Tell Qudadi 2004 Overview

Tell Qudadi: An Iron Age II Fortress on the Central Mediterranean Coast of Israel
Alexander Fantalkin / Oren Tal

Tell Qudadi (also known as Tell esh-Shuna [and often erroneously referred to as Tell Kudadi]) is a medium-sized mound located within the city limits of Tel Aviv on the northern bank of the Yarqon estuary of the Mediterranean. The mound rises about 8 m above sea level. Trial excavations at the site were carried out as early as 1936 under the direction of P.L.O. Guy on behalf of the British Mandatory Department of Antiquities. Extensive excavations were carried out in 1937-1938 under the direction of E.L. Sukenik and S. Yeivin, with the participation of N. Avigad, on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Substantial remains of two fortresses of the central courtyard type that date to the Iron Age were discovered.

The first fortress was erected upon a substructure 3 m high with walls 7 m thick. The eastern wall is preserved to a length of 33 m and its southern wall to 14 m. All other walls of the substructure were completely destroyed. On top of this substructure six rooms built around a central courtyard were found filled with sand. The walls of this structure were preserved to a height of 0.6 m.

The excavators did not agree on the chronological setting of the earlier fortress. According to S. Yeivin, it was built in the tenth century BCE, at the bequest of King Solomon, in order to protect the approach from the sea and prevent possible hostile raids against inland settlements located along the Yarkon. He proposed that the establishment of the fortress at Tell Qudadi points to the existence of a developed maritime policy in the days of the United Monarchy. N. Avigad, however, suggested that the fortress was erected sometime in the ninth century BCE, and can be attributed to the Kingdom of Israel.

According to the excavators, the second fortress could be dated to the late ninth and eighth centuries BCE. They suggested it was destroyed in 732 BCE, in the course of Tiglath-pileser III's campaign. This fortress was built upon the ruined first fortress, as a 30 m long and 2.5 m thick segment of the eastern wall was discovered built against the faqade of the earlier building, with alternating insets and offsets. A paved road led to a gate in the wall. Two burned layers and two floors lay above the rooms of the first fortress. On both floors a rich ceramic assemblage was unearthed. Considerable amounts of seventh-century BCE pottery and Persian period pottery may attest to the continuation of settlement at the site. It seems that the latter building was re-used during the Persian period, apparently under Sidonian hegemony. All excavated remains are presently visible at the site.