Investigating a Forgotten Port: The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project. Backdirt 2008, pp. 70-75. more

FP Investigating a orgotten ort: The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project Aaron A. Burke & Katherine S. Burke Backdirt | 70 Figure 1. Section through Bronze and Iron Age fortifications in Areas B (Bathhouse) and D (Kaplan archive). Y afo, ancient Jaffa, sits in southern Tel Aviv on the coast of Israel between Caesarea and Gaza. It consists of an ancient mound atop a sandstone ridge that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and a sprawling lower city and port (Peilstöcker 2000). It was inhabited almost continuously from the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1900 BC) to the present and possessed, therefore, unique connections with its hinterland neighbors and distant maritime centers throughout the Mediterranean. After nearly sixty years of intermittent work, a new program of renewed and systematic exploration and publication was initiated by the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project (JCHP) in 2007. Figure 2. Layout of gate of Egyptian fortress showing location of façade added by Ramesses II (Kaplan archive). Backdirt | 71 Figure 3. The Clock Tower square on the north side of Jaffa (photograph by A. A. Burke). A HiStory of JAffA The first permanent settlement at Jaffa is usually attributed to the second half of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1700–1530 BC), which is attested by burials and the remains of massive earthen ramparts (Figure 1). During the Late Bronze Age, an Egyptian fortress—a part of New Kingdom Egypt’s attempt to control the coast—attests to a large Egyptian garrison based at the site (Kaplan 1960). The means by which Jaffa was wrested from Canaanite control, probably during the fifteenth century B.C., may be suggested in The Capture of Jaffa (Simpson, 2003: 72–74). In it Egyptian soldiers are smuggled into the city in baskets to retake the city. The Egyptian fortress, which was located in Area A at the center of the mound, was probably constructed during the fifteenth century BC, although during the thirteenth century the gate façade was embellished with an inscription by Ramesses II (Figure 2). By the start of the Iron Age, ceramic evidence suggests that Canaanite Jaffa was integrated into the Philistine orbit that had spread northward to Jaffa, which was located only a few kilometers south of the boundary of Philistine settlement, the Yarkon River. While the extent of Philistine settlement during the Iron I period (ca. 1200–1000 BC) is uncertain, insofar as the biblical tradition can bear witness to the ethnicity of Jaffa’s inhabitants during the tenth century BC, it appears that Jaffa remained a Phoenician port. During this period Solomon is said to have employed Jaffa as the port by which materials, namely cedar from Lebanon, were brought across the coastal plain and into the highlands (2 Chronicles 2:16). The existence of a large sheltered harbor, which is posited to have existed on the east side of the site in an estuary formed at the outlet of the Ayalon River, may have made Jaffa an ideal port that we suggest was the so-called “Solomonic Harbor,” which today is no longer visible since it silted up. Evidence of Jaffa’s Iron II settlement (ca. 1000–539 BC), not unlike that of its Middle Bronze Age settlement, consisted largely of ceramics, poorly preserved buildings, and the site’s massive fortification system. The original excavator of these fortifications, Jacob Kaplan, suggested that the fortifications were built in response to the threat posed by the Assyrian king Sennacherib, who invaded the coast and attacked Judah at the end of the eighth century BC (Kaplan and Ritter-Kaplan 1993). Assyrian sources attest to the control of Jaffa by its southern neighbor Ashkelon at that time. In any event, the fortifications consisted of a more than 10 meter-high rampart with stone glacis, which was detected on the northern and eastern sides of Jaffa (Figure 1). Not surprisingly the fortifications are quite comparable to those of the Phoenician city of Byblos in Lebanon. Although Jaffa only receives a passing men- During the Persian Period Jaffa flourished under Phoenician control, which is amply attested in nearly all fields of excavation. Backdirt | 72 Figure 4. Map of Jaffa showing areas excavated in 2007. tion, it was in Jaffa during this period that the biblical story of the prophet Jonah’s departure for Tarshish is set (Jonah 1:3). During the Persian Period Jaffa flourished under Phoenician control, which is amply attested in nearly all fields of excavation. The town was apparently ceded to the Phoenician king of Sidon along with Dor and thus could be considered part of the Sidonian coast until the arrival of Alexander. At least one destruction, revealed in the 2007 excavations in the Ganor Compound, may reveal the early stages of the Hasmonean conflict with the Seleucids in the mid-second century BC. In 63 BC, when Palestine came under Roman control, Jaffa began to look increasingly Roman. Its importance, however, as the primary port of Jerusalem was undermined by Herod’s construction of Caesarea Maritima to the north. Thus, Jaffa’s geographic position with respect to Jerusalem was superseded, thus undermining Jaffa’s growth. Nevertheless, on the western side of the mound Kaplan uncovered two-storied houses of wealthy Jewish citizens of Jaffa dated to the first century AD that were destroyed in the First Jewish Revolt (AD 66–70), which are similar to contemporaneous homes found in the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem. While Jaffa suffered a fate not unlike other cities in Palestine during Roman control, it continued to thrive into late Roman and Byzantine times. This is amply attested While Jaffa suffered a fate not unlike other cities in Palestine during roman control, it continued to thrive into late Roman and Byzantine times. by evidence of occupation not only atop the mound but also throughout the lower town to the east of the tell. The transition into the early Islamic period (AD 614–1098) is difficult to distinguish as the town seems largely unchanged by the rise of Islam, and although many of the major Crusader buildings were not preserved following their abandonment, significant traces of their occupation are to be found in nearly all excavation areas. During the Mamluk period Venetian traders exported the region’s cotton from Jaffa. By 1514 Jaffa like the rest of the Levant fell under Ottoman control, which remained Backdirt | 73 in place until 1917 when allied powers divided up Ottoman holdings. The Ottoman period is perhaps one of the most interesting phases of settlement in Jaffa, forming an essential link between the town’s past and its present form. In addition to extensive archaeological phases, which consist of the foundations of buildings and cemeteries, standing buildings, monuments, maps, travel logs, and photos permit a detailed understanding of the Jaffa’s features and its evolution during the Ottoman period, during which it was once again Palestine’s principal port (Figure 3). tHe JAffA CulturAl HeritAge ProJeCt Despite its evident historical importance and that since 1947 more than eighty excavation permits have been issued for Jaffa, its archaeology remains virtually unknown. The reason is simple: despite years of archaeological research and recent salvage excavations in advance of urban renewal, no systematic publication strategy for previous and ongoing archaeological work at Jaffa has ever existed. Therefore, Jaffa has contributed little to scholarly discussions of the settlement of the coastal plain and Mediterranean trade. For this reason in 2007 the JCHP was initiated under the direction of Martin Peilstöcker (Israel Antiquities Authority; hereafter IAA) and Aaron Burke. The JCHP is an interdisciplinary cultural heritage project aimed at revealing, researching, preserving, and presenting the cultural heritage of Jaffa. As a large and complicated archaeological site within a living town with a diverse cultural heritage, coordinating these efforts is a monumental task. For this reason, the JCHP is a collaborative research project involving a number of institutions, which also include the Gutenberg Universität in Mainz (Germany) and the Old Jaffa Development Company as well as affiliated research associates. It is divided into a number of projects, the activities, resources, and results of which are coordinated, shared, and disseminated. Its activities are fourfold: fieldwork, publication, conservation, and outreach. Initial work in the summer of 2007 focused on archaeological fieldwork and groundwork for a publication strategy for unpublished research. fieldWorK In 2007 fieldwork was undertaken by the IAA in four major areas: the Qishle or Turkish fortress on the north, the Ottoman harbor on the west, the French Hospital on the south, and on the eastern slope in the Ganor Compound (Figure 4) where a joint excavation program was carried out by UCLA and the IAA. The primary goal of our fieldwork was to provide a comprehensive picture of settlement in this area. While previous excavations by the IAA in the southern and eastern portions of the compound were excavated in 1994–1996, 1999–2000, 2002–2003, and 2006, a large area of Backdirt | 74 about one hundred 5-x-5-m squares (ca. 0.25 ha) remained unexplored (Figure 5). Settlement phases encountered in the Ganor Compound in 2007 consisted of the following: Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader, Ottoman, and the British Mandate. The earliest remains were encountered in probes in the center of the excavation area where the foundations of a large Persian building were encountered revealing a rich occupation with materials in situ within destruction layers. Hellenistic building phases were found above, although their complete plan cannot yet be reconstructed. Following Hellenistic settlement the area was abandoned during the early Roman period and reused as a cemetery during the late Roman period. In our deep sounding one burial featured a canted ashlar block cover and a late Roman cooking pot placed at one end (Figure 6). In the Byzantine period a large, secular basilica was built over the entire area. Complete with a mosaic, which was conserved and removed (Figure 7), nearly the entire plan of this structure was recovered. Despite the presence of early Islamic ceramics across the excavation area, no structures are preserved above the basilica that can be definitively identified with an early Islamic phase of occupation. It may be, therefore, that the area was largely an open activity area at that time. The early Islamic remains stand in stark contrast to the unequivocal evidence for Crusader settlement of this area during the twelfth century, including the plan of a building with plastered walls and floors. This area, outside the city wall to the east, was not reoccupied until the Ottoman period, when the bases of loadbearing arches were cut into the Crusader and Byzantine layers below. These foundations were later demolished during the British Mandate and replaced with large, crude cement bases. cavation plans and sections, field diaries, site and object photos, negatives, pottery bucket records, and more than three thousand object registration cards. These were digitized and will be incorporated into a single online database. In order to assess the feasibility of publishing Kaplan’s data, we examined the records of the excavations of the fortification system in Areas B, D, and G at the northern end of the site (Figure 1). This revealed that the materials do permit the publication of Kaplan’s excavations in a manner commensurate with modern standards. The first volume, a collection of articles entitled The History and Archaeology of Jaffa, is projected to be published in 2009 and will include several studies resulting from the project initiated in 2007. Photos, opposite page (from top): Figure 5. Ganor Compound excavations in 2007 (photograph by A. A. Burke). Figure 6. Roman tomb in deep sounding (photograph by A. A. Burke). Figure 7. Byzantine basilica mosaics in Ganor Compound (photograph by A. A. Burke). looKing AHeAd In 2008 the JCHP will initiate fieldwork in the area of the upper mound, in order to expose Bronze and Iron Age levels. Given the amount of development in the region, the IAA under the auspices of the JCHP will also continue salvage excavations. Preparatory work for publishing the Kaplan materials will also continue. Aaron Burke is Assistant Professor of the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and the Levant in the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department, and Co-Director of the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project, UCLA. Katherine S. Burke is Research Associate at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and Associate Director of the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project, UCLA. References Cited Kaplan, Jacob 1960. Jaffa. IEJ 10:121–22. Kaplan, Jacob and Haya Ritter-Kaplan 1993. Jaffa. In NEAEHL, vol. 2, ed. E. Stern, 655–59. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society. Peilstöcker, Martin 2000. Tel Yafo (Jaffa): A Key Site of the Central Coastal Plain Re-Discovered. Preliminary Results from New Excavations in the 1990’s. In Proceedings of the First International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, eds. P. Matthiae et al., 1345–52. Rome: Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”. 2006. La ville franque de Jaffa à la lumière des fouilles récentes. Bulletin Monumental 164:99–104. AnAlySiS And PuBliCAtion WorK In addition to our archaeological fieldwork, in 2007 substantive progress was made towards publication of previous archaeological research. A digital archive of the records of Jacob Kaplan’s excavations (1955-1982) was initiated. They include ex- Backdirt | 75