Et-Tell
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (March 2013) |
Location | West Bank |
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Coordinates | 31°55′00″N 35°17′18″E / 31.916667°N 35.288333°E |
Et-Tell (
Location
The site of et-Tell is just beside the modern village of
Settlement phases
Early Bronze I
The earliest settlement phase known at et-Tell, called "Pre-Urban", coincides with the
About 3100 BC, et-Tell entered the "Urban A" phase. A large, well-planned walled city, about 110,000 square metres (~11 ha) in area, was built on the site. Some notable buildings from this time include a great acropolis complex consisting of a temple-palace compound, a market and residential area, and four fortified city gates. Sometime between 2950 and 2860 BC, the Urban A city was brought to an end by violent destruction. Most of the main buildings were burned to the ground; a layer of scorched stones and ash covers the floors of the EBI buildings.
Early Bronze II
Following this destruction, the city was rebuilt and entered into the "Urban B" phase, which coincides with the Early Bronze II period. Buildings were repaired and modified, and the fortifications were strengthened. Two distinctive new pottery shapes that first appear in this period suggest that new leadership was imposed on the city; these newcomers may also have been responsible for the destruction of the Urban A/EBI settlement.
The Urban B city, like its forerunner, was destroyed violently by fire. Excavations uncovered the ruins of buildings, collapsed stones and beams at every site investigated. Fire trapped under the debris of collapsed roofs smoldered hotly enough to change the chemical composition of the stone, a process called
Early Bronze III
Following this destruction, the city lay in ruins for some time. Erosion channels cut through the debris; based on their depth and spread, the city was most likely abandoned for between 20 and 40 years. Finally, in the Early Bronze Age III, et-Tell was rebuilt and entered the "Urban C" phase. Egyptian influence in this stage is evident, attested by the use of stone pillars shaped with copper saws as well as other typically Egyptian building techniques. Two gates in the city wall, along with a great open reservoir designed to capture rainwater, are known.
Around 2550 BC, there was a temporary disruption at the site, based on damage and rebuilding to the fortifications and major changes in the temple area. Finally, about 2400 BC, complete destruction again overtook the site. Callaway has proposed that a local Canaanite ruler may have managed to conquer the city away from the Egyptians, following which it was destroyed in an Egyptian counterattack.
Iron Age
After the destruction of the "Urban C" layer, et-Tell was abandoned and lay in ruins for over a thousand years. The next settlement period did not begin until the
Excavation history
The first archaeological exploration of et-Tell was undertaken in September 1928 under the supervision of
The next excavation at et-Tell took place during three seasons between 1933 and 1935 and was led by
The most recent campaign at et-Tell, the Joint Archaeological Expedition, was undertaken in nine seasons from 1964 to 1970 and overseen by
Comparisons with biblical Ai
8:28). Another point in favor of this hypothesis is that the Hebrew word "Ai" means "the ruin", which is more or less the same meaning as the modern Arabic name, et-Tell. Albright's identification has been accepted by the majority of the archaeological community, and today et-Tell is widely believed to be one and the same as the Biblical Ai.If et-Tell is indeed Ai, this poses a problem for defenders of the literal historicity of the biblical accounts concerning the origin of ancient Israel. The reason for this is that traditional dating schemes place the Exodus from Egypt and Joshua's conquest around 1400 BC. In this version of events, Joshua and the invading Israelites are depicted as conquering Ai, killing its residents and burning the city; however, et-Tell was unoccupied at this time according to the established archaeological chronology, and the later Iron Age I village appeared with no evidence of initial conquest. The Iron I settlers seem to have peacefully built their village on the forsaken mound, without meeting resistance.
One proposal to resolve this difficulty holds that the Bible's description of Ai, whose Hebrew name הָעַי means "the ruin", seems to imply that it was indeed a ruined settlement at the time of the Israelite conquest. Ralph K. Hawkins has proposed that Ai was destroyed by Joshua in a scaled-down attack against the Cannanite people who were living in the ruins of the previous Middle Bronze Age city.[3]
External links
- Callaway, Joseph. "Ai." In David Noel Freedman (ed.), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol.1, p. 125–130. Doubleday, 1992.
- Callaway, Joseph. "Ai." In Ephraim Stern (ed.), The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, p. 39–45. Simon & Schuster, 1993.
References
- ^ Naeh, Liat (2020-09-25). "#EOTalks 10: Archaeological Display and Omission: The 1936 Exhibition of Judith Krause-Marquet's Finds from A-Tell (Biblical Ha-Ai) at the Crossroad of British, Palestinian, and Israeli Perspectives by LIAT NAEH". Everyday Orientalism. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
- ISBN 978-1-78297-246-4.
- ISBN 978-1-4267-5487-6.