Analysis of the plans and photographs from the first excavation of Tel Azekah by archaeologists Frederick J Bliss and R.A. Stewart Macalister in 1898-1899 have raised several conclusions in the attempt to understand Azekah’s acropolis.
First, the highest area of the Tel is located near the southeast corner of the mound, above the Late Bronze Age temple that was exposed in area E3.
Second, at the foot of the acropolis, on top of which was a citadel which was excavated almost completely by Bliss and Macalister, the rock is exposed.
Third, their excavation’s results made it clear that at least the later stages of this citadel should be dated to the Hellenistic period, but also that there are early phases of the structure below these.
It took us a few years of analysis to understand exactly where Bliss and Macalister dug on the acropolis, what depth they reached, and where the walls they uncovered (and covered immediately afterwards) were.
We began to realise that they didn’t excavate the entire acropolis, but only parts of the interior of the citadel, using dig trenches between the walls.
We also learned that the citadel did not cover the entire acropolis in its current form, and that it was not one structure but in fact was composed of several citadels from several phases, which Bliss and Macalister combined into one plan that is partly based on their excavations and partly reconstructed.
In the 2022 season, we opened area A1 in the western part of the acropolis and soon discovered the western wall of the citadel.
We realized that Bliss and Macalister did not excavate the entire citadel, and especially that they did not reach the full depth of the walls, in some cases reaching 4 m.
We also found out that outside the citadel there are untouched layers of the acropolis from the Persian period and the Iron Age IIc and IIb, where we discovered plenty of pottery, stamp impressions, and other finds.
Our expectations were raised for this important area of the Tel – perhaps its most important, and we decided to open two new excavation areas in area A1 in the 2023 season: A1n north of the 2022 area A1, and A1s south of it.
The results really did not disappoint us…. Do you want to know more? Check them out in The Excavations of Azekah’s Acropolis – 2023!
The Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition 