Tell El-Hesi: The Site and the ExpeditionThe Tell el-Hesi site comprises a 25-acre walled city from the Early Bronze III period. It is located on the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean coastal plain, 26 km northeast of Gaza in Israel. Tell el-Hesi was the first Palestinian site at which the principles of ceramic chronology and of stratigraphic excavation were applied and at which the relationship between pottery and stratigraphy was shown to be significant. In 1890 W.M. Flinders Petrie excavated at Hesi and produced a general picture of its occupational history. In 1891-92, F.J. Bliss excavated stratigraphically through each successive level of the mound and identified eleven occupational levels which he grouped into eight strata or "cities". In 1970, The Joint Archaeological Expedition to Tell el-Hesi, sponsored by the American Schools of Oriental Research and a consortium of educational institutions, entered the site with the objectives of investigating in greater detail and with more refined methods the stratigraphic divisions identified by Petrie and Bliss. This book appears as the fourth volume in the Joint Expedition's series of final publications regarding their field experience and findings. The Joint Expedition had its first field season in June 1970 and returned to the site for further excavation in the summers of odd-numbered years. The first four seasons (1970-75) have been designated Phase One, and were largely limited to the later occupation levels on the summit and southern slope of the site's northeast hill or acropolis, although there were also probes and limited exploration of the larger Early Bronze (EB) city. The next four seasons (1977-93) were designated Phase Two, with work continuing in the Iron Age levels of the acropolis and also extending to the southern EB city wall and associated domestic structures. This volume is primarily devoted to Phase One of the expedition and details background studies and briefer analyses of particular finds during this excavation period. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 3 |
THE PRESENT AND PAST PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OF TELL ELHESI ISRAEL | 5 |
Climate | 10 |
Geologic History of the Coastal Plain | 11 |
Paleoclimate | 14 |
Soils and the Southern Coastal Plain Southern Pleshet | 19 |
PART II THE TELL ELHES SITE | 21 |
The 1972 Interseason | 106 |
The 1973 Field Season | 109 |
The 1974 Interseason | 114 |
The 1975 Field Season | 115 |
The 1976 Interseason | 119 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER VI | 122 |
THE STRATIGRAPHY OF THE SITE | 125 |
Balks | 128 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER I | 34 |
EXCAVATIONS BY THE PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND AT TELL ELHESI 18901892 | 37 |
W M FLINDERS PETRIE 18531942 | 38 |
April 17May 31 1890 | 41 |
F J BLISS 18591937 | 48 |
March 16May 15 1891 | 50 |
October 13December 15 1891 | 52 |
March 28May 26 1892 | 55 |
September 27December 16 1892 | 56 |
ON THE EXCAVATIONS AT TELL ELHESI 18901892 | 58 |
THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PETRIE AND BLISS AT TELL ELHESI | 62 |
The Employment of Other Techniques and Sciences | 63 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER II | 64 |
THE EVOLUTION OF A HOLISTIC INVESTIGATION PHASE ONE OF THE JOINT EXPEDITION TO TELL ELHESI | 68 |
THE METHODOLOGY OF THE NEW ARCHAEOLOGY AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE JOINT EXPEDITION TO TELL ELHESI | 72 |
HISTORY OF THE NEW ARCHAEOLOGY MOVEMENT | 73 |
The New Archaeology | 74 |
Reactions and Anticipations | 75 |
The New Archaeology at Hesi | 76 |
ASPECTS OF THE NEW ARCHAEOLOGY AT HESI | 78 |
Archaeology as Science | 80 |
Archaeology as Environmental Studies | 82 |
The Explanatory Function of Archaeology | 83 |
SUMMARY | 84 |
THE VOLUNTEER AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM 19701975 | 88 |
THE FIRST SEASON | 89 |
SUBSEQUENT SEASONS | 90 |
THE VOLUNTEERS | 92 |
EPILOGUE AND A SPECIAL WORD | 95 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER V | 96 |
PHASE ONE AT TELL ELHESI A SEASONBYSEASON ACCOUNT | 97 |
The 1970 Field Season | 98 |
The 1971 Field Season | 103 |
Graves | 129 |
Pits | 130 |
LEVELS COMPLETELY EXCAVATED | 131 |
Stratum IIILate Arabic | 136 |
Stratum VThe Persian Period | 140 |
The Late Chalcolithic Structure Field III | 144 |
Location | 145 |
PreStratum V Phases Field I | 149 |
Walls on the Southern Slope Field I | 152 |
Aims and Methods | 155 |
Field VI | 157 |
Field VII | 158 |
The Pottery of the Fills | 160 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER VII | 161 |
FIELD II | 163 |
CATALOGUE OF LOCI3 | 165 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER VIII | 168 |
CHALCOLITHIC REMAINS IN FIELD III | 169 |
AREA 5 | 171 |
CONCLUSIONS | 173 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER IX | 175 |
A CEMETERY FROM THE PERSIAN PERIOD AT TELL ELHESI | 177 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER X | 186 |
ARCHEOBOTANIC STUDIES AT TELL ELHESI | 188 |
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION | 189 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHAPTER XI | 194 |
AN ISRAELITE BULLA FROM TELL ELHESI | 195 |
CONCLUSION | 199 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLICATIONS CONCERNING TELL ELHESI | 201 |
B PRMARY ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS RELATED TO EXCAVATION AT TELL ELHESI | 202 |
C SPECIAL STUDIES AND GENERAL WORKS HAVING USEFUL REFERENCE TO TELL ELHESI | 206 |
APPENDIX A | 210 |
APPENDIX B | 212 |
Common terms and phrases
1989 Chapter VII acropolis American Schools Amorite archaeology ash layer ASOR B. T. Dahlberg Biblical brick brown 10 YR building burials ceramic Chalcolithic climatic coastal plain Coogan cultural debris dune Early Bronze Age east Edited by B. T. Effendi Excavation at Tell Expedition to Tell fill Gezer Glenn Rose graves grit freq Hellenistic Jerusalem Joint Expedition K. G. O'Connell Koucky Lachish Late Bronze levels locus loess material Matthers Military Trenching mound occupation Oriental Research Palestine Exploration Fund PEFQS 23 Persian Persian Period Petrie's Phase Phillips University pits pottery Pottery pails pre-Stratum probe region ridge S.J. Excavation Reports sand Schools of Oriental Seminary Shechem Shephelah sherds slope soil southern Stager stone strata stratigraphic stratigraphy Stratum Stratum Vd structure surface Tell el-Hesi tion Toombs 1989 Chapter volunteers Wadi Hesi ware Wilfrid Laurier University Winona Lake Worrell Zone