Category Archives: excavations
Summer 2016 at Tell Halif
I am not in Israel this summer, but there’s something happening at Tell Halif. A team are excavating at the northern end of Field V and establishing the connection between Fields IV and V. They are finding some good stuff. … Continue reading
Maritime trade in the Eastern Mediterranean under Assyrian rule
In a previous post I discussed the description of the Assyrian presence in the Levant during the 8th and 7th centuries BCE as the Pax Assyriaca – this peaceful, prosperous period of trade. I suggested that there are serious problems … Continue reading
Pax Assyriaca
Once upon a time on the eastern shores of the sea there were many little kingdoms fighting for dominance, trying to exert control over each other. The frequent raids into the territories of neighbours made life uncertain. The enmity stifled … Continue reading
The tabun and its misidentification in the archaeological record
Recently the article The tabun and its misidentification in the archaeological record by Jennie Ebeling and M. Rogel was published in the journal Levant. It examines the current and past use of tabun bread ovens in the Levant. For a … Continue reading
Beauty among ashes
By now it is nothing unusual at Tell Halif to come down on floors with plenty of pottery remains. Only, this one was a few centimetres higher than we expected. We were quite excited when we found it, especially as … Continue reading
The four-room house in Ancient Israel
In a previous post I talked about the “pillared house” as a house-type that was characteristic of Ancient Israel. In his book The Archaeology of Israelite Society in Ancient Israel Avraham Faust stresses that it is not so much the … Continue reading
The Bullae of Khirbet Summeily
Ever since Mississippi State University issued a press release on December 15, 2014 about several bullae found during excavations at Khirbet Summeily and the possible implication of greater complexity in the Iron Age that would support a kingdom of David … Continue reading
