Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1987 - 45

refer to the lake and the surrounding
country lead to the conclusion that
Kinneret was the most important
town in the vicinity of the lake during the Reign of the Kings of Israel
(926-722 b.c.).
The name Kinneret antedates the
Israelite settlement and can therefore be regarded as Canaanite. Although a suggestion of the Semitic
word "Kinnor" ("bowed lyre") is apparent, the name of the town does
not derive from the shape of the lake
or the hill, as has repeatedly been
maintained. It is much more likely
that a connection exists with the
mention of the god Knr in Ugarit
cuneiform tablets.
Several test probings of the Kinneret site were conducted in 1932,
but the first excavation, of the northeast corner of the tell, took place in
1939, led by R. Koppel and financed
by the Görres Society in cooperation
with the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo. Excavation methods
were not yet sufficiently developed
to separate the various settlement
strata, but the unpublished ceramics
established the history of the settlement in the Middle Bronze Age IIB
( 1750-1550 b.c. ), Late Bronze Age I
( 1550-1400 B.c. ) and Iron Age II
(1000-587 B.c.).
The excavations since 1982, financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, have ascertained that
the settlement history of the
earlier Bronze Age periods has
been largely erased by erosion
A
and later Iron Age terracing.
In addition, it could be
proven that the first
Jjflj
Iron Age town

was larger and far more important
than had been previously supposed.
It was possible to expose a few remains of the Early Bronze Age, but
the strata of the Middle and Late
Bronze Age were not preserved. The
settlement history must then be
pieced together not only from the sequence of settlement strata, but
also from the accumulation of potsherds in the artificial layers where
no settlement traces are clearly evident. On the basis of present knowledge settlement can be assumed both
earlier and later than was previously
established: in the Early Bronze Age
I-II (3150-2650 B.c.) and the Hellenistic I period (332-152 B.c.).
Although undisturbed early
Bronze Age levels were exposed only
on the western edge of the tell, it is
clear from the findings that these
hardly encompass the entire history
of the Early Bronze Age settlement.
Directly under the oldest Iron Age
stratum, remains were exposed of a
city wall and of a house that according to the ceramics dates from the
Early Bronze Age II (2950-2650 b.c.).
The city wall was 6.5 meters wide
and built of large boulders; it was
very badly preserved. The corners of
a building next to it most probably
belonged to a broad-room house,
typical of the period. It stood on two
artificial layers that had been laid

out across the rocks to level out the
uneven surface of the area. Both
layers contained potsherds of bandslip ware and red-burnished ware
ceramics, dating the earliest settlement into the Early Bronze Age I
(3150-2950 B.c.). No remains of such
a settlement have been found, however, and it is probable that they
were erased by the construction of
a town in the Early Bronze Age II.
It is not possible to date the end
of the settlement during the Early
Bronze Age. Although scattered
pieces of combed-ware ceramics, used
well into the Early Bronze Age III
(2650-2350 b.c.), were found, not
a single piece of Khirbet Kerak ware
so typical for this period has been unearthed to date, although the site of
Khirbet Kerak lies at the southern
edge of the lake. The question
whether a settlement existed in the
Early Bronze Age III must therefore
be left open for the present.
Several sherds with seal impressions discovered in the Iron Age
strata also originate from the Early
Bronze Age. All three seal impressions show the common geometrical
patterns, each arranged differently:
spirals, rectangles, rhombi, herringbone, and the so-called ladder. An
unusual find was part of a platter
with an impression on the outside of
the rim, where impressions were always put on storage jars. The impression, two centimeters high, has
two alternating designs, interlocking
rectangles and a herring-bone pattern, the former extremely rare, and
the latter very common. The impression on the rim of this platter shows
indisputably the decorative use of
the signet in Palestine during the
third millennium b.c.

In the area under excavation, no
traces of a settlement layer of the
second millennium could be found,
since the oldest town of the Iron Age
either rests on Early Bronze Age
remains or was founded upon natural
rock. Nevertheless, a large quantity
of potsherds dating from the Middle
and Late Bronze Age was found in
layers on which the oldest Iron Age
stratum was erected. These show
that the area was leveled with artificial layers before new buildings were
constructed, and the potsherds unA jar sherd of the Early Bronze Age is decorated in the band
slip technique .
1987
July/August

Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1987

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - July/August 1987