Nahariya Overview

Sharon Zuckerman
The grant is requested for the analysis and final publication of the Canaanite Temple of Nahariya, located on the northern coast of Israel. The temple was excavated by Imanuel Ben-Dor in 1947, and by Moshe Dothan in 1954-1955.

The temple of Nahariya was initially uncovered and excavated in 1947 under the auspices of the British Mandat Antiquities Authority. During these excavations a large broadroom with several adjacent rooms were cleared, and two phases of occupation discerned. Most of the small finds, attesting to the cultic activities in the area, were found in the dumps outside the building and were dated to the MB IIB. Other periods represented are the MB IIA and the LB I. The results of Ben-Dor’s excavations were published in a single article in QDAP. Three more excavation seasons were held at the site by Moshe Dothan (aided by Helene Kantor and Munya Dunayevsky) in 1954-1955. These seasons concentrated on the southern part of the area, and revealed the remains of an earlier temple and a Bamah. Three strata (C-A) and five phases (1-5), representing alterations and changes in the building and its vicinity, were discerned. The rich assemblage included votive vessels (miniature bowls and juglets, seven-cup bowls, cultic stands) and other pottery types, metal and clay figurines (human, animal and bird-shaped), jewelry (beads, necklaces), two scarabs, toggle pins, moulds for figurines and weapons, as well as the weapons themselves (arrow heads and knives, blades). Large quantities of animal bones, especially goats, were found in the courtyard. The temple’s period of activity is dated to the MB IIB through the LBI. Its abandonment occurred sometime during the LBI (17th century BC), as attested by Cypriot imports said to have been found in its last stratum. Dothan published only preliminary results of his excavations, and offered his general interpretation of the material in several articles.

The documentary material, as well as the pottery and other finds, from both the Ben-Dor and Dothan excavations are currently housed at the IAA archives in Jerusalem and Beth-Shemesh. Final plans and additional documentary material were entrusted to me for publication by Prof. Trude Dothan. 800 objects are listed in the IAA database, including 150 pieces of metal of various shapes and sizes. A preliminary assessment identified most of these as silver. Several prills and the moulds might testify to the existence of metallurgical industry on-site.

The Canaanite Temple of Nahariya is an important cultic site from the Second Millennium BC. It is often cited as a unique coastal site dedicated to the cult of Ashera of the Sea, forming an important locus of ritual activity in a period of ports emergence and intensive maritime trade. Its cultic assemblage is compared to assemblages of contemporary religious precincts, especially that of Megiddo. The fact that the Nahariya temple was never fully published hinders full appreciation of its contribution to the study of various aspects of the Canaanite urban culture of the first half of the second millennium BC. The Nahariya temple is a crucial case for in-depth study of cultic, industrial and commercial activity, during the formative period of Canaanite city states in the southern Levant.

The end product of the proposed project is expected to be a monograph entitled “The Bronze Age Temple at Nahariya: Towards an Archaeology of Canaanite Cult and Ritual”. It will form the final report of the excavations at the site, and will include a detailed assessment and presentation of the stratigraphic phases, and a detailed pottery analysis. Other contributions by experts will cover topics such as scarabs, metal artefacts and traces of metallurgical activity in the site, analysis of organic materials (such as animal bones and shells) and C14 measurements. The monograph will aim to offer a methodological and theoretical discussion of the archaeology of cult and ritual, putting the interpretation of the site and its remains within a wider historical and theoretical framework.