Philistine urban form at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: a magnetometric perspective

Abstract

Some scholars view Philistine settlement in the southern Levant as the dominant, colonizing imposition of a new urbanism following a period of small cities and structural realignment during the Late Bronze Age. Others view Philistine urbanism as a gradual process that marks emergent, rather than imposed, cities. Here we explore Philistine urban planning through magnetometer and excavation data from Tell es-Safi/Gath. Results show that the northern lower city has dense, symmetrical buildings bordering main streets, an industrial area, potential extra-mural settlement, and many burned structures. Comparing these results to planning in other Philistine cities, we argue that these cities were moderately planned because they have many shared features, an emphasis on ordered spaces, and possibly discrete locations for industrial activities, but spatial divisions and street widths were not rigidly enforced, and the relative location of specialized activities varies. This finding is consistent with the emergent model of Philistine urbanism.

Keywords:

• Philistine
• magnetometry
• city planning
• urbanism
• Iron Age

Acknowledgements

The lead author thanks Aren Maeir for inviting him to conduct this research. Both authors thank Amit Dagan, Jill Katz, Jeff Chadwick, Vanessa Workman, Eric Welch, Brent Davis and Haskel Greenfield for support in the field. We thank University of Northern Colorado students Thomas Letchworth and Laura Sweat for their hard work in all aspects of the project. In addition, numerous student volunteers from the University of Kansas and Colorado Christian University provided daily assistance.

Notes

1 Bunimovitz (1998b: 107) and Bunimovitz and Lederman (2011: 45–46) argue that this nucleation developed in part through the forced relocation of Canaanites from villages to cities, but this view lacks convincing evidence.

2 See Bauer (2014) and Sherratt (1998) for an argument that the Sea Peoples were an emergent phenomenon not just in Philistia but throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

3 See Ussishkin 1990 (77-82) for a differing interpretation of these gates.

4 Sy Gitin and Jeff Chadwick have now determined that extra-mural settlement previously reported in the north-western quadrant of Tel Miqne-Ekron (Gitin 1989: 23) was located within the Iron Age city wall (Jeff Chadwick, pers. comm. May 2021). We do not consider the Iron IIB/C Assyrian palace built outside the city wall at Ashdod (Kogan-Zehavi 2018) to be part of Philistine city planning principles, although we would not be surprised if extensive surveys and testing in extra-mural areas at Philistine cities located infrastructure, industry, housing and other features that developed in these areas.

5 The western street is uncomfortably close to the route of the current park visitor path, which is lined by stones. This correspondence opens the possibility that the apparent street in the west derives from a recent iteration of the park path, although two structures appear to flank the street. Another possibility is that the modern path follows the ancient street as it avoids the mounds of ruined architecture and follows the least obstructed route to the upper city.

6 It is also possible that these walls are mudbrick without stone foundations, but excavations, thus far, have not uncovered such walls. The magnetism of mudbrick depends on its parent material and temper, and may be enhanced by burning. Thus, in gradiometer data mudbrick may appear as relatively high or low magnetism, depending on its parent soil, the context of its deposition, and the local background magnetism that influences instrument adjustment. Limestone and chalk have little magnetism and generally appear as low-magnetism features regardless of context.

7 Feature width estimates from magnetometer data come with an unknown margin of error related to sampling strategy, feature depth, magnetism and processing procedures. The metrics provided here are a best estimate based on the clearest data that is likely nearest to the surface.

8 See Kvamme (2006: 216–20) for a discussion of how fires, fired materials and other practices enhance magnetism.

9 Area Z is a small unpublished salvage excavation conducted by S. Talis of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in the summer of 2019, about 50 m to the south of Area D (East). This excavation revealed portions of a large building with two construction phases, which was destroyed in the late 9th century BCE.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Northern Colorado [Provost Research Dissemination and Faculty Development Fund]; the National Science Foundation [grant number BCS-1229061); the Israel Science Foundation [grant number 911-2018], and in-kind resources from the University of Northern Colorado and the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project.