Direction
Sylvie Blétry (Université de Montpellier 3, Labex Archimède et Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères)
How Eveha participates
Digging
Photogrammetry
Co-direction of a sector
Location
Palestinians territories
Summit plateau
An expanded team was able to open up a large survey area to the west of the summit plateau, where previous excavations had revealed occupation in ancient times. It revealed a settlement whose dates were confirmed by an exhaustive analysis of the pottery (Late Bronze Age and Iron Age II). In one of the test pits, a large grooved slab was found, accompanied by a circular settling basin, which served as a wine press in the Iron Age II.
Fortifications
Another test pit was dug on the fortifications below this sector. Here too, analysis of the pottery confirmed the dates, from the glacis to the Iron Age II, and from the wall to the Bronze Age (probably from the Middle Bronze Age).
Proto-Byzantine sector
Excavation of the proto-Byzantine church sector also continued, with a view to determining whether the church extended to the west. The partial remains of a dedicatory inscription provide clear evidence of the existence of a second phase of the church. However, the ceramic material from this year and previous campaigns, analyzed for the entire sector, is too indistinct to propose absolute dates for the two levels of the church, and the remains are too sparse (as they are very close to the cultivated surface) to confirm the presence of a narthex or atrium. A deep test pit beneath the church uncovered a small Iron Age I or Late Bronze Age idol of the “pillar figurine” type, but it was not possible to identify any other traces of occupation from this period.
Ceramic material from tomb 54
The ceramic material from a tomb excavated urgently in 2018 following clandestine looting was also examined: the assemblages studied demonstrate its occupation in the Late Bronze Age. They also include imported Cypriot material as well as locally produced imitations.
Architectural surveys
The southern and southeastern parts of the top of the tell near the church area contain remains of recent habitation, probably Ottoman, some of which cover older walls. It was necessary to carry out a rapid survey campaign in order to allow for more in-depth exploration in the future. The site is also subject to harmful erosion, and it was necessary to record its condition.
