Tel Shikmona
تل السمك | |
Location | |
---|---|
Region | Haifa |
Coordinates | 32°49′30″N 34°57′19″E / 32.82500°N 34.95528°E |
Tell es-Samak (
History
In the
Archaeology
Excavation history
The main archaeological excavations conducted at the tell and in the Byzantine city south of it, were carried out by the archaeologist J. Elgavish in the 1960s–70s on behalf of the Department of Museums, Municipality of Haifa.
Salvage excavations were conducted in the 1990s by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and concentrated in the eastern part of the Byzantine city, west of the Carmel Mountain slopes, where the city's necropolis is. In 2010–2011 a new series of excavation seasons was conducted by a team from the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, headed by Dr. Michael Eisenberg with Dr. Shay Bar directing the excavations on the tell itself. The goals of the project were to re-expose excavated archaeological complexes south and east of the tell previously excavated by Elgavish, expand those areas and undertake extensive conservation work in order to preserve the antiquities and present them to the public as part of Shikmona Public Park. The work also aimed to study the stratification of the tell and create a precise chronological framework.[8][9][10]
Findings
The remains on the tell date from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Byzantine period. The lower city, east and mainly south of the tell, is dated to the Late Roman period-Byzantine period. No remains have been found dating to the Early Arab period, leading the archaeologists to conclude that Tell es-Samak was abandoned before the 7th century CE.
Tell es-Samak has yielded various types of
Identification
It is agreed among scholars that the site, Tell es-Samak, has no identification so far during the Biblical periods. Latest historical and archaeological research points towards the identification of the site during Hellenistic-Byzantine periods as Porphyreon (south). This new identification fits with the clear Christian remains at the site and the absence of Jewish ones as should be expected from Tell es-Samak.[14]
Nature reserve and national park
Tell es-Samak was declared a 1677-dunam nature reserve in 2008. A small area (73 dunams) was declared a national park, as well.[15]
References
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities 13.12.3.
- ^ Shalvi, Golan. (2020). Tel Shiqmona: a Forgotten Phoenician Site on the Carmel Coast.
- ^ Pseudo Scylax, Periplous, 104
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, S591.7
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities 13.12.3. Cf. Samuel Klein, Sefer Ha-Yishuv, vol. 1, Bialik Institute: Jerusalem 1939, p. 155, who identifies Sycamine with Shikmona near Old Haifa.
- Strabo's Geography 16.2.27.
- ^ "Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem - 'The Bordeaux Pilgrim' (333 AD)", trans. by Aubrey Stewart, London 1887, pub. in: Palestine Pilgrim's Text Society, vol. 1, p. 43
- ^ "Zinman Institute of Archaeology Shikmona Archaeological Project". Zinman Institute of Archaeology. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
- ^ "Zinman Institute of Archaeology Shikmona Archaeological Project poster" (PDF). Zinman Institute of Archaeology. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
- ISSN 0334-7311.
- ^ Andrea M. Berlin, "Jewish Life Before the Revolt: The Archaeological Evidence", in: Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period, vol. 36, no. 4 (2005), p. 445.
- ^ "The Price of Purple: Archaeologists have found new evidence of a robust dye industry that endured on the Mediterranean coast for millennia". archaeology.org. 2020.
- ^ Israel Antiquities Authority - The Forty-fifth Archaeological Congress in Israel, The ancient purple industry in Tel Shekmona, p. 8 (in Hebrew)
- ^ Eisenberg, Michael (2021). "Tell es-Samak (Porphyreon/Shikmona) in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Periods". Michmanim. 29: 55–78.
- ^ "List of National Parks and Nature Reserves" (PDF) (in Hebrew). Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2010-09-27.