The long 7th century BCE at Tel Shiqmona (Israel): a high resolution chronological tool for the Levant and the Mediterranean

Abstract

The 7th century in the southern Levant is characterized by Assyrian rule and subsequent Egyptian domination. Despite the relatively violent nature of this century, and abundant historical documentation, occupations both in the southern Levant and Lebanon are dated with low resolution. This deficiency was mainly created by a lack of destruction layers within this century, resulting in a dearth of chronological anchors for ceramic developments. At Tel Shiqmona, a unique purple-production centre that had been frequently destroyed, an unparalleled sequence of five layers of late Iron Age destructions/abandonments has been preserved, spanning a little over 100 years. These enable the definition of detailed typological developments of Phoenician transport jars. Being a widely distributed commercial vessel, exhibiting frequent typological changes and originating from a limited number of workshops, these jars constitute the best chronological index yet for the late Iron Age Levant. This paper presents the Tel Shiqmona sequence, outlines the typological development of the jars and explains their chronological designations. The benefits of defining archaeological sub-divisions within the 7th century BCE are highlighted by two examples: the chronology of Tyre; and settlement/geopolitical dynamics in the Assyrian province of Megiddo. It is argued that this chronological tool can be applied broadly around the Mediterranean.

Keywords:

• Tel Shiqmona
• Phoenician transport jars
• Neo-Assyrian
• Saitic period
• Mediterranean Iron Age chronology
• Mediterranean trade

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, we would like to thank the long-time volunteers in the Tel Shiqmona project: Sandy Katz, Moshe Diengott, Edna Avrahami and Uri Graiver, and the staff of the National Maritime Museum in Haifa, past and present, especially Oren Cohen, Filip Vukosavović and Ron Hillel. We are deeply grateful to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) for granting us the publication rights for the Late Bronze and Iron Age excavations by Elgavish at Tel Shiqmona. Unconditional help and support were received from IAA staff, especially Gideon Avni, Avshalom Karasik, Zvi Greenhut and Deby Ben-Ami. The pottery was scanned in 3-D in the Computational Archaeology Laboratories of the IAA and the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University. We thank Sveta Matskevich for processing the figures and plans and to Nir Neria for producing the plates. The purple dye residues were analyzed by Naama Sukenik, David Iluz, Alexander Verwak and Zohar Amar in the life sciences laboratories at Bar Ilan University. Petrographic analysis was recently conducted by Paula Waiman-Barak. We sincerely thank Gunnar Lehmann (Ben Gurion University of the Negev), Danel Kahn (University of Haifa) and Anna Georgiadou (University of Cyprus) for discussing various aspects of this paper and Alexander Fantalkin, Israel Finkelstein and Waiman-Barak for unpublished data. Finally, we are grateful to two anonymous reviewers and the editor for their critique and fruitful suggestions.

Notes

1 Since we date Stratum 8 c. the mid-7th century BCE (see below) this stratum constitutes a new terminus ante quem for the first arrival of Greek cooking pots to the southern Levant. For the association of these vessels with the end of the 7th century, see Fantalkin (2008: 194, 288); Waldbaum (2011: 135). Also, finding the cooking pot in an industrial facility such as Tel Shiqmona 8, rather than in a military fortress or major town/city, may support the interpretation of these pots as indicators of commercial activity (in lieu of Greek immigrants/mercenaries). For the ‘commercial approach’, see Aubet (2007); Kelm and Mazar (1989: 49); Mazar (1997: 9); Waldbaum (1994: 60–61; 2011). For the ‘Greek immigrants/mercenaries’ approach: Fantalkin (2001: 102–03, 139–47; 2011); Naveh (1962: 92–99); Niemeier (1994: 33; 2001: 22–23).

2 Considering its Greek imports, Tel Qudadi Stratum IIIa may have continued shortly after the end of Shiqmona Stratum 10. However, contrary to Fantalkin and Tal (2015: table 18), who claim that Tel Qudadi continued to function until 640/635 BCE, we suggest that it did not continue long after 690/680 BCE at the latest, based on its transport jars (mainly the total lack of TJ5 and TJ7 discussed below).

3 This type too presents typological developments through the 7th century BCE (from high to low rim for example), but we do not discuss them here.

4 Regarding the gradual process of micro-morphological ceramic changes resulting from changes in motor habit patterns, see Gilboa (2018: 156 with references).

5 Lower dates for the late Iron Age strata at Tyre have been already suggested in the past (James 2008: 147 with references); we intend to tackle this paper in the future.

6 Probably also in Area II/X, see Pritchard (1988: fig. 43).

7 Singer-Avitz does note that the lack of basket-handle jars may indicate that Megiddo II ended before Tell Keisan 4 and Kabri E2 (the ends of which she dates, like we do, to the Babylonian takeover), but still thinks that Megiddo II continues until Nebuchadnezzar's era (Singer-Avitz 2014: 138). As well, a handful of difficult-to-identify possibly East Greek sherds unearthed recently at Megiddo (I. Finkelstein and A. Fantalkin, pers. comm.) cannot change the unequivocal general picture.

8 Including all the finds above elevation 94.5 m in Building II; Zarzecki-Peleg (2005: figs I.85–87).

Additional information

Funding

The Southern Phoenicia Project (SPP) is conducted with Lehmann and Waiman-Barak, collaborating with Harel Shochat and Revital Golding Meir, and supported by Israel Science Foundation grant [number 596/18] awarded to Lehmann and Gilboa. The research and publication of Tel Shiqmona is also funded by a Shelby White and Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publication grant, awarded to the authors; by the Hecht Foundation in Haifa; by a PhD Rotenstreich Scholarship awarded to Shalvi; by a collaboration initiative of the Haifa Municipality and the Rector’s office and the Research authority at the University of Haifa and by The Zinman Institute of Archaeology at this University.