Tell el-Hesi: The Persian Period (Stratum V).

• Author: Dever, William G.

Palestinian archaeology began in 1890 at Tell el-Hesi (perhaps ancient "Eglon") with brief soundings by the legendary W. M. F. Petrie, followed by the first American excavations in Palestine, directed by Frederick J. Bliss in 1891-92. The 25-acre site, near the Gaza Strip, is imposing, with its walled Early Bronze Age lower city, topped by a small but steep acropolis of the Iron Age and Persian period. Despite Tell el-Hesi's importance, however, its cultural history remained obscure until the American Schools of Oriental Research initiated modern stratigraphic excavations in 1971 (continuing through 1983). This final report volume covers four seasons of excavation of Persian Period Stratum V.

Because of its explicit adoption and articulation of the goals of the "New Archaeology" that had been pioneered at Gezer in the 1960s under this reviewer and others, where many of the original Hesi staff had been trained, this volume must be judged by the very high standards that it has set for itself.

The material per se is obviously cleanly excavated, meticulously recorded, and is presented here in admirable fullness and detail. Nevertheless, it is somewhat scant: four phases of domestic occupation, extending over eleven 5.00 x 5.00 m squares in Field I, and consisting almost entirely of pits and silos; and some 40 burials in Field III. The bulk of the material is the stratified corpus of Persian pottery of the late 6th-mid 4th cents. B.C., both imported ("Aegean Fine") wares and local coarse wares. The imported wares include substantial quantities of Attic and East Greek pottery, dating between ca. 500 and 460 B.C. The coarse wares, all familiar from other Persian sites in Palestine, apparently extend down to ca. 350 B.C. The Greek pottery, especially significant because it is the largest corpus of such stratified pottery yet published from a Palestinian site, is competently treated by Martha K. Risser and Jeffrey A. Blakely in what should be a point of departure for future discussions. The coarse wares total 912 vessels, mostly represented by sherds.

Chapters 5-8 cover the flints, other small finds, and floral-faunal remains. There is little that is exceptional here, although the treatment is as thorough as one would expect in an up-to-date excavation report, including experimental use of the flint blades. Chapters 10 and 11 present the conclusions regarding Str. Va-d and an overview of Tell el-Hesi in the larger context of Persian Palestine.

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