Chinnereth, Tel

RENEWED EXCAVATIONS

During 1994–1999, the second phase of excavations was conducted at Tel Chinnereth (Tell el-‘Oreimeh) on behalf of the German School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. Work concentrated on the slopes of the mound, revealing remains of the Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age IIC/Late Bronze Age I, and Iron Age I. The work was directed by V. Fritz. The seminar of the Protestant church in Wuppertal and the Universities of Bern (Switzerland) and Helsinki (Finland) participated in the project from the fifth to the ninth seasons.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

THE EARLY BRONZE AGE I AND II. No architectural remains of the Early Bronze Age I were discovered, but pottery of that period appeared in many squares. At the foot of the mound, underneath the street dated to the Ottoman period, a house of the Early Bronze Age II (stratum IX) was uncovered in close proximity to a house excavated by S. Winn and J. Yakar in 1982. It remains unclear if that house also dates to stratum IX.

THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE IIC/LATE BRONZE AGE I. Two different defensive systems, dated to the end of the Middle Bronze Age IIC and to the Late Bronze Age I, were noted in area G at the northeastern edge of the mound. Each of them was provided with an elaborated glacis. Within the city, two strata, VII and VIII, were discerned in area H at the foot of the mound bordering the city wall facing the Sea of Galilee. Both strata consist of domestic structures at the foot of the mound.