Excavations at Akhziv 1964

The University of Rome and the Israel Department of Antiquities have now ended the second season of joint excavations of Tel Akhziv, north of Acre, in the Western Galilee. The Ministry of Labour assisted the work by supplying the labour. M.W. Prausnitz of Department directed the excavations. Dr. Antonia Ciasca represented Prof. S. Moscati to the University of Rome. Prof. B. Mazar of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem once again agreed to act as advisor. Drs. Maria Jiulia Amadasi, A. Verger, and Mr. L. Presen of the University of Rome assisted in the work of the excavations.
Dr. C. Epstein and Messrs J. Dubi and A. Siegelman as well as students from the Hebrew University and the Universities of Copenhagen, London, Nottingham and Yale contributed much to the success of the work. Mr. Feist of the Department of Antiquities acted as surveyor.

This season's work was devoted entirely to the excavation of two areas of Tel Akhziv. One area was excavated on the southern mound and the other on the northern mount of the Tel with the purpose of testing the sequence of occupation in each area. The southern excavation was carried down to a depth of about 3.5m. Beneath the surface and beneath recent buildings, floors, walls and houses of medieval times were revealed. Also the foundation of a crusader wall was discovered. The absence of substantial archaeological finds from the Byzantine and early Arab period was noteworthy. The foundations of the wall from the crusader period rested of structures dating to the early Roman period and the Hellenistic age. It appears that the occupation of the southern mound ceased abruptly in the middle of the first century B.C.E. probably as a result of destruction by the Roman army. Beneath the latest Hellenistic stratum a series of occupation layers, substantial walls and pavements indicate the prosperity Akhziv enjoyed during the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C.E. In the fill of the Hellenistic house a late Phoenician stela depicting the characteristic bottle image stamp impressions and lamps bear witness the survival till the Roman conquest of Phoenician beliefs and traditions at Akhziv. Below the Hellenistic strata heads of walls and pottery belonging to the Israelite period were unearthed. Again it is noteworthy that no remains from the Persian period (539 B.C.E. – 332 B.C.E.) were encountered. Amongst the finds from the Israelite period a large storage vessel containing a flat bowl, a broken piece of ivory in the form of the foot of a chair, as well as broken Samaria platters must be mentioned. After reaching the uppermost Israelite stratum excavations were discontinued in this area.

On the northern part f the Tell the expedition last year dug a long and narrow east-west trench. The trench had cut through occupation levels inside the eastern defenses, as well as through defenses consisting of earthwork, glacis and stone revetment. This season the trench was widened to include and area f 225 sq m of occupation levels. The trench reached a depth of 2.5m. The uppermost occupation stratum encountered belonged here too to the end of the Hellenistic period when, as already noted Akhziv was totally destroyed. Since then the northern mound remained apparently uninhabited and served as a burial ground. The Hellenistic, Persian, Iron Age strate disclosed a number of public buildings lying near the eastern walls of the city and superimposed one upon the other. In the Hellenistic and Persian period these buildings were approached by a paved entrance leading into a courtyard surrounded on three sides by long rectangular rooms. The northern rooms in these buildings served as store-rooms as shown by numerous jars found standing side by side. In the Israelite period (Iron II) the entrance to the courtyard was closed by a wall and access secured by a passage at right angles to the entrance. This latter type of building with central court is believed to be of north-Syrian origin. Two fragments of pottery storage vessels inscribed with Phoenician characters found in one oh the storerooms indicate the public nature of the buildings and of this quarter of the city.
A number of hollow and moulded figurines some broken, were found on the floors of the rooms and could be dated according to the context of the pottery.

It also became evident that the well-known red-slipped pottery generally found in Phoenician tombs all over the Mediterranean coast belonged mainly to stratum 5, i.e. the 7th century B.C. and the first decades of the 6th century. It therefore seems certain that Akhziv and Phoenicia as a whole still enjoyed prosperity and commercial expansion well into the 6th century B.C.

The city of Akhziv was first occupied and fortified in the Middle Bronze Age II. Pottery found in the foundation courses of the revetment attests to this. The defenses were destroyed at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age I. Sherds of Late Bronze Age II found above the silted earlier fortifications suggest a renewal of occupation and rebuilding of fortifications at the end of the Late Bronze Age. From the 10th to the 6th century B.C. Akhziv reached the zenith of its expansion and spread over an area of 80 dunams (80,000 sq. m). The presence of Cypriot pottery, scarabs and cylinder seals prove the close connections Akhziv maintained with the Eastern central Mediterranean area and with Egypt, in addition to Assyria and Babylon.
There seems to have been a decline in the prosperity of Akhziv during the Persian period (5th century B.C.).
The presence of numerous imported Attic and Hellenistic sherds foretell the rising influence of Greece. In the Hellenistic period Akhziv regained almost its former importance. After the Roman conquest public buildings were built solely on the southern mound and the old city walls were never rebuilt.