Ancient Jaffa from the Persian to the Byzantine Period. Kaplan Excavations (1955–1981)

Published 2018. Please view the publication webpage here:

Ancient Jaffa from the Persian to the Byzantine Period. Kaplan Excavations (1955–1981)

Old Jaffa is built upon a cliff, at the foot of which the ancient port stretches out, protected by a rocky reef. In Arabic the city is called Yafa el-'Abqa ("Old Jaffa") or al-Qal'a ("The Fortress"). At Tel Yafo (the archaeological mound at Jaffa), a number of levels of inhabitation were uncovered, the remnants of which were preserved over several extensive areas. Continuity of settlement ranges from the 18th century BC into the present, concomitant with the changing political situations through the ages. Between 1955 and 1989 excavations were carried out at Jaffa by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Museum of Antiquities in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority. These were supervised by Dr. Yaakov Kaplan and succeeded in uncovering parts of Jaffa's history from the Middle Bronze to the Muslim periods, highlighting the important role of the ancient site since the Biblical Time.