Rethinking Tel Achziv: an Iron II Architectonic and Ceramic Sequence from Southern Phoenicia

Abstract

By assessing the archaeological corpus of Moshe Prausnitz's 1963 and 1964 excavations at Tel Achziv, the article reevaluates aspects of the chronology and nature of the Phoenician expansion to the area south of the Ladder of Tyre (Rosh Haniqra). The authors present the Iron IIC stratigraphical sequence of Area D, the main excavation, as well as an outline of a typological and quantitative study of its pottery. It is dominated by a building with long and narrow spaces which existed over three phases, from the late 8th to the 7th century BCE. An analysis of the changes in its architecture and pottery assemblage indicate that it began as a domestic unit in Phase 6 and was transformed into a non-domestic structure in Phases 5 and 4, with an emphasis on storage, very likely in relation to trade in the port of Achzib. Finally, a review of settlement patterns in the Western Galilee during the Iron IIC suggests that the enlargement of the settlement at Achzib at the end of the 8th century BCE, and the likely contemporary (re?)building of the fort at Kabri, are indications of a deliberate Phoenician involvement in the resettlement of Achzib, as well as its administration.

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