Archaeology Magazine - January/February 1983 - 60

In the Field
of Akko
on
Israel's
Coast
by AVNER RABAN
Akko is one of the oldest harbor towns
protected the city. The pottery from the
earliest occupational level suggests that
along the eastern coast of the Mediterthe first settlement at Akko dates to the
ranean Sea. Throughout its long history,
it has often served as an important
beginning of the Middle Bronze Age II
period, around 2000 B.c., whereas the
gateway to the Holy Land from the west,
for invaders as well as pilgrims. A rocky
pottery from the top of the glacis fortification may be attributed to the second
peninsula projecting north into the Bay
of Haifa marks the site of the Classical
phase of this period in the eighteenth
and Mediaeval cities. The biblical setcentury B.C.
These initial conclusions tally with
tlement, however,lies on a large artificial
the widely held beliefthat the appearance
mound about half a mile inland to the
of large fortified city-states coincided
east. This low rocky hill on the northern
with the invasion of the so-called Hyksos
bank of the Belus River has been excawarrior princes, the innovators of fightvated since 1973by the Center for Maritime Studies at Haifa University, under
ing chariots who swept into the Levant
from the north and invaded Egypt as
the direction of Moshe Dothan.
well. Until recently, archaeologists genPreliminary exploration along the
erally agreed that only after the Hyksos
edges of the tell in 1973revealed a signifinvasion- which followed a long period
icant feature- a large earthen rampart
of terre pissé, or beaten earth. Sloping
beginning at the end of the Early Bronze
Age (2400-2300b.c. ) during which bands
layers of sand, ash, mudbrick, crushed
of marauding nomads roamed the desandstone, and beaten earth alternate
to form a glacis fortification, a steep
populated countryside- were fortified
cities and fully developed urban life
artificial slope which surrounded and
restored.
In the last decade, several excavations
Avner Raban received his Ph.D. from
in Israel- including those at TblAphek,
Hebrew University; and has excavated
Tel Poleg, Tel Dan, Tel Zeror, and
both on land and underwater in Israel ,
Yavaneh Yam- have exposed the reGreece, Turkey,and Italy. Currently head
mains
of walls, ramparts and public
of the Center for Maritime Studies and
buildings which contained pottery from
lecturer on Maritime Civilizations at
the first phase of the Middle Bronze Age
Haifa University; he is Director of the
Caesarea Ancient Harbour Excavation
Project and participated in the excavations of the port of Akko.

The

Biblical

Archaeology

Port

II (2100-1900 B.c.) period, which predates the Hyksosite era (1780-1570b.c. ).
A number of archaeologists have suggested that such finds indicate the existence of fortified cities and glacis in
the twentieth century b.c. Others,
however,dismiss this theory for two reasons. The ambiguous stratigraphy at
many sites does not take into account
the possibility that pottery from an
earlier time may have been dumped into
glacis when they were built. In addition,
historical documents from Egypt point
to the military supremacy of the Twelfth
Dynasty pharaohs over rural Canaan.
The Egyptian pharaohs presumably
would not have tolerated fortified cities
in their Asian territories.
New evidence from Akko, however,
may help resolve this controversy. During the past three years, an extremely
well-preserved stretch of Akko's fortifications was uncovered on the northwestern slope of Tbl Akko. In 1977 a
bulldozer cutting a drainage channel exposed the top of a massive stone wall
at the point where the western slope
curves to the northeast. Remarkably,
Middle Bronze IIA pottery sherds
were found in this shallow stratigraphical context, suggesting that at a very
early stage Akko's fortifications stood
here almost to their original height.
Closer to the edge of the tell was a layer
of sand fill and its sloping mud covering.
Further to the southeast the later occuAkko 's 4,000-year-oldgate
complex, made of sun-dried mudbrick and massive stone walls
plastered with mud, created a low
passageway about 20 meters
long through the city's ramparts.

Archaeology Magazine - January/February 1983

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - January/February 1983