Hadar, Tel

EXCAVATIONS

Tel Hadar was excavated in 1987–1997 by E. Yadin and M. Kochavi on behalf of Tel Aviv University. During the most recent seasons, additional occupation strata were exposed and the site’s definitive stratigraphy was established: strata I–III (formerly stratum I)—Iron Age II; strata IV–V (formerly stratum II)—Iron Age I; stratum VI—Late Bronze Age I.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

STRATUM VI. The settlement was first established in stratum VI. What later became the inner wall at the site, composed of large basalt rocks and encompassing an area of c. 2.5 a., was constructed at this time. On the eastern side of this wall was an unusual round tower, 20 m in diameter and partially protruding from the wall. Stone steps with monolithic stone posts at either side led from the domestic quarter to the tower. The tower itself was divided into rooms around a central courtyard. Collapsed stones from the tower’s high walls and roof preserved some of the rooms to the height of their door lintels. The pottery assemblage on the floors of the tower and the rooms adjacent to the inner wall is typical of the Late Bronze Age I and comparable to the assemblage from that period at Hazor.