Since 1985, the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon, directed by Lawrence E. Stager of Harvard University, has been a leading American archaeological project in Israel. Now, the work of the project is being collected in ten final report volumes published by the Harvard Semitic Muse…
This dissertation focuses on two aspects of the Middle and Late Bronze Age family tombs at Ashkelon: the architecture and my hypothesis regarding a “funeral kit” in ancient burials. I first suggest that the form and function of the tombs reflected funerary and mortuary beliefs a…
The ancient city of Ashkelon sits at the center of many of the major events of the seventh century BCE. As a Mediterranean port on the southern coast of Israel and as a fortified city on the route between Mesopotamia and Egypt, Ashkelon played a dynamic role in the military conq…
Material reminiscent of an Aegean-style culture, which was distinct from that of the indigenous population, appeared in southern Canaan some time near the beginning of the 12th century B.C.E. Scholars have long associated this material with the arrival of a group of newcomers, t…