TELL QASILE - A PHILISTINE CITY NEAR TEL AVIV The first phase of Philistine settlement in Canaan took place in southern Canaan around 1200-1180 BC with the invasion of the Sea Peoples. Ancient Canaanite cities like Ashkelon, Ashdod and Gaza acquired Philistine rulers. The new culture is associated with Mycenaean IIICIb Ware, indicative of the Aegean origin of the Philistines - this soon evolved into Philistine Bichrome Ware. The Philistines also settled along the coast to the north. The site of Tell Qasile on the Yarkon River (Tel Aviv) was an important and extensively settled site. It is a unique example of an urban settlement which seems to have been founded by the Philistines on a virgin site. The town is located on the north bank of the Yarkon River on a sandstone ridge about 2 km from the sea. The choice must have been connected with the Philistine maritime activity along the Mediterranean coast – the Yarkon River was a good anchorage. Three Philistine occupation levels have been identified in the 12th - 11th Century BC – Stratum XII, XI and X. The 4 acre site sees a gradual development in three successive phases. In the earliest phase (Stratum XII) the central part of the town was densely built while the periphery was more sparsely settled. The town’s sacred precinct was set apart by a wall running 25m. Further south there was a public building. In the next layer (Stratum XI) the town was densely built up with many new buildings erected. Substantial changes were made in in the third layer (Stratum X = mid 11th Century 1050 BC) where a regular orthogonal street network was introduced dividing gthe town into well defined blocks. At Tell Qasile a large building was built in the earliest phase (Stratum XII). It consisted of a large hall built of plastered mud brick with mud brock benches along the inner face. In the centre of the hall was a freestanding hearth built with plastered mud bricks. The appearance of a hearth was unknown in Canaanite architecture but was a well known feature of Aegean architecture – this foreign architectural feature was thus brought by the Philistines from their homeland in Greece. The houses of Stratum X at Tell Qasile were relatively uniform. They are square or rectangular buildings measuring 10 by 10 m and they included a courtyard in which a row of wooden pillars rested on stone bases. One part of the courtyard was left open while the other was roofed and intended for household animals. In the courtyards were ovens, looms and grinding facilities for cereals, olives and grapes. At the back of the courtyard were the dwelling rooms The excavations at Tell Qasile have revealed a major Philistine cultic centre. Three successive temples were discovered (Strata XII-X). The earliest was a small brick structure 6.4 by 6.6 m comprising a single hall entered from the east. Opposite the doorway was a raised platform on which a statue of the deity stood, and benches lined the walls. East of the temple was a broad courtyard in which was found accumulated layers of ash, organic matter and animals bones evidence of sacrificial activity. In Stratum XI the brick structure was replaced with a stone building, slightly larger than its predecessor (5.75 by 8.5 m). The doorway had moved and was now on the NE corner. The interior walls had benches while in the west a small room acted as the temple treasury, still preserving a rich group of cult objects and offerings. West of the main temple was a secondary shrine with small room, benches along its walls and raised platform. It may have been the temple of a secondary deity, possibly the temple’s spouse. This practice of associating a minor shrine with a major one was largely unknown in Canaanite religion and has parallels with Aegean and Cypriot practice. In the courtyard of the main temple a pit was dug – it contained ritual objects, abundant pottery vessels and many animal bones. In the third phase (Stratum X) the temple was rebuilt. The floor was raised and an entrance chamber was added to provide a bent axis approach. There was a raised platform on the west and behind it a treasury room. The ceiling rested on two cedarwood pillars on cylindrical limestone bases. The temple courtyard was enclosed by stone walls setting it apart from the rest of the city. A small square sacrificial altar was set in the courtyard. The small shrine on the west now had its own courtyard. The three temples at Tell Qasile were built in the short period of about 150 years. The Philistines changed the plan over time and this suits well with the Mycenaean behaviour of no fixed religious architectural form. The temples do not conform to the bulk of Canaanite temples but are closer in form to the temples at Mycenae and at Phylakopi on the island of Melos. Ritual pottery vessels were found in the tell Qasile Temples – they appear to be continuations of Canaanite artistic traditions while others are associated with Cypriot forms. Ornamental cylindrical stands, depicting dancers or lionesses, support bowls used to serve sacred meals in the temple. Some of the bowls are ornamented with bird’s heads and wings, recalling the bird themes from representation of the Philistines on the walls of the Egyptian temple at Medinet Habu. A cup in the form of a lion’s head appears related to examples from the Aegean. One vessel from Tell Qasile shows a woman with breasts as libation spouts suggesting its use in a fertility cult. Other vessels include kernoi (tubular vessels) used as libation vessels with attached animals, pomegranates and jars – these find parallels with Mycenaean and Cypriot examples. Pottery masks in the shape of human and animal faces may have been worn by priests during temple rites. Amongst the offerings of the temples were precious objects such as beads, metal artefacts, ivory objects, alabaster vessels and pottery jars. They illustrate the wealth and artistic vitality of Tell Qasile in the Iron Age I. SYDNEY UNIVERSITY CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSE THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ISRAEL I: FROM EARLIEST TIME TO THE IRON AGE Sat 14 Feb 2015 10am - 4pm 1 session, 6 hours total University of Sydney Dr Michael Birrell $131 inc GST - lunch is provided For more information: cce.sydney.edu.au/class/IRO1-1 B.C. Archaeology travel will be leading study tours of Israel and Jordan which visit Tell Qasile and the Eretz Israel Museum ISRAEL & JORDAN: ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY A new tour exploring the ancient Levant led by Dr Michael Birrell Includes: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Megiddo, Hazor, Masada, Amman, Jerash, Dead Sea, 2 days Petra 6th - 27th November 2015 3rd - 23rd April 2016 $8600.00 including airfares from Australia Itinerary: bcarchaeology/israel_jordan.html
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 00:14:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015