Impressive findings in the excavations of the Institute of Archeology of Tel Aviv University in Tel Ashdod-Yam, an ant of the Philistine city of Ashdod
Impressive findings were found at Tel Ashdod-Yam - an anthill of the Philistine city of Ashdod - at the end of the first excavation season of the Institute of Archeology of Tel Aviv University.
During the excavations conducted under the leadership of Dr. Alexander Pantelkin, remains of a fortification system from the 8th century BC were uncovered, which surround, among other things, a sort of anchorage. It is a massive wall of mud bricks which is the core of a slippery system (sort of dirt embankments) internal and external.
This period of time is characterized by Assyrian rule in the southern part of the eastern Mediterranean basin, which was followed by power struggles and wars. Philistine Ashdod is mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions in which episodes of rebellion and resistance to the Assyrian rule were mentioned in the late 8th century BC. The Kingdom of Judah, under the rule of King Hezekiah, then rejected Ashdod's appeals to join the rebellion.
In response to the rebellion, Philistine Ashdod was severely punished and destroyed by the Assyrian sovereign. As a result, the center of gravity moved from Ashdod itself to Ashdod Sea (about 5 km from Ashdod), where the excavations were now taking place. According to Dr. Pantelkin, it must be assumed that the remains of the fortifications that have just been uncovered are related in one way or another to these events.
Excavations in the complex also revealed the remains of impressive buildings from the Hellenistic period (late fourth century to second century BC), which yielded a fascinating find including coins and weights.
According to Dr. Pantelkin, based on the infrastructure and the lessons learned this season, more interesting discoveries should be expected in the following excavation seasons.
It should be noted that until now the Ashdod site has not been excavated in an orderly manner except for a few test excavations between the years 1965-68 by the late archaeologist Dr. Jacob Kaplan.
