The Harbor of the Sea Peoples at Dor Avner Raban The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 50, No. 2. (Jun., 1987), pp. 118-126. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0006-0895%28198706%2950%3A2%3C118%3ATHOTSP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H The Biblical Archaeologist is currently published by The American Schools of Oriental Research. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/asor.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic journals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers, and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community take advantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org Tue Oct 30 06:53:44 2007 The Harbor he tell of ancient Dor- called Khirbet el-Burjby the Arabs - is located on Israel's Mediterranean coast, south of Mount Carmel. North, east, and south of the tell are a series of large, well-protected, but rather shallow bays and lagoons - formed as a coastal sandstone ridge has been partially eroded and flooded by the sea. Although there are at present sandy beaches next to it, it may have been virtually an island 4,000 years ago when the postglacial transgression of the sea reached its highest level. The site has a long nautical his- tory (seeWachsmann and Raveh 1984), but it is of particular interest be- cause it is the only harbor attributed by historical testimony to one of the Sea Peoples (see Sandars 1978, as well as the sidebar accompanying the present paper). The first archaeological excava- tions at Tel Dor, directed by John Garstang, were carried out by the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem between 1923 and 1925. Bedrock was reached in only one section, the southwest slope of the tell, exposing some pottery of the twelfth to thirteenth centuries B.c.E., Above: The Philistines in battle (around 1200 B.c.E.).The armor is based on that shown in the reliefs at Medinet Habu; the sword is in the style of those found at Gaza; and the shield decorations are based on those found on Philistine pottery of the early Iron Age. Drawing is adapted from a reconstruction by Gertrude Levy. Left: The submerged quay in the bay south of Tel Dor. Note the ashlar masonry that comprises the ancient loading stage. Because of centuries of undertrenching through wave action, the quay today inclines toward the sea. Biblical Archaeologist, June 1987 ofbeSea Peoples atDor including decorated pieces of the Philistine style. Trial excavations were conducted by Israel's Depart- ment of Antiquities in the 1950~~ but they dealt only with the Roman theater on the northeastem side of the site. In 1980Hebrew University, The joint expedition to conduct large- leader, Ephraim Stem of the Archae- ological Institute of Hebrew Univer- sity (seeStem 1980, 1982, 1983,and 1985),sought the participation of Haifa University's Center for Mari- time Studies in studying the archae- ological evidence for ancient mari- time activities. The center has studied such is- sues since the mid 1960~~primarily by conducting longshore and under- water surveys, tracing archaeologi- cally dated evidence for ancient sea . ...... .. levels, and plotting man-made struc- tures and installations that might refer to changes in land-sea relations over the centuries (seeSneh and Klein 1984).In our collaboration with Professor Stem, however, we have expanded our research and con- ducted a series of trial excavations along the shoreline of the tell (see Raban l981,1982,1983,1985a, and 1985b).These excavations, although far from being completed,have already revealed a multitude of installations An artist's reconstruction of the topography of Dor around 1200 B.C.E. NO; especially the sandstone ridge protecting the harbor from the open sea, a the rock-cutpassage, which served an antisilting function. Viewis from Lllo south. Biblical Archaeologist, Iune 1987 119 Excavations at Dor have revealed such installations as quays, ship- yards, fish tanks and piscinas, wave catchers, and washing channels. for Temples ~ateber"-"2 - dated to between the Middle Bronze Age and the Byzantine period. The discoveries, which have included such harbor features as quays, land- ing stages, shipyards, fish tanks and piscinas, purple-dyeing facilities, wave catchers, and washing channels, testify to the richness and complex- ity of maritime activities through- out the history of Dor and the ever- changing sea levels and water lines to which her installations had to be adjusted. In this paper I would like to re- port on the work done thus far on the southern side of the tell. Before doing this, however, I will briefly sketch what we know of Dor and the Sikuli (the group of Sea Peoples who used Dor as a harbor) from historical Island sources. Historical References to Dor and the Sikuli The earliest known historical ref- erence to Dor comes from the reign of Ramesses I1 (who ruled in the first half of the thirteenth century B.c.E.). It is mentioned in a list of coastal cities in Canaan that was found in his temple at El-Amra (Nubia). A plan of present-day Tel Dor and vicinity The fish pond of Kibbutz Another Egyptian reference is in Nahsholim is the site of the Middle Bronze Age haven. The islands once a papyrus dated to the time of Judges were part of a coastal ridge or peninsula, which protected the harbor area from the open sea. - around 1100 B.C.E.The papyrus tells the story of Wen-Amon, an Egyptian official sent to Byblos to buy cedar logs for the sacred barge of Amon (seePritchard 1955: 25-29) Biblical Archaeologist, June 1987 Plan of the quay area on the southeast side of Tel DOT.Note the retaining wall (H),the western segment of the quay with ashlar headers (B, C), the well and drainage channel area (D),the Hellenistic city-wall (F)cutting the eastern end of the retaining wall (H),the tenth-century-B.C.E. cross-wall (M), and the remains of earlier ashlar headers (E). and it contains the passage, "I reached the second (12:23)is in a list of thirty- (Judges5:17): "And why does Dan Dor, a town of the Sikilaia [Sikkulo]." one kings defeated by Joshua;' and remain in ships?" In addition to the reference in the third (17:ll)mentions Dor the story of Wen-Amon, the Sikuli among the cities designated to be Excavating the Southern Side are mentioned in an Egyptian papy- within the western half of the in- Our excavations of the southern side rus that gives a final summary of the heritance of Manasseh. (The last of 21Dor have thus far revealed many activities of Ramesses 111 in the north does not refer to the city of Dor but, interesting features, including quays (PapyrusHarris I: LXXVI, 7; see Prit- rather, to "the inhabitants of Dor and a well and drainage channel. chard 1955: 262). Written soon after and its villages.") In the book of The quays. The southern side has two his death, it says: Judges (1:27)it is emphasized that sections: a fingerlike promontory to I extended all the frontiers of Egypt "Manasseh did not drive out the in- the west and accumulated occupa- and overthrew those who had at- habitants of . Dor, nor her villages tional levels to the east. The promon- tacked from their lands. I slew the [daughters]."Finally, it is mentioned tory, based on the coastal sandstone Denyen in their islands, while the in 1 Kings (4:11). It seems that Dor ridge, is the highest point of the tell Sikuli and the Philistines were was not taken by the Israelites until and was probably used as the town's made ashes . I settled them in early in the tenth century B.c.E., citadel or acropolis from its earliest strongholds, bound in my name. Their military classes were numer- during the reign of David, whose days. It later became the site of a ous as hundred-thousands. I as- son, Solomon, made Dor one of his Crusader castle, Castelum Marle. signed portions for them all with twelve districts (1Kings 4: 11).2 The rocky base terminates on the clothing and provisions from the The Bible's references to the Sea lee side in a vertical cleft surrounded treasuries and granaries every year. Peoples are confined to the Philis- by an abrasive shelf just below the There is also a reference in a tines. They are described only as water level. This is where Garstang's twelfth-century text from Ugarit (RS militarily superior urban people, expedition dug its trench in 1923- 34.129) to the Sikuli as pirates dwell- ironsrniths, farmers, and wine-makers, 1924. The eastern half has no under- ing in ships (seeDietrich and Loretz with no reference to their undertak- lying bedrock, and the occupational 1978).