Tel Dor
Ephraim Stern

Tel Dor is the largest and most prominent tell on the northern coast of Israel. It served as the main port of the region up to the time of Herod the Great.

The comprehensive excavations at Tel Dor were conducted over a period of twenty-one years (1979–2000). Several large excavation areas, each of which constitutes a major excavation in its own right in terms of extent and duration, remain to be reported in final form.

Two volumes in the Tel Dor final reports series devoted to Areas A and C were published in 1995 in the Qedem Reports series (Vols. 1 and 2 of that series) by the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Exploration Society. Preparation of the final publication of Area B has been turned over to my former students, Dr. Ilan Sharon and Dr. Ayelet Gilboa).

The excavation area for which I am seeking the assistance of the White-Levy Program is Area G. The excavation of this area, located at the center of the tell, was completed over a 14-year period. It serves as a key area for understanding the various phases of the Iron Age I in the northern part of the Land of Israel. Collapse levels dated to the end of the Late Bronze Age were preserved here, with several Iron I settlement layers covering them. These containing unique finds for the study of the special and little-known material culture of the northern Sea Peoples. The findings, I believe, will make it possible to identify the cultural characteristics of the Northern Sea Peoples in their other settlements. Above these levels were uncovered rich settlement layers of the period of the Israelite Kingdom dating from the 10th century BCE to the conquest of the city by the Assyrians. Above these levels are found important remains of the Assyrian and Persian periods and dense settlement strata filled with finds from the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods. These unique findings will be presented in detail in the planned final excavation report. This excavation area was excavated under my direction and I am responsible for the full scientific publication on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Exploration Society.

Processing, registration, and study of the excavated material and its preparation for publication will be undertaken with the assistance of the original excavation staff of the site that I trained during the course of the excavation, along with the aid of external experts specializing in the various classes of archaeological artifacts.