Ekron (Tel Miqne) Photo Collection

Description: Tel Miqne (Khirbet el-Muqanna‘), 22 miles southwest of Jerusalem (map reference 1356.1315), identified with biblical Ekron, one of the capitals of the Philistine Pentapolis. Located on western edge of Inner Coastal Plain—frontier zone that separated Philistia and Judah—tell overlooks ancient network of highways leading northeast from Ashdod to Gezer. One of the largest Iron Age sites excavated in Israel, it comprises a 40-acre lower city (which expanded to more than 75 acres in the late Iron Age II) and a 10-acre upper city on the Northeast Acropolis.  A joint project of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 14 excavation seasons were conducted between 1981 and 1996 under the direction of Professors Trude Dothan and Seymour Gitin. (Provided by Seymour Gitin)

Chronology: MBIIB fortifications in upper and lower cities. Stratum XI (17th c.–first half of 16th c., LBI-II), unfortified Strata X–VIII (2nd half 16th century-1st quarter 12th c.) only in upper city. Last Canaanite city Stratum VIII  destroyed. Iron Age I, fortified city, Stratum VII-IV (2nd quarter 12th c.–1st quarter 10th^. c.), upper and lower cities. Stratum VII, characterized by  Philistine 1 (previously designated Mycenaean IIIC:1) pottery;  Strata VI–V city characterized by Philistine 2 (Bichrome) pottery; and  Stratum IV by Philistine 3 (debased) pottery and red-slipped and burnished ware. Iron I city destroyed and lower city abandoned. Upper city refortified in Strata III–II (10th-8th c.). Ekron became Assyrian vassal city-state in Stratum I (7th c.), which contained largest ancient olive oil production center excavated to date. Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription found in elite zone. Iron II city destroyed during 604 BCE campaign of the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Site only partially resettled (1st quarter 6th c.). Ekron had limited Persian/Hellenistic, Roman/Byzantine, and Islamic phases.