Virtual World Project

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Virtual World Project Aphek Antipatris Introduction Tel Aphek rises 15 meters above the source of the Yarkon River, about 12 kilometers east of Tel Aviv.

1 Virtual World Project Aphek Antipatris Introduction Tel Aphek rises 15 meters above the source of the Yarkon River, about 12 kilometers east of Tel Aviv. Aphek, with an area of 30 acres, appears as a raised plateau, with a steep slope along the northern side and less-defined contours on the eastern, southern, and western sides. The numerous natural springs surrounding Aphek granted the city a natural defense and an easily accessible water source. Due to its key geographical position, Aphek played an important role in antiquity as a mound with over 4000 years of uninterrupted habitation. Excavators note that the hilly landscape and the nearby east-west line of the Yarkon River formed an obstacle to the ancient international north-south road, the Via Maris. Control over this transportation bottleneck provided Aphek with regional attention and potential means for income. The earliest remains discovered at Aphek date from the last phase of Early Bronze I (estimated at 3000 BCE), during the beginning of the urbanization in Palestine. Occupation at the site continued into the Iron Age. In the Hellenistic period, the mound was resettled and acquired the Greek name Pegae (meaning the springs ). In 9 BCE Herod expanded the town and named it Antipatris (after his father) and it was by this name that Aphek was to be known for the next one thousand years. After 750 CE there was no city on the mound, although the Arab Caliphs of the Ummayad dynasty built a single residence over the ruins of the Byzantine town and in 1571 Selim II constructed a Turkish fort on the tell. The name Aphek is first mentioned in the nineteenth century BCE group of Execration Texts. The identification of the site is based on Thutmose III's list of conquered cities in Palestine and Syria, where Aphek is located between Lod and Ono to the south and Socoh to the north. Aphek is also recorded in the annals of Amenhotep II. In the Bible, Aphek is mentioned as one of the Canaanite cities defeated by Joshua (Joshua 12:18) and as the departure grounds for the Philistines aggression against the Israelites (1 Samuel 4:1, 29:1). Assyrian and Egyptian documents referred to Aphek as a stronghold on the main road to Egypt. W. F. Albright's initial 1923 survey of the mound yielded Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery, as well as Hellenistic and Roman pottery. In 1935 and 1936, two northern areas and test pits were excavated under the supervision of J. Ory. The Aphek project continued in 1961 when A. Eitan excavated three areas along the mound's southeast slope. The Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and the Petah Tiqva municipality organized thirteen seasons of excavations between 1972 and 1985 under the direction of Pirhiya Beck and Moshe Kochavi.

2 The following areas have been excavated: Area A on the northwestern slope, Area B on the northern slope, Area C which includes the main street and forum of Antipatris, just south of the Ottoman fort, Area D near the southern perimeter of the tell, Area E at the southeastern edge, Area F north of the tell, Area G at the southwestern perimeter, and Area O in the northeastern corner. Area X contains the acropolis of Canaanite Aphek, where twenty strata ranging from the Ottoman period (Stratum 1) to the Middle Bronze IIA (Stratum 20) were uncovered. Numerous inscriptional finds (a bilingual lexicon, a trilingual lexicon, a Hittite bulla, an Egyptian foundation deposit tablet, and a letter from Ugarit) have been found in Area X. Today, only Areas C and X have visible remains and are presented in the tour. Acropolis The acropolis of Canaanite Aphek is located in the courtyard of an Ottoman fortress. In 1571, Selim II ordered that the massive fortress (known as Binar Bashi) be constructed on top of mound of Aphek. Unfortunately, the construction of the fortress destroyed much of the earlier strata on the acropolis, and its massive walls cut through the Middle Bronze palaces (in Area B). In the center of the fortress a large structure was built on top of the Egyptian governor s residency (Palace VI). The plan of the structure can be seen in Figure 3. The building contained a large courtyard (11.5 by 15 meters) and a mosque (11.5 by 7.5 meters), with stonewalls over a meter thick. A total of twenty-four small, mostly uniform rooms (3.5 by 3.5 meters) stood along the perimeter of the mosque and the courtyard and functioned as barracks. In the northwest corner, the mosque s walls widen to form the base for a minaret. The entire complex was built according to the firman issued in 1571 BCE. A half-meter thick layer of homogenous light-brown soil runs all along the southern wall of the Egyptian residency (Palace VI). An inscribed faience ring was found in this disintegrated mudbrick material during the 1976 season. The inscription on the ring reads, Amun-Re abundant in every favor, praise and joy. This ring belongs to a large group of rings from the New Kingdom inscribed with confessions of faith and praises. The excavators suggest that the ring was worn by an Egyptian who was traveling to Canaan through Aphek. Egyptian Foundation Deposit An Egyptian foundation deposit was found during the 1977 excavation at an elevation about 1 meter higher (stratum 8) than that of the inner courtyard of the palace (stratum 12). The foundation deposit consists of a dedicator plaque to Isis, inscribed with the name of Ramesses II. The deposit was found in a thick layer (half a meter thick) of debris consisting of a dark gray ashy soil. The excavators interpreted this area as a threshing floor. The presence of Philistine bichrome pottery dates the debris to BCE. The deposit might attest to an Egyptian temple to Isis at Aphek during the Late Bronze Age, but not remains of such a temple have been found. It is also not known how the plaque ended up in the later debris. Governor s Palace The excavation of the governor s palace (labeled Palace VI by the excavators) confirmed the identification of Aphek with Tell Ras al-ain. In Joshua 12:18, Aphek is called Aphek of Sharon and is listed as one of the cities in Canaan destroyed by Joshua. Since no Late Bronze level or pottery was discovered in Ory s original excavation of the mound in the

3 1930s, Martin Noth came to the hasty conclusion that Aphek should be identified with Tell Qana, a small mound four kilometers to the west of this site. The discovery of the governor s palace in 1974, however, led to a reconsideration of Aphek s previously assumed identity. Except for this palace and two large wine-presses found on the western slope, no other remains of the Late Bronze age were detected in the excavation areas. This might suggest that Palace VI was an isolated structure at Aphek in this period, though large parts of the acropolis remain unexcavated and may hold evidence of a more extensive occupation. Palace Entrance The Egyptian governor s residence (Palace VI) was built at the southwest corner of an earlier Palace V (from the fourteenth century BCE). That palace was south of the earlier Middle Bronze palaces in Area B (go to spot 13 to see the fragmentary remains). While the excavators do know that Palace V had large stone-paved courtyards and row of columns in front of the northern outer wall, the plan of Palace V cannot be fully reconstructed due to the damages suffered during the building of the Egyptian governor s residence in the early thirteenth century BCE. The entrance to the governor s residence is on the northeast side with a paved passage leading into it. The building was entered through a well-defended gate. On the east side of the entrance gate is a 2-meter long stone monolithic trough, in which was found a scarab of Ramesses II. Inside the Palace Instead of a spacious palace with courtyards, halls, and rooms, the governor s residence was a public, fortress-like structure. The dimensions of Palace VI measure 16.7 by 15.7 meters. The palace was originally a two- or three-story structure with an area of over 500 square meters. The ground floor was the service floor with two halls and two rooms as well as an inner room that led to the staircase. The ground floor was constructed of stonewalls 1.4 meters thick and 2 meters high. The walls of the second floor would have been constructed of mudbrick. The ground floor was constructed partly of stone and partly of plaster, whereas the upper floor and ceilings would have been made of wood beams, branches, and plaster. While none of the upper story was preserved, the remains of mudbricks, plaster, and wood beams, along with pottery and jewelry mixed in the debris, indicate that the upper-story was the residential level of the governor s palace. Palace VI was a typical fortified Egyptian residency, similar to other Egyptian governors residences built at key locations in Canaan during the period in Egyptian rule in the Late Bronze Age. Other Egyptian residencies can be found at Beth Shan, Tell el-far ah (south), Tel Sera, Tel Mor, and Deir el-balah. Palace VI of Aphek was unique in that it lacked a central courtyard on the ground floor and that its walls were built of stone rather than the traditionally used mudbrick. In the northwest corner of the palace stood a U-shaped stairwell of wood, brick, and stone, set within a square tower (3.5 by 3.5 meters in area) leading to the upper story. Seven monolithic steps of the stairway, significantly cracked from the heat of the fire that destroyed the building, were found still standing in the entrance of the stairwell. Often considered the most exciting find at Aphek, numerous written documents were found among the debris of the palace. Five cuneiform documents were found in close proximity to the stairwell beside the stump of stonewall at the doorway. One of the tablets

4 is a lexical text with three entries of an agricultural nature and the other entries interpreted as god, hand, and great or large. The guidelines on this tablet suggest that it was a local reference list of lexical information or a school exercise. The other fragments appear to be from routine administrative tablets by a scribe recording considerable quantities of items presumably at Aphek. Storage Halls and Ugarit Letter Two long storage hallways occupy most of the ground floor of the palace. The halls are identical in width (3.5 meters) although they differed in length, with the southern hall larger at 8.5 meters in contrast to the northern halls 6.75 meter length. A letter from Ugarit was recovered in the northwestern corner of the southern hall. The text on the small tablet consists of a letter written by Takuhlina, prefect of Ugarit, to Haya, presumably the Egyptian governor who may have been at residence at Aphek. The letter contains 41 lines, covering all the surface of the tablet, and is divided into six sections by horizontal lines. The essence of the communication is that Adduya (a representative of the Ugarit official Takuhlina) sent a quantity of wheat to Durshimati (a representative of Haya, the Egyptian governor) and Haya is now writing to ensure that the grain is returned to Adduya. To date, this letter is the only one from Ugarit recovered in the land of Canaan. The letter reads as follows: To Haya, the great man, my father, my lord, say: Thus says Takuhlina, prefect of the land of Ugarit, your son and your servant from afar at the feet of my lord and my father I fall. For my father, my lord, may there be peace. May the gods of the great king, you lord, and the gods of the land of Ugarit bless you and keep you. Oh father, concerning my wheat 250 and 2/6 kor of wheat that Adduya gave into the hand of Durshimati in the city of Yapu my father now says the following: Let Durshimati return the 250 and 2/6 kor of wheat to the hand of Adduya. Furthermore, my father, I have already dispatched to you the wheat that you requested. But you have not yet given my request that I sent to my father. Now, my father, dispatch to me my wish from my previous request, and may my lord return my wheat to the hand of Addayu, my courier. Moreover, Addayu s payment has been taken away by my enemies. So, let him stand before my father, and may my father judge them. Now, as a gift for my father, I have dispatched to you 100 shekels of blue wool and 10 shekels of red wool called tabarru. Palace Destruction The preserved remains of the ground floor of the palace consist of an entry hall that could be entered from either of two openings. The western door led to a staircase up to the upper main floor. The eastern door led to the storage wing of the ground floor which consisted of two large halls and two smaller rooms (one paved with stone and the other with

5 plaster), all connected by a narrower corridor. The eastern wing of the ground floor was separated from the storage halls by a small corridor. In the second half of the thirteenth century BCE, the governor s palace was destroyed by a violent fire as a result of which the walls of the upper story along with the contents of the rooms fell to the ground floor and created a heap of debris 2 meters thick consisting of mudbricks, carbonized wooden beams, painted plaster, and building stones. The many objects found in this debris include Canaanite storage jars and a collared-rim pithos on the ground floor, as well as eating and serving vessels, including many Egyptian bowls found in the debris of the second story. There were also Egyptian beads and rings worn by the palace residents, along with bronze arrowheads (indicating that Aphek was destroyed by an enemy attack). The mound of destruction debris from the palace remained on the acropolis for nearly three millennia until it was leveled off to approximately two meters by the builders of the Ottoman fortress in 1571 CE. Passageway Palace VI consists not only of the governor s residence, but also a subsidiary building on the east. The one-meter thick, western wall of this building is separated from the residency by a passageway or alley 4 meters wide. In the passageway, a Hittite bulla made of dark gray unbaked clay was discovered. The title king and child and a design of two circles and a triangle (symbolizing good health) appear on the concave surface of the seal. A fragment of a cuneiform Sumerian-Akkadian literary text, a Mycenaean IIIB stirrup-jar, and an Egyptian signet ring of the New Kingdom were also found in this same passageway. Antipatris Herod built up the city in 9 BCE and renamed it Antipatris after his father. He paved the cardo with flagstones in a herringbone pattern. Shops were built on both sides of the cardo with a front room that opened onto the street and a back room that served as a storeroom. The shops are best viewed from spot 16. The cardo empties into a large forum, visible from spots 18 and 19. The Herodian city was destroyed during the first Jewish revolt and recovered slowly afterwards. By the time of the Severan dynasty, however, Antipatris was once again flourishing. A large mansion from the later Roman period was excavated east of the cardo, visible at spots 17 and 20, but unfortunately, the plan of the mansion is hardly discernable today.

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aiton.new 1/4/04 3:48 AM Page 2 Below: An aerial view of area A of the excavations. A massive square building that appears to be a fortress was discovered in this area at the top of the tell. aiton.new