Publications

Aphrodisias is an unusally well preserved Greek city of the Roman period in inland Caria (S.W. Turkey) and has a remarkable body of surviving carved marbles with excavated contexts - statues, monuments, reliefs. A large proportion of the statues produced were portraits awarded to me and women of the local elite. Their number and variety are striking.

The present volume is a study of the character and use of portrait statues as public honors in an ancient city, as well as primary publication of all the portrait statuary from the site, from the first century BC to the third century AD. Emphasis is placed on context and local meaning - on the setting and significance of statue monuments in local society under the Roman Empire.

The archaeology of pre-Bronze Age Cyprus is unremittingly focused on evidence from settlement sites, from Mylouthkia and Shillourokambos to Khirokitia and Kissonerga. Since human activities outside settlements are scarcely documented, we have a rather flat, single dimensional view of the lifestyle and achievements of the island's prehistoric inhabitants. The environmental record and the interaction of communities with the landscape are still poorly understood, and the archaeological record lacks direct information on procurement sites for raw materials, on stations like butchery sites and potentially on other sites like those devoted to ideological concerns as on the Levantine mainland. This report begins to redress the balance in our sources of information by providing the first detailed account of a non-domestic site belonging to the Chalcolithic period, c. 3000 BC. It comprises an initial attempt to analyse the mortuary and palaeodemographic data from Souskiou-Vathyrkakas Cemetery I.

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Tell el-Hayyat, the focus of this volume, is situated in the Jordan Rift Valley approximately two kilometres east of the Jordan River on the first terrace above the present floodplain. This work details the authors’ investigations of agrarian economy and ecology as they illuminate the roles of rural communities in the larger context of the first urbanized civilizations. The study explores the ways in which small farming villages like Tell el-Hayyat contributed and responded to the rise and fall of Bronze Age town life in the southern Levant. A rural perspective is particularly appropriate for this region amid its long legacy of sedentary agriculture, dynamic urban-rural relations, and their ecological consequences.

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Area A4 is a trench in the western slope of the mound (Plan 1.1, Squares C-G/24-27), cutting through strata dating from the Iron Age II, the Late Bronze Age and the MB II, and finally reaching fills of the EB III found on bedrock. Except for a massive fortification system assigned to Stratum XXIII, the remains of the Middle Bronze Age in Area A4 are very poor. The remains of the Late Bronze Age, however, are better preserved in Area A4 than in Area A 1.

In the present state of our knowledge the extent of the Early Bronze Age settlement in Yoqne'am, if indeed there was one, cannot be determined. Fills containing Early Bronze Age pottery were found on the site's bedrock. The earliest architectural remains uncovered so far are those dated to the MB II.

The MB II remains in Yoqne'am were found mainly in Area A1 and include a stratigraphic sequence comprising five strata, spanning the period from the MB IIA to the MB IIC. Each of these strata represents a new phase in the site's settlement history. The division of the Middle Bronze Age into periods is based on the stratigraphic analysis and the study of the pottery found on the floors of the different strata. The three earliest strata, XXV, XXIVb and XXIVa, are assigned to the MB ITA, each representing a different phase within this period. Based on the analysis of the ceramic assemblages, Stratum XXIIIb appears to be a transitional phase between the MB IIA and the MB IIB, whereas Stratum XXIIIa is already characterized as part of the MB IIB. The following Stratum XXII still belongs to the culture of the MB IIB. Stratum XXI represents the MB IIC at Yoqne'am, though it also demonstrates some features of the transition to the LB I (for detailed discussion, see Chapter 3).

Thus, the temporal divisions based on the ceramic analysis do not always conform with the stratigraphic ones. The transition between the MB IIA and the MB 1113 occurs within Stratum XXIII: Stratum XXIIIb still shows characteristics of the MB IIA, whereas Stratum XXIIIa already belongs to the MB 1113. Stratigraphically, Stratum XXIIIb and Stratum XXIIIa vary only in minor details. A similar case has been observed at nearby Tel Qashish, where the transition between the MB IIA and the MB IIB occurs within Stratum IX: Stratum IXc is a transitional MB IIA/B phase, whereas Strata IXb-a are already dated to the MB IIB (Ben-Tor et al. 2003: 202, 212, 230).

During most of the Middle Bronze Age, from Stratum XXIV of the MB IIA to the end of the MB 1113, Yoqne'am was a fortified city. Three fortification systems were built in Area A1. Yoqne'am was first fortified during Stratum XXIV by a massive city wall, consisting of a mud-brick superstructure on a stone base (W.415, Plans IL3-4) with a glacis attached to its outer face. A new fortification system of a similar character was built in Stratum XXIII (W.402, Plans 11.5-6), and its western extension was uncovered in Area A4 (W.387, Plan IL9). The third fortification system, built in Stratum XXII, includes a stone-built city wall with a tower abutting its inner face (W.401, Plan IL7). A new era in the history of the site, during which the city was unfortified, started with Stratum XXI and lasted until Stratum XVI of the Iron Age II.

The remains of Stratum XXI are supported by a retaining wall built at the top of the slope (W.336b, Plan II.8). A thick layer of fill sealed the remains associated with the final MB II phase (Stratum XXI), on top of which was built a new settlement (Stratum XXb), characterized by a new urban plan.

Though the architectural remains associated with Stratum XXb are better preserved in Area A4, we are unable to reach any comprehensive conclusions about the character of the transition between Stratum XXI and the new settlement erected immediately on top of it (Stratum XXb), due mainly to the badly preserved remains of the former. This transition is most evident in Area A1 (see the stratigraphic discussion of the Stratum XXb remains in both areas, Chapter 4). The interruption in the stratigraphic sequence between Strata XXI and XXb is not paralleled by the ceramic assemblages, which display continuity between these two strata. Moreover, in neither area did the excavation reveal any sign of a violent destruction that might explain the stratigraphic break and overall change in the nature of the architectural elements attributed to each stratum. Together with the ceramic evidence mentioned above, this phenomenon is of great significance for the character of the transition between the Middle Bronze Age and the Late Bronze Age.

A massive destruction terminated the LB I settlement at Yoqne'am (Stratum XXa), which was followed by an occupational gap. Stratum XIX marks the recovery of urban life at the site during the second half of the Late Bronze Age. This recovery is characterized by the reoccupation of the abandoned LB I site and the establishment of a new settlement on top of it. This stratum, like the one preceding it, ended with a violent destruction.

The ceramic assemblages uncovered on the floors of Strata XX-XIX are an important tool for the relative chronology and cultural attribution of these strata. These assemblages demonstrate that the earlier phase of Stratum XX (XXb) dates from the transitional MB IIC-LB I period, while the later phase of this same stratum (XXa) already belongs to the LB 1 culture. Stratum XIX with its two phases (XIXb and XIXa) should be dated, according to the ceramic evidence, to the LB II. Both strata ended in a violent destruction. The thick layer of debris separating these two strata represents an occupational gap at Yoqne'am following the destruction of Stratum XXa.

The destruction of Stratum XXa was an extreme event in the occupational sequence of Yoqne'am; after it the site was deserted until it was resettled during the LB II (Stratum XIXb). During the thirteenth century BCE the site underwent another violent destruction, which brought to an end the last Canaanite city at the site. The buildings of the early Iron Age I settlement (Stratum XVIII) were erected on top of the ruins of Stratum XIXa, signifying the beginning of a new cultural phase in the occupational history of Yoqne`am.

The transition between the MB II and the LB I is one of the most intriguing within the sequence of cultures in Canaan , and one of the most problematic to define and date. It has consequently been the focus of a number of studies attempting to establish its cultural and chronological framework (see, among many others, Weinstein 1981, 1991; Dever 1992 and references there). Though the material uncovered by the numerous excavations of stratified sites in Palestine during the past 60-70 years has added valuable information, this issue is still a controversial one, as attested by the disagreement even on its basic terminology. This time span is characterized by the difficulty of correlating the changes observed in the material culture with the historical events that took place in Canaan at the close of the seventeenth and in the first half of the sixteenth centuries BCE. The destruction and abandonment of late Middle Bronze Age sites in the mid-sixteenth century BCE has conventionally been assigned by scholars to the military campaigns of the Egyptians kings of the early 18th Dynasty as part of their efforts to drive the Hyksos out of Egypt and destroy their power in Canaan. In recent years, however, this view has been challenged by scholars such as Redford (1979), Shea (1979) and Hoffmeier (1989), who have au-gested several alternative explanations for the destructions and abandonments of the MB IIC-LB I. Furthermore, several different chronological schemes have been suggested for the end of the Middle Bronze Age.

On the other hand, the archaeological realia have to be confronted with the historical picture, and here the ceramic assemblages are significant. According to the archaeological evidence, the appearance of new ceramic families which are considered hallmarks of the LB I, namely the Chocolate-on­White and Bichrome Wares (as well as other ceramic types and families; see Chapter 7), is used as a cultural criterion marking the end of the MB IIC and heralding the beginning of the LB I culture in Palestine. Since the early appearance of these ceramic families in Palestine is closely related and considered to be synchronic (around 1600 BCE), it is clear that the cultural change preceded the historical change that took place several decades later.

It is hoped that the evidence of the stratigraphy, combined with the ceramic analysis and the typological comparison with other sites, will form a solid foundation for the following discussion, in which we shall attempt to reconstruct the occupational history of Yoqne'am during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages.

Parts II and III deal with the stratigraphic and ceramic analysis in chronological order, i.e. the Middle Bronze Age Strata XXV-XXI are followed by the Late Bronze Age Strata XXb-XIXa. Each part begins with the description of the architectural remains by stratum, followed by analysis of the pottery of each stratum. Photographs, plans and sections, and drawings and photographs of the pottery, accompany each stratum. Since only a few segments of floors could be assigned to the Middle Bronze Age sequence, almost the entire ceramic assemblage associated with each of these is presented, together with a few indicative sealed fills (glacis fills, pits). On the other hand, since each of the Late Bronze Age strata includes several floors, in most cases only the ceramic assemblages from representative loci of each stratum accompany the discussion.

The pottery figures are accompanied by tables that cite parallels to the vessels, which are generally not noted in the ceramic discussion. The reference for each parallel consists of abbreviated site name, volume number or date of publication (in cases of more than one publication), figure/plate number and stratigraphic provenance (stratum or tomb): for example, Qashish, Fig. 89:2 (IXc).

Parallels for the different vessels were primarily sought in Jezreel Valley sites ( Megiddo , Tel Qashish, Tel Qiri) in the vicinity of Yoqne'am. Megiddo and Yoqne'am are the most important Bronze Age sites in the Jezreel Valley , each located next to a major road junction (Wadi `Ara and Wadi Milek respectively). The comparison of Yoqne'am with these neighboring sites in terms of material culture emphasizes the relationship between the sites in the different periods.

Second in importance are more remote sites, located in the coastal plain (Tel Mevorakh, Tel Burga, Tel Zeror, Tel Poleg, Kabri, Tel Nami), the eastern end of the Jezreel Vallev (Tel Beth-Shean, Pella ), the hill country ( Shiloh , Shechem) and the Jordan Valley (Tell el-Hayyat, Jericho ), together with other kev sites of the period (Tel Aphek, Hazor, Lachish ). In some cases. parallels are cited from tombs containing rich assemblages (Barkai, Kefar Szold, Ginosar, Tel `Amr).

In Part N the ceramic repertoire of both the Middle and the Late Bronze Ages is discussed. The typological analysis deals with the vessel's profile, its relative quantity and its chronological range. This approach enables evaluation of the continuity or discontinuity of the different ceramic types throughout the periods, and may also help in determining the transitional phases within this long continuum. The discussion is accompanied by quantitative tables and at times by graphs illustrating the main tendencies.

Part V presents the stratigraphic, ceramic and glypti, remains of the Early Bronze Age, a scarab impression, stone objects, flint tools, loomweights, metal objects, worked bone, and human and faunal remains.

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The Iron Age strata at Yoqne'am (XVIII-XI, most of which are divided into several sub-phases) constitute the main theme of the present discussion, since they include the bulk of the material. Furthermore, the presentation of these srata and the analysis of the material uncovered in them make a significant contribution to the archaeological picture of that period in the Land of Israel.

In this respect, the following aspects are noteworthy:

The almost uninterrupted sequence of Iron Age
strata-eight in all-uncovered at Y oqne'am, spanning the twelfth/eleventh centuries BCE (the Iron Age I) through the last third of the eighth century BCE (the Iron Age IIB/III);

The discovery and partial excavation of a water system, one of the very few in this country securely dated to the Iron Age IIA (the tenth century BCE);

The uncovering of two superimposed defense systems, the earlier a casemate wall and the later consisting of two parallel walls separated by a narrow passage (termed "the gallery wall"). The latter appears to be unique in this country so far (with a possible exception at Gibeon);

The dense stratigraphic sequence resulted, among other things, in the recovery of a relatively large number of ceramic assemblages originating in loci of secure stratigraphic attribution. This made possible a detailed study of the development of various ceramic types throughout the twelfth/eleventh-late eighth centuries BCE (from the Iron Age I through the Iron Age IIB/III) and the rate of their rise and decline in "popularity" (measured statistically). Of special importance in this respect is the picture emerging with regard to the development of the ceramic typology throughout the tenth and ninth centuries. Most instructive is the comparative study of the Yoqne'am ceramic types with those uncovered in neighboring sites (see map), such as Tell Qiri (a satellite site of Yoqne'am), Megiddo, Tel Jezreel and Taanach, all in the Jezreel Valley, Rosh Zayit, located in the Lower Galilee, sites in the northern coastal area, such as Tell Keisan and Tel Dor, and even with more distant contemporary sites, such as Hazor and Dan in the Upper Galilee. The results of this study are of great significance with regard to the controversy about the "traditional" versus "low" chronology of the Iron Age II (Finkelstein 1996; Ben-Tor 2000). In our opinion, it clearly supports the "traditional" chronology of that period (Zarzecki-Peleg 1997a).

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This volume presents the results of the excavations of Areas H and K in the 1968 and 1969 seasons, and is the sixth and final volume of the Ashdod series. Regrettably, this publication appears more than thirty five years after the end of excavations. The work on the volume was initiated by Moshe Dothan, assisted by Marina Popovitz, during the early 1990s, but due to Dothan 's illness and his passing away in 1999, the work was suspended. Towards the end of 1999, with the encouragement of Trude Dothan, the aid of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and a generous grant from the White-Levy Program for Archaeological Publications, work on the material was resumed. The final stages toward the completion of the volume were carried out during the years 2000-2002. Amihai Mazar, area supervisor in the 1968-1969 seasons, prepared the draft of the stratigraphic report on Area H, Strata XIV-X. Subsequently, the plans, drawings and photographs were revised and the text was completed. The results of the 1968 season of excavations in Area K, which is adjacent to and inseparable from Area H, were added to the report.

Though the format of the previous volumes of the Ashdod publication was generally followed, several changes were introduced in order to adapt a more modern format and new technologies. Thus, this volume is published in the larger format of the IAA Reports. As the work on the volume continued through an extensive period, there are some minor incongruities in the style of drawings, photographs and plans. Some of the field photographs could not be located and some of the documentation needed to be partly restored (particularly field sections).

Several groups of finds were entrusted to specialists and are described in their respective chapters: jewelry­: A. Golani and D. Ben-Shlomo; flints: Z. Matskevich; scarabs : O. Keel and S. Monger; coins: D.T. Ariel; and animal bones: E. Maher. The burial, analyzed by E. Dueitch, appears in the stratigraphic report.

The plans and sections were prepared for publication by draftsmen of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Natalia Zak and Elizabeth Belashov. Recent drawings and amendments are by Noga Ze'evi and Marina Zeltzer. Photographs of the finds from the 1980s onward are by Tsila Sagiv and Clara Amit, while the earlier photos of the finds were taken by Ze'ev Radovan. Ella Altmark cleaned and restored some of the metal finds.

Though this is the final volume describing the excavations at Tel Ashdod, large quantities of material, coming from poor or unstratified contexts and surveys, chiefly from Areas G, K and M, remain as yet unpublished. Hopefully, at least the most important of these finds will soon be published elsewhere.

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Air photographs taken before the area was covered by modern roads and buildings, coupled with the evidence of excavations and occasional finds, indicate that the ancient site occupied c.4.5 ha. It covered the slopes of the upper part of the elongated spur of Giv'at Ram, chiefly around its summit (at 825 m asl). The archaeological discoveries indicate that the site was inhabited from Iron Age II to the Byzantine period (late 8th c. B.C. to early 7th c. A.D.); meager finds from the Ummayad, Abassid and Mameluke periods do not seem to point to any permanent occupation after the mid-7th c. The site's strategic location at the top of the ascent from the coastal plain (or the start of the descent for those leaving the old city of Jerusalem ) (fig. 1b on p. 6) may be one reason for its inhabitation over such a long span. The Roman road from Joppa (Jaffa) via Nicopolis (Emmaus) to Jerusalem, which was one of the two main routes from the coastal plain to Jerusalem, passed through a saddle between the N slopes of the site and the S slopes of knoll 829 (northeast of the modern Central Bus Station) to the north (fig. lc). From here the road descended gradually, following the course of the present-day Jaffa road, into the city which lay some 1.5 Roman miles to the east. While relatively late in construction, this Roman route probably reflects upon the importance of the site in earlier periods.

The excavation of 1949

The first salvage excavation was conducted prior to the construction of the national conven­tion center from July 4 to August 12, 1949 , by M. Avi-Yonah. In the two main excavation areas extending over c.1750 sq. m. (fig. lc on p. 6), he unearthed hewn installations, cisterns and pools of various sizes dated by him to the Herodian period, numerous bricks and tiles bearing stamps of the Tenth Legion, and the remains of a monastery, of which the most distinguishable part were the foundations of a three-aisled basilica (14 x 17.5 m). Adjoining its S wall was a chapel dedicated to St George, according to an inscription in its mosaic floor. This excavation was pub­lished only in an abbreviated fashion. Because of insufficient stratigraphic documentation, the pottery report published in Hebrew by M. Hershkovitz took the form or a typology; her re­port is published here (chapt. 13) in English, as are the 3 coins found then (G. Bijovsky, p. 223).

The excavation of 1968

Prior to the construction of a new hotel (then the Hilton, now the Crowne Plaza ) to the south of Binyanei Ha'uma, in May to June 1968 Avi-Yonah conducted a second salvage excavation adjacent to the E side of one of the 1949 areas (fig. lc). In an excavation of c. 375 sq. m. he uncovered remains of additional installations of the late 2nd c. B.C.- A.D. 70, an oval-shaped potter's kiln (inside and around which were found wasters), and ready-to-use clay a preparation area for clay, and a deep water cistern. The area had then been covered by a thick layer of plaster upon which were found some large mortaria and many bricks, some bearing stamps of the Tenth Roman Legion. Some pits and other installations were assigned to the Byzantine period. A short report quickly followed. R. Rosenthal-Heginbottom, who assisted Avi-Yonah, then took it upon herself to publish the results of this work (chapter 12 below); the 20 coins from that excavation are again published by G. Bijovsky (pp. 223-24).

The excavations of 1992-93

In the course of works for a new international convention center to, be built adjacent to and east of the other one (Binyanei Ha'uma), severe damage was caused to ancient remains. This prompted a large salvage excavation (early April to late September, 1992) conducted by the present authors on behalf of the IAA. The excavation concerned the parking lot (5000 m 2 ) lying east of the convention center (fig. 1c) but by the time the excavations began roughly 60% of this area had already been erased by bulldozers (fig. 1 on p. 10; fig. 3). Later, in July 1993, a small excavation in the NW corner of our larger one (Area D) was conducted by U. Ad. Up to September of 1993, Ad also recorded the process of dismantling the kilns of the Tenth Legion and the lifting of a mosaic floor of the Byzantine period.

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We would like to express our thanks to the Shelby White-Leon Levy Fund for Archaeological Publications. The work of this publication fund has done wonders for Mediterranean archaeology in general, and in our case, it has been the driving force behind the publication of Tell Dothan over the last three years. This publication would not have happened anytime in the foreseeable future without the help of this fund and its generous benefactors. Additional support was provided by internal grants from the G. W. Aldeen Fund at Wheaton College, by the United Nations Development Program, and by many hours of labor donated by several generations of archaeology students at Wheaton College.

When we came to Wheaton College, we were confronted by a daunting task. Almost fifty years before our arrival, Wheaton had excavated an important Palestinian tell, and yet there existed no final publication to document the excavations. As we conceived of ways to move the Wheaton Archaeology Museum forward, we knew that any plan would first have to involve the publication of prior excavations in fulfillment of our archaeological responsibilities.

Fortunately, the Tell Dothan collection at Wheaton College had been cared for very well. For decades AI Hoerth (who was Professor of Archaeology at Wheaton for 29 years) and more recently his former students Kenneth Hoglund and Deborah Webber had been carefully curating this material. building a card tile of the objects. and organizing the material in the hope, that a publication might one day be possible. The first step toward a synthesis of this material was undertaken by Nathaniel Heller in his 2001 MA thesis. Our work here stands on all of their shoulders and we thank them for their input and long-suffering efforts.

While we were aware of the work at Wheaton, we did not realize the extent of the organizational work done by Robert Cooley until we visited Jerusalem. Dr. Free had believed in distributing material widely in order to spread the risk of the loss from any one storage facility. Unfortunately, he left no map or record of these distributions, so it was left to Robert Cooley to painstakingly track down artifacts for more than three decades. His efforts insured the survival of a coherent corpus from the excavations. This work was supported by the Dothan Publication Committee, and particular thanks are due to John Rea, Walter Kaiser, Carl Taeschner, Bonnie Hansen, and Joe Cunningham for their financial contribution to these essential tasks.

In the fall of 2001 we approached the Free Family Foundation. the holders of the publication rights to this material, and they graciously agreed to let us proceed with a publication of the material on the tell as part of a two volume publication program. Our volume on the remains from the tell is Volume I and a forthcoming volume on the tombs of the Western Cemetery is to be Volume II. We would like to thank Robert Cooley and Abed Ismail for the trust that they placed in our work and the help that they gave us every step of the way.

With the permission of the Free family secured and the blessing of the Free Family Foundation, we were then able to obtain permission from main repositories of Dothan objects, including the W. H. Mare Archaeological Institute at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. St. George's College in Jerusalem, and the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. Each of these institutions kindly allowed us to inspect, photograph, and draw the objects in their collections for the purpose of this publication.

Part of our publication involved the making of new acquaintances in the Dothan valley as we visited the site and ultimately conducted a brief survey in the summer of 2004. Through the kindness of Bill Broughton we were introduced to the staff of the United Nations Development Program Tim Rothermel. George Khoury and Nasser Faqih offered us every available resource and facilitated a new connection with the Dothan Valley and its hospitable residents, some of whom had warm memories of Professor Joseph Flee. Our friends from the United Nations introduced us to Hamdan Taha. Director General of the Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage of the Palestinian Authority, who graciously encouraged our work and was kind enough to visit the site with us in the summer of 2003.

Once we began the publication in our archaeology laboratory. We quickly realized that we would need more help. We received the generous support of the administration of Wheaton College, including the Dean of the Humanities and Theological Studies, Jill Baumgartener, the Provost, Stanton Jones, and two department chairs, Paul House and Richard Schultz. In addition, our archaeology students stepped up to the challenge, digitizing the records for almost forty thousand registered pieces of pottery, scanning thousands of slides, editing texts, and tracking down ceramic parallels. In particular, the students who participated in our seminar on Tell Dothan in the fall of 2003 were able to work on focused studies of Dothan's history.

Since the pottery was in several countries, we relied upon several illustrators for the plates. Our thanks go to Fadi Amira and Julia Rudman in Jerusalem, Peggy Sanders in Chicago, and Jennilyn White, Rebekah Williams. and Jon Walton in Wheaton.

The publication process took us to Jerusalem in the summers of 2003 and 2004. While there, our work was facilitated by the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research and its director Sy Gitin. In addition we benefited from visits from Gabriel Barkay, Amihai Mazar, and Anna de Vincenz, who all lent words of encouragement and advice to our pottery sorting sessions. We are especially grateful to Ross Jones, the Dean of St. George's College in Jerusalem, as well as the other staff of St. George's School who offered their help and shared their facilities as we analyzed their Dothan collection.

Over the years, through archaeology conferences and public presentations, members of the original Dothan excavation returned to tell us of the richness and importance of the Dothan excavations. We hope that this volume opens a window for the rest of the archaeological community to see what the original excavators have long known. This work stands as a tribute to the long hours that they logged between 1953-1964 in an effort to understand more about the history of Palestine and the ancient stories of the Dothan Valley.

Finally, none of this would have been possible without the vision of Joseph Free. He was the founder of the archaeology program in which we have the good fortune of working. Through his work, his students, and his family we know him to have been an enthusiastic archaeologist and a passionate teacher. His energetic work at Tell Dothan uncovered a rich and important city that we hope can now make its long overdue contribution to the understanding of ancient Palestine and the culture of the Dothan Valley.

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The catalogue includes both Roman citizens and peregrini who employed Roman names, which they did either because of kinship ties through marriage or simply because it was the current fashion to use Roman names. The catalogue, therefore, does not contain the purely Greek names of peregrini that remained untouched by Roman onomastic practices. Such persons are, however, discussed in the comments on particular names, when it has seemed helpful to elucidate extended relationships, either of blood or by marriage. Likewise, individuals who are referred to in literary sources or in inscriptions from other regions are excluded from the catalogue, although reference to them may sometimes be made in the comments. Thus the present work is not to be viewed so much as a lexicon or even a complete prosopography, but rather as one whose main aim is to present a particular social class active at a particular time and place, namely the southern Peloponnese from the beginning of the Roman domination until Late Antiquity (Roman Peloponnese I, 40 n. 23).

Laconia: The inscriptions employed for the Onomasticon of Laconia come, with a very few exceptions, from today's prefecture of the same name, since the area covered by the prefecture is very much the same as that comprehended by the Laconia of antiquity, with the exception of the ager Denthaliatis, which was for centuries a source of friction between Messene and Sparta (MES 227). This region has been included in Messenia because today it belongs to the modem prefecture of Messenia. Thuria also, is included in Messenia, although an inscription dating to the imperial period shows that Sparta was then her metropolis (MES 265). The same holds true for the region of Kynouria, which, likewise, was a source of friction between Sparta and Argos. During the Imperial period Kynouria belonged to the Argolid, with which it has accordingly been placed (ARG 63). Only the city of Prasiai belonged, during this period, to the Eleutherolakones (Paus. III. 21, 7; 24, 4; cf. ARG 64). By contrast, the island of Kythera, given by Augustus to Eurycles (Strabo VIII. 5, 3), which today is part of the prefecture of the Peiraeus, has been grouped with Laconia, to which it belonged in antiquity. The same is the case for the cities of the Eleutherolakones. These include, among other cities and areas, the important harbour of Gytheion, the habour of Boiai, Tainaron, which was refounded as Caenopolis, Thalamai, Oitylos and, of course, Asopos, located between Gytheion and Boiai '.

The majority of the inscriptions from Sparta dating to the Imperial period were found in the various systematic excavations carried out from the beginning of the twentieth century by the British School at Athens in the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia and in the area of the ancient theatre.

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In 1971 I commenced planning for a long-term, systematic excavation, to be carried out by the newly established Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, and began seeking an important mound of the biblical period. At that time the Institute conducted a single, major excavation project at Tel Beer-­Sheba under the aegis of its Director, Yohanan Aharoni. Not having at my disposal the means to start the excavation I planned, I sought to establish a partnership with other members of the Institute, to no avail. The time for joint archaeological projects in Israel was not yet ripe.

Unable to convince other colleagues in the Institute of my designs, I decided to carry on alone. In 1971-1972 I spent a sabbatical leave in London. There I visited Richard Barnett, then Keeper of Western Asiatic Antiquities in the British Museum, to discuss the proposed excavation. I explained to him my plans, and presented five or six possible sites, Tel Lachish being one of them. Barnett, after listening carefully to all suggestions, unhesitatingly favoured Lachish, and convinced me to undertake its re-excavation. That was about a decade after the publication of his article on the Lachish reliefs and the siege ramp (Barnett 1958). Barnett enthusiastically emphasized the importance of the reliefs and the potential of continued excavations at the site. I remembered Tel Lachish very well from the days of my compulsory army service in the 1950s, when we regularly roamed the area in our manoeuvres, and from all I had learned since my boyhood about the biblical city, the Lachish letters, and the murder of Lachish's previous excavator, J.L. Starkey. I could still see in my mind's eye a picture of the ostraca in the Rockefeller Museum, which I visited with my father as a young boy before the 1948 war. So it did not take Barnett long to convince me that I should excavate Lachish. I must add in retrospect, nearly thirty years later, that I have never regretted this decision, even for a second.

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With contributions by Douglas l. Esse, Andrew Graham, Ronald G.V. Hancock and Patricia Paice

The extensive history of excavations at Megiddo (Tell el-Mutesellim) attests to the site's cultural and historical significance and effectively chronicles the disciplinary development of archaeological research in the region. Virtually every generation has left its mark, and a vast portion of the site has been excavated in the process. This is particularly true of Stratum VI. While this report is primarily concerned with the results of the Oriental Institute excavations, any attempt to reconstruct the stratum, and the cultural and historical information that it contains, must incorporate the results of other projects that have excavated at the site as well. Consequently, this chapter surveys the history of excavations of Stratum VI at Megiddo with the aim of assembling a composite record of those projects that have produced published remains of Stratum VI.

The medieval Jewish writer Estori Ha-Parhi is credited with being the first explorer to link ancient Megiddo to the Arab village of Lejjun (Ha-Parhi 1976: 293), located at the entrance to the Wadi Ara, just to the south of the mounded tell (fig. 1). In the mid-nineteenth century, the biblical scholar Edward Robinson, aware that the Sixth Roman Legion had been stationed near Megiddo, and influenced by the etymological link between the Arabic "Lejjun" and the Latin "Legio," reasserted its association with the ancient site (Robinson and Smith 1841/3: 177-80). Remarkably, during a subsequent trip Robinson actually visited Tell el-Mutesellim and was struck by the exceptional view but failed to recognize that he was standing on the ruins of the ancient settlement (Robinson and Smith 1856: 117). Robinson's claim that Megiddo was located at Lejjun was vigorously contested by Claude R. Conder, who argued instead that the remains of the famous town were located at Khirbet Mujedda), a site in the hills overlooking the southeastern comer of the Jezreel Valley (Conder and Kitchener 1882: 64-66,70,90-99). The ensuing debate was resolved about a decade later by the eminent geographer George Adam Smith, who argued convincingly in favor of the ruins preserved at Tell el-Mutesellim (1892: 385-87).

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The site of Khostia, located approximately 60 km West-South-West of Thebes, about one km inland above the coast of the Gulf of Korinthos (fig.1.1), lies at an altitude of 200 meters above sea level upon a flattened area and surrounding slopes near the end of a rocky spur advancing Southwards from the base of Mount Helikon's Palaiovouno massif, from which it is separated by a shallow saddle. For most of its existence, the settlement appears to have been a small town or a village, although it had the status of a city during the Hellenistic period, since the diagnostic remains visible on its surface, including those dated to prehistoric times, extend over an area of around 4.45 hectares (Fossey, 1981: 12); this surface area corresponds to the maximum extent reached by the site during the long history of its occupation. During the Bronze Age the settlement extended probably over only part of this area.

The site has been known for a long time, but has been only sparingly visited by scholars, following Leake's report at the beginning of the 19th century (Fossey, 1981: 1 & 11); commentaries about it are few and generally brief. Gomme (1911-12: 205), Frazier (1913: V.134) and Philippson & Kirsten (1951: 456) signal its location, while Philippson & Kirsten (1951: 687) also mention the presence there of Middle Helladic material. The earliest study, itself relatively short, devoted specifically to the ruins visible on the surface of the Kastron is due to Busing & Busing (1972: 74-87). The only well preserved remains belong exclusively to the historical period (Hellenistic to Late Roman); they consist of an important circuit wall enclosing most of the settled area. The few wall segments surviving to any appreciable height explain the modern toponym of Kastron, specifically Kastron Khostion, the "kastron of Khostia" usually applied to it locally. Fossey (1981: passim, especially 62-70 and figs 15-21; 1988: 187-194) provides a detailed description of the architectural features of the circuit. These walls, as well as a limited amount of literary and epigraphic documents relevant to the historical city, have been the main focus of interest for most scholars until now and have allowed them to equate the site with the small Boiotian city of Khorsiai (for the main bibliography of the site see Fossey, 1988: 188; see also Roesch, 1965: 56-58, and Roesch, 1970).

Prehistoric remains visible on the surface present an even more modest picture of the settlement than the historical period, since the only signs of human activity at the site during the Bronze Age are limited to sherds. The sequence of Bronze Age activity on the site was first established by Heurtley (1923-25: 42); the compilations of Hope-Simpson (1965: 123 no. 420) and Hope-Simpson and Dickinson (1979: 250, G36) essentially reiterate the same data. Fossey (1988) has published a more complete sequence based, in part, on his own observations of surface material, as well as on the preliminary study of material excavated in 1980 and 1983 (Fossey, 1981; Fossey & Morin, 1986; Fossey, 1988:187-193; Fossey & Morin, 1989). The present study constitutes the end product of the survey and the two excavation seasons.

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The Phoenician period cemetery of Kition is no doubt the most extensively investigated necropolis of Cyprus in spite of the fact that very little is published thus far. The Archaic and Classical period cemetery, which is the focus of our investigation, occupies a number of eminences rising from the flat ground mostly to the north and west of the city (Fig. 1). In 1979 for the first time large scale excavations were undertaken at the locality of Mnimata in relation with a proposed refugee settlement. Our excavations resulted in the discovery of 63 tombs ranging in date from Cypro-Archaic to the Hellenistic period. Most of the tombs, however, were dated to the 4th century B.C.E. Another part of the Cypro-Classical necropolis was excavated in 1984 and 1985 at the locality of Agios Prodromos, in connection with the erection of a new church. This excavations resulted in the discovery of 23 more tombs Amongst the most important finds from the site of Mnimata (Agio.s Georghios since 1979) are five stelai bearing Phoenician inscriptions. After the initial publication of these inscriptions a lively discussion commenced owing to the uncertainties of Semitic epigraphy. Nevertheless what was established on the base of these inscriptions was the peaceful coexistance between different ethnic groups residing at Kition.

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with contributions by Daniella E. Bar-Yosef, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Omri Lernau, Nili Liphschitz, Ya'akov Meshorer, Naomi Porat, Steven Rosen, Pamela Sabari, Patricia Smith, Miriam Tadmor and Anabel Zarzecki-Peleg

Tel Qashish (Tell Qasis in Arabic) is located on the northern bank of the Kishon River, where a bend in the stream encloses the site on two sides. The settlement thus occupied an excellent strategic position on one of Kishon fords, in close proximity to Tel Yoqne'am some 2km away, the major site in the region, on which Tel Qashish was most probably dependent.

The elongated mound (ca. 270 x 160 m) covers an area of about 10.7 acres (ca. 43 dunams) at the base of the tel. The western half is about 5 m higher than the eastern half. The mound slopes steeply on all sides, except on the northeast, where the approach road to the site was probably located.

Aharoni suggested that the site should be identified with Ḥelkath, No. 112 on the list of Thutmose III (Aharoni 1959:119-122, 1979:163). Another possibility, which the authors prefer, is to identify it with Dabbesheth (Josh 19:11).

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From 1969 to 1982, extensive archaeological excavations were conducted in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem under the direction of the late Professor Nahman Avigad. During these excavations, impressive remains of fortifications, public buildings and domestic dwellings were found, as well as numerous artifacts from all of the periods of the continuous settlement of this area, beginning at the end of the Iron Age until the Ottoman period.

Among the major discoveries made in the course of the Jewish Quarter Excavations are fortifications dating to the First and Second Temple periods; luxurious residences of the Upper City of Jerusalem of the Second Temple period, including the Palatial Mansion; the Byzantine Cardo and Nea Church; and a gate tower of the Early Islamic period. These and other findings from the excavation have dramatically changed our concept of the size and topography of Jerusalem in ancient times.

Volume I is the first of the final reports of these excavations. It presents the architectural remains and part of the small finds from three excavation areas: A, W, and X-2. Here were found remains of the northern section of the First Wall that protected ancient Jerusalem's Southwestern Hill during the First and Second Temple periods. The remains of these fortifications were restored following their excavation. They are currently on display to visitors in open courtyards and under the new buildings of the Jewish Quarter.

Volume II is the second of the final reports of these excavations. Included are pottery, glass, metal, stone, bone, epigraphic, numismatic and incised and painted plaster finds, among others, from three excavation areas: A, W and X-2. These finds range in date from the end of the First Temple period to the Late Islamic period.

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In this final report on the late Mrs. Bennett's excavations, Piotr Bienkowski and specialist contributors describe and illustrate the architecture, stratigraphy, pottery and other finds in detail. The concluding chapter revises accepted ideas of Busayra's date, nature and role and assesses the site in its proper ancient context in the light of current research on tribal kingdoms. Busayra was settled from the late eighth century to c. 300/200 BC, with some reuse, perhaps for agricultural purposes, in the Nabataean and Roman periods. It is ideally located on an easily defended, high spur among rich arable lands, providing secure opportunities for agriculture and pastoralism and maximizing proximity to the copper mines of Faynan and to the crossing of the Wadi Arabah used by the Arabian incense trade. Piotr Bienkowski concludes that Busayra was not a capital of a nation state, as it is often described, but the administrative and religious centre of the supratribal authority of the heterarchical state of Edom, recognized and treated as kings by the Assyrians.

Piotr Bienkowski is Curator of Egyptian and Near Eastern Antiquities and Head of Antiquities at Liverpool Museum, and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool. He served as editor of the archaeological journal Levant from 1987 to 1992, and since 1993 has edited the series British Academy Monographs in Archaeology. In 2000 he was annual professor at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem.

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For a site that has been well known for its tombs, this volume on Early Bronze Age settlement at Bâb edh-Dhrâ‘ brings a new perspective by turning attention from the cemetery to the living community and its activities, insofar as these can be reconstructed from the archaeological finds. The burial evidence and accompanying artifacts are naturally always important in themselves as well as for comparison, and reference to them will be found at many places in this volume. But the focus here is on a large body of data relating to the people who settled this Early Bronze site from the latter quarter of the fourth to the end of the third millennium B.C.

Lapp's excavations in 1965 were the first to show that Bâb edh-Dhrâ‘ was an Early Bronze Age settlement rather than a specialized ceremonial site, as many had speculated prior to his work (P. Lapp 1966: 560-61; for references to the prevalent interpretation of the site as a distinctive one accompanied by cultic activities see Schaub and Rast 1989: 17-18). Following upon Lapp's discoveries, the several seasons of the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain (EDSP) have uncovered a great deal more evidence for the history of Early Bronze settlement here. Therefore, it now has to be recognized that if a special significance is to be ascribed to Bâb edh-Dhrâ‘ it is not because it was an unusual site in antiquity but rather because it provides a unique case of Early Bronze Age urbanism in an exceptional part of the country, the isolated environment along the southeastern Dead Sea Plain. Bâb edh-Dhrâ‘ takes its place within the discussion of the social and political events occurring on both sides of the Jordan Rift during the late fourth and third millennia B.C. Its remains open a window to the lifeways of the people who constructed its numerous tombs throughout the entire Early Bronze Age.

This volume is the second in the series Reports of the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain, Jordan. The first contained the final publication of all tombs excavated in the cemetery under Lapp's direction between 1965 and 1967 (Schaub and Rast 1989). Two further reports of the EDSP are to follow: one dealing with the excavations of the EB III site of Numeira, an EB I cemetery at Feifa, and an EB I cemetery at Khanazir; and another devoted to the tombs excavated by the EDSP, with special attention to the human remains. Both volumes are in progress. The present volume deals with the data retrieved at the town site by the EDSP during seasons in 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1981. The fields excavated under Lapp's direction in 1965 are also incorporated. The inclusion of the latter was facilitated by the fact that the EDSP has been using the same numbering and locus system as the earlier excavations. Lapp's fields were numbered Fields I-VII while those of the EDSP were designated Fields VIII-XIX.

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