ʽAmqa: Settlement Remains from the Iron Age, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic Periods
Abstract
A salvage excavation at ‘Amqa, on the northern part of a hill located at the juncture of the ‘Akko coastal plain and the foothills of western Upper Galilee, revealed archaeological remains from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, Iron II, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic and Ottoman periods. Small excavation areas distributed over the hill exposed fragmentary architectural remains from Iron II, and a coastal pottery assemblage from the Hellenistic period. The Roman-period remains of a village included the walls of four buildings associated with Galilean pottery. Larger-scale Byzantine-period building remains, including a public building and a storage complex, as well as an industrial olive press and a discarded chancel-screen fragment, may identify the late Byzantine to Early Islamic period settlement as a Christian ecclesiastical building or a monastery. Jewish written sources may support identifying the site as located near the border area between Jewish Galilee and the Phoenician pagan populations in the Roman period, later incorporated into the coastal Christian sphere during the Byzantine period.
Keywords
multi-period site, Galilee border, Christian building, oil-press
Recommended Citation
Alexandre, Yardenna and Cohen, Michael
(2025)
"ʽAmqa: Settlement Remains from the Iron Age, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic Periods,"
Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel: Vol. 1, Article 9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70967/3078-8528.1009
Available at:
https://publications.iaa.org.il/qadum/vol1/iss1/9
Included in
Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons
