Megadim, Tel

RENEWED EXCAVATIONS

M. Broshi’s 1967–1969 excavations at Tel Megadim (Tell Saḥar) succeeded in uncovering a considerable portion of the uppermost strata of the site, dating to the Persian and Roman–Byzantine periods. In 1994, S. Wolff conducted a salvage excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority between the acropolis of the tell (Broshi’s area C) and the railroad track that bisects the site. This trench, measuring c. 175 by 8–10 m, revealed the complete occupational history at the site, including strata from the Chalcolithic period, Early Bronze Age I, Early Bronze Age IV, Middle Bronze Age II, Late Bronze Age II, and Persian and Byzantine periods.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

THE CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD. No structures can be firmly associated with the Chalcolithic period, but it is clear that the site was occupied then from the quantity of pottery sherds, basalt vessel fragments, and flint tools found in fill layers upon and within depressions in the bedrock.