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In the summers of 1992, 1993, and 1999, the Lahav Research Project, Phase
III, excavated Field IV
on the western edge of the tell. The research design called for
extensive exposure of Iron II buildings, whose presence had been posited on
the basis of successful application and subsequent testing of ground-penetrating
radar (GPR) results in Areas K8 and E3. Both test soundings yielded stratified Iron II
materials in abundance. The prospects of locating in situ
materials on Iron II floors appeared to be excellent.
In the 1992 season, in a line of excavation areas (F7, F8, G8, G7,
H8, I8, J8, K8, and L8; see the Site Plan) along the
western crest of the tell, the remains of Stratum VIB Iron II pillared
houses were exposed at both northern and southern ends of the field,
while in Areas I8 and J8 excavation reached the levels of Stratum III
and Stratum VIA. The 1993 season was planned to take advantage of the
exposed architecture by recovering complete house plans of the Str. VIB
pillared buildings. In 1993 Areas F7, F8, G7, G6, H7, I7, I8, J8, K7,
K8, K9, L8 and L9 were opened with the primary aim of reaching Str. VIB
levels.
Unknown to the excavators, however, was the fact that in
the past someone had mined much of Field IV and had removed most of the
stone architecture associated with post-Stratum VI occupation. We now
understand that the foundations of Strata V-III buildings have been
nearly completely eradicated from Field IV; Iron II Stratum VI remains
were also affected by this trenching, convincing the excavators that
Iron II levels east of the areas of Field IV presently excavated have
most likely also been removed.
Artifact remnants of Strata V-III were thoroughly mixed and
scattered in the backfill of this broad robber trench across Field IV.
Furthermore, since we had previously encountered Stratum V Persian Age
occupation only in a single building and only in Field II excavations,
we were surprised to recover hundreds of figurines in Field IV, the
majority of which are assignable typologically to the Persian era.
Prior to the 1992 season only a single figurine fragment of
the Persian type had been recorded at Tell Halif; by the end of the
1993 season more than 500 had been located. Because of the Stratum I
trenching for building stones, however, none of the figurines appear in
an original context, and few appear in a secondary context in which
they may have been disposed by their users. In fact, the
stratigraphical contexts in which nearly all of the figurines were
found add almost nothing to understanding them at Halif; they have nearly all been
displaced in the trenching and backfill of Stratum I.
Stratum I: Arab Period Trenching
While occupation in Field IV also occurred in the Persian through
the Byzantine eras, in most of the areas excavated stratified remains
down to the Iron II had been completely removed in trenching activity
across Field IV. The trench was found in Areas G6, G7, H7, I7, and K7,
35 meters N-S, at least 6 meters E-W and 1.5 meters deep. Based on the
ceramic material in the backfill, excavators have concluded that the
trench was probably dug in modern Arab times by people searching for building
stones. At points the trench reached even into the Iron II levels, in
Areas H7 and G7 removing two walls of the Iron II pillared house. The
mixed backfill in the Stratum I trench is the final context for most of
the figurines which are the subject of this report.
This broad trenching across what is now Field IV was also
encountered across the eastern excavation areas of Field III,
immediately north of Field IV. There, too, walls had been robbed out
through the Iron II Stratum VI levels.
Stratum III: Byzantine Period
Although both Byzantine and Persian period pottery were found in
abundance in the upper layers of Field IV, only little of either
stratum has survived. Segments of walls belonging to Byzantine Stratum
III were found in Areas L8, K8, J8 (see Area J8 Plan 715), I8 (see Area I8 Photo
1717),
G6 (see Area G6 Plan 755), and F7 (see Area F7
Plan 712).
In Area L8 a 3 m. segment of a deep foundation wall L8007, used in
support of what had once apparently been a large structure, underlay
cobbled floor L8004, on top of which sat a pillar base L8003; a
secondary support wall L8014 also belongs to this connected
architecture. Wall J8004 was probably the continuation of foundation
wall L8007; however, nothing else of the building (except a small patch
of Surface J8008) once supported by these walls has survived.
In Area G6 a 3 m. deep stone-lined pit or silo G6008 was probably
constructed in the Byzantine era. However, the Stratum I trench
removed both the top courses of Silo G6008 and all connections to other
architecture. All that may be concluded is that grain was stored in
this silo installation; its relationship either to other
structures has been lost.
Stratum V: Persian Period
Stratified remnants of Stratum V in Field IV were also few in number.
Two stone-lined silos in Area G7, a short segment of a wall F8003/G8007
and a cobbled surface G8008 have been assigned to Stratum V. Together
they represent the remains of a domestic unit in the northern end of
Field IV, one badly preserved as a result of later trenching and slope erosion.
Two silos,
G7006 and G7007, in Area G7, remain from Stratum V in Field IV. These
were cut into Stratum VI floor G7018, but were themselves partially
dismantled by the Stratum I trench. Like Stratum III silo G6008, the
two silos of Stratum V in Area G7 were isolated stratigraphically
from other architecture and from each other, a fact also caused by the
Stratum I trench.
Remnants placed secondarily within Silo G7006,
however, help to elucidate the Stratum V occupation. In fill G7003
within Silo G7006 was found a small limestone "incense altar" 1973,
typical of the type used during the Persian era. Midden
debris G7008 within Silo G7006 contained thousands of fragments
of burned animal bones, as well as several figurine fragments. Whether
or not the midden represents disposed refuse from sacrificial rituals which also involved the
figurines, this material provides the best candidate in Field IV for an
"original" context for the Persian era figurines.
Stratum VI: Iron Age II
In spite of disturbances caused by the trench of Stratum I,
significant portions of Stratum VI were recovered in Field IV,
particularly on the west and north ends of the field. Portions of
Stratum VIA were found in the middle areas of the field, Areas I7, I8
and J8. Architectural elements belonging to Stratum VIB1 houses were
found in Areas L9, K9, L8, K8, K7, I8, H7, G7, G6, F8, and F7. In
addition, in Areas F8, F7, G8 and G7 evidence of phasing
within Stratum VIB1 was discovered. Finally, the lowest exposures in
Field IV uncovered evidence of a still earier architectural arrangement, Str. VIB2.
Stratum VIA
Following destruction of the Iron II fortified town at Halif, a few
of the houses built along the western fortifications were reoccupied.
A Stratum VIA "squatter's phase" was reported in Field III; the same
appears to have occurred in Field IV: short-lived re-use of some of
the rooms of a house located in Areas I7, I8 and J8. In Area J8 (see
Area J8 Plan 762) Surface
J8010 and pillar base J8013, in Area I8 (see Area I8 Photo 1716)
surface I8016, Wall I8011 and installation I8013, and in Area I7
Surface I7007 and Pillar I7010 are presumed to belong to Stratum VIA,
the post-destruction occupation of Halif. Assignment to Stratum VIA
was made in part on the basis of the lack of burned destruction debris above
these loci (common to the Stratum VIB houses at the north and
south ends of Field IV were the deep layers of burned destruction debris.)
Though these architectural loci are clustered in three areas
next to each other, no good architectural plan has yet been determined
for them. Residents of Stratum VIA apparently abandoned the site not
long after re-settling the destroyed Stratum VIB1 town.
Stratum VIB1A
Tell Halif was a fortified town in Stratum VIB (Sub-strata VIB1 and
VIB2); the fortification wall F8010
was discovered in Areas F8 and G8 (as well as in the westernmost areas
of Field III). The fortification wall in Areas F8 and G8 is poorly
preserved, much of it eroded down the slope of the tell.
The final phase of the Stratum VI town in Field IV, similar to
evidence from Field III, was destroyed in a fire that caused collapse
of the brick walls of the pillared buildings. This collapsed
destruction debris buried stone wall foundations and trapped artifacts
on the floors, but it also preserved, in a more or less common level
within the collapsed bricks, artifacts which had probably been on the
second floors of the pillared buildings. Separation of materials from
the two floor levels was possible, therefore.
The Southern Pillared Building
Beginning with a probe in the 1989 season, elements of a "pillared
building" were uncovered in the southern portion of Field IV,
specifically in Areas L8, L9, K8, and K9. The unit duplicates the
typical plan of the "four-room" type house: three long rooms on the
eastern side and a broadroom on the west. A stepped entrance L8019
through Wall L8012 at the southeastern corner of the building may have
opened onto a street or alley. Presumably this house was built
against the inner face of the town's fortification system, though here
in Areas K9 and L9 both the fortification wall and the western wall of
the house are missing.
On the western end of the southern pillared building (the "broad room") excavation
in Areas L9 and K9 recovered the remainder of three small chambers.
The western limit of the pillared house is missing, having eroded down
the slope of the tell. However, earth and cobbled Surfaces K9004,
K9009, L90003, and L9006, two pillars K9010 and L9002, and Walls K9002,
K9003, K9005, L9005, and L9009 make it clear that the plan of these
rooms on the western end of this pillared building was similar to the
"four room" house plan used elsewhere during the eighth century. The
surviving dimensions of the southern pillared building are ca. 7.5 m.
(N-S) X 6.75 m. (E-W).
Artifacts found on a more or less common level within the collapsed
destruction debris of this pillared building in Areas K8, L8, K9 and L9
suggest that it had a second floor on which domestic activities were
carried out. (To be noted, however, is that to date no stairway to an
upper floor has been located in the excavation areas.) In addition to
whole and restorable ceramic vessels, loom weights, stone weights and a
large chert saddle quern were found fallen from the upper floor. All
evidence from the now complete exposure of the building points to
domestic activity mixed with home industry of weaving (loom weights)
and selling (weightstones). The individual/family who lived in this
building was also involved in farming; an iron plow point 1979 was found on Surface
K9004.
Households either gathered or purchased quantities of
foodstuff sufficiently large for long-term use and storeage. The number of
storage jars on the ground
floor of the southern pillared building suggest large quantities of
grain were kept in the house. Alternately, the amount of storage vessels
may reflect preparation for the siege of Halif by Assyrian forces.
The Northern Pillared Building
In the northern part of Field IV, in Areas F8, F7, G8, G7, G6,
H8, and H7, most of the remainder of a pillared building was
exposed. Here the trenching operation of Stratum I, along with earlier
disturbances in the Byzantine and Persian periods, partially dismantled
the foundations of this house. Nonetheless, because the disturbances
tended to affect the architecture in minor ways, it was possible to
recover the greater portion of its dimensions. The surviving
foundations show a house plan considerably larger than the pillared
building in the southern part of Field IV: ca. 10.5 m. (N-S) X 9.5 m.
(E-W).
In the final phase of the northern pillared building five
(perhaps a sixth in Area H8 where disturbance of the architecture has
confused the plan) rooms were found to have made up the ground floor.
The room in the northwest corner of the building in Area F8, however,
appears to have been deliberately walled off from use, with doorways
blocked both on the east and the north walls of the small room. No
apparent reason for closing the room can be seen; nonetheless, a solid
stone and brick Wall F7012 was constructed across an opening between
Wall F7003 and Wall F8011, and doorway F7025 was blocked with stones
and bricks laid on top. During the final phase of Stratum VIB this
small room was apparently no longer used.
The start of Stratum VIB1A, therefore, coincided with architectural
modifications inside the northern pillared building and immediately to
its north. The construction of Walls F7012, F7016, and F7017, with
Surfaces F7018 and F7032 mark a clear departure from the previous
organization of the immediate area. Not only was traffic into and from
the Area F8 room halted and the room blocked from use, but also
apparently a completely new building was constructed against the outer
(northern) Wall F7003 of the northern pillared building.
Changes in the access to the broad room in Area G8 were also made
at the beginning of Stratum VIB1A. Again, a doorway F7031 in Wall
G8006 was blocked with large stones and bricks laid on top. In this
instance, however, the room in Area G8 apparently was not removed from
traffic and use. Traffic was rerouted around the southern end of Wall
G8006 and access gained from the south. In the 1992 season of
excavation in the Area G8 room a grouping of cultic
objects were found (head of a pillar figurine,
ceramic incense stand,
two carved limestone blocks, perhaps "masseboth"); hence, the demands
of the practice of the cult may have been the reason for the alteration
in the house plan.
The southern room(s) of the pillared building, found in Areas H7
and H8, had at one time been defined by walls which were subsequently
partially robbed in the Stratum I trenching. The location of these
walls are certain from the shallow "robber trenches" H7011 and H7015
across Area H7. In this reconstruction it is presumed that Robber
Trench H7011 represents the original line of the row of pillars
parallel to the row in Area G7, Robber trench H7015 representing the
southern wall of the house.
As in the pillared building in the southern portion of Field
IV, so in the northern building: the pottery and artifacts found above
the living floors within the destruction debris support the
interpretation of a second floor on which domestic activities were
enacted. (To be noted, however, is that to date no stairway to an
upper floor has been located in the excavation areas.) The artifacts
included storage vessels, lamps and weightstones. Likewise, the
presence of several large storage jars on Surface F7006, in addition to
the vessels found in the 1992 season in Areas G8 and G7, also suggests
that foodstuffs were either gathered or purchased in large quantities.
In Areas F7 and G7, in addition, two small Tabuns G7021 and F7015
along with In stallations F7008 and G7022 and Mortar F7020 point to the
domestic activity of food preparation in the ground floor of this
pillared building.
Stratum VIB1B
In an earlier phase of Stratum VIB1 doorways F7025 and F7031
were open and used for traffic between the Area G8, F8, G7 and F7
rooms. Likewise, an opening between Walls F8011 and F7003 permitted
access to the north of the pillared building.
Stratum VIB2
Evidence of an earlier phase of Stratum VI was seen in walls G8014
and H8006, as well as in cobbled floor G8016, all located in probes
beneath the floors of Stratum VIB1.
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