Researchers have been excavating for 25 years and are discovering the secrets of the lower city of Tel Tsfit / Gat during the Iron Age
For about 25 years, Prof. Aharon Meir of the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archeology named after Martin (Zos) at Bar-Ilan University has been excavating at the site of Tel Tzfit, identified as the "Gate of the Philistines" and located near Kfar Menachem in the Western Lowlands. It was one of the largest and most important ancient cities in the Land of Israel during the Bronze and Iron Ages. The mound itself has been studied since the end of the 19th century, but only recently did Prof. Meir and his team begin to focus on the large underground city surrounding the mound.
Impressive remains from the Iron Age (12th century BC)
As the investigations progressed, it became clear that the lower city of Gat Philistim during the Iron Age - that is, from the 12th century BC - was very large, and also that thanks to a historical coincidence, it is much easier to investigate than the hill above it. Following the destruction of the city in approximately 830 BC by King Hazael of Aram (mentioned in 18 Kings XNUMX:XNUMX), the upper city was resettled many times - until the modern era - while the lower city was completely abandoned, so even a superficial excavation in the area reveals the The remains of the Iron Age city. This fact made it easier for Prof. Meir and his team to uncover many important discoveries in Geth Philistim on the eve of its destruction at the hands of the Arameans: a temple, a gate with a nearby well that probably served as the city's water gate, massive fortifications as well as residential neighborhoods and remnants of an agricultural industry and even a metal industry. One of the outstanding discoveries was a concentration of facilities for the production of olive oil in large quantities, which was probably one of the reasons for the size and importance of Gat Philistim;
After the destruction at the hands of Hazal, which is considered one of the most important events of the period, Ekron replaced Gat Phileshtim as the center of olive oil production (and therefore as an economic center) in the Philistine region. Remains of a workshop for the production of metal objects (bronze and iron) were discovered near the temple, which shed light on modern research regarding the production of iron at that time, which, contrary to the traditional hypothesis (originating from the biblical text), was not a Philistine monopoly at the time. The proximity of the metal production area to the temples indicates an important characteristic of ancient temples from the Near East: the close connection between ritual activity and the production of art objects and the central economic role that the temples played in the economy of the city or state.
The connection between the size of Goliath and the large buildings of Gath
One of the interesting aspects of the discoveries in the lower city is the impressive size of the remains and the stones from which they are built. Prof. Meir estimates that this characteristic contributed to a significant degree to the famous myth about the physical size of the Philistines, which is expressed, among other things, in the description of Goliath in the Bible as a man larger than normal and in the verse from the book of Joshua that describes the inhabitants of the cities of Palestine (including Gath) as "giants"; Those who observed the remains of the city, which stood out in the period after the destruction of the city, probably concluded that its inhabitants were large or even gigantic. There is an interesting parallel to this in the Greek world: there are remains in Greece from the Bronze Age built of large stones that were called "cyclopies" hundreds of years later (in the classical period), after the one-eyed giants from Greek mythology, who seemed to be able to lift and carry stones of this type. The Philistines, researchers today believe, are in fact a kind of combination of communities that came from the east and the center of the Mediterranean at the beginning of the Iron Age together with a local Canaanite population, and the culture they created - which is expressed in the Philistines - combines, or weaves together, Aegean and Canaanite elements.
The area of the lower city is very wide and covers more than 200 dunams, so it is not possible to dig and closely study a significant part of it. Therefore, with the help of a research grant from the National Science Foundation, Prof. Meir and his team combined traditional excavations with modern remote sensing technologies, such as the use of ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry tests and lidar sensors, which allowed the researchers to map what is below the surface, i.e. the remains of a period the iron The results of the remote sensing hinted to the researchers where they should dig and also allowed them to connect the various excavation areas and reveal sequences of houses or streets that provided a more complete picture of the city plan.
Life itself:
Prof. Aharon Meir is an active grandfather with his grandchildren, likes to run, engage in bird watching and hiking, loves traveling to remote and unusual places (he has a special connection with Papua New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean), and in his free time he eagerly reads about everything that comes near.
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