Bar . . . [et al.].
p. cm. — (Culture and history of the ancient Near East ; 24)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-90-04-17645-4 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Ahwat Site (Israel) 2. Israel—
Antiquities. 3. Excavations (Archaeology)—Israel. 4. Iron age—Israel—Antiquities. 5. Sea
Peoples—Israel. 6. Nuraghi culture—Israel. I. Title.
DS110.A38Z47 2012
933.4’6—dc23
2011035557
ISSN 1566-2055
ISBN 978-90-04-17645-4
Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
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provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center,
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Fees are subject to change.
THE STAFF
Fig. I.1: The Staff, 1997. From left: Shraga Hashman, Nivi Mirkam, Chiara Meloni,
Raphael Kimchi, student, Adam Zertal, Amit Romano, Nirit Lavie-Alon, and Dror Ben-
Yosef.
Fig. I.2: The Staff, 2000. From left, standing: Amit Romano, Dror Ben-Yosef, Chiara
Meloni, Avi Sa‘id, Nirit Lavie-Alon; sitting: Ron Be’eri, Adam Zertal.
CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES..............................................................................x
LIST OFTABLES............................................................................xviii
PREFACE — Michael Heltzer...............................................................1
INTRODUCTION — Adam Zertal....................................................3
HISTORY OFTHE EXCAVATIONS, THE STAFF, ANDTHE
METHODOLOGY — Adam Zertal..................................................11
PART ONE: STRATIGRAPHY, ARCHITECTURE,
AND CHRONOLOGY
Chapter One
THE SITE — GENERAL DATA — Adam Zertal.............................21
Chapter Two
PLAN AND FORTIFICATIONS — Adam Zertal.............................26
Chapter Three
STRATIGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY — Adam Zertal.............41
Chapter Four
AREA A — THE CITY GATE (A1), THE “APPROACH” (A2), AND
THE UPPER TERRACE (A3) — Adam Zertal and Ron Be’eri..........55
Chapter Five
AREA B — A SOUNDING INTHE WESTERN CITY WALL —
Nirit Lavie-Alon...................................................................................82
Chapter Six
AREA C1 — THE RESIDENTIAL QUARTER —
Nirit Lavie-Alon...................................................................................88
Chapter Seven
AREA C2 — Dror Ben-Yosef.............................................................127
Chapter Eight
AREA D — THE CENTRAL QUARTER — Amit Romano..........132
viii CONTENTS
Chapter Nine
AREA E1 — A SOUNDING INTHE SOUTHERN QUARTER —
Nirit Lavie-Alon.................................................................................158
Chapter Ten
AREA F — SOUNDINGS INTHE FORTIFICATIONS —
Dror Ben-Yosef...................................................................................162
Chapter Eleven
AREA T — THE OUTSIDE TOWER — Adam Zertal...................174
PART TWO: THEFINDS
Chapter Twelve
THE IRON AGE POTTERY — Ron Be’eri and Oren Cohen.........181
Chapter Thirteen
THE LATE POTTERY — Michal Oren-Paskal................................225
Chapter Fourteen
NINE SCARABS, A SCARABOID, A CYLINDER SEAL, AND
A BIFACIAL PLAQUE FROM EL-AHWAT — Baruch Brandl......233
Chapter Fifteen
THE BEADS AND PENDANTS — Jack Green.............................264
Chapter Sixteen
AN IVORY CAPRID-HEAD FROM AREA A3 — Adam Zertal....288
Chapter Seventeen
A BRONZE HEAD FROM AREA A3 — Oren Cohen...................295
Chapter Eighteen
THE COINS — Haim Winter.........................................................301
PART THREE: ECONOMY ANDENVIRONMENT
Chapter Nineteen
THE STONE OBJECTS — Dror Ben-Yosef and Shay Bar..............313
CONTENTS ix
Chapter Twenty
THE FLINT ASSEMBLAGE — Haim Winter................................329
Chapter Twenty-One
THE FAUNAL REMAINS
A. Fish Remains — Omri Lernau..................................................362
B. Shells — Henk K. Mienis.........................................................369
Chapter Twenty-Two
A FURNACE FORTHE PROCESSING OF IRON —
Yuval Winter......................................................................................381
Chapter Twenty-Three
OIL-PRODUCING INSTALLATIONS — David Eitam................386
Chapter Twenty-Four
OIL PRESS L4348 AND ITS IMPLICATIONS — Ron Be’eri.......391
Chapter Twenty-Five
THE OTTOMAN PIPES — Shay Bar.............................................402
PARTFOUR: CONCLUSIONS
Chapter Twenty-Six
ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL
PARALLELS BETWEEN EL-AHWAT ANDTHE WESTERN
MEDITERRANEAN — Adam Zertal..............................................411
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL CONCLUSIONS —
Adam Zertal.......................................................................................424
BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................436
LIST OF LOCI ................................................................................469
