Thousands of skeletons, tools and jewelry were discovered under road 6* Hellenistic city north of Ashkelon

Antiquities / The findings indicate: 6,000 years before "Crossing Israel" the area served as a main transportation route * Hellenistic city near Ashkelon

The remains of the Hellenistic settlement discovered near Ashkelon. Some of the exposed house walls rise to a height of 2.5 meters. Photo: Antiquities Authority

Pottery found at the excavation site at the Barkai intersection. An unprecedented amount of findings. Photographs: Eyal Varshavsky / Baubau and Itzik Ben

Israel Antiquities Authority

The rescue excavations that the Antiquities Authority began about three months ago were supposed to be short. The excavation site is near the Barkai intersection in Wadi Ara (Nahal Iron), on the northern route of the Trans-Israel highway. The Authority knew that there were ancient stone quarries from the Roman period, and estimated that the rescue excavation would be completed "within two to three days".

But under the quarries, three to six meters below the surface of the rock, a burial site from the third millennium BC, the beginning of the Bronze Age, was discovered. The dimensions of the site surprised the excavators: the cemetery that was uncovered is the largest for its time that has been uncovered so far in the Land of Israel, and one of the largest known to researchers in the world. For three months, until last Thursday, the diggers pulled out the remains of hundreds and maybe thousands of skeletons, as well as thousands of personal belongings that were buried with them.

The amount of findings is unprecedented:

Archaeologist Yehuda Dagan, who headed the excavation, estimated that about 7,000-6,000 pottery vessels, tens of thousands of beads and jewelry, some made of gold and precious stones, spearheads, knives of various metals and more were found at the site. Dagan believes that the place was used for burials for about 600 years, from 3450 to 2800 BC. "These are people who maintained a developed culture and trade relations with distant countries 400 years before the first civilizations known to us appeared in Egypt and Mesopotamia (Iraq region)," says Dagan. According to him, the graves discovered so far from that period were much smaller and contained a limited number of dead. "In Barkai, we first discovered burial halls with an area of ​​100 square meters, in each of which hundreds of people were buried," he says. "Each generation buried their dead closer to the entrance of the cave, and when it was full they expanded it to the sides."
According to an agreement with the Ministry of Religion, the bones of the dead were moved to burial without the archaeologists performing tests on them, which would have made it possible to learn more about the identity of the dead. "What is certain is that they were not Jews," says Dagan. "From a religious point of view it can be said that they died before the flood." It is possible, however, that the dead were residents of a nearby settlement from that time, Tel a-Svir.

Dr. Raphael Greenberg, an expert in Bronze Age archeology from Tel Aviv University, has not yet examined the findings, but from the details he received he got the impression that the importance of the site is not precisely in their early age - but in their quantity. "Until now, we have not come across a site with findings of such intensity," he said.

The period when the site was active is considered one of the most significant in the development of humanity. The Early Bronze Age lasted from 2300-3500 BC. In the second part of this period - known as Early Bronze Age 2 (2700-3000) - the form of urban settlement developed. The settlements were large and became fortified, and primary government structures were created and trade relations were developed in the countries of the Middle East. Towards the end of the period, writing first appeared - in Egypt, Iraq and later in the region. "The findings discovered at Barkai Junction and nearby sites," says Greenberg, "reveal that already in this period - nearly 6,000 years before the construction of the Trans-Israel Highway - the area served as the main transportation route in the Land of Israel from south to north."

Streets and mud walls in sand * A large Hellenistic settlement was uncovered near Ashkelon

by Ran Shapira

A Roman mariner who sailed along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the second century BC described a large settlement on a hill not far from the seashore, near present-day Ashkelon. Two hundred years after the letter reached its destination, the settlement was abandoned and its houses were buried in the sand.

The boom in development and construction in Ashkelon's northern neighborhoods in recent years led to its rediscovery: more than four years ago, during work to pave a road connecting the Barnea neighborhood to the nearby "Azurim Center" mall, the tractors uncovered a corner of a brick wall, and in a rescue excavation carried out at the site, several graves were also found.

The rescue excavation was stopped and resumed only in February of this year. Yoram Chaimi, who is managing the excavation at the site on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, says that when he began the work he thought he was uncovering a small family farm - a house for living and a warehouse for work tools and grain. But as the excavation progressed, it became clear that there was a rather large settlement on the spot, which covered an area of ​​about 100 dunams. Chaimi and his team uncovered several houses made of mud bricks, each of which has two or three rooms for living. Between the houses was a common yard, which was used as a kitchen. Tabuns, other cooking facilities and facilities for storing cooking utensils were found there.

Also revealed was a long street, about three meters wide, and an alley about a meter wide. Next to the excavated houses, the walls of other houses protrude from the sand, delineating additional streets and alleys. The mud bricks, the construction method and the general planning of the settlement correspond to the Hellenistic period. Some Hellenistic coins found at the site also point to the period.

The walls of the houses, some of which reach a height of about two and a half meters, have been well preserved. Chaimi speculates that shortly after the abandonment of the settlement, a sandstorm took place in the place, in which the mud walls were covered and saved from the weather. The small amount of pottery and coins found by the diggers shows, according to Chaimi, that the place was abandoned: the inhabitants of the place apparently packed their belongings in an orderly manner and left to look for another place to live.

In the last days of the excavation, pottery from the period of the Persian occupation was found under the floors in some of the rooms in the houses of the Hellenistic city. This finding strengthens the hypothesis that there was a Persian farm at the site that preceded the large Hellenistic site. On the floor of one of the rooms is also a large metal object, which appears to be a boat anchor.
Since not a single address was found in the place, and no parchment, paper or document was discovered that would testify to the identity of the residents or their occupations, any scenario describing the character of the residents of the place, their customs or the reasons for abandoning the settlement is only a hypothesis. The letter of the Roman mariner is one of the few written sources in which the settlement is mentioned.

But Chaimi will not be able to continue testing the hypotheses regarding the Hellenistic settlement. The time allotted for the rescue excavation ended at the beginning of the week. The road construction work should resume soon and the diggers have also abandoned the settlement on the hill. Chaimi may return to the salvage excavation in another part of the ancient settlement, in a place where remains were also discovered following construction work.

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