Tel Akko 1999 Overview

Abstract
Tel ‘Akko (Tell el-Fukhar) is located 700 meters from the Mediterranean sea, at the northern end of the Bay of Haifa (Israel Map ref. 1585/2585), near the presumed location of a paleo-bay that served as an anchorage near the mouth of the Na' aman river. Between 1973 and 1989, twelve expedition seasons were held in nine excavation areas, revealing evidence of intermittent habitation from the Early Bronze Age I through pre-modern times. The extent and shape of this 20 hectare mound was largely set by the massive building activities of the urbanization process that began in the Middle Bronze IIa Period. In Areas F and P, along the site's perimeter, a sequence of Middle Bronze Age (MBA) rampart fortifications and gate systems were exposed. In Area F, facing the reconstructed northwestern bay, several phases of a wellpreserved mudbrick gate were investigated during six excavation seasons (1977-80, 1983-84). Along the southwestern edge of an embayment, which may represent the site's southern harbor, three seasons of excavation (1984-85, 1989) revealed a small part of the Area P rampart and possible gate. Following the Middle Bronze Age, limited remains of the Late Bronze IIb (LB IIb) through the Hellenistic Periods were exposed in Area F. In Area P, an LB IIb, Iron Age I "cultic" area was found, which contained maÒÒebôt, ritual related items, and imported wares; this area also has limited remains from the Iron Age through Hellenistic Period.

The goal of this project is to analyze and publish the stratigraphic data and finds from these remaining unprocessed areas of Tel ‘Akko, and synthesize the results with these other areas, and in a broader eastern Mediterranean historical and archaeological context. The intra-site location of these specific MBA remains provide an unparalleled opportunity to study the urban evolution of a port site, the relationship of its components with both Syro-Meosopotamian urban antecedents and southern Levantine counterparts. The study of these, and later, remains, when synthesized with other scientific analyses, including the reconstructed paleogeography, will assess the long-term changes in the spatial relationship between the perimeter of this urban port site and its immediate coastal environs, and the site's role in interregional and maritime trade.