Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

As promised, I attended the end-of-season tour of Tel Bareket/Khirbet
Bornat, about which I posted an article last week.

The area of the site is quite large, and the small parts that were excavated
are planned to be included in a large industrial park which is being built
over the entire area. By Israeli law, any construction on a site on which
there are ancient remains (which in Israel means practically everywhere)
must be held up until salvage excavations are conducted.

There are really two sites, which just happen to be on the same hill. The
first is a large (full extent unknown) Early Bronze Age II (about 3000-2500
BCE) fortified city, mostly undisturbed by later construction. The site is
surrounded by a wall about 2.8 m. thick, with large square shaped towers
protruding every 10 meters or so. At least two gates were found, on opposite
sides of the excavation areas. Within the area excavated are wide alleyways,
private dwellings and an "industrial" zone, including an olive press, work
areas and a small storage pit. The dwellings are similar to the "Arad
houses" - small, pillared, with the floor lower than the doorway. The
pottery is typical of the period and of the region, with a few shards of
Galilean EBII pottery - nothing from anywhere else. A little copper jewelry
was found. No public buildings were uncovered in the areas excavated. The
site seems to have been abandoned around 2500 BCE.

The second site is a Second-Temple period rural site, and quite a prosperous
one at that. It was built on the eastern terrace of the EBII site,
overlooking the nearby road (by which a Roman milestone was found). The
village was founded during the Persian period (5-4th centuries BCE) and was
settled through the Hellenistic and Hasmonean periods. During the latter it
reached its greatest prosperity, including large houses, agricultural
installations (wine and oil presses) and 4 (!) Mikva'ot - Jewish ritual
baths. The village was abandoned during the Jewish revolt against Rome -
coins of the revolt were found, but no signs of violent destruction. The
site was re-settled during the Bar-Kokhba revolt (135 CE) and once more
abandoned.

Two well-preserved sites for the price of one - and worth visiting before
the bulldozers start chewing it up.

Yigal
.